Taxpayers Get Blue Cross Treatment

SMG, facility manager for the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, N.Y., has proposed a contract extension where taxpayers would pay at least $60,000 less to subsidize the venue each year.

A better sound system and better concessions are also part of the proposed extension at the city-owned arena at the Community War Memorial, according to the Democrat & Chronicle.

“What they should notice is improvement [in concessions],” city corporation counsel Thomas Richards told the paper. “I can’t say it will be cheaper, but what [SMG officials] intend to do is improve the quality and variety of what is offered … to get some local vendors in there, things that people relate to and enjoy.”

The city council is being asked to approve the five-year extension of SMG, which has operated the facility since 2000, with reworked terms that more directly tie revenues to performance, according to the Democrat & Chronicle.

 

The terms would be retroactive to August 1 and would reduce the annual arena subsidy, which has totaled about $500,000 in past years, to cover insurance, utilities and debt payments on past improvements, the paper reported.