enlarge Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

AHL President Dave Andrews holds a news conference Thursday at the Cumberland County Civic Center to announce that the Portland Pirates will host the 2010 AHL All-Star Game.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

MONDAY, JAN. 18, 2010

• 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. – AHL All-Star Classic Welcome Reception, Ocean Gateway terminal

• 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. – All-Star Skills Competition, Cumberland County Civic Center

• 9 p.m. to midnight – Post-Skills Competition Party, Holiday Inn by the Bay ballroom

TUESDAY, JAN. 19, 2010

• Time to be determined – Community appearances at the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital and United Way of Greater Portland

• 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. – AHL Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Merrill Auditorium

• 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. – AHL All-Star Game

• 10 p.m. – AHL All-Star Game "Old Port" Pub Crawl

TICKETS

Tickets, priced at $49 and $42, include admission to both the AHL Skills Competition and the All-Star Game and will go on sale to the general public Sept. 25. Group tickets (25 people or more) are $29 for either event or $36 for both. Tickets for admission to the social events are $20 each, or $50 for the reception, skills competition party and AHL Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.

PORTLAND — Portland was chosen from among four cities vying for the right to host the 2010 American Hockey League All-Star Classic – and the payoff could be an estimated $1.4 million for local businesses next winter.

Dave Andrews, the league's president and CEO, officially awarded the event to the city and the Portland Pirates on Thursday, holding a news conference at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

The AHL All-Star Classic, with Time Warner Cable as the title sponsor, will take place Jan. 18-19. The event will include the Skills Competition at 7 p.m. Jan. 18 and the AHL All-Star Game at 7 p.m. Jan. 19, both at the civic center.

It will be the second time in seven years that the civic center has hosted the festivities. The event also will include the AHL Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, to be held at 4 p.m. Jan. 19 at Merrill Auditorium.

"For us to be in position to have it twice, that's meaningful for us," said Pirates President and CEO Brian Petrovek, whose team also hosted the 2003 All-Star Classic.

Andrews said three other AHL cities, which he did not name, bid for the 2010 game. Portland's experience in hosting the event, the community's connection to the Pirates, and the television-friendly and fan-friendly confines of the civic center all factored into the decision to award the event to Portland, he said.

City officials estimate that hosting the all-star event will have an economic impact of about $1.4 million. A large portion of that will aid the tourism and hospitality industries, particularly hotels and restaurants, during what's typically a slow winter period.

Worcester, Mass., hosted the 2009 AHL all-star event in January. Although official figures were not available Thursday, the New England Cable Network previously reported that the event brought an estimated $1.5 million in revenue to the local economy.

"It was a full house and an exciting time to be here," said Richard B. Kennedy, president of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. "People (were) coming in from all over the country, and it fills the hotels and restaurants in the area, whether it's the game itself ... (or) because of the peripheral activities."

Kennedy said drumming up sponsorship from local businesses will be key in promoting the various activities throughout the event.

"There's a lot of knocking on doors to convince people that they'll get some exposure by becoming a sponsor," he said.

Andrews said the dates for next year's event were selected in part because of television availability. The 2009 Skills Competition and All-Star Game were televised across North America, and Andrews said both reached 100 million households.

"It's difficult to get a television window with exclusivity," Andrews said. "It's an Olympic year (in 2010), and with Canadian TV this was the best window for them."

The Pirates hosted the event in 2003 in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of professional hockey in Portland. The game drew 7,000 to the civic center, but it is remembered by many for a technical snafu: The arena's sound system crashed about an hour before the game, and there was no music or other amplified sound for nearly two periods.

Andrews said the problems in 2003 didn't hurt Portland's bid for the 2010 event.

"It didn't give us pause," he said. "Other than 15 minutes of intense stress, it was one of the most entertaining experiences we've had at the all-star game. But there would have been nothing that would have concerned us.

"It's a capable building, capable of hosting the event. It's not state-of-the-art, but it's a quality facility."

Steve Crane, general manager of the civic center, has already taken preventative measures to ensure that the sound system works this time, part of logistical planning for the event.

"The appropriate experts will be on hand to make sure the sound...