Watch the video above: Credit Union Centre and the provincial government are responsible for covering a $1 million shortfall from the 2013 Memorial Cup.
SASKATOON – It was supposed to be a money making event and in some aspects it was, but in the end the 2013 Memorial Cup, hosted at Credit Union Centre (CUC), fell short.
The national hockey event shines a spotlight on the athletes but also on the city that hosts it.
Anxious to host, a local committee formed in Saskatoon and put up its best offer.
“The bid promised that the event would make a profit of $3.5 million,” said CUC CEO Will Lofdahl.
“Any shortfall would be made up by the promoters which, in essence was CUC and the province of Saskatchewan.”
Coming up about $1 million short of the promise, the province owes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) nearly $668,000.
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CUC has covered the remainder – an amount just under $200,000.
The City of Saskatoon owns the facility but Mayor Don Atchison wants to reassure taxpayers, the money owed came from CUC’s reserve accounts.
“The CUC works independent of the city,” said Atchison.
“It has nothing to do with the mill rate. People don’t have to look at their taxes and say how much did this cost me. In fact it cost them zero dollars.”
More than 82,000 tickets to the event sold. Those fans purchased gas, food and accommodations in the city and province.
It’s that spin-off effect Todd Brandt with Tourism Saskatoon says shouldn’t be forgotten.
“It would generate $19 million in economic impact and a GDP of $11 million so it’s very strong from those perspectives,” said Brandt.
“And those numbers were achieved during the event.”
Those goods and services are taxed, bringing in about $3 million in taxes for the federal and provincial governments.
All things considered, organizers still consider the event a success.
The 95th CHL tournament in Saskatoon had an average attendance of around 9,170, which ranks fifth in MasterCard Memorial Cup history.
When asked if anything could have been done differently, Lofdahl spoke about the possibility of blacking out games from airing locally to encourage more ticket sales but also cautions that’s a route that would require input from all parties.
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