City and Cougars Partner on Upgrades
CN Centre staff install Cougars logo – photos 250News
Prince George, B.C. – The City of Prince George and the Prince George Cougars can boast to having a great relationship which has seen the hockey club pump about $1 million dollars into upgrades to the CN Centre.
At a news conference this afternoon, Mayor Lyn Hall and Cougars President Greg Pocock unveiled the upgrades at the CN Centre including a score clock, which has all the bells and whistles of any score clock in the big leagues. But those additions came at a price.
The City had budgeted $390 thousand for a new score clock that was on par with what was being replaced. But the bids submitted were well over that amount, coming in at $546 thousand dollars. The City is picking up that tab , but the Cougars are paying for all the bells and whistles that weren’t part of the initial tendered plan.
But the Cougars didn’t stop there.
The organization also announced a new “Loge” seating section of 44 seats where fans can sit in comfort, have their food and beverages delivered to them and have access to the washrooms on the suite level
And there’s more.
Pocock says when he and his partners with EDGEPRO were discussing the add- ons to the score clock, Eric Brewer said there was no point in upgrading the clock if the sound system was ignored. “So all of our Cougar fans who have told us over the years that the sound system needed upgrading, we have heard you loud and clear” said Pocock. The Cougars have entered into a contract to have the sound system improved.
All 44 loge seats have sold out
Another change will see new goal registering system installed, one that will allow fans to see the same view the goal judges see as the video of the goal can be broadcast on the score clock .
The team has also created a new space for the goal judges to relax before the game and between periods. The former broadcast booth for out of town broadcasters is being revamped, and the space next to the Cougars broadcast booth is being repurposed for the out of towners.
While praising the City staff for all their cooperation and the positive working relationship that has been developed between the Cougars and the City, Pocock also called on the residents of Prince George to do their part and attend some games and support the team.
Comments
The “new” Cougars are definitely a class act!
Go CATS go!
A better sound system was badly needed. Thanks for listening to the fans.
Excuse me? The City is paying $546,000 for a score clock for the Cougars?
The City should take a look at those god awful softball diamonds across from St. Mary’s and maybe start pumping some money into the kids programs in this city instead of dumping more then half a million dollars into helping a private enterprise.
more than the Cougars use the arena.
I have always missed a state of the art scoreboard whenever watching one of the many musical acts that play there.
The 2010 Olympics were held 6 years ago. The latest state of the art score board was added at that. At least I got the impressions it was the state of the art.
So, information from the City please.
It seems reasonable that at that price it is costing us about $100,000 per year to maintain a scoreboard that is “state of the art” when it is first installed. Then, 6 year or so later, it is not. I am also assuming they get more expensive each time.
Rewrite the contract. The scoreboard is a tenant improvement, not a landlord responsibility. Who else actually uses it?
Again, too little information to make a reasonable judgement call of whether we are getting a fair deal or not.
BTW, such items should not matter of how well or how poorly the team may be doing. It should be a league standard. If there is one, are we meeting it or not? Now? or not until a new scoreboard is installed?
Here you go, staff report to council January this year. More than just Cougars use, and expect to use the clock. Was at the Monster X and the clock was in use through the event.
ht tp://princegeorge.ca/cityhall/mayorcouncil/councilagendasminutes/Agendas/2016/2016-01-18/documents/CN_Centre_Score_Clock_-_2016_Capital_Budget_Report_to_Council.pdf
Uh, the cougars do more for the kids in this community than any of your awful ball diamonds you are referring to. St Mary’s ball diamonds? Who cares. Look at the ball diamonds in the Hart.
It’s called a ‘contract’. The city guarantees a few things to the only real tenant in the prized arena, that clock was one of them. Do you know how many events are held there? Do you ever leave the Hart?
Huh? The cougars do more for the kids in the community then the community parks? The Cougars engage in PR to entice more kids to spend their parents money at the arena thereby increasing the profitability of the team. Community ball diamonds do more to help kids develop into well adjusted adults then any visit from the Cougars will.
Volunteer Park in the Hart is nothing to write home about. One of the 4 diamonds doesn’t even have dirt for the base paths, it’s all grass. They don’t even have bleachers at all 4 diamonds.
A few years ago the City changed how they charge the Cougars for the use of this facility. The end result was a decrease in costs for the Cougars and a decrease in revenue for the City.
Now that they are getting a bigger turnout perhaps its time to revisit this situation and perhaps return to the original agreement. As it now stands my guess is, is that the City basically loses money on almost every game played at the CN Centre.
More than a few years ago, the Cougar’s 10 year contract with the city expires in 2018
The city receives 30% on ticket sales which is double the old rate of 15% when games are sell outs and less when games have extremely low attendance the rate is between 2 and 5 percent. The scale is sliding and the deal was signed in a year of 2,200 average attendance. Last year average attendance was 3,122 per game.
The Cougar’s do not get any revenue from concession sales at the games, I think the city does fairly well in this regard. Anyone know the numbers they make from concessions and beer?
Cougar’s were a 500 team in only 5 of the first 20 years on the ice in Prince George. The first 4 years in the Multiplex the Cougar’s had a season ticket base of 4,500, the very first season the coliseum was constantly SRO until the Multiplex was built.
Cougar’s had an operating budget of 1.8 million dollars when they were bought out and stood to lose a third of that out of the owner’s pocket.
Palpou, it is remarkable to me that you continually spew out your “opinions” as if they were known facts. You clearly do NOT have all information, and you are simply wrong and always have been wrong about this topic. The problem with people like you is that you can spread false information with no consequences, and it’s simply not the right thing to do.
So tell me, if you have information that disputes his allegations, why is it that you and others who simply spew out their own but opposite opinions cannot provide some facts to back it up to enlighten us all?
Does little good to further the conversation other than to say “mine is bigger than yours is”.
love hockey. it is now the sport of the elite.your son will not play junior without training at a hockey academy.We have hockey academies here in British Columbia.View tuition costs at North Shore Winter Club, Burnaby Winter Club, Okanagan Hockey Academy and many more in Canada. You will find the cost higher than owning a horse and training for Polo. Hockey at top level is no longer Canada’s sports bUT rather the sport of Canada’s financial elite
‘The City had budgeted $390 thousand for a new score clock that was on par with what was being replaced. But the bids submitted were well over that amount, coming in at $546 thousand dollars.’
It’s widely known within the design and construction community that the City intentionally low-balls project cost estimates to get mayor and council on board. When bids come in way over the ‘estimate’ the procurement department dreams up ridiculous excuses. In this case it was a meager 40% over budget. In the case of the recent Haggith Creek bridge project it was again 40% ‘over budget’. In many cases it’s 50%+ over what the brain trust puts forward for budget approval.
Of course both of these projects are approved by the procurement department and mayor and council.
How about some of the well trained, and very well compensated technical and professional staff at the City sack up and figure out what these projects are really worth, before appearing cap in hand to the taxpayer.
Its good that the new owners are putting a bit of money in but the fact is all the projects are geared to provide direct benefit to the Cougars so it only makes sense that they make an investment that they expect a return on (more fans buying tickets).
Paplopu isn’t far off in noting the Cougars lease is one of the most favorable in the entire WHL. Brodsky squeezed the city a while back by threatening to move unless the city caved and of course they did (two or three times in fact). The current lease is a fraction of the % the cougs initially agreed to when they moved here.
This is a private business that instead of paying property taxes like most private businesses, shares a bit of its revenue instead. That helps offset the operational costs of running the facility but of course the current owner or the previous one didn’t pay a dime towards the twenty plus million that taxpayers put out to build the very facility that made their business possible.
So kicking in some funds here and there for minor upgrades that are primarily only being done to better their business is nice, (and far better than the previous ownership ever did) it is nothing to get too excited about.
Is it ever nice to no longer live in city limits. The City as usual spends every penny they can and hoists it onto the taxpayer. The Cougars are great for the community especially with the new ownership but the city bends over once again. The PAC will be next. Nice to pay taxes to regional district!
If a PAC ever gets built, it will likely be a PG and RDFFG joint effort, similar to the museum. So don’t worry, you are paying for some regional facilities already. The CN Centre is not one of them.
I suspect that within less than a decade there may be a different contribution.
It is time we look at PG the same as some other larger municipalities … the Greater Prince George Area – GPGA
The inner urban area benefits from the regional and provincial parks and other amenities around us, while those in the surrounding area receive the benefits of living close to urban amenities – regional shopping, libraries, galleries, conference centres, entertainment venues, sports facilities, and more.
So, are those living outside the city limits simply moochers?
No chance outlying areas pay for your PAC. People live outside of town for a reason so enjoy your water, sewer, and garbage pickup. I lived in Westgate and paid $6200 city taxes with a home owners grant and almost $1000 in utilities. For what? People living outside of city limits will never be drug into paying for the City to spend to excess year over year. If anything more of the outlying areas will try to remove themselves from the city control such as Haldi Road which is in the process. We would band together as there is much more spirit and unity in the outlying areas than there is in any neighborhood in town. As for the moocher comment sure if you want to call it that, I look at as a smart financial decision. Enjoy your taxes!
Comments for this article are closed.