It's a Deal: Pro Soccer Gets To Use Stadium
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We want soccer back, SkyChiefs board tells professional soccer team. 
Syracuse Post Standard, Thursday, April 20, 2006 By Matt Michael Staff writer
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Monolith Athletic Club's 16-month struggle to bring a professional soccer team back to Syracuse ended Wednesday with a peaceful 10-minute meeting. 
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Monolith executive vice president Allen LaVenture entered Wednesday's meeting with the Syracuse SkyChiefs' baseball team expecting tense negotiations over the use of Alliance Bank Stadium. 
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Instead, the chairman of the SkyChiefs' board of directors, Charlie Rich, told LaVenture the board wants soccer back. Not only that, but the SkyChiefs will not charge Monolith one cent to play at Alliance. 
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So Monolith gets to keep all of the concession, advertising, admission and parking revenue from its games, giving it a better chance to survive than its predecessor, the Syracuse Salty Dogs. The Salty Dogs paid the SkyChiefs $2,500 a game and contributed $40,000 of the $50,000 the SkyChiefs owe annually to turf-replacement and stadium-infrastructure funds.  The Salty Dogs, who played at Alliance in 2003-04, lost money and folded after the 2004 season. 
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"We left (the meeting) looking forward to working together and having a positive relationship and bringing more people to the building, not just for soccer but for baseball, too," said LaVenture, who first approached the SkyChiefs and Onondaga County in December 2004 to talk about the new soccer team. 
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Monolith plans to apply for an expansion franchise in the United Soccer League's First Division (formerly the A League). USL vice president Tim Holt said his league has always been interested in Syracuse, but it wouldn't consider Monolith's application until the team had a stadium lease and a deal with the SkyChiefs. 
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"This seemed like it was the most difficult obstacle in the way of pro soccer returning to Syracuse, so we're certainly very pleased to hear of these developments," Holt said. 
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LaVenture met Wednesday with Rich, SkyChiefs general manager John Simone, SkyChiefs executive vice president Tex Simone and board member Armand Magnarelli. The SkyChiefs' board met Monday for the first time this year, and several members said the board directed John and Tex Simone to strike a deal with Monolith as quickly as possible. 
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Magnarelli, a former soccer player, said LaVenture was stunned by the SkyChiefs' offer. "He was very happy," Magnarelli said. "He didn't expect to hear what we told him.  "We all love soccer; none of us are against it," Magnarelli added. "I said, 'Why don't we just do it and get it over with?' Tex absolutely agreed, and so did John." 
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In September, Monolith worked out the terms of a stadium lease with Onondaga County, which owns Alliance. LaVenture and SkyChiefs officials said Wednesday that whatever Monolith pays to use Alliance, that money will go directly to the county. 
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Monolith has agreed to pay the county $3,000 a game, a figure that will likely increase as utility costs rise. County Executive Nick Pirro and County Attorney Tony Rivizzigno said the details of that lease will remain intact, and it can be finalized without any further snags. 
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Pirro said the question he has been asked the most in recent months was, "Are we going to get soccer back?" 
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"It's good news for all sports fans in this area and we look forward to working with the soccer team and the SkyChiefs to have this stadium filled with fans from both sides," Pirro said. 
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Soon after meeting with the SkyChiefs and county in 2004, LaVenture found the financial backer he needed for the team in Manhattan millionaire Vito William Lucchetti, who started the Marcellus Group last year to buy and restore properties in Marcellus. 
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But before Monolith could apply for a team, it needed to work out the stadium lease with the county and negotiate with the SkyChiefs. Under the terms of their lease with the county, the SkyChiefs are entitled to about 40 cents out of every dollar spent at the concession stands at Alliance. (The concessionaire gets the rest). Minor-league teams rely on concession revenue, so LaVenture had to work out a deal with the SkyChiefs. 
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But Monolith had a difficult time negotiating a lease, first with the county and then with the SkyChiefs. Meanwhile, the SkyChiefs and county were in the middle of a dispute over the SkyChiefs' lease at Alliance that has remained unresolved despite two sessions with a mediator. 
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"From day one, it's been a difficult situation," LaVenture said. "As frustrating as it may have been in the past, I do understand that (the SkyChiefs) are running a business, and now we're moving forward and I'm excited about it." 
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John Simone said the SkyChiefs' position Wednesday mirrored what they've been saying for several months: that the team supports soccer at Alliance. 
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"For some reason, it was always part of the mediation on the county's side," Simone said. "I don't know why it was, but it was and now it isn't so we can move on with it." 
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The next issue for the SkyChiefs and county is replacing the worn-out Astroturf at Alliance with FieldTurf, the synthetic grass that would be a better playing surface for baseball and soccer. Pirro said he and Deputy County Executive Ed Kochian talked Wednesday about taking the project to the county Legislature so the FieldTurf could be installed in the fall. 
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Rivizzigno, the county's point man in the mediation sessions, said he was encouraged by Wednesday's developments because allowing a professional soccer team to play at Alliance was one of the county's requests in mediation. 
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"As far as I'm concerned, I think it's a great step forward, and it shows a spirit of cooperation from the SkyChiefs," Rivizzigno said. "To me, that's an indication that we can get the rest of these issues resolved." 
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