Augustana Vikings back in business
University, hockey alumni association strike partnership to rescue program
Even before COVID -19 cut the legs out from under every sports league in North America, the Augustana Vikings were in trouble.
A 17.9 per cent cut in government funding meant massive cuts at the University of Alberta campus in Camrose and it didn’t take long before the hockey team found itself on the wrong end of the knife.
“They had major financial issues in Augustana,” said U of A athletic director Ian Reade. “They had to cut a huge chunk of money, over $200,000, out of their budget, so they removed the hockey program.”
But where there’s a bill, there’s a way.
The Vikings are back in business after the university and the hockey alumni association struck a financial partnership they hope will keep the team on its feet for years to come.
“We really wanted to make this happen,” said David Ritz, president of the Vikings Men’s
Hockey Alumni Association. “It didn’t surprise me too much how everybody worked together, but I was sure proud. Between the city, the county, the alumni association and Augustana, everybody worked together to get this done.”
The alumni association had already been helping the program, but it was more along the lines of kicking in a few extra bucks to top up the reserves and providing some frills here and there. But lately, the cash became more of a lifeline.
“Over the last few years, it went from, ‘Hey, let’s get them some third jerseys,’ to ‘Holy, we’re doing this stuff to keep the lights on here,’” said Ritz, adding the alumni association found out in February that the program was going to be cut altogether.
“We knew we were in a position to help out; we have a lot of really good supportive alumni all across Western Canada.
So we had a meeting with the admin and the work started from there.”
The deal involves a sharing of financial responsibilities. The university will pay for some elements of the program, the alumni association will foot the bill for others.
Who pays for what will remain an open discussion but in the meantime, they split things up rather quickly to get the program back up and running.
“We could see the university didn’t want to lose it, either,” said Ritz. “It’s a historic program with the Viking Cup and all the history there, all the (300 future Nhlers) who’ve played in it.” So they came to terms.
“It’s not so much a dollar amount as it is an agreement of who will be paying what going forward. It’s an open agreement and we will keep discussions going over the first two or three years until we can lock down what is completely fair between us and the university,” said Ritz.
“This is a deal based on good faith. Everybody wants the same thing. There might be a time when we say, ‘Geez, that really isn’t fair to our association’ and the university might feel the same way. But we’re going to work together for the same common goal.”
The alumni association’s fundraising efforts will have to be ramped up considerably now that their financial commitment has tripled from what it was last year. The cost of running the hockey program runs between $230,000 and $250,000 a year.
“It’s time for us to start branching out and trying to do a little bit more,” said Ritz. “We feel there is a way we can do it. It’s going to take some time and it will take more hands on deck than we’ve had in the past. Our association is going to be growing. There’s a lot of work left to be done.”
While the Vikings are saved, they won’t be playing this year. The ACAC season is scheduled to start up in January, but all Vikings teams will stand down until the 2021-22 campaign out of the U of A’s concern for the COVID -19 situation.
With money tight as it is, Ritz doesn’t see the wisdom in adding financial risk to the health risks.
“If they start up in January, they could be playing for a month and a half and then a big outbreak happens and they’re shut down,” he said. “They could be spending a decent amount of money to play and in the end it could be all for naught.”
The Golden Bears hockey, basketball and volleyball teams will also sit out the upcoming season, but that was because U of A athletics lost $1.2 million in funding, most of it from student fees that couldn’t be charged because there were no classes on campus.
“It literally drove us out of the business for this year, but those fees will come back,” said Reade, adding the Vikings were in a long-term crisis.
“It’s not about saving the team so it can play next year, it’s saving the team so it can exist at all.”