Robbie Nichols Out As Elmira Jackals GM

[BK Triple Threat]

Originally Posted by Cyclones Rock

Papista and Afr were both involved with a hockey franchise in Louisville years ago. As best I can recall, Afr owned the team and Papista was the GM. Perhaps things didn't end well between them given Papista's presence on the Nichol's phone call. I'll also assume that when Nichols started getting screwed by Afr, he contacted Papista and wanted a friendly witness to a conversation.

Papista was a very nice man to people while he was in Dayton. I didn't have any professional dealings with him, so I don't know anything about him that way. While he may have made a few mistakes along the way, it's my feeling that the market conditions in Dayton had deteriorated to the point where hockey was not viable anymore by the time Papista took over the Bombers. No one was able to turn a profit on the Bombers in the dozen or so years they were at The Nutter Center. Papista was the fourth and final owner of the Bombers during their tenure at The Nutter Center.

You could very well be right. I just know that fans from other cities were saying they hoped that was a joke when they saw his name.

I know this, Dayton has struggled after him so I can't imagine he is the root of Dayton hockey problems.

[BK Triple Threat]

Robbie was in attendance Friday night and today dressed up as usual. Walked the concourse at intermissions, talked to him for a bit. One of my buddies talked to him today and he said Afr awhile back signed a 3 year extension with the ECHL. He also said that someone was interested in buying the arena if Afr gets rejected by county legislation. It was someone who owned a gas company was what I heard.

[CrazyEddie20]

With Papista, no, he wasn't the source of the problem, but he and MacAdam never had the capital to properly operate the franchise in a way that would make breaking even a possibility. This is a common problem across minor league hockey and might be the #1 cause for teams folding.

Teams in the ECHL don't sign "three year extensions," memberships are renewed annually.

There is a guy in Western NY who used to own a gas company who has a big interest in the hockey business, and buying FirstArena would require him to dig through his couch cushions.

[jsh99j3]

Costa Papista is the one signing the paychecks at the arena, starting 2 weeks ago

[Cyclones Rock]

The ECHL should probably revoke Afr's franchise at the end of the season. Given the history of this clown and the recent events, the league could probably find a legitimate reason very easily.

The league could then issue a new franchise (legal entity) to someone-perhaps Mr. Moneybags of the couch cushion wealth which would continue play at First Arena. Of course, there are probably many issues surrounding the arena lease which could make this very messy and could possibly negate the issuance of a new franchise in Elmira.

This actually happened in Dayton about 10 years ago. After going to the league finals in 2002, owner Jean Gagnon didn't even pay his players their playoff money. He stiffed a number of suppliers as well. The league then revoked Gagnon's franchise and a new franchise was issued to Tim Reilly and the team retained the use of the Bombers name and logos. Gagnon didn't put up any significant fight to stop the league from doing this as best I can recall.

Tim Reilly ultimately sold the team to Papista/MacAdam two years later.

[BK Triple Threat]

Originally Posted by Cyclones Rock

The ECHL should probably revoke Afr's franchise at the end of the season. Given the history of this clown and the recent events, the league could probably find a legitimate reason very easily.

The league could then issue a new franchise (legal entity) to someone-perhaps Mr. Moneybags of the couch cushion wealth which would continue play at First Arena. Of course, there are probably many issues surrounding the arena lease which could make this very messy and could possibly negate the issuance of a new franchise in Elmira.

This actually happened in Dayton about 10 years ago. After going to the league finals in 2002, owner Jean Gagnon didn't even pay his players their playoff money. He stiffed a number of suppliers as well. The league then revoked Gagnon's franchise and a new franchise was issued to Tim Reilly and the team retained the use of the Bombers name and logos. Gagnon didn't put up any significant fight to stop the league from doing this as best I can recall.

Tim Reilly ultimately sold the team to Papista/MacAdam two years later.

I know fans have emailed the league and someone must have given them a line to use because no matter your message they said that Afr has a long term commitment to the E and this city.

The lease is someone else owns the joint, leases it out to Afr and he pays all the bills(not just during hockey season) STED gets assets, whatever the hell those actually are.

Robbie didn't get paid in February. Stated in the paper he always made sure the players got paid, whether that was from his own back pocket or he somehow forced Doc to, I don't know.

I know back in the UHL Days there were stories of guys not getting paid and such.

The sad thing is this is all peasant money to Doc.

[BK Triple Threat]

Originally Posted by CrazyEddie20

With Papista, no, he wasn't the source of the problem, but he and MacAdam never had the capital to properly operate the franchise in a way that would make breaking even a possibility. This is a common problem across minor league hockey and might be the #1 cause for teams folding.

Teams in the ECHL don't sign "three year extensions," memberships are renewed annually.

There is a guy in Western NY who used to own a gas company who has a big interest in the hockey business, and buying FirstArena would require him to dig through his couch cushions.

The guys initials aren't TP are they?

Originally Posted by jsh99j3

Costa Papista is the one signing the paychecks at the arena, starting 2 weeks ago

Nice, thanks for the info, I didn't know that. Wonder why, Robbie was still around 2 weeks ago. I know him and Doc have been at odds since the season basically began. Everyone thought a certain someone was coming to town. This is all an interesting delimma, I recall when Robbie came to town they mentioned how him and Afr were friends for like almost 20 years. I remember when he first got here, he had that mustache, just that appearance of "oh no he's a bad dude" I really thought he was coming here to help Doc run this into the ground.

[BK Triple Threat]

Actually the gas guys are apparently from PA. We have that whole Marcellus Shale near by. The greatness of living on the state boarder.

Anyway it sounds very much like an investigation of the joint is forthcoming:

http://www.tcriernews.com/article/Lo...of_Arena/22913

In addition to the property taxes being in arrears for numerous years, some of the other concerns the County Executive relayed were over the facility's possession, and lapse in coverage, of both liability insurance and property insurance as well as a report that the fire alarm and fire suppression systems have been nonoperational for a period of time. Santulli stated he has heard from utility companies, creditors, and vendors that bills have not been paid in a timely fashion for many years.

http://www.wetmtv.com/news/local/sto....cspx?rss=2131

Santulli says he would like a thorough investigation of the First Arena's operations and financials to be completed by an outside consultant. Santulli says Mostafa Afr has operated First Arena poorly for years. He says the property has over $8 million in publicly invested funds. Other concerns include non-operational fire alarm systems.

Santulli says, "The county's not going to stand for it and we're going to go out and take a hard look and for the next few months the facility will stay exactly the way it was until we complete our request proposals to see who else might be interested in running it."

Santulli says Afr has not lived up to an agreement of their lease. Santulli would like to present the investigation findings to the legislature no later than June 30th.

County Legislators have scheduled a special meeting on the foreclosure for Monday, March 12th at 6:45 p.m. Here, they'll either accept Santulli's recommendation to hold off on the First Arena foreclosure and begin an investigation.

Or, they accept the Afr's $136,000 in back taxes and fees for late payment.

I have it on good authority from people that socialize with the county heads that they want him OUT. I see no way theres not an investigation and I see no way Doc survives. I also have heard there was almost no season this year as there were rats in the joint and Doc wasn't gunna take care of it until a health inspector came in and forced him to.