It started out as the First Union (FU) Arena then FU was bought by Wachovia so they changed the name to the Wachovia Arena. Now Wachovia has been swallowed by Wells Fargo and they decided to get out of the naming rights business after the ten year contract expired.
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The slots parlor in Plains Twp. has a 55% tax on gross revenue and I don't know of any other business that could survive with that high of a tax burden so there must be so much money in the gambling business that they could absorb that and the financing costs of building the place plus labor and other operating expenses with money left over for a big marketting budget.
The Arena opened in 1999 and just celebrated it's 10 year anniversary of opening with a show with Neil Diamond and the first puck drop of the Penguins this past weekend with an open house.
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The LuLac Political Letter has a recap of the politics involved getting the place built. It turned out to be a good thing that the referendum guaranteeing the bond issue was voted down even though it resulted in a smaller building. The place has been run by a professional management company since it opened and the politicians have not been able to treat it as another patronage plum unlike the the baseball stadium at Montage.
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Former State Rep Kevin Blaum was the person who got this thing built despite opposition from talk radio and the host town of Wilkes-Barre Township which now is raking in the property tax revenue. It spurred a building spree that turned a wasteland of abandoned strip mines into the most vibrant retail hub in the Wyoming Valley.
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David is more eloquent than I ever could be:
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"they should construct a statue of Kevin Blaum with the Representatives’s figure facing the arena so that his back could be facing Wilkes Barre Township”...So everyone in Wilkes Barre Twp. who opposed the arena could kiss his ass”.
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