News

October 31, 2012

Elmira (WENY)- The owners of first arena are due in court tomorrow to prove they've made the fixes necessary to run the arena for Jackals fans. The current owners of first arena, Elmira Downtown Arena, were given a court order to pay $18,000 monthly and maintain the arena. After inspection, a judge gave EDA a list of things wrong that needed to be fixed within ten days or EDA would lose ownership. That ten day deadline was eventually extended to the end of the month, and tomorrow EDA will have to prove to a judge that they did follow through on their promise. The Afr's who are the current owners of First Arena, are scheduled to appear in court tomorrow in Rochester. ELM Arena LLC, the company owned by local businessman Tom Freeman will also be present. The judge will decide if EDA fixed everything they had to in order to meet the court's deadline. I went inside First Arena this evening with General Manager Matt Hufnagel, who gave me a look at the repairs. They fixed a hot and cold water problem in the showers, a cracked sewer pipe under the locker rooms, the broken Zamboni, the fire alarm system that would malfunction, and a broken ice compressor. Hufnagel says after a lot of hard work, all of the problems have been taken care of.

    “We've been working together so that everybody is comfortable with this place and I think there might be some things that will be a work in progress as we go here but it has been nothing but positive discussions, but every body just wants one thing and that's a great arena here in downtown Elmira,” says Hufnagel.

      We will bring you an update as we find out more tomorrow as both parties get out of court. On a lighter side of this story, the First Arena problems haven't bothered the jackals, who are are 5-1 at home so far this season..