Southern_Yankee
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Checkers in their last season at Cricket
Hockey team has eyes on new uptown arena
[size=-1]RICHARD RUBIN[/size]
[size=-1]Staff Writer[/size]
The Charlotte Checkers and Cricket Arena will likely end their lose-lose relationship after this season, in hopes they can both win by splitting up.
The Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority, which oversees Cricket, tentatively approved the Checkers' departure Wednesday. The team's absence will free up 36 nights a year in the 50-year-old arena, which city officials hope to fill with concerts and events.
Cricket, located on Independence Boulevard at Briar Creek Road, has been losing about $500,000 per year on a $5 million budget, said Mike Crum, the authority's chief operating officer. Those losses have been particularly difficult for the public authority, which has been running regular deficits since the NBA's Charlotte Hornets left town.
The Checkers' lease was scheduled to run through June 2007, but the team wants to move to the new uptown arena after it opens in November.
Under the three-year-old contract at Cricket, the team has been losing money, too, Crum said.
"We were unsuccessful," Checkers co-owner Carl Scheer told the authority's board, "but we think ... we can make hockey an important part of our community again."
In exchange for exiting before June, the Checkers will pay $3,000 in rent per game this year, instead of the $750 specified in their contract.
Additionally, Checkers co-owner and NASCAR team owner Felix Sabates will help the authority lead the effort to bring a NASCAR Hall of Fame to Charlotte. Details of his participation are unclear.
If the Checkers move uptown, the authority would share in profits the team makes, up to $100,000.
But authority CEO Tim Newman said he was not optimistic about receiving much money from the profit-sharing deal.
The Checkers and the authority still must negotiate a final agreement. They also must resolve a dispute over who pays for recently renovated suites at Cricket.
Hockey team has eyes on new uptown arena
[size=-1]RICHARD RUBIN[/size]
[size=-1]Staff Writer[/size]
The Charlotte Checkers and Cricket Arena will likely end their lose-lose relationship after this season, in hopes they can both win by splitting up.
The Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority, which oversees Cricket, tentatively approved the Checkers' departure Wednesday. The team's absence will free up 36 nights a year in the 50-year-old arena, which city officials hope to fill with concerts and events.
Cricket, located on Independence Boulevard at Briar Creek Road, has been losing about $500,000 per year on a $5 million budget, said Mike Crum, the authority's chief operating officer. Those losses have been particularly difficult for the public authority, which has been running regular deficits since the NBA's Charlotte Hornets left town.
The Checkers' lease was scheduled to run through June 2007, but the team wants to move to the new uptown arena after it opens in November.
Under the three-year-old contract at Cricket, the team has been losing money, too, Crum said.
"We were unsuccessful," Checkers co-owner Carl Scheer told the authority's board, "but we think ... we can make hockey an important part of our community again."
In exchange for exiting before June, the Checkers will pay $3,000 in rent per game this year, instead of the $750 specified in their contract.
Additionally, Checkers co-owner and NASCAR team owner Felix Sabates will help the authority lead the effort to bring a NASCAR Hall of Fame to Charlotte. Details of his participation are unclear.
If the Checkers move uptown, the authority would share in profits the team makes, up to $100,000.
But authority CEO Tim Newman said he was not optimistic about receiving much money from the profit-sharing deal.
The Checkers and the authority still must negotiate a final agreement. They also must resolve a dispute over who pays for recently renovated suites at Cricket.
. . . . I think things will be fine at the new Uptown Arena . . . . . I think the seating will be better (minus the off center rink setup; one end of the rink won't have lower level seats), there will be more room to move around (wider concourses), better food selection, etc. . . . I hope eventually this will prod the Checkers to consider moving up to the AHL eventually. As I've said in the past, I think Charlotte is a little too big for the ECHL now . . . . 
. .
