June 2000: Then-U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. gets $26.8 million into a U.S. Housing and Urban Development spending bill for a downtown arena. Then-President Clinton approves the bill in July 2000.

June 2000: Then-U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. gets $26.8 million into a U.S. Housing and Urban Development spending bill for a downtown arena. Then-President Clinton approves the bill in July 2000. Traficant immediately butts heads with city officials over his urging to establish a nonprofit board to build and operate the center.
September 2000: City agrees to establish a 13-member board to oversee the project.
January 2001: The arena board meets for the first time, but the question of who controls the money and the project remains unresolved.
April 2001: Youngstown Mayor George M. McKelvey says the arena project should be scaled back if the private sector doesn't make up the funding gap between the $26.8 million federal grant for the facility and the expected $40 million-plus price to build it.
May 2001: City council decides that the facility will be built on land along the Mahoning River between the South Avenue and Market Street bridges and doesn't include the arena board in the site-selection process.
February 2002: Problems between the arena advisory board and city officials end as the board dissolves.
July 2002: The city mails requests to numerous companies for proposals to develop and operate the facility.
November 2002: The city negotiates with Landmark Organization of Austin, Texas, to build the facility, but a deal is never reached primarily because of financial questions.
January 2003: The city purchases the 25.6-acre property between the bridges for $1.5 million.
December 2003: An attempt to take the $26.8 million federal grant and use it for downtown development dies because a U.S. Senate subcommittee clerk fails to include language giving the city that authority into a congressional spending bill. The city focuses its effort on building the arena.
March 2004: The city signs a construction and management contract with Global Entertainment Group and its subsidiaries for the arena, estimated to cost $41.25 million.
June 2004: Construction officially starts on the arena.
July 2004: The city opens the first contracts for the arena.
December 2004: Global names Jeff Kossow as the facility's executive director.
July 2005: City officials reveal the cost of the arena is as high as $45.38 million and the city may have to borrow as much as $12.1 million to make up a funding gap.
Saturday: The facility officially opens with a public open house.
Next Saturday: The facility's first paid event: a concert by 3 Doors Down.
Source: Vindicator files