The nonprofit organization that oversees Bill Gray’s Regional Iceplex in Brighton claims in a new lawsuit that the arena’s former operator siphoned $300,000 from the facility for his personal gain over a period of seven years.
Monroe Community Sports Centre Corp. alleges that Scott Branovan “without budget authorization” placed himself on the payroll and caused the nonprofit to pay him wages, benefits, and expense reimbursements through its debit card.
Branovan’s company, End 2 End Sports, was under contract to run the facility from 2012 through 2019 in exchange for a monthly management fee, according to the nonprofit.
MCSCC has since managed the facility on its own through its executive director. The nonprofit filed its complaint Tuesday in state Supreme Court.
An email to Branovan seeking comment was not returned.
Bill Gray’s Regional Iceplex is a 176,000-square-foot arena containing four ice rinks and a restaurant and bar on Monroe Community College’s Brighton campus. The facility draws roughly 1.7 million visitors annually, according to MCSCC, mostly by hosting hockey games, practices, and tournaments.
The complex opened in 1998 as ESL Sports Centre to great fanfare but was quickly beset by financial problems that would dog MCSCC for years and push the nonprofit to the brink of bankruptcy.
The problems hindered MCSCC’s ability to pay down its debt on the roughly $13 million in bonds that Monroe County’s economic development arm floated for the facility’s construction.
Within a decade, the nonprofit’s auditors were publicly expressing worry about whether the organization could continue operating. The nonprofit’s recent tax records show it has nearly $11 million in outstanding debt.
Anthony Adams, MCSCC’s lawyer, said in a brief interview Wednesday that the facility is now turning a profit, but that much of the gains are being eaten by costs related to maintenance that had been put off.
The facility is expected to be renamed soon, as MCSCC recently ended its naming rights agreement with Bill Gray’s.
