Your recent editorial, “Taxpayers out in cold in Civic Center standoff,” stated, “Here’s hoping the Civic Center board of trustees are able to draw at least 38 more acts to replace the vacated Pirates. If that happens, the taxpayer may yet survive this bungled deal.”

However, this is misleading. As few as 10 to 12 concerts at the civic center could potentially bring in more revenue to the civic center itself than 38 Pirates games, since the venue fees for concerts are much higher and more profitable for the arena. Yes, the Civic Center needs to find 38 events to help support businesses around the Civic Center that rely on those Pirates games, but the vast majority of Cumberland County taxpayers will likely not be getting the short end of the stick here.

In addition, I’m more than willing to bet that they will find a new hockey team to become a tenant next year or the year after, be that another AHL team (if the Pirates move out of the state), an ECHL team or a junior league team. Regardless, the revamped arena will be a bigger draw for concerts and other events, and with the Pirates not clogging the schedule, the Civic Center will be free to bring in these events almost at will. In fact, more concerts and other events will be more attractive to a larger spread of Cumberland County residents than an AHL hockey team, meaning a larger spread of Cumberland County taxpayers will actually receive some additional value for their investment.

Marc Drouin

Westbrook