Portland, ME – It would appear the clock has struck midnight and Cinderella never found her prince.

In all reality it looks like time might be up for the Portland Pirates with the Cumberland County Trustees, and now it’s time for the ownership group to make a decision on whether they will stay in Portland or accepting a lease with Albany, New York’s Time Union Center.

The Civic Center Trustees met at the Civic Center for roughly two hours this morning in executive session and the message received after that meeting was the Trustees have given as much as they were prepared to give.

Now the ball in Pirates’ managing owner/CEO Brian Petrovek’s corner as the next move belongs to him.

Below is the transcript from this morning’s presser with Neal Pratt Chair of the Civic Center Trustees.

How did the meeting go and what is the direction the trustees will take?
“The meeting went very well. We had a very productive discussion among a lot of folks who have spent a lot of time and a lot of their energy analyzing this very important issue. I think we’ve come to a consensus with regard to the current position (of the Pirates) and issues on the table and we’ll be communicating those to the Pirates and see what their response is from there.”

Was there any headway made on the negotiations with the Pirates?
“As far as the terms specifically, the Pirates and Trustees have an agreement not to discuss the specific nature of the current terms under negotiation. I think I’d like to honor that.”

What point are you at in terms of deadlines? Reports are Petrovek made comments on a local radio station that a decision would be made Saturday one way or another.
“I don’t know. If that’s his position then we’ll certainly give him what our position is as a result of today’s meeting, and if that’s his time frame he will certainly have the ability to respond in that time frame. I can’t predict what his answer will be to our response.

“We don’t have a particular date. I think the board has considered very carefully all of the issues we’ve been discussing over the last weeks and months. We considered all of it and the Pirates have as well.”

“The process is near the end as a result of the fact that we just aired all issue out thoroughly.”

With the state of the economy what it is. How much of that is factored into what was discussed today?
“That’s an immense part of it. That’s one of the most significant issues. There are school boards that are laying-off, positions are being eliminated and programs are being eliminated.”

“This building has been successful in not losing money for the last six or seven years in a row prior to 2009. This building lost money in 2009 for the first time in that time period. The county has had to make cuts; the building has laid people off. The cost structure of this building is significant which we’ve been able to manage it very well. But the economic realities are settling in here, as they are elsewhere and that plays a huge role in what might be available in terms of arrangement with a sports tenant.”

Should the Pirates leave is there a backup plan to bring in another franchise?
“If the premise of the question is should the Pirates move to Albany? I don’t think they should. The board is working to try and keep the Pirates here and I think the current lease terms when they were negotiated five years ago are very fair and I think to this day are fair. Whether there is something we can do to tweak that in a way that makes sense for both parties. Certainly, we’ve been open to that and recognizing the importance of renovation and the fact that the Pirates have been working with the Civic Center, the County and the City (of Portland) toward renovating the building.

“It’s our hope that the information that we don’t yet have on the economics relating to a renovation, would make more sense to have that information before we made any sort long term commitment that based on economics calling a bigger contribution from the county to the Pirates. You just can’t make a decision based the belief or hope that the revenues will improve. “

“If (revenues) don’t (improve) and you’ve taken money away from the civic center to the hockey team then essentially you’ve made a bad deal, and we’re not prepared to do that. It would be irresponsible given our charge to the taxpayer.

How optimistic are you that a deal with get done?
“I’m hopeful. I can’t say how the Pirates will view this. I just don’t know. We’ve had a good working relationship and my hope is they recognize the economic realities that not only they face, but we face.”

“We want them to be financially successful, but we can’t allow it to happen under arrangements that would jeopardize, in our view, the financial stability of the civic center or certainly the taxpayers.”

If Portland does decide to leave is time running out on getting another tenant for next season?
We have information about what’s going on in the AHL and there are some teams who have some availability. Next year there are more teams that have availability. Our time has been spent focus on the Pirates, not looking elsewhere, but again I’m still hopeful that we can a get deal done and the economic realities will be recognized by both parties and a deal will be reached.

Have any teams contacted the county?
“We’re not negotiating with elsewhere. Nobody is negotiating terms. We’ve been focusing on the Pirates in good faith.”

Is there one specific item that is a sticking point with the board?
“There isn’t one thing; it’s more of the global economics. It’s trying to fit pieces of the puzzle in a way that makes this whole thing work. The building can’t run at a loss because that means the taxpayers are losing money or their tax obligation will be heighten. It’s not a time, with all the things that are going on right now, in our view, for increase burden on the taxpayer.”

“We would have to be persuaded that any proposal was an investment and there would be a sufficient return on that investment to make it worthwhile. The problem is one of the largest components of revenues or “enhanced revenues” is the renovation. We’re pursuing that vigorously along with the Pirates, the county and the city, but the fact is we don’t have that information that we need on what revenues might be related to that renovation so that we can base lease decision going forward for the long term. It would be irresponsible to assume certain revenues when we really don’t have any information or adequate information as to what those revenues look like.”

“We just can not do that.”

Are the trustees more in favor of a shorter term lease than the 15-years the Pirates would like?
“It doesn’t breakdown in term of shorter versus longer, but the component parts of the deal and how they all fit together. If it made sense, we didn’t have to take any risk based on assumptions that may nor may not play; I guess theoretically a longer term could be reached.”

“What we’d prefer to do is get all the information on the economics before talking about a long-term lease. Once you have the information, obviously you’re in a far better position to make a good decision about economically what reasonable and what’s responsible from a county taxpayer stand point.”

Where is the county at with the recent study from Brailsford and Dunleavy?
They are in the process of completing that study… We’re looking to (schedule) that meeting which will be an update, what I understand to be the second to last meeting before they present their conclusion so I’m guessing we’re looking at sometime in April.

That’s potentially too late for the Pirates?
“I don’t know if it is or isn’t. My hope is that it isn’t because if there were some sort of arrangement that could be made to keep the Pirates here as process goes on, then the Pirates would be able to be part of that process as they have previously, and we want them to continue in that role.”

“The one thing we can’t do is make long-term decisions based on assumption of revenues that are not yet supported by any information. We need to make sure we have adequate reliable information in order to determine how we are going to spend the taxpayer’s money.”