Friday 23 May 2014

Canes/City Deal Back on Council Agenda

The Lethbridge Hurricanes proposed deal with the City of Lethbridge is back on the agenda for Council's meeting on Monday (May 26).

The deal was brought to Council two weeks ago, but was tabled after some concerns from a couple of Councillors.

A few amendments to the deal are listed on the agenda.

The Lethbridge Hurricanes Hockey Club agreed to contribute $2.5 million over 15 years as part of the ENMAX Centre renovations. Those payments to the City of Lethbridge total roughly $166,667 a year. The Council agenda states the Canes have already made their payments for the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 WHL seasons, but the hockey club has requested "a deferral for the payments for the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 seasons" and add two additional payments at the end of the original payment schedule.

The agenda states the two sides have agreed to the deferral and the Hurricanes have acknowledged it will "continue to pay the City an annual payment of $166.167 on the 1st day of June each year" starting again on June 1st, 2017 and continuing until the full payment is made.

Thanks,
Pat

4 comments:

  1. How the Canes are not in a sponsorship deal with a payday loans company is beyond me. Its a natural fit. On a side not I am going to ask the bank if I can defer 2 years mortgage payments until the end. I'll keep you posted on how that goes. If the canes do it, it must be good business thinking.

    Sku

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  2. Asking for a deferral of two $166,000 payments from the city, only furthers the thought that the Hurricanes are in debt more than they have revealed to the shareholders, season ticket holders and fans.
    Of course there are the rumors, that the club has secured $400,000 in the form of a line of credit, they have secured another $350,000 in the form of a line from a private investor, there have been late payments over 120 days to local suppliers, some staff asked at times not to cash their cheques, yet the Business Manager has been driving a new vehicle for the past 9 or so months. Add to their financial woes, there are season ticket holders holding off renewing their tickets or not renewing them at all, the WHL is monitoring the team's financial picture (likely on a monthly basis), they will be monitoring the on ice progress, and apparently they have demanded that there been a stipulated number of sellouts.

    The Hurricane management have turned their backs on their broadcast partners in hopes to make sure that everything said on the air is positive.

    I wonder what was told to Jody's parents if they asked about the financial and on ice stability of the club. They probably got the same line of misinformation that the shareholders and media get on a regular basis.

    I am going to take SKU's suggestion and ask the city if I can pay my city taxes two years later than when they are due.

    Rjv

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  3. Congratulations to the Edmonton Oil Kings who won the Memorial Cup and returned the championship to the WHL. Spokane was the last WHL team to win the trophy (and break it) back in 2008.
    This marked the 7th season of the expansion Oil Kings, who in their 7 years have missed the playoffs the first 3 years, were out in the first round in their 4th season, then have rattled off 3 consecutive seasons of 50 wins, made it to the WHL Finals 3 consecutive years, winning twice and thus a berth in the Memorial Cup, and winning it all this year.

    Over the same 7 seasons, the Hurricanes have been to the WHL final once, got as far as the 2nd round once, and not made the playoffs in 5 consecutive seasons.

    Guess Edmonton is a great example of excellent hockey operations and business practices.

    Mind you, Edmonton does have the huge advantage of being an NHL owned team. With Edmonton and Portland dominating the league the last 3 seasons, it does leave the small market teams at a huge disadvantage.

    Dump'n Chase

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  4. Dump,

    I find it amazing nobody ever seems to bring up the discrepancy you referred to between large market and small market budgets. It seems decidedly in favour of large markets, but nobody seems to care at the league level.

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