SteelTown
Dec 24, 2008, 12:40 PM
The numbers game
Hosting world juniors becoming too expensive, even for HECFI
December 24, 2008
Garry McKay
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/Sports/article/486466
Is it time Hamilton got back in the game -- the world junior hockey game. The 16,073 who turned out at Copps Coliseum last night in a snowstorm to watch Canada's final exhibition game before the world junior tournament opens in Ottawa on Boxing Day obviously think so.
And Duncan Gillespie, the CEO of Hamilton Entertainment and Convention Facilities Inc. (HECFI), would like to see the city host the tournament again.
There's one big problem.
"I'm not sure the numbers work," he said.
"We even looked at a Hamilton-London-Kitchener bid for this year and we couldn't make the numbers work for us."
Ottawa, which won the bid, had to guarantee a profit of $12.5 million, and Regina and Saskatoon, the hosts for next year, had to put up a similar amount.
"The bidding for this one was insane and was at a level that I just couldn't in all good conscience recommend," Gillespie added.
"If there's a market correction, I think we'd get back in the game."
Gillespie thinks that market correction will happen sooner or later, and when it does he wants HECFI to be ready to go after the tournament again.
That's one of the reasons Gillespie met yesterday with Brent Ladds, president of the Ontario Hockey Association.
The OHA have partnered with Hamilton in the past, including the 1987 world junior hockey championship, which christened Copps Coliseum. Ironically, it was the huge crowds that turned out at that tournament that made it such a hot property, so hot Hamilton may no longer be able to afford it.
Yesterday, Ladds said that if Hamilton decides to go after the tournament again, the OHA would like to be involved.
For the moment, a Hamilton bid to host the world juniors is a bit of a moot point.
Hockey Canada is hosting the tournament this year in Ottawa and took next year's tournament for Regina and Saskatoon when Switzerland pulled out.
The 2011 tournament is being hosted by the United States in Buffalo, while the 2012 event is again back in Canada, and will be split between Calgary and Edmonton.
The 2013 tournament will almost assuredly be held in Europe. That means the earliest the event could be held in Hamilton would be 2014.
Hockey Canada, which controls the Canadian hosting of the tournament, hasn't even considered whether to go after it.
If they do, however, there's little doubt Hamilton will be asked if it is interested in bidding.
"Hamilton is on our radar and I'm sure we're on theirs," said Scott Smith, COO of Hockey Canada.
HECFI will be asking Hockey Canada to bring a pre- tournament game to Copps Coliseum prior to the 2011 tournament in Buffalo, Gillespie said.
Hosting world juniors becoming too expensive, even for HECFI
December 24, 2008
Garry McKay
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/Sports/article/486466
Is it time Hamilton got back in the game -- the world junior hockey game. The 16,073 who turned out at Copps Coliseum last night in a snowstorm to watch Canada's final exhibition game before the world junior tournament opens in Ottawa on Boxing Day obviously think so.
And Duncan Gillespie, the CEO of Hamilton Entertainment and Convention Facilities Inc. (HECFI), would like to see the city host the tournament again.
There's one big problem.
"I'm not sure the numbers work," he said.
"We even looked at a Hamilton-London-Kitchener bid for this year and we couldn't make the numbers work for us."
Ottawa, which won the bid, had to guarantee a profit of $12.5 million, and Regina and Saskatoon, the hosts for next year, had to put up a similar amount.
"The bidding for this one was insane and was at a level that I just couldn't in all good conscience recommend," Gillespie added.
"If there's a market correction, I think we'd get back in the game."
Gillespie thinks that market correction will happen sooner or later, and when it does he wants HECFI to be ready to go after the tournament again.
That's one of the reasons Gillespie met yesterday with Brent Ladds, president of the Ontario Hockey Association.
The OHA have partnered with Hamilton in the past, including the 1987 world junior hockey championship, which christened Copps Coliseum. Ironically, it was the huge crowds that turned out at that tournament that made it such a hot property, so hot Hamilton may no longer be able to afford it.
Yesterday, Ladds said that if Hamilton decides to go after the tournament again, the OHA would like to be involved.
For the moment, a Hamilton bid to host the world juniors is a bit of a moot point.
Hockey Canada is hosting the tournament this year in Ottawa and took next year's tournament for Regina and Saskatoon when Switzerland pulled out.
The 2011 tournament is being hosted by the United States in Buffalo, while the 2012 event is again back in Canada, and will be split between Calgary and Edmonton.
The 2013 tournament will almost assuredly be held in Europe. That means the earliest the event could be held in Hamilton would be 2014.
Hockey Canada, which controls the Canadian hosting of the tournament, hasn't even considered whether to go after it.
If they do, however, there's little doubt Hamilton will be asked if it is interested in bidding.
"Hamilton is on our radar and I'm sure we're on theirs," said Scott Smith, COO of Hockey Canada.
HECFI will be asking Hockey Canada to bring a pre- tournament game to Copps Coliseum prior to the 2011 tournament in Buffalo, Gillespie said.