SAGINAW, MI — The Saginaw Spirit will be calling The Dow Event Center home for at least another five years due to a lease extension announced Wednesday, Nov. 14.

The major junior ice hockey team, part of the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League, has signed the agreement with SMG, the facility management company that runs the facility.

In the contract, the team agrees to pay rent to SMG through the 2016-2017 season.

"We hope it's another five years beyond that," Spirit President Craig Goslin said.

Goslin declined to release specific details of the lease agreement.

After county voters in 2010 approved a 10-year, 0.225 mill property tax levy to support operations at The Dow Event Center, SMG extended its operating agreement with Saginaw County 10 years through the 2021-22 season.

Before that levy was passed, the team reportedly considered a move to Midland in 2009, and fears have persisted that the franchise may pull up stakes and leave Saginaw.

Goslin said the team was keeping its options open in case the levy had failed. He said support from county taxpayers and ticket sales to residents in Bay, Midland and Saginaw counties are all essential to keeping the franchise financially sustainable.

"The taxpayers of Saginaw County approved the millage over a year ago now," Goslin said. "That was a major component for us to be able to stay here."

The majority of ticket buyers are from Saginaw County, he said. Another 30 percent are from Midland County and 16 percent from Bay County, according to Goslin.

Matt Blasy, general manager of The Dow Event Center, said the region is fortunate to have such a hard-working and high-quality sports franchise. Blasy said the proceeds the 40-50 Spirit games bring in each year are essential in keeping the facility's doors open.

"It's critical for a venue our size to have a main tenant," he said.

Dow Chemical Company purchased naming rights for the facility in 2004. That contract expires in 2014, Goslin said.

He said one of the components of the new lease retains the team's right to negotiate for all advertising including a naming rights agreement.

"It's a big component of what helps us to at least break even with the team," Goslin said.

He said conversations have begun with Dow Chemical Company, and the hope is to renew the naming rights contract sometime in the next year or two.

Some fans of the hockey league are drawn to Saginaw to watch games and also spend money on food, lodging and shopping while here, according to Great Lakes Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau Director of Tourism Lori Amo.

"There is a lot of money being spent in the region by those fans," Amo said.

Goslin said the team owes a debt to the 1.4 million people who have come through the doors of The Dow Event Center to Spirit games in the decade the franchise has been in Saginaw. The team's name is appropriate, he said, given the spirit of the fans and taxpayers supporting the franchise and facility in general.

"Really it was the spirit of the community that encouraged Dick Garber 10 years ago to move the team here from North Bay, Ontario," Goslin said.

He also thanked team sponsor Meijer and the Spirit's 1,600 season ticket holders and more than 300 companies with group ticket packages for their support.

Goslin and Blasy both said ongoing improvements to parking around the facility near downtown Saginaw will make a big difference for fans.

"The Dow Event Center and Temple Theatre corridor is a very safe area for families," Goslin said. "There is a perception, because of certain things that are out there, that it is not."

The safety of coming to Spirit games will only be enhanced, he said, by a greater law enforcement presence at the games and the brightly-lit flat parking lots being put where a hotel and downtown mall once stood across the street from the venue.

The next game at 7:11 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14, at home pits Saginaw against the Plymouth Whalers.