Hockey team expected to leave
Money-losing BCHL franchise reportedly sold, quitting West Kelowna for North Delta
One season after winning a national title, and just two months after getting a break on their arena rental rate, the West Kelowna Warriors are expected to relocate to North Delta.
Team owner Mark Cheyne has sold the team and the BC Hockey League’s board of governors is in the process of approving the move, says an official with the Corporation of Delta.
“My understanding is that approval is happening at league meetings taking place this week,” Ken Kuntz, Delta’s director of parks, recreation and culture, said Tuesday.
Kuntz gave the name of the new owner as Kejun Wang. Representatives of Wang have already signed a memorandum of agreement with Delta officials for the use of the Sungod arena in North Delta.
“Every indication is that this is positive hockey news for Delta, but maybe not so positive for West Kelowna,” Kuntz said.
Cheyne could not be reached Tuesday for comment. Emails and phone calls to the BC Hockey League office in Vancouver were not returned.
The Warriors, in their 11th season in West Kelowna, won the RBC Cup national championship last year. But that on-ice success was not accompanied by financial profitability.
The team lost more than $300,000 last year, and annual losses previously exceeded that amount, Cheyne told West Kelowna city officials last fall when he was seeking a rent break at Royal LePage Place.
In early November, city council voted to reduce the team’s annual rent for the arena from $63,600 to $52,000, an amount said to be in line with that charged clubs in Vernon and Salmon Arm.
But Cheyne had been aiming for a “significantly lower payment,” West Kelowna parks manager Bob Kusch told council.
Attendance at Warriors games has averaged 840 fans for the team’s past three home games. The Royal LePage Place arena has a capacity of 1,500.
The Surrey Now newspaper reported earlier Tuesday that Cheyne hoped to move the money-losing club to North Delta as soon as possible.
“It’s about a chance to break even there (in North Delta) because we just can’t break even here, you know,” Cheyne told the newspaper. “With the (WHL) Rockets here and everything, it’s just a case of (people) don’t support it here as well as they need to, that’s for sure, even with a national championship, a really good team last year.”