Sullivan Arena lost another long-term tenant Wednesday when the Alaska Fighting Championships ended a 13-year run at the aging arena in order to move to the Alaska Airlines Center.
The change will bring immediate benefits to fans and fighters when the new season begins in September, AFC owner Sarah Lorimer said.
Fans will get free parking and seats closer to the action, and fighters will get a new cage and the ability to watch other fights while in their locker rooms, she said.
As for Sullivan, it loses a steady tenant that had been worth eight midweek bookings each year — one a month from September through May.
The loss of the AFC is the latest blow to Sullivan, which recently announced operating losses of nearly $600,000 for 2016.
[Sullivan Arena posts $600,000 operating loss for 2016, well before Aces exit]
Owned by the city and run by private contractor SMG, the arena earlier this year lost its biggest tenant — the Alaska Aces hockey team, which folded at the end of the 2016-17 season. The Aces played a minimum of 38 games a season at Sullivan.
Lorimer said it's tough to leave Sullivan, but her loyalty to the arena was outweighed by the advantages of the Alaska Airlines Center, which opened in 2014 and is located on the UAA campus.
She likes the Alaska Airlines Center's digital signs and scoreboards, she likes its intimate nature — fans will sit in the lower section, she said, which will put them closer to the action — and she likes that fighters will be able to follow the action on TV screens in the locker rooms so they know much time they have before it's their turn in the octagon.
"I don't want to bash the Sullivan by any means," Lorimer said. "It's been very, very good to me. I really appreciate the last 13 years.
"… It's a very bittersweet thing for me, but there's a lot more pluses. When I weighed the good and the bad, the Alaska Airlines Center just made more sense."
Lorimer said she received immediate feedback Wednesday after the AFC announced its move.
"I had two people already call wanting to come on board (as sponsors)," she said. "People who have been to the Alaska Airlines Center love the Alaska Airlines Center."
Lorimer, who declined to compare rental costs of the two facilities, said ticket prices won't change.
The new facility means newer technology, she said, which should be a boon to fans watching the AFC on UFC Fight Pass. The AFC became part of the Ultimate Fighting Championship's online broadcast platform last season.
[AFC gets worldwide audience as part of UFC Fight Pass]
"The ability to send my stream to the UFC is going to be a lot easier," Lorimer said. "The equipment there is just new. As an example, when my commentators are sitting cage-side on their headsets at Sullivan, they can't hear each other so they're constantly talking over each other. The way the cables are run just doesn't work well. So at the new place, when they're on their headsets they're gonna be able to hear each other."
The AFC will make its Alaska Airlines Center debut on Wednesday, Sept. 20. A new $30,000, 24-foot cage — featuring a catwalk that circles the entire cage, allowing cameras to shoot the action from every angle — will make its debut the same night.
The original cage couldn't fit in the elevator at the Alaska Airlines Center, Lorimer said, but she hopes to sell it, possibly to another fight promotion in Alaska.
The AFC's exit leaves Sullivan Arena — which opened in 1983 as a sports and entertainment facility — with very few sporting events. The UAA hockey team plays its home games there, but the Great Alaska Shootout and the state high school basketball championships have relocated to the Alaska Airlines Center.
Sullivan continues to host concerts, trade shows and community events like graduation ceremonies, and a proposal to add indoor turf could attract new tenants, city development director Chris Schutte said. SMG's task is to adapt to a competitive environment created by the addition of the Alaska Airlines Center, he said.
"I think SMG (is) going to do what they can to the fill the facility with new events," Schutte said.
One thing that's unlikely to happen: Getting rid of the arena and using the land for commercial development.
"It's park land," Schutte said, "so there's not much that can be done with it."