Arena Sports to End Soon; Rink Fund Drives Snagged

The ice is going out of the Boston Arena again this spring. If all goes according to plan, it will never return.

Although speculation after sale of the Arena late in December hold that the barn-like structure might still be used for sports events, announcement from the buyers yesterday indicated that the prospect is dead, if it ever existed.

Benjamin I. Goldberg, Boston attorney who represents the purchasers, most of them New Yorkers, said yesterday that the group is "definitely not interested" in continuing any form of sports at the Arena, after March 15.

Off to Mexico

On the contrary, Goldberg said, the ice-making plant may be sold to "a party in Mexico." He added, "our efforts will be entirely towards converting and operating the building as a place for industrial concerns."

All sporting contracts with the present Arena management will be fulfilled by the March date, Goldberg noted. The Crimson six, among other college and high school teams, has several games still scheduled at the St. Botolph Street ice palace. All hockey and basketball teams will be allowed to finish the season, however.

The Crimson, at present, uses the Arena ice for practice sessions almost every afternoon. House teams also have the ice with some degree of frequency.

It was known that the Arena has been on the block for some time before the December sale. Last spring, a hockey rink fund drive commenced here after owner Walter Brown announced his inability to keep the building operative for sports.

Later, however, Brown announced that hockey and basketball would be possible, at least for the balance of the present season.

Plaus to have the Arena bought and operated by the Metropolitan District Commission as a schoolboy hockey paradise fizzled both in spring and fall.

As a unit, schoolboy hockey has already been curtailed. House team schedules have also suffered from the Arena's "economy policies apparently, "make it pay or else.