County Rejects Plan for Outdoor Crunch Game

Game could move to Carrier Dome

SYRACUSE- The Onondaga County Legislature voted down a measure 14-2 to spend $350,000 in county room occupancy tax for Alliance Bank Stadium to host an outdoor Syracuse Crunch game.

Legislators initially approved a measure to spend $75,000 on the game, with the money being reimbursed through concession and parking revenues at the game.

The proposed game at Alliance Bank Stadium comes after the three outdoor National Hockey League games that were extremely successful bringing in revenue to the cities of Edmonton, Buffalo and Chicago.

Crunch president Howard Dolgon was not surprised the measure was voted down.

"Once again we were disappointed but not at all surprised by the short-sighted and narrow-minded thinking of the individuals in decision making power within the community where our hockey team plays," said Dolgon. "Leave us out."

Plan B for the Crunch seems to be having a game played in the Carrier Dome. While this option eliminates the possibility of having the game played outdoors, a mere change of venue from the War Memorial might attract more fans.

The Crunch say there is a scheduled meeting with Syracuse University this morning about having the game played in the Carrier Dome.

UPDATE: Director of Athletic Communications for Syracuse University Pete Moore has told NCC News the newest plan is to have the Crunch and the Syracuse University Women's Hockey team play a double-header in the Carrier Dome.

Times and the order of the games have not yet been determined and the planning of the event is still in its preliminary stages.