City council voted on Monday night to reopen Rolling Mix Concrete Arena in time for the Spruce Kings to play in the BCHL's 2020-21 season.
Spruce Kings general manager Mike Hawes and business operations manager Kyle Anderson made a presentation to council on Monday, saying the team might not survive if it is forced to miss a season. Outside city hall, several dozen fans of the team held a rally to show their support.
"We're excited. It's certainly a step in the right direction," Hawes said following the 8-1 vote in favour of reopening the team's home rink. "We're happy to be able to provide a season to our players, to our fans and to the community."
Hawes thanked the city staff and city council who worked on bringing the issue before council on Monday. The team considered other options, like the option of sharing CN Centre with the WHL's Prince George Cougars, but they just weren't workable.
"The biggest hurdle is the branding. The BCHL will not support a broadcast (of our games) with WHL branding on the ice. They would not support us playing in that facility," he said. In addition, the team needs to raise $125,000 in revenue from rink-board advertising.
"I don't know what the costs are of changing rink boards out four times a week – I think it would be substantial," Hawes said.
Rolling Mix Concrete Arena also hosts the team's dressing rooms, offices, training spaces and other amenities that couldn't be easily replaced or relocated, Anderson added.
The team's first scheduled home game is an exhibition game against the Merritt Centennials on Oct. 25. The BCHL regular season is scheduled to start on Dec. 1, with or without fans in the arenas.
Ahead of Monday's nights decision, Bonnie Schnepf and her daughters, Tianna and Anataya, organized a rally and petition to show their support for reopening the arena and keeping the Spruce Kings on the ice.
"Prince George is not Prince George without the Spruce Kings," Schnepf said. "I've been a fan since I was 10 years old. We billeted for eight players over the years. They are like family, those boys. The Spruce Kings are etched in our family, and they are part of the community."
In addition to the rally, the Schnepfs organized an online petition that had received more than 600 signatures in support of reopening the arena. In addition to people from the community, former players and their families from across Canada and the U.S. signed the petition, she said.
"The Spruce Kings give so much to the community," she said.
In addition to their community involvement, the team generates economic activity in the city and downtown by drawing families and teams to the city, and fans downtown for the games, she said.
The decision to reopen the rink for the 2020-21 season – mid-October to May – is expected to add $250,000 to the city's current $6.4 million budget shortfall for 2021, city director of finance Kris Dalio said. Combined with an additional $150,000 approved by council on Monday to reopen CN Centre for ice use and indoor walking Monday, the city is looking at a $6.8 million shortfall next year, Dalio said – equal to a six per cent increase in property taxes.
At the current rate of cost recovery, city taxpayers are subsidizing 80 to 85 per cent of the cost of running the arenas, Dalio said.
City director of community services and public safety Adam Davey said the extra ice time at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena and CN Centre will be put to use by other user groups than the Spruce Kings and the Cougars.
"Right now you have enough demand for all six sheets of ice (the city owns)," Davey said. "August ice use was 18 per cent higher this year than last year."
Under the current situation, with only the three rinks at the Kin Arenas open, user groups are only getting about 50 per cent of the normal ice time they would normally use, he said. The existing staff at the Kin Centres will be able to operate the ice surface at the arena, he added.
Coun. Brian Skakun said reopening the arenas will benefit all the user groups, not just the city's premier teams.
"The Spruce Kings aren't the sole reason to reopen the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena," Coun. Brian Skakun said. "It's a tough time. We need to be there for the community."
Coun. Garth Frizzell urged city council to remember Monday night when they're facing difficult budget deliberations, trying to fill a $6.8 million financial hole.
"We're going to be in a heck of a ride next year," Frizzell said. "It's the right thing to do, to use the facilities we have. It's going to help out all those people. (But) there will be a cost."
Coun. Murray Krause, the only member of council to vote against reopening the arena, said while opening the arenas will help groups like the Spruce Kings, that help will be paid by the taxpayers of the city.
"Many of the taxpayers are struggling, too. They may have lost their jobs," Krause said. "We have to keep them in mind."
