Lethbridge Hurricanes in good financial standing despite revenue drop from previous year

At the Lethbridge Hurricanes’ 33rd annual general meeting on Monday night, the team announced a $422,443 net profit for the 2017-2018 season.

That’s down from the previous year when the Hurricanes recorded a net profit of more than $731,000.

“The way those playoff rounds went and the seven games, the more revenue you make, the longer the series goes,” Hurricanes board of directors president, Doug Paisley, said about the 2016-2017 season.

“You know to play where we did and you know the demographic of how far we had to travel and how less expensive that was, it puts more dollars in your savings. And you know, this year, a little more travel expense and little less games and you know, you just can’t generate as much revenue in less home games.”

But despite the drop in revenue, the Hurricanes say they’re still in a strong financial position, noting their ability to pay back the city for their share in recent renovations to the ENMAX Centre.

As for the season ahead, management has high expectations.

“We have good players and they expect to be the best,” Hurricanes general manager, Peter Anholt, said. “They want to be the best in the league and we’ve gone to two Eastern Conference Finals. It’s hard to get there but we also feel that we’ve got the road scars and the experience to maybe push ourselves to another level yet.”

Shareholders at the meeting were eager to know about home games should the Hurricanes qualify for the playoffs, with the 2019 World Men’s Curling Championships occupying the ENMAX Centre from March 30 to April 7, 2019.

As for the team’s bid to host the 2020 Memorial Cup, the club has made it to the fifth stage in the process, along with Kelowna and Kamloops.

They will be making an in-person presentation to organizers in Calgary next month.