After years of struggle, the Androscoggin Bank Colisee needed a change. The sale to Firland Management cleans the Colisee’s slate and opens the future for new opportunities.

From a fiscal perspective, the sale was less than ideal for Lewiston. The city neither recoups millions in debt for its investment into the Colisee, nor does it relinquish any potential liability if Firland defaults.

Yet hoping for a windfall was hopeless. The market for the arena was soft as goose down. Besides Firland, the only interested parties were the local youth hockey league and somebody who wanted $500,000 to take it.

If the Colisee was earning money, or breaking even, the city wouldn’t have tried to sell it. So from the beginning, the arena’s financial picture (and sizable subsidy) put the city at a disadvantage in dealing with suitors.

Calling the Firland deal a “fire sale,” though, is shortsighted. The city neither acted with desperation nor recklessness. This agreement was negotiated over the past year, a stark contrast to the city’s initial arena acquisition.

Lewiston redlined its takeover of the then-Central Maine Civic Center in 2004 to avoid losing the Maineiacs. The Firland agreement was given much more scrutiny, in comparison.

Firland receives generous terms, including a city guarantee for financing a $3 million ice rink alongside the Colisee. Lewiston did not so much sell the arena, as simply offer an attractive mortgage to a qualified buyer.

And the city is still left with debt and potential liability, and questions about whether the sale price – $1 million – is commensurate to the value of the property as pure real estate.

Questions and debt are superior to reality and subsidy, though.

Sale critics should consider the alternative: annual six-digit infusions into a smallish arena that struggles to compete for events with larger facilities 40 minutes away, both north and south.

There is value from the sale: having Colisee management that can enhance its principle offering – ice. With youth hockey, high school hockey, professional hockey and recreation, there is an ample market for a top-shelf ice arena.

Firland’s proposal to build a second rink indicates this vibrant opportunity.

Yes, Lewiston does need a large concert venue. But it also needs the Colisee’s core functions to be well managed, utilized more, and, most importantly, become independent of large taxpayer subsidies.

A return to its roots should allow for new thinking about the Colisee’s future. A second rink, if constructed, may also create greater flexibility of opportunities, as demand for ice-time could be absorbed by the new facility.

In the end, what the city council approved Tuesday was the best available deal. And the city was open to criticism about it regardless of whether it was approved or rejected.