Crunch Will See A Silver Anniversary In Syracuse

Lindsay Kramer reported the deal was as good as done on Sept. 1.  Some ten weeks later the official announcement has come that the Syracuse Crunch will continue to call the city's OnCenter War Memorial their home through at least 2019.  The franchise has played all of their home games at the 58-year-old arena since they moved to the Salt City from Hamilton, Ontario prior to the 1994-95 season.

Team owner Howard Dolgon received a large incentive to keep the franchise in Syracuse after the Onondaga County Legislature approved a new scoreboard for the old barn in September.  That's when Kramer first reported that a verbal agreement had been reached between the team and the facility for a new five-year lease with a team option for an additional five years.  It turns out that the option was taken out of the final deal.

The positive new twist is that the original pact was going to be five years, and then five one-year options. Now, it's just a straight 10-year commitment.

"We liked the direction the Oncenter is going. We've always said were going to be long-term players in the community,'' said Syracuse owner Howard Dolgon.