Cool million spent on rink renos

[Max]

Date Published | Aug. 16, 2007

Mark Burgess, Wolves governor and president, is ecstatic about the renovations at the Sudbury Arena which are about 75 percent completed.

BY SCOTT HADDOW

Despite a record number of fans eager to get into the Sudbury Arena to watch the Sudbury Wolves shred the competition, the franchise is taking seats out.

But it’s all in an effort to enhance the actual experience fans receive while attending Wolves’ home games.

President and governor Mark Burgess has ponied up more than a million dollars to renovate the arena, which was originally constructed in 1951.

Burgess laid out an aggressive plan to add private suites (12 in all), a new club seating section with padded seats and refreshments services along with new washrooms, concession stand and lounge.

He met with the city to discuss the plans and Burgess himself wanted to finance the renovations.

“I’m a taxpayer too,” said Burgess. “Our city has a lot of other issues which need to be addressed other than renovating the arena. We need new roads, rinks for kids and a performing arts centre — three things I strongly believe in – so we decided I would put the money in. The city gets a renovated arena and I get a 15-year operating lease agreement. It’s a win-win situation.”

Burgess is quick to point out there are other winners in this venture as well.

“The fans will be the real winners out of this,” said the owner. “They get to enjoy a new atmosphere and an enhanced, retrofitted arena.”

The renovations come with more than a big financial cost. Seats have been sacrificed to make way for the improvements. Standing room capacity has shrunk from 1,000 to 500, while seating capacity has dropped by 150.

The new arena capacity, with standing room patrons, is expected to be 5,100, down from 5,750.

“We knew we would lose some seats, but we felt we could afford to because the fans will be enjoying themselves even more this season and beyond,” said Wolves vice president Blaine Smith. “It does put pressure on our tickets...there will be fewer game day tickets.”

The Wolves run to the OHL final this past season also generated a huge demand for season tickets.

Sudbury’s ticket base sits at around 3,300. It represents the highest total in franchise history.

“The demand for season tickets has never been greater and, obviously, we’re pleased,” said Smith. “We had 250 new season tickets purchased during the playoff run...that helped a lot.”

About 75 percent of the renovations are completed.

“All the structural work is done,” said Smith. “It’s now a matter getting the finishing touches done. The heavy grunt work is done. There’s still a lot to do...electrical and water hook ups, drywall and flooring.”
Time is tight.

“The work is right on schedule,” said Smith. “The contractors had a late start because of the playoff run, but that’s fine with us. We’re pleased with the work done and our general contractor – Build North Construction – has been professional and efficient.”

The club also ordered a new video score clock for centre ice. The new clock is expected to invigorate the crowd. On all four sides are seven foot by 10 foot projection screens. Fans will be enthralled with instant replays, live action sequences, graphics and other fun video entertainment such as a kiss cam (where couples are featured on-screen and are encouraged to kiss by the pressure of fellow fans).

“I’m really excited to see the new clock in action,” said Burgess. “It’s going to add a different and fun element to our games for our fans. It’s going to make the experience that much better.”

The club will open the season Sept. 20 in Peterborough and play their first seven games on the road. The team’s home opener is slated for Oct. 12.

[Max]

The Wolves owner is funding the entire 1 million $ construction cost. Mr. Burgess receives all revenue from the boxes for 15 years for every single event not just hockey. The 12 boxes and 144 box seats will eliminate 98 seats and all standing room along the length of the north side of the arena, so the city is losing 600+ ticket sales for every sold out concert or event.

Seating is being reduced from 4748 to 4650. We are also losing all beer and concession stand revenue because that has also been signed over to the Wolves.

Each of the 12 skyboxes is being rented out for 12,000 $ a year, thus revenue over 15 years = 1,800,000 $. A 800,000 $ profit is being made before special event ticket revenue; beer and concession profits are even taken into account. Box prices will also increase over the next 15 years increasing Burgess' profit.

A win win deal? How so?

Arena annual operating costs in 2007 are increasing by over 110,000 $ which amounts to over a 1.5 million $ increase to the ratepayers over 15 years, and this does include any increase in operating costs over the 15 years. Expenditures are up and arena attendance capacity is reduced. Ice rental fees and Ticket prices for all events will obviously have to rise because the arena will now accommodate fewer people and is less cost efficient. No property tax is being paid on the skyboxes that a private sector operator owns for 15 years.

The city ratepayer will lose over 6 million $ operating the arena over the next 15 years while Burgess will take in over 40 million $ in revenue.

The Wolves are also receiving 10 percent of any sale of naming rights to the arena. Should the rights be sold for 3 million $ for 10 years a private sector operation who has made absolutely no financial investment whatever, receives a 300,000 $ profit. City council has now approved the sale of naming rights guaranteeing Mr. Burgess a 100 percent profit.

Ask yourself why has the city has not just invested the 1 million $ to built the boxes and reap the huge rewards ourselves instead of losing millions of $ over 15 years?

Does it make any sense to lose 2 million $ or more to acquire twelve 15 year old skyboxes that are only worth 1.5 million $ today?

Ask yourself why the city is allowing a private sector operator to make a huge profit off city property when he pays no property taxes on it?

Ask yourself why the city would allow a private sector operator to receive a percentage of the sale of venue naming rights when the Wolves are only a tenant in a city owned building?

One does not have to be a mathlete to figure out what a truly bad deal this is. The city claims that this project will be completed at no cost to the municipality, which has no more basis in reality than Santa Claus; it's costing ratepayers millions of $. The city did not hold one concert this summer due to construction, which means we lost even more revenue. While citizens will pay higher ticket and ice time prices to ensure Mr. Burgess' makes millions in profit, all of the skyboxes will need refurbishing in 15 years and ratepayers are responsible for that entire cost, which further increases our net loss.

In Mayor Dumb's 2006 State of the City address he had the nerve to call this an “innovative public/private sector agreement”. What he should've said was "insane" not innovative.

Not one average citizen or ratepayer will ever get to sit in a corporate rented skybox; they just get to pay the arena bills so Mr. Burgess makes a profit and travel around the world. Trying to sneak this bad deal past the educated citizen was like trying to sneak a sunrise past a rooster.

[Max]

Vendor loses licence to sell food at arena; Gone because he competes with food sold by city and the Wolves

Posted By Denis St. Pierre
Posted 7 hours ago

Joseph Zloty says he is going to miss the Konky Dog he often enjoys at a Sudbury Wolves home game.

"I don't like that at all," he said Friday night after hearing of Konky Dog's pending demise at Sudbury Community Arena.

"I like their hot dogs, they're good and they're a lot bigger than what you get in the arena," he said after buying another Konky dog prior to Friday's Wolves game.

The Konky Dog vending cart has been a fixture outside the arena for the last three years, offering what it bills as gourmet hot dogs and sausages to patrons of hockey games and other events held at the arena.

However, the Konky cart will disappear for good from the arena's outdoor concourse after the Sudbury Wolves play their Nov. 30 home game.

City officials have informed Konky Dog operators John Nurmi and Bob Lacey that their vendor's licence for the arena will not be renewed, so as not to compete with the concessions being sold by the Wolves and the municipality.

Lacey and Nurmi say many of their customers are upset because the Konky cart has provided superior food, at lower prices, than what is being offered inside the arena. That has become particularly obvious this hockey season, with many customers noting significant price hikes inside the arena, Lacey said.

"There seems to be a lot of people who are unhappy with some of the changes at the arena and we seem to be offering people a very reasonable alternative to the (arena) concession stands," he said.

"There's no comparison" between the value offered at the outdoor cart and the arena concession counters, he added.

Still, Lacey said, he can't understand why his hot dog cart and the arena concession stands can't co-exist.

"The little bit of money we make there is not going to make or break us, so why would it make or break the Sudbury Wolves?" he asked.

A city official said the Konky Dog cart is being banished from the arena concourse under provisions of the municipal bylaw regulating the licensing of such vending carts.

The bylaw prohibits vending carts from selling food within eight metres of the entrance to a commercial facility that also sells food, noted Bryan Gutjahr, the city's manager of bylaw enforcement. However, the large concourse outside the arena offers more than a 20-metre setback from the building, which presumably would not violate the municipal bylaw.

But Bob Lacey said he and his partner are not keen on challenging the city's decision because they have been unofficially informed that, if necessary, a new bylaw could be enacted to keep them off the public property in front of the arena.

"If we challenged it ... basically they've already said they would propose a (new) bylaw," Lacey said. "They wouldn't put that in writing, but that's what they told us."

Gutjahr said the vending cart also is being banned from the arena because the Wolves hockey club intends to sell food outdoors on some occasions.

"The Wolves are planning a lot of stuff outside and they didn't want vendors being in the way," Gutjahr said.

"So it doesn't appear that we're going to be issuing any more licences for that location."

If interested, the Konky Dog operators "can get a licence for going across the street," from the arena, beginning next spring, he added. Sudbury Wolves spokesman Blaine Smith confirmed the hockey club is planning outdoor promotions, such as fundraising barbecues for charity.

The Wolves would be willing to discuss the possibility of the Konky Dog operators being involved in the outdoor food activities organized by the club, said Smith, the Wolves' vice-president of hockey operations.

The city and the Wolves negotiated a new agreement with regard to Sudbury Community Arena concessions as part of the club's renovations to the arena. The agreement provides additional revenues for the hockey club, but the city will not divulge any details of the deal.

For example, the city will not publicly disclose what percentage of concession revenues, if any, is received by the municipality.

If the media or the public wants to pursue the disclosure of such information, they will have to launch a request through freedom of information legislation - a process that can be long and costly, a city official told The Star.

"That is something you need to submit through ... the Freedom of Information Act," said city spokesman Ghislain Lamothe.

[Max]

The city doesn't make one cent from the food as they sold out ratepayers when they tuened over all food and booze revenue to the Wolves.

The citizens of this city should boycott the Sudbury Wolves games.

[aaa11]

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