It’s an age-old issue when teams are negotiating a lease: who gets priority at playoff time. In Anchorage, the Sullivan Arena staff has given priority to the ECHL’s Alaska Aces — and some trade shows bumped from the venue are not pleased.
The contract provisions are pretty standard when it comes to professional hockey: the Aces have the choice of dates in April and May for playoff games. The issue was made real in recent years when the Aces — who have made the ECHL playoffs for the last seven years — were forced to move games to Wasilla because Sullivan Arena was occupied by a women’s show.
Now the owner of the women’s show is complaining because of the new provision favoring the Aces.
It’s really a matter of dollars and sense: an Aces playoff game will generate $140,000 for the team and more for the arena, a sum much larger than was generated by the women’s show.
