Cash-strapped junior Canucks still afloat, but barely

The Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Calgary Canucks have operated rather smoothly since members of the local hockey community formed the organization in 1971.

Competing in one of the best Junior A leagues in the country, those decades of hockey that have produced nine championship teams nearly came to an end after a tumultuous start to the season.

Spending the better part of the current season on the road, team president Bill Andrew said the team was forced to hold an emergency meeting and fundraiser to keep the team afloat.

“We went to the alumni, I talked to the board, the volunteers and, most importantly, the parents, and I said ‘we need some bridge financing ... in the short term so we can get through this year,’ and try to rethink the model of how we fundraise given the environment,” said Andrew, noting the team operates with a budget of up to $450,000, while other teams spend as much as $1 million.

“That’s solved. Through the generosity of the parents’ group and others, we raised about $100,000 in a few days. It was a tough way to do it. Part of me regrets doing it that way, but we basically had no choice.”

The team started the season with a surplus of funds, but expensive road trips, a lack of sponsorships and a reshuffling of casino programs left them tapped out.

“We have depended in past years on sponsorship, on the ability to use the provincial program of community casinos and other fundraising sources to help us out on the revenue side,” he said.

“The response we are getting is that ‘times are tight, we’re very careful with where we are aiming our sponsorships,’ and so you get a group that may have had sports a little lower on their list and now it’s off the board. I look at other not-for-profits, and they ’re having a tough time, too. The major sponsors are just not there any more.”

Sitting near the bottom of the 16team league in the standings and in attendance numbers, the Canucks have struggled.

Andrew said the team, which rents ice at the Max Bell Centre, averages attendance in the low hundreds while the league average is around 500 to 600. In contrast, some teams fill their arenas with a thousand fans.

Attendance is a big source of revenue, but the Canucks face heavy hockey competition in Calgary.

Not only are there professional hockey teams in the Calgary Flames and Calgary Inferno, but the Canucks also go up against two university hockey teams, highlevel triple-A hockey teams and another Junior A team, the Calgary Mustangs. “We’ve got a lot of competition for the entertainment dollar in Calgary,” Andrew said.

“I think the question has always been for 10 or more years, why can’t you average more (attendance)?” said Andrew.

“It hasn’t been for a lack of effort. It has been historically a tough sell.”

The Olds Grizzlys, another Alberta team that has faced financial turmoil in the past, nearly didn’t make it through the 2016-17 season due to financial struggles. A 15-part ownership group, made up largely of Grizzly alumnus, crowdfunded $500,000 of private capital to purchase the team, effectively saving the franchise.

Andrew didn’t rule out selling the team, which is operated by a board of volunteers.

“I think if we’re in the same economic situation next year. It’s very, very tough — it’s dire,” Andrew said. “We have looked at (selling the team) and I think people want it for nothing right now. I feel I’ve got a responsibility to the community and to the future players that if someone is interested in the club, they have to carry the club through this year ... and then I think, to be honest, we need $100,000 to $125,000 in the bank at the end of the year.

“I’m not going to just change the faces of the board and have someone come and say ‘we’ll try and look after your deficit.’ That doesn’t work.”

The Alberta Junior Hockey League office declined to comment.

I think the question has always been ... why can’t you average more (attendance)? It hasn’t been for a lack of effort.