The junior North Bay Skyhawks and the OUA Nipissing Lakers hockey club finalized a deal to co-exist at Memorial Gardens, but it’s unfortunate some at council used the platform to classify this as a “loss” for the city.

It’s been well-documented in the past, but a quick review. While arenas do generate some revenue, they don’t exist to make money. Memorial Gardens loses $650,000 annually. That’s the cost of operating a facility that serves the community.

The fact that the city was going to “make” $15,000 through a lease with only the Nipissing Lakers simply means the city would “make” $15,000 over and above the costs associated with running the arena for those eight hours per week Nipissing is on the ice.
That just means there would be more icetime available for the city to lose money operating the arena for user groups such as figure skating and minor hockey. The arena would still have operated with a deficit in the $650,000 range.

So applying a “loss” tag to this deal is a double-standard. I wonder if any councillor has ever complained about “losing” $150,000 annually by providing an arena for minor hockey or “losing “ $200,000 by allowing the figure skating club to rent the ice?

In reality, the city claims it has been “losing” $50,000 annually in its lease with the Skyhawks, which covers 30-35 home games. That $50,000 “loss” will continue, but now with 45 home games in a three-way lease. In essence, this deal allows the city to bring in more revenue through the arena — the details will come out in the finalized lease agreement.

But basically, council wants full cost-recovery when the Skyhawks and Lakers are on the ice and the city is close. (If breaking even is so important, then in my opinion, all they have to do now is open up beer sales and that might help solve the $50,000 problem).

The real loss would have been having a lease agreement with a major tenant like Nipissing that could provide only 14 home games (and next year’s OUA schedule might be reduced — more on that to come). A great facility to showcase the community, but the community would only gather eight times in October/November and six times in January. The other 350 days of the year, the only showcase would be a money-losing, cavernous facility. With two teams operating, there’s more buzz, more positive energy in the city.

The City of North Bay and all those involved — Jerry Knox, Al McDonald, Dennis Lathem, Guy Blanchard, Al Campbell — deserve kudos for thinking outside the box and working out a three-way deal, which is new territory, a new way of doing business.

Having both junior ‘A’ hockey and OUA varsity hockey will be a benefit to the city. There is no loss with this deal whatsoever.