Arena Loses Out On Exhibitions For One Season

There will be no National Hockey League or National Basketball Association exhibitions in Spokane this fall.

Spokane Chiefs owner Bobby Brett, who has exclusive rights to hockey events in the Arena, said Wednesday the NHL game has been put off a year.

The San Jose Sharks will open their exhibition season in Boise. They return to Spokane next year, Brett said.

The Chiefs will host the championship event of major junior hockey, the Memorial Cup, in May.

“Asking our fans to support Memorial Cup (ticket) packages, Chiefs packages and NHL packages is a lot in one season,” Brett said. “We’re committed to putting on the best Memorial Cup event we can.”

The Chiefs and Sharks will complete their three-year contract in September 1998.

The Chiefs are committed to bringing an NHL exhibition game to Spokane every year, Brett said.

“This is a special circumstance,” he said. “We only have the Memorial Cup once.”

The annual NBA game in the Arena featuring the Seattle SuperSonics has been on hold for weeks.

With the Sonics electing to hold exhibitions in Seattle and other more profitable venues, Tom Barbieri of Goodale & Barbieri, the firm that promoted the game, said other possibilities were looked at, including a Portland Trail Blazers-Washington Wizards game here.

Nothing could be worked out, Barbieri confirmed Wednesday.

, DataTimes