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Alright, so back to the legendary BILL WHITE’s Nothin’ Shakin’ On Shakedown Street propaganda piece about Chairman Pawlowski’s transformative $ 177.1 million dollar PALACE OF SPORT. The same one (officially now named the PPL CENTER) in downtown Allentown, Pennsylvania, that Mr. White frankly admitted would be “incredibly generous with state tax revenues”, but only if he lived in Altoona. Yes, THAT horse which needs to be groomed with loving care …

“ALLENTOWN HOCKEY ARENA FINANCING PLAN SHOULD HELP NEIGHBORHOODS” … The Morning Call, 02/20/2013

Bill White and his Liberal Agenda really, really need to take a long vacation somewhere. Then, Mr. White should take particularly special care to sit down, relax and have a freakin’ sandwich or something. Now, if the esteemed Mr. White of Musikfest fame wants to completely ignore the concepts of limited government concentrating on traditional core functions while he is eating, then that would be his choice but he still really ought to lend some critical thinking towards a greedy, piggish Government that, apparently, could not figure out how to build an ice hockey rink for less than $ 177.1 million dollars.

As luck would have it, many, many other American and Canadian cities have (by some miracle, no doubt) been able to restrain themselves from spending so lavishly on American Hockey League and East Coast Hockey League arenas in the past fifteen years, as this blog has taken the effort and time to document publically for comparative purposes, unlike the professional journalists over at The Morning Call.

Yeah, THAT The Morning Call that used to print cheerleader puff pieces explaining why the then-proposed Neighborhood Improvement Zone law and the resulting “transformative” Allentown arena (which, to review, was originally supposed to cost ‘only’ $ 80.0 million dollars) was such a fabulous concept after all … (which is exactly why 18 surrounding Lehigh Valley municipalities and one school district ended up filing a lawsuit in opposition to the notorious Neighborhood Improvement Zone law in Commonwealth Court last year).

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“To me, this concern about overburdening the developers is laughable. Certainly there’s a leap of faith involved in investing in downtown Allentown, but they have access to an unprecedented flow of tax-payer-provided funding. It’s a no brainer that at least a tiny portion of that money — whatever the mechanism — is formally dedicated to ensuring the downtown isn’t surrounded by slums and that the whole city benefits from the NIZ concept.

Any developers who find that unacceptable are more than welcome to look elsewhere for this sweetheart deal. They won’t find it.” — BILL WHITE

Laughable? … Sweetheart deal?

What is truly comical would be The Morning Call’s own admission, published on January 30, 2012, that “one of the first major beneficiaries of the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone legislation championed by SENATOR PAT BROWNE have hired Browne’s wife, Heather, as a lobbyist”.

Because THAT is a sweetheart deal if there ever was one, Bill.

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Adirondack Phantoms goaltender CAL HEETER (35), the 24-year-old rookie professional undrafted out of Ohio State University who has since been reassigned to the Trenton Titans of the East Coast Hockey League after making 24 appearances (2.96 avg, .906 save pct) in the American Hockey League for the Philadelphia Flyers’ top minor league farm club this term, has a bird’s eye view as the entire puck crosses the goal line during an AHL contest against the Connecticut Whale earlier this season.

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So, the legendary BILL WHITE over at THE MORNING CALL says in his Nothin’ Shakin’ On Shakedown Street propaganda piece about the “transformative” PAWLOWSKI PALACE of SPORT yesterday, “If I lived in, say, Altoona, I might not be so crazy about it because the plan created by the state senator Pat Browne is INCREDIBLY GENEROUS WITH STATE REVENUES. As someone who lives in the Lehigh Valley and works in Allentown, I think it is a gift horse that we should be grooming and feeding with loving care.”

What Bill White does not mention in his article entitled, “ALLENTOWN HOCKEY ARENA FINANCING PLAN SHOULD HELP NEIGHBORHOODS” (February 21, 2013), is that combined cost of the three other minor league professional hockey rinks in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, all of which were built in the last fifteen years, does not exceed the staggering sum of $ 177.1 million dollars that will be spent to construct the new ice house to be located at Seventh and Hamilton Streets in the City With No (Spending) Limits.

Forget about Altoona. That particular location has never hosted a professional club in either the American Hockey League or East Coast Hockey League. It is far more relevant to ponder what the Pennsylvania taxpayers in Hershey, Reading and the Scranton / Wilkes-Barre area would say about White’s own “incredibly generous” remark with respect to the record-smashing Pawlowski Palace of Sport!

Of course, since The Morning Call would never dare do such a thing, more than six months ago this blog published the construction costs of 36 ice arenas built for minor league professional hockey clubs in both Canada and the United States in the last fifteen years :

“CHAIRMAN PAWLOWSKI’s MAGICAL PALACE OF SPORT – REALLY MOST EXPENSIVE MINOR LEAGUE RINK EVER CONSTRUCTED?” … (August 18, 2012)

To review, the construction cost of the state-sponsored Palace of Sport was ‘adjusted’ (again) by continuing reports in The Morning Call which were written after the original blog post appeared … So, mostly for the benefit of Bill White and the merry band of N.I.Z. Cheerleaders, an updated (albeit shortened) list of the most expensive minor league ice hockey rinks built in the last fifteen years is in order, then :

$ 196.0 … 2008 … 17,000 … CeHL – Tulsa Oilers
$ 177.1 … 2013 ….. 8,500 … AHL – ALLENTOWN PHANTOMS
$ 130.0 … 2008 ….. 9,735 … ECHL – Ontario Reign
$ 127.5 … 2011 ….. 9,437 … ECHL – Evansville Icemen
$ 126.0 … 2004 … 15,004 … NHL – Winnipeg Jets * (see notes)
$ 105.0 … 2009 ….. 7,389 … ECHL – Toledo Walleye

$ 85.0 ….. 2003 ….. 7,773 … ECHL – Las Vegas Wranglers
$ 68.0 ….. 2005 ….. 9,737 … ECHL – Stockton Thunder
$ 67.0 ….. 2000 ….. 9,852 … AHL – Manchester Monarchs
$ 65.0 ….. 2002 … 10,500 … AHL – Hershey Bears
$ 65.0 ….. 2003 … 11,355 … ECHL – Gwinnett Gladiators
$ 63.0 ….. 1998 … 13,707 … ECHL – Greenville Road Warriors
$ 60.0 ….. 2003 ….. 5,289 … ECHL – Colorado Eagles
$ 60.0 ….. 2009 ….. 5,800 … CeHL – Missouri Mavericks
$ 58.0 ….. 1997 … 10,100 … ECHL – Utah Grizzlies

KEY : facility cost in U.S. dollars (millions) / year built / capacity / league – club

NOTES
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The main source for this updated report and the original blog post here that previously listed the 34 minor league professional ice hockey rinks (including the still-under-construction Pawlowski Palace of Sport) that have been built in the last fifteen years was the NATIONAL SPORTS LAW INSTITUTE OF MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL :

http://law.marquette.edu/assets/sports-law/pdf/sports-facility-reports/sfr//-v11-hockey-other-pdf

The MTS Centre in western Canada, which is now home to the National Hockey League’s second-coming of the Winnipeg Jets, was originally built in 2004 to house the American Hockey League’s Manitoba Moose for the price of 133.5 million Canadian dollars.

The $ 177.1 million dollar figure for the “transformative” Pawlowski Palace of Sport was reported by THE MORNING CALL on September 25, 2012, in the article entitled “ALLENTOWN PA BLOCK WILL COST 272 MILLION” by MATT ASSAD and SCOTT KRAUS.

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Springfield Falcons defenseman BRENT REGNER (28), the former fifth round pick (# 137 overall) by the Columbus Blue Jackets at the 2008 National Hockey League Draft who has never skated below the American Hockey League level in three professional seasons but has also never been promoted to the NHL either, looks to avoid the check of underage Adirondack Phantoms right wing DEREK MATHERS (29), the Philadelphia Flyers’ seventh round selction (# 207 overall) at the 2011 NHL Draft who was getting a taste of pro ice after spending most of the year playing junior with the Peterborough Petes in the Ontario Hockey League, during an AHL game early last April at the Glens Falls Civic Center in upstate New York.
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There can be no doubt that Chairman Pawlowski and the N.I.Z. Cheerleading Squad are wondering how the Adirondack Phantoms, who have missed the American Hockey League playoffs for the past three seasons consecutively, will do at the gate after the number one farm club of the National Hockey League’s PHILADELPHIA FLYERS relocates itself to Allentown, Pennsylvania, and begins to lace skates at the much-ballyhooed, $ 179.5 million dollar Palace of Sport at the corner of Seventh and Hamilton Streets.

Certainly, the Mayor of Allentown will be hoping that the AHL’s Phantoms are sincerely able to significantly improve upon the recent accomplishments taking place in Evansville, Indiana. There, the ECHL’s IceMen were barely able to fill the new hockey rink even 1/4 of the way to capacity in averaging just 2,508 fans per contest for this past season. The Ford Center in Evansville, it should not be forgotten, opened just this past November of 2011 after costing a reported $ 127.5 million dollars to build.

Not so long ago, this blog listed the construction costs for all “minor league” ice hockey rinks in North America built in the last fifteen years. Now, it is time to have a look at this past season’s attendance figures for those very same facilities which play host to the two highest tiers of minor professional hockey, the American Hockey League and the East Coast Hockey League. Naturally, the applicable numbers for the AHL and the lower-level ECHL locations have been kept separate.

AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE – 2011/12 Official Attendance
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6,297 avg … 100.00% capacity … St. John’s IceCaps
9,872 avg ….. 94.02% capacity … Hershey Bears
5,470 avg ….. 79.70% capacity … Texas Stars
6,028 avg ….. 72.63% capacity … Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Penguins
4,875 avg ….. 57.95% capacity … Bridgeport Sound Tigers
5,701 avg ….. 57.87% capacity … Manchester Monarchs
3,545 avg ….. 50.31% capacity … Abbotsford Flames

EAST COAST HOCKEY LEAGUE – 2011/12 Official Attendance
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5,289 avg … 100.00% capacity … Colorado Eagles
3,320 avg ….. 87.74% capacity … Elmira Jackals
7,389 avg ….. 84.61% capacity … Toledo Walleye
3,905 avg ….. 78.00% capacity … Idaho Steelheads
5,004 avg ….. 70.66% capacity … Florida Everblades
6,309 avg ….. 64.80% capacity … Ontario Reign
4,365 avg ….. 61.63% capacity … Reading Royals
5,916 avg ….. 60.76% capacity … Stockton Thunder
4,963 avg ….. 57.44% capacity … Bakersfield Condors
5,161 avg ….. 45.45% capacity … Gwinnett Gladiators
4,412 avg ….. 43.68% capacity … Utah Grizzlies
3,013 avg ….. 39.62% capacity … Trenton Titans (Philadelphia Flyers)
2,508 avg ….. 26.58% capacity … Evansville Icemen
3,299 avg ….. 24.07% capacity … Greenville Road Warriors

NOTE — the attendance averages presented here originate from the official websites of the American Hockey League and the East Coast Hockey League, respectively.

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Surely, the N.I.Z. Cheerleaders will be hoping that the incoming Allentown Phantoms can skate right past the intra-state rival Scarnton/Wilkes-Barre Penguins on the American Hockey League attendance chart once the transformative 2013/14 campaign arrives … Above – Adirondack Phantoms left wing JON KALINSKI (37), the sixth round selection (# 156 overall) out of Minnesota State University by the Philadelphia Flyers at the 2007 National Hockey League Draft, is funneled along the wing by the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Penguins pair of center JOE VITALE (26), the Northeastern University product who skated in 68 NHL games for the parent Pittsburgh club this past season, and defenseman STEVE WAGNER (20), the college teammate of Kalinski’s who once made 46 NHL appearances for the St. Louis Blues and is now under contract to Adler Mannheim in the German elite league, during the AHL contest at the Glens Falls Civic Center early into the previous 2010/11 campaign.

Kalinski, who appeared in 22 career NHL games (1 go, 5 pts) for the Philadelphia Flyers after originally signing with the organization in the spring of 2008, was traded along with a couple of draft picks to the Tampa Bay Lightning this past February in a deal for three-time Czech Republic Olympic defenseman PAVEL KUBINA; although the 25-year-old native of Bonnyville, Alberta, did make the AHL Clear Day Roster of the Norfolk Admirals, Kalinski did not appear at all in the playoffs for the eventual 2012 Calder Cup champions.

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It is the opinion of some that, when it comes to lavishly spending free money provided by benevolent Big Government, the so-called “City With No Limits” Mayor ED PAWLOWSKI has clearly figured out that caring and compassionate Democrats in Allentown, who already have a march-in-lockstep Rubber Stamp Council of Apparatchiks entrenched and unassailable, only require one RINO Senator whose wife would have a cushy lobbyist job to be able to get away with completely blowing the lid off all existing records for the amount of money used to construct a minor league ice hockey rink of comparative size.
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It certainly it interesting to note how the birdcage liner known as THE MORNING CALL and veteran “local” blogger JON GEETING, perhaps better known by the moniker “What-Am-I-Gettings-From-Big-Government”, were both shamelessly gloating the other day over the fact that “the risk for Allentown’s arena financing is borne almost entirely by the state (of Pennsylvania),” or so writes the propaganda minister, er, ah, Fourth Estate reporter MATT ASSAD.

Sometimes, it seems as if it was only yesterday that heroic comrade Assad was speculating about “developers of what could be an $ 80.0 million dollar hockey arena”, among other things, in an article entitled “ALLENTOWN FAVORED FOR HOCKEY ARENA.”

But that long-since forgotten article was actually, believe it or not, first offered a little more than three years ago. For those keeping track at home, the hard date that the above referenced article was printed in Pravda, er, ah, The Morning Call would be July 23, 2009. Looking back, even a blind man could easily see that this particular piece of priceless journalistic history offers amazing insight into the drawn-out, ill-tempered and memorable saga that is the murky (and still continuously changing) Neighborhood Improvement Zone as well as its intended by-product, Mayor Pawlowski’s opulent Palace of Sport.

Back then, Assad even wrote that “the Phantoms owners say they will front 20% of the cost” in July of 2009 but, truth be told, that ‘balanced’ concept of limited private investment to be combined with the massive corporate welfare package just casually came and quietly went, sort of like the old World Hockey Association — with little noticeable interest from the public, that is.

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The Morning Call, perhaps albeit reluctantly, has now admitted that the “transformative” (if not extremely expensive) Pawlowski Palace of Sport is projected to cost a sincerely shocking $ 179.5 million dollars of hard-earned but easily-wasted taxpayer money.

(Note — that startling figure has shot up $ 21.5 million dollars since The Morning Call had last quoted a final price tag for the Palace of Sport and also after this WORLD HOCKEY blog had exclusively unveiled here its informative list of 36 “minor league” ice hockey rinks built in the last fifteen years only just eleven short days ago)

Meanwhile, the BROOKS GROUP, who own the American Hockey League’s Adirondack Phantoms team that will relocate south to Pennsylvania and begin play in Allentown at some point either just before or during the 2013/14 season, have not, according to all reports, contributed one penny ‘out of pocket’ towards that eye-popping $ 179.5 million dollar tab.

The N.I.Z. Cheerleaders will undoubtedly point out that the Brooks Group will sell the naming rights to the record-smashing Pawlowski Palace of Sport and apply whatever revenue generated from that towards the construction cost … but most rational people will see right through that obvious Smoke Screen for Simpletons and correctly continue to realize that the incredibly lucky Phantoms owners got something rather similiar to the Sweetheart Deal of All-Time in the City With No (Spending?) Limits.

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With the release of the last-ever American Hockey League season schedule involving the departing ADIRONDACK PHANTOMS, surely it did not escape the attention of the notorious N.I.Z. Cheerleaders that the Philadelphia Flyers’ AHL affiliate will be making five tantalizing appearances in the COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA after the 2013 New Year.

By then, of course, it is hoped that construction of the transformative (if not expensive) PALACE OF SPORT will be in full swing on Hamilton Street thanks to the sale of $ 220.0 million dollars in bonds graciously offered by the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority or whoever it was, to be quite frank.

At this point in time, though, the status of the whole construction process remains as confusing and unclear as ever with the news of the possible addition of the historic Americus Center Hotel to the so-called Neighborhood Improvement Zone. To make a long story short, the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue has stated that bonds providing the financing for the $ 158.0 million dollar Palace of Sport cannot be sold unless Senator Browne’s brainchild, the N.I.Z., has its borders withdrawn to include the hotel in question. “The city’s arena project is more than three months behind schedule and city officials are reluctant to embark on any changes that would further delay the project,” writes MATT ASSAD of THE MORNING CALL (8/20/2012).

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TAKING A GAMBLE ON ICE HOCKEY IN GOOD OLE’ A.C. —— The nomadic ADIRONDACK PHANTOMS and their I-87 rival in scenic upstate New York, the ALBANY DEVILS, will bring their intense battle for American Hockey League superiority to Atlantic City on January 20, 2013. The capital city of the Empire State would be, of course, the home of the New Jersey Devils’ AHL affiliate. The two visiting foes will face-off after the 2013 New Year at the beachside BOARDWALK HALL, the facility formerly known as the Historic Atlantic City Convention Center which has a reported capacity for 10,500 ice hockey spectators and hosted the 2012 AHL All-Star Game despite not having an actual team in the league itself.
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ADIRONDACK PHANTOMS SKATING IN PENNSYLVANIA
2012/13 American Hockey League official schedule
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Jan 12 …. at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre … Sat (7:05)
Feb 02 … at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre … Sat (7:05)
Feb 22 … vs Scranton/Wilkes-Barre … Fri (7:00 – in Philadelphia)
Feb 23 … at Hershey ………………….. Sat (7:00)
Mar 17 … at Hershey ………………….. Sun (5:00)

Having departed the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania after the 2008/09 campaign, the incoming Adirondack outfit will definitely be looking to re-ignite their intra-state rivalries involving the historical Hershey Bears as well as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Penquins in the American Hockey League with an eye towards the future. Certainly, the good people marketing season tickets for the fledgling Allentown Phantoms and their inaugural 2013/14 AHL campaign at the newly-built Palace of Sport will be highlighting these contests in a bid to bolster sales and justify such massive government expenditure on a minor league ice hockey rink. A chance to sample the goods soon to be available, so to speak.

There is no question that, in the past few years, the AHL affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers has left a lot to be desired. New head coach TERRY MURRAY, the two-time winner of the Eddie Shore Trophy as the AHL’s Best Defenseman while with the then-Flyers’ affiliate Maine Mariners who does have extensive experience behind the bench at the National Hockey League level, is tasked this season with the challenge of steering the traditionally lackluster Adirondack Phantoms to their first playoff appearance, ever. Whether or not the club from upstate New York can take the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by storm or be crushed under the weight of the obvious pressure is a question which can only be answered by time.

One thing is a given — both the Bears and Penquins will be anxiously waiting to warmly greet the future in-state AHL neighbors.

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Adirondack Phantoms defenseman BRANDON MANNING (28), the 22-year-old, undrafted prospect out of Prince George, British Columbia, who made four appearances in the National Hockey League with the Philadelphia Flyers as a rookie professional last season, excitedly moves the puck up ice while trailing Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Penquins winger BRANDON DE FAZIO (24), the undrafted native of Ontario who comes via Clarkson University in Potsdam, gives frustrated chase during the American Hockey League contest at the Glens Falls Civic Center in upstate New York last spring.

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Two undrafted Canadian youngsters in the system of the National Hockey League’s Philadelphia Flyers, defenseman BRANDON MANNING (28) and center JASON AKESON, will both, in all likelihood, not make the NHL club in training camp this fall and be assigned to the Adirondack Phantoms for at least one more season in the developmental American Hockey League; the diminutive Akeson, the 22-year-old pivot from Ontario who led the Flyers’ top farm club with 55 points (14 goals) as a rookie professional last term, will be in the third and final year of his entry-level contract with the Philadelphia organization when their AHL affiliate undertakes its historic journey to the city of Allentown, Pennsylvania.
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Because neither Wikipedia nor Pravda, er, ah, The Morning Call can actually be trusted one hundred percent, of course, it was decreed by Moscow that a throughly ‘independent’ investigation with respect to Chairman PAWLOWSKI’s transformative PALACE OF SPORT be conducted. Via unidentifiable sources with direct ties to the East German Stasi, this revolutionary blog (the scourge of NIZ Cheerleaders everywhere) has obtained much of this revealing research through the usual backdoor channels. The following information was garned from a document that had been secretly copied following a successful infiltration of the NATIONAL SPORTS LAW INSTITUTE OF MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL by undercover independent investigators posing as admirers of the legendary Al McGuire :

“MINOR LEAGUE” ICE RINKS BUILT IN THE PAST 15 YEARS
(Cost reflects that of actual ice hockey facility, only)
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$ 196.0 … 2008 … 17,000 … CeHL – Tulsa Oilers
$ 158.0 … 2013 ….. 8,500 … AHL – Allentown Phantoms
$ 130.0 … 2008 ….. 9,736 … ECHL – Ontario Reign
$ 127.5 … 2011 ….. 9,437 … ECHL – Evansville Icemen
$ 126.0 … 2004 … 15,004 … NHL – Winnipeg Jets * (see notes)
$ 105.0 … 2009 ….. 7,389 … ECHL – Toledo Walleye

$ 85.0 ….. 2003 ….. 7,773 … ECHL – Las Vegas Wranglers
$ 68.0 ….. 2005 ….. 9,737 … ECHL – Stockton Thunder
$ 67.0 ….. 2000 ….. 9,852 … AHL – Manchester Monarchs
$ 65.0 ….. 2002 … 10,500 … AHL – Hershey Bears
$ 65.0 ….. 2003 … 11,355 … ECHL – Gwinnett Gladiators
$ 63.0 ….. 1998 … 13,707 … ECHL – Greenville Road Warriors
$ 60.0 ….. 2003 ….. 5,289 … ECHL – Colorado Eagles
$ 60.0 ….. 2009 ….. 5,800 … CeHL – Missouri Mavericks
$ 58.0 ….. 1997 … 10,100 … ECHL – Utah Grizzlies
$ 56.4 ….. 2000 … 12,440 ……. Bossier (LA) lost team
$ 55.0 ….. 1997 ….. 7,000 … SPHL – Fayetteville FireAntz
$ 55.0 ….. 2009 ….. 6,863 … AHL – Texas Stars
$ 53.0 ….. 1999 ….. 7,605 … ECHL – Trenton Titans
$ 52.6 ….. 2009 ….. 6,275 … CeHL – Allen Americans
$ 50.0 ….. 1997 ….. 5,002 … ECHL – Idaho Steelheads
$ 47.0 ….. 2006 ….. 6,000 ……. Rio Rancho (NM) lost team
$ 45.0 ….. 2006 ….. 5,917 ……. Broomfield (CO) lost team
$ 44.0 ….. 1999 ….. 8,300 … AHL – Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Penguins
$ 38.0 ….. 1998 ….. 8,641 … ECHL – Bakersfield Condors
$ 37.0 ….. 2006 ….. 7,000 … CeHL – Bloomington Blaze
$ 36.5 ….. 2002 ….. 8,064 ……. Laredo (TX) lost team
$ 35.0 ….. 2001 ….. 8,412 … AHL – Bridgeport Sound Tigers
$ 27.5 ….. 2000 ….. 8,400 … SPHL – Mississippi RiverKings
$ 25.0 ….. 1998 ….. 7,082 … ECHL – Florida Everblades
$ 25.0 ….. 2001 ….. 7,083 … ECHL – Reading Royals
$ 25.0 ….. 2006 ….. 4,810 … CeHL – Arizona Sundogs
$ 23.0 ….. 2003 ….. 5,500 ……. Hidalgo (TX) lost team
$ 15.5 ….. 2000 ….. 3,784 … ECHL – Elmira Jackals

KEY : facility cost in U.S. dollars / year built / capacity / league – club

ABBREVIATIONS : AHL (American Hockey League), CeHL (Central Hockey League), ECHL (East Coast Hockey League), SPHL (Southern Professional Hockey League)

NOTES — Two Canadian rinks built in the last fifteen years (and currently hosting teams in the American Hockey League) which are not listed above would be the home of the St. John’s IceCaps, which opened in 2001 (capacity : 6,287) and cost 20.5 million Canadian dollars, as well as the official ice of the Abbotsford Heat, which opened in 2009 (capacity : 7,046) and necessitated 64.0 million Canadian dollars to construct.

The MTS Centre (capacity : 15,004) in western Canada, which is now home to the National Hockey League’s second-coming of the Winnipeg Jets, was originally built in 2004 to house the American Hockey League’s Manitoba Moose for the price of 133.5 million Canadian dollars.

The Marquette report acknowledges their total listed for the Event Center in Allen, Texas, includes the cost for two parking garages in addition to the hockey rink facility – the total listed on the chart above reflects the total as reported by the Dallas Morning Star.

SOURCE — http://law.marquette.edu/assets/sports-law/pdf/sports-facility-reports/sfr/-v11-hockey-other-pdf

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The GLENS FALLS CIVIC CENTER, the modest arena in upstate New York with only 4,806 fixed seats that currently plays host to the Adirondack Phantoms and the American Hockey League, was built in 1979 and originally served as the site for the AHL affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings.
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Unidentified sources inside the Kremlin find it extremely interesting, if not outright amusing, to note that the total combined cost of the ice hockey houses ($ 134,000,000 million dollars) for the three professional clubs currently playing in the COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA (Hershey, Reading and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre) does not exceed the amount of money that Allentown’s visionary Mayor Ed Pawlowski is lavishly spreading around so that his new favorite American Hockey League team will soon call the “CITY WITH NO (Spending?) LIMITS” home.

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It is hoped by some who support the controversial N.I.Z. Law that both the nomadic Phantoms, who return to Glens Falls for a fourth season of play in upstate New York while continuing to labor in search of the franchise’s first playoff appearance in four years, and the record-shattering Palace of Sport, slated to be the most expensive “minor league” hockey rink with a capacity for less than 17,000 spectators that the world has ever seen, will be nothing less than a complete smash hit on Hamilton Street in the tax-and-spend Democrat paradise that is Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Many are, perhaps, just grateful that Chairman Pawlowski did not arbitrarily decide upon building an arena capable of holding as many people as that of Tulsa, Oklahoma — at the rate of projected financing ($ 158.0 million dollars) that will be required for the transformative Palace of Sport (8,500 capacity), an ice hockey rink with the similar capacity for 17,000 spectators in Allentown, Pennsylvania, would certainly be on proper course to cost a staggering $ 316.0 million dollars!

Must be all that union labor …

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The official proclamation appearing in Pravda, er, ah, The Morning Call announced at the beginning of August that the CITY OF ALLENTOWN was “expected to sell $ 220.0 million in bonds for an 8,500-seat hockey arena (PALACE OF SPORT), two parking garages and the bottom portions of an office building and a hotel.”

As excited ice hockey fans from all over the world flock in great numbers down to Hamilton Street and witness the magical transformation of an entire metropolis with breathless anticipation, a heroic appeal liberally progresses forth to evil / greedy / super rich Capitalists everywhere — Please help Chairman Pawlowski save the City With No Limits by splurging on behalf of the record-smashing Palace of Sport!

The Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority was reportedly instructed by SARA HAILSTONE, the city’s czar for the economic and community development bureaucratic machinery, to initiate proceedings for marketing the necessary financial instruments with purpose towards secruing the requisite cash for the spectacular “multipurpose sports complex that figures to be more than twice as expensive as other arenas built in the past 15 years.”

No, it’s not “hailstorm”, as in ‘unforgettable hailstorm of controversy created by the highly-unpopular Neighborhood Improvement Zone Law’ – that would be over the top.

“ALLENTOWN TO SELL $ 220 MILLION IN BONDS FOR ARENA COMPLEX”
(Matt Assad / The Morning Call / 08-02-2012

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Having survived a heavyweight political fight over the contentious Earned Income Tax issue, the People’s Hero in the City With No Limits courageously continues the righteous battle to build the most transformational minor league ice hockey rink the planet will ever know and, finally, be able to cheer for the Phantoms on Hamilton Street.

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Certainly, a great deal of excitement and expectation will be attached to the arrival of the world’s most expensive minor league ice hockey arena in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Surely, then, the record-smashing $ 158.0 million dollar Palace of Sport will demand more of its professional pucksters than the playoff-less performances of the now-doomed Adirondack Phantoms. Even before the structural steel has arrived at the Hamilton Street construction site, itself, the pressure to deliver results continues to build unabated in Chairman Pawlowski’s City With No Spending Limits.

The Philadelphia Flyers, undoubtedly aware of the situation at hand, have installed former National Hockey League defenseman and head coach TERRY MURRAY to lead their top minor league affiliate as it contests its last season in Glens Falls, New York. The 61-year-old native of Shawville, Quebec, skated in 115 NHL games for Philadelphia in the 1970s and early 1980s before later taking charge of the club behind the bench in the mid-1990s. Most recently, Murray was let go this past winter by the Los Angeles Kings, who, of course, went on to win the Stanley Cup a few weeks ago.

And so, Murray becomes the fourth head coach in the history of the Adirondack Phantoms as they begin their fourth season of competition in the American Hockey League … whether or not the experienced Murray can navigate the coming 2012/13 campaign in upstate New York and successfully complete the journey south to Allentown remains to be seen.

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The well-traveled Terry Murray did manage to make 302 appearances in the National Hockey League for the California Golden Seals, Philadelphia Flyers, Detroit Red Wings and Washington Capitals over the course of his 12-year career. But the typical conservative-style, stay-at-home rearguard was also a highly-decorated performer on his travels in the American Hockey League, too. Originally chosen in the 7th round (# 88 overall) of the 1970 NHL Draft by since-departed California, the Ottawa 67s product was selected AHL First Team All-Star on three occasions (1976, 1978, 1979) and also earned the Eddie Shore Award as the AHL’s best defenseman twice (’78 and ’79).

It is interesting to note that none of the six AHL clubs Murray ever played for back in his day — the Providence Reds, Baltimore Clippers, Boston Braves, Richmond Robins, Maine Mariners and Philadelphia Firebirds — still exist.

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Like it or not on principled grounds with respect to the role of Big Government in building expensive sports facilities, the notorious NEIGHBORHOOD IMPROVEMENT ZONE is now the law of the land in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The NIZ Cheerleaders happily shake their booties and shoot their mouths off about their hard-won right to blow the lid completely off the existing record for a minor league hockey arena with the impending construction of Chairman Pawlowski’s transformative $ 158.0 million dollar PALACE OF SPORT. Meanwhile, the “dour and misguided” Comrade Molovinsky moans that the People’s Democratic City With No Spending Limits now has only three pools open to service an entire metropolis in the midst of a record heat wave.

A City of Allentown spokesperson has already publically stated quite some time ago that the reason Fountain Pool remains closed is as a result of the lack of / unwillingness to spend an estimated $ 160,000 required to make needed repairs, bear in mind.

The important breaking news that actually matters to anybody who is somebody in Pawlowski’s Paradise this week, though, is the announcement that “Allentown’s cash-poor arena project will soon get a $ 10.0 million infusion that city officials hope will carry the project until the big money arrives in August”, writes MATT ASSAD in THE MORNING CALL on July 6, 2012.

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Using more imagery than any Leni Riefenstahl propaganda film worth its salt, the Honorable Pennsylvania State Representative JENNIFER MANN (D-Lehigh) asserts, “The biggest downside of the litigation is it put a dark cloud over something that is really positive for everybody.”

“I’m just glad that cloud is gone.”

The article by Assad quoting Mann did not state whether or not the Honorable State Representative, who also happens to sit on the board of the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority, was aware of all the (unnecessary?) struggles that the unfortunate City of Chester’s Mayor JOHN LINDER has experienced in getting the (deadbeat?) Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer, the occupants of $ 122.0 million dollar PPL Park, to pay its long-overdue tax bills.

The softball-tossing reporter from The Morning Call also never did ask the Honorable State Representative exactly why the Allentown Arena must be built for a seemingly obnoxious amount of money that thoroughly shatters all previous record construction costs for any minor league ice hockey arena that has ever come before Pawlowski’s oppulent Palace of Sport.

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On the other hand, one does not need to be a rocket scientist to concur that, nowadays, it’s all about the season ticket sales for the American Hockey League’s soon-to-be Assisted-Living outfit. The club’s woeful on-ice record during their stay in upstate New York already makes the job of the Phantoms’ people currently hawking season tickets to the record-smashing Allentown Arena hard enough to begin with, of course. And, it could be quite some time before the public is prepared to forget headlines proclaiming the fact that “one of the first major beneficiaries of the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone legislation championed by Senator PAT BROWNE have hired Browne’s wife, Heather, as a lobbyist.” (The Morning Call, January 30, 2012)

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Okay, Kiddies, let’s discuss all relevant current events …

“CORBETT SIGNS 2012-13 BUDGET : AMONG THE MEASURES IN THE BILL IS ONE TO RESOLVE THE ARENA DISPUTE IN THE LEHIGH VALLEY”

by John L. Micek … The Morning Call … 07/01/2012

Alright, to make a long story short and sweet — both the Suburban Earned Income Tax and the Adirondack Phantoms are, indeed, toast as we discussed about a week or so ago. Like any good would-be totalitarian dictator ruling with an iron fist, Chairman Pawlowski’s master plan of digging a monster hole first and actually securing financing second has worked out to perfection! There is now absolutely nothing standing in the way of finishing the City With No Spending Limits’ transformative Palace of Sport, which will easily break all existing records for most expensive minor league ice hockey rink ever built.

To review, according to The Morning Call, itself, the average cost of a ice hockey rink with a minor league team as the main tenant built in the last ten years is $ 80.0 million dollars. Of course, no one has EVER built a ‘minor league ice hockey rink’ for $ 100.0 million dollars or more. And the total bill for courageous as well as heroic Chairman Pawlowski’s record-smashing Palace of Sport is expected to be $ 158.0 million dollars!

The total price tag of $ 220.0 million dollars that is often tossed about in connection with the Allentown Arena reflects the projected revenue that will be spent to build not just THE most expensive minor league ice hockey rink in all the world, but the cash that will be needed to build all the fancy hotels, luxurious office buildings and God-knows whatever else is in those magical construction plans and specifications.

Alright, Kiddies, all that economic and political stuff — it’s exhausting! Let’s set a good example for the habitually insurrecting Comrade Molovinsky and have a most cooperative and non-obstructionist nap now, shall we? Yes, we shall.

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