Lewiston proposes bailout to keep Colisee open

LEWISTON – The Lewiston City Council this week will consider a $550,000 financial package to bail out the arena that’s home to the Lewiston Maineiacs semipro hockey team.

On Tuesday night, the council will take up a recommendation to lend the Androscoggin Bank Colisee $250,000 to keep it going this year, and reserve another $300,000 in case it’s needed.

City Administrator Jim Bennett, who is recommending the package, said the Colisee lost money last year and needs money to keep operating this year.

The finance package would come from a $1.1 million surplus the city now has. Bennett said the loan would not raise taxes and that the reserve cash may not be needed.

An audit shows that in the past year, the Colisee lost $477,553, because of lower attendance at Maineiacs hockey games and too few entertainment events there. The loss is not as great as the previous year’s.

Last year, average attendance at Maineiacs games was 2,499, 300 short of what was expected. Still, the audit says the Colisee generated $3.2 million in revenues last year. It also generated 2 1/2 times that amount in spending within the community, the report says.

In 2004, the City Council approved a $4.7 million plan to take ownership of the former Central Maine Civic Center in order to keep the Maineiacs from leaving the state’s second-largest city.

Bennett said hockey ticket sales alone can’t make the Colisee turn a profit. It needs to book 36 events a year to be profitable. Bennett noted that concerts and other nonhockey entertainment weren’t being booked at the Colisee at all until February 2005.

City officials believe the Colisee’s finances will turn around.

“We’re in a building mode,” said Councilor Norm Rousseau, who chairs the Colisee board. “Ticket sales are better than they were last year.”