SYRACUSE — The Syracuse Crunch is hoping to make a big splash with their planned “Frozen Dome Classic,” the first professional hockey game held in the Carrier Dome, when it takes the ice with the Utica Comets on Nov. 22. “I really believe that Syracuse is … a big-event market,” Howard Dolgon, owner of the […]
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SYRACUSE — The Syracuse Crunch is hoping to make a big splash with their planned “Frozen Dome Classic,” the first professional hockey game held in the Carrier Dome, when it takes the ice with the Utica Comets on Nov. 22.
“I really believe that Syracuse is … a big-event market,” Howard Dolgon, owner of the Syracuse Crunch, said in his remarks during a June 11 news conference in the Carrier Dome to announce the November contest.
The team on June 25 announced that Toyota will serve as the title sponsor for the Frozen Dome Classic. The same company also served in the same role for the Crunch’s Mirabito Outdoor Classic on Feb. 20, 2010.
Tickets for this November’s Carrier Dome game went on sale to the general public on June 24 and range in price from $20 to $50, the Crunch said.
“We’re going to be using the same configuration as the basketball [court],” James (Jim) Sarosy, COO of the Syracuse Crunch, said in answering a question from the assembled media.
Capacity for the Frozen Dome Classic will in the mid-30,000s, he added.
Besides the matchup between the Crunch and Comets, which both play in the American Hockey League, the daylong hockey showcase will also feature an NCAA Division III matchup between the Utica College Pioneers and the Oswego State Lakers.
The event will also include a law-enforcement charity game involving the Syracuse and Utica police departments prior the Crunch-Comets game.
Conroe, Texas–based Ice Rink Events, which assisted in the production of the outdoor game at the State Fairgrounds, will provide assistance and the rink for the Frozen Dome Classic as well, Sarosy said.
“We’re going to be given access [to the Dome] on a Monday morning as early as possible and hope to have ice Thursday night, so it’ll be a quick, quick turnaround,” he added.
Bringing ice and generators inside the facility, transitioning in “very short order” during football-to-basketball season, and an ice-hockey game is a “tremendous undertaking” for [Carrier Dome Managing Director] Pete [Sala] and his staff, Joe Giansante, executive senior associate athletics director and chief communications officer and external affairs, said during his remarks at the press conference.
“It’ll be one of those things that we’ll always remember about being here in the Dome,” Giansante said.
As Crunch officials fielded questions from the media, the Business Journal News Network asked Dolgon about the cost to stage the Frozen Dome Classic.
“A lot,” Dolgon said in response. “A lot with a few zeros after that.”
“Times 10 a lot,” Sarosy added.
But Dolgon also believes he has a “very fair deal” with Syracuse University for the event.
“We know that the university puts on first-class events. So we’re going into this knowing what the risk is and what the reward could be,” he added.
In his remarks, J. Ryan McMahon II, chairman of the Onondaga County Legislature, discussed the county’s role.
“We run many of things that people enjoy in our community and our downtown in our arts and cultural [activities] on room-occupancy tax, so it’s a great opportunity, it’s a great investment,” said McMahon.
And Saturday won’t be the only day with activities surrounding this event, Dolgon said.
“We plan on [that] Friday to have a celebration of hockey in New York state … to have as many youth hockey players participate and enjoy the comforts of the Carrier Dome and ice hockey in the Dome,” said Dolgon.
The Crunch is also planning a fan festival in the part of the Dome that’s not used for the game.
“That will develop as we come up with more ideas,” Dolgon said.
It’s not the first time the Crunch has hosted a hockey matchup outside the Onondaga County War Memorial, its regular home venue.
The Crunch in 2010 played the Binghamton Senators in the Mirabito Outdoor Classic at the New York State Fairgrounds.
And even though he’s now on the management side of the sport, one of the Comets’ top officials played in a special-event matchup in even colder conditions.
Robert Esche, current general manager of the Utica Comets and a former National Hockey League goaltender, recalled playing in the 2009 Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) All-Star Game outdoors in Moscow’s Red Square
The temperature was 17-below zero and he’ll “never forget it,” Esche said in his comments at the news conference.
“Being able to play inside and setting a record … is something from a historic level for both franchises for Utica and Syracuse,” he says.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com