Profit may be out of the question for the Central Maine Civic Center. Lewiston, in taking over the facility, hopes to at least break even.

But even that might be a stretch.

As Sun Journal writer Kathryn Skelton reports today, other publicly owned civic centers have a tough time making a buck and require consistent funding from public sources. In Bangor, Portland and similar venues in Canada, the costs outpace the direct revenue generated.

By taking over the civic center, city leaders hope to keep the Lewiston Maineiacs here, using the hockey franchise as a building block for success. But the deal makes it possible for the team to break its lease and move, leaving the city’s deal on ice.

The agreement signed between the city and team owners lasts for 15 years. But the team has an out. If attendance does not average 2,500 for half the home games in a season, the team can relocate after two seasons without penalty. Average attendance this year was about 1,900 a game. That means a 32 percent increase in attendance is necessary to satisfy the deal.

The city, for its $4.7 million investment, hopes to reap the benefits of a functioning civic center downtown. According to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, the Maineiacs’ league, a team could generate a positive economic impact between $3 million and $5 million a year.

We hope so.

City Administrator Jim Bennett said: “If people fail to go and people fail to support the team, the city will end up paying tax dollars.”

That’s not fair. If residents don’t fill the seats at Maineiacs’ games, it’s because the city misjudged the market. Members of the council and the city staff decided we needed a hockey team. They made that decision quickly and without a vote or referendum.

If hockey fans fill the seats, the city will be proven right. If they don’t, then we’re all left holding the bag. Brilliant success, mediocre results or outright failure – whatever the outcome – you can’t blame it on residents who may or may not like hockey. The responsibility belongs to city leaders.


No ‘bad guys’


It’s too early to judge the success of Maine Rx Plus. But early indications are positive.

The telephone number that was set up to provide interested Mainers with information has been flooded with calls – almost a thousand a day – since Gov. John Baldacci announced enrollment would open this weekend.

The drugstores that are participating in the program are counting on high levels of participation. In the first phase of Maine Rx Plus, pharmacies are providing the discounts that make possible the reduced prices for eligible customers. In the second phase, after the program is running and has developed a large number of participants, the state hopes to use that buying power to negotiate deep discounts with drug makers. At that point, the pharmacies would benefit from a large pool of new customers and at least part of the costs would be shifted elsewhere.

About 110 pharmacies are participating. Trish Riley, the director of the Office of Health Policy and Finance, likes to call these pharmacies the “good guys.” And that they are.

But it doesn’t make the others “bad guys.” Maine Rx Plus is a leap of faith for the drugstores. They have to believe that the projections that 275,000 people will sign up are accurate and that the state will be successful when it comes time to deal with drug makers. They’re gambling that the manufacturers won’t just pass along the cost of the discounts.

We believe Maine Rx Plus will work, that it will create an attractive market that will benefit everyone involved, buyer and seller. Drugstores and pharmaceutical companies will benefit by having more customers, and the customers will benefit from lower prices. Right now, the people who are taking the risk, though, are the drugstores.


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