Anchorage Assembly to vote June 23 on new Sullivan Arena contract

The Anchorage Assembly will vote June 23 on management contracts for three municipal ice arenas, including a deal that would hand Sullivan Arena to a new operator and commit the municipality to subsidizing operations up to $613,500 a year.

The proposed Sullivan operator is All In 49 LLC, formed by the ownership and management team of the Anchorage Wolverines. Chief Administrative Officer Bill Fauzi told the Assembly Thursday during a worksession that the subsidy model reflects a frank acknowledgment that the 6,290-seat arena has not operated profitably since before COVID-19. Previous contracts assumed the facility could be self-sustaining.

The municipality issued a formal notice of default to the prior operator, O'Malley Ice Management, which was never cured. An internal audit released in February 2026 found that the contractor did not always comply with key contract terms, including profit-sharing and documentation requirements. Fauzi said the incumbent contractor had also refused to assume the contractual obligation to pay utility costs at Sullivan Arena and sought to renegotiate, prompting the administration to launch a new request-for-proposals process.

A separate contract for the Ben Boeke and Dempsey Anderson ice arenas, proposed to be awarded to Anchorage Community Ice Management, a nonprofit partnership with the Anchorage Hockey Association, is also on the June 23 agenda.

Contract Terms

Under the proposed five-year Sullivan contract, the municipality would cover the net operating deficit up to the $613,500 cap, increasing 2 percent annually. If All In 49 operates profitably, it keeps those profits. The contract includes five additional one-year renewal options and can be terminated on six months' notice.

The administration also highlighted a new emphasis on preventive maintenance. Operators would be required to submit and work from an annual preventive maintenance plan, a requirement Fauzi described as more formalized than past arrangements. Because All In 49 is affiliated with the Wolverines, who have become the arena's anchor tenant, the contract requires that agreements with major users be at market rates and disclosed to the municipality.

Isaiah Vreeman, representing All In 49, told the Assembly the new entity intends to pursue concerts, trade shows, and conventions in addition to hockey, and said the Wolverines' event management experience would support that effort.

Accountability Questions

Assembly Member Erin Baldwin Day raised two accountability questions. She said the outgoing operator had described several hundred thousand dollars in needed repairs, covering concession areas, coolers, compressors, life safety systems, and ice rink equipment, and that nobody had verified those claims. "I really want to be sure that we have a plan for addressing those things that does not leave a new operator on the hook for potentially significant investment that they did not plan for," Baldwin Day said. She also pressed on whether a physical inventory of municipally owned equipment exists. Fauzi said the municipality does not yet have a complete inventory and that contract approval would trigger initial walkthroughs.