By Katie Ryan
Lloydminster will remain the home of the junior A Bobcats hockey team for at least another five years.
The city has signed a five year working agreement with the junior A Bobcats Hockey Club, in an effort to establish stability for the franchise. Following a lengthy discussion at city council Tuesday evening, elected officials sealed the Memorandum of Understanding with the hockey club, which sets new rates and terms of facility use through April 30, 2014.
“As we all know the Bobcats from year to year run up against financial issues, it’s cost them a lot of money. We weren’t sure we had an equitable supporting agreement for them and we certainly didn’t have anything that ran long term,” said Mayor Jeff Mulligan.
“With that in mind we negotiated what we thought was pretty much what the other cities were doing to support their junior A hockey team and we felt that would help our team be competitive and we felt it would create certainty of outcome.”
The agreement aligns all of the rates and fees the hockey club pays for ice time at the Civic Centre, whether it be for practice times, a league home game or conditioning camp. It also addresses the business issues of advertising, concession revenues and the use of the Common Wealth Centre training area.
During the council meeting, Councillor Alan Cayford expressed his concerns with the agreement, questioning whether or not it was a “band-aid solution” for the club.
“I don’t know what the financial situation of the hockey club is. We’ve all been here and sat at the rink, at the coffee shops and we’ve sat around town and said we’ve heard the hockey club has lost ‘x’ number of dollars, whether that is a right number or not,” he said. “If we are going to try to keep the hockey club there has to be enough financing to go around. If this is a part of the puzzle, then that is good. If the hockey club has some other things going on that’s good too. We need to work together to make this club a good thing for the community.”
When the Bobcats present their financial statements at their annual general meeting, the city will be examining their books to confirm the club has met their contractual obligations.
“The only reason to look at the financial statements is to ensure that the plan is working, that the financial viability is there and that there is no further tweaking or arrangements that need to be made down the road,” said Mulligan.
In preparing the agreement, the city determined the operation rates and conditions bearing in mind that having a team within a community is a competitive matter between smaller sized cities.
“You have to remember that these are far and away the biggest users of our facilities, so we had to make an agreement that made sense for both parties that covered some basic operating costs, but didn’t break them, particularly when they were using it at non-prime times,” said Mulligan. “We are providing a service for them to move forward with a competitive team and recruit top ranked players and really create a top-flight sports entertainment offering for our public.”
If Lloydminster were to lose the Bobcats to another city, as rumours have suggested in the past, Mulligan said that while the city would keep the facilities open to the public through additional subsidies, the community would be impacted negatively.
“If you lost your tier two junior A team, you would have a very difficult time buying your way back into either the Saskatchewan or the Alberta junior league. And let’s face it, the amount of economic wellness that comes off of a high performing team – if we can get the team to that level – is immeasurable in relation to any other sports and franchise or enterprise in the city,” he said.
As to whether or not a new multi-discipline facility will be constructed in the coming years, Mulligan said it would be unlikely during the duration of the agreement.
“I think when you start thinking about the reality of the planning and development, the funding and the building of it, it would be nip and tuck,” he said.
“We’ve done our part as a city and as citizens and I hope that people will look at it as a responsible move on the part of council.”