Sports Centre’s prime tenant feels out new hosts
As the overseer of the Sports Centre at MCC in Brighton contemplates filing for bankruptcy to restructure more than $10 million in debt, its prime tenant, Rochester Youth Hockey, has begun shopping for a new home.
The youth hockey group, which accounts for about a third of the Sports Centre’s annual income and has operated out of the complex since it opened in 1998, has approached several competing ice skating facilities around Monroe County seeking ice time and office accommodations for the upcoming hockey season and beyond.
Monroe Community Sports Centre Corp., the nonprofit organization that governs the Sports Centre, was also a recipient of the 11-page request for proposals, which was dated Feb. 3 and demanded a response by Feb. 23. Rochester Youth Hockey has a five-year contract with the Sports Centre Corp. that expires July 31.
The prospect of losing Rochester Youth Hockey as a tenant invariably complicates matters for the Sports Centre Corp., whose auditors have expressed “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue operations and whose officials have acknowledged that a structured bankruptcy may be the only way to resolve its debt stemming from overdue bond payments.
At the same time, the majority holder of the bonds, a company run by local developer David Christa and Illinois businessman Leon Lekai, has stated publicly that it has no immediate plans to foreclose and that the facility would remain open for the foreseeable future. The company, Empire Ice LLC, has the contract to manage the facility.
The most recent public financial records for the Sports Centre show that without its debt service it would have turned a small profit.
Rochester Youth Hockey board member and lawyer John Bansbach said soliciting other arenas is a prudent business move given the Sports Centre’s financial circumstances.
“We’re just trying to make sure that we explore our choices and see what’s out there,” Bansbach said. “We would love to stay at (the Sports Centre). But what if (the Sports Centre) wasn’t to be open this fall? We’re just trying to do our due diligence.”
Federal tax filings show that Rochester Youth Hockey spent about $629,000 on ice rentals in 2008, the vast majority of it at the Sports Centre, located on the campus of Monroe Community College. Tax filings for the same year show the Sports Centre’s income was about $1.95 million.
The youth hockey organization, with its 750 players and 42 teams, also hosts several tournaments at the Sports Centre that account for tens of thousands of dollars of additional revenue for the facility.
The Sports Centre Corp. has not responded to Freedom of Information Law requests dating to December from the Democrat and Chronicle for more precise financial data.
The nonprofit is not legally subject to the law, but the administration of County Executive Maggie Brooks has advised county-created nonprofit corporations to follow public records laws. The county created Sports Centre Corp. in 1998 and the majority of the organization’s board members are appointed by county government.
Sports Centre Corp. President Jack Driscoll said the organization would bid for Rochester Youth Hockey’s business.
“The facility is a community asset and we want as broad community participation as possible, especially from the youth,” Driscoll said. “When they go out there, I’m confident that they will continue with the Sports Centre because it’s a world-class facility and provides the best services around.”
There will likely be some competition.
“I’m absolutely interested in entertaining it,” said Bruce Rizzo, the owner of Lakeshore Hockey Arena in Greece, where Rochester Youth Hockey had been based before relocating to the Sports Centre. “I’m in the rink business and I need to sell every hour of ice I can.”
