Regina owners deserve pats on back for show of commitment

In the spirit of the title sponsorship arrangement for the 2018 MasterCard Memorial Cup, let it be declared that the Regina Pats’ owners deserve credit.

They staged the CHL’s championship tournament — a first-class event — while facing a consequent financial loss of at least $2 million.

Yet, there have been mutterings on Twitter (and in other forums) that the event was a “cash grab” for the affluent ownership group, which has faced some accusations of avarice in light of the ticket prices.

Here is the reality, which diverges from the perception of those who would criticize the pricing structure.

Even had the Pats won the Memorial Cup, they will incur a heavy loss — at least from a financial standpoint.

Under the best of circumstances, anything approaching a profit was a sheer impossibility.

If every seat had been sold for the Eagles concert — part of the gala opening ceremony at Mosaic Stadium — and for every game of the tournament, the owners would still have been staring at a seven-figure shortfall.

One of these nights, perhaps the dissatisfied customers (or non-customers) will wake up and give organizers due commendation for their willingness to swallow assured losses in order to bring the 100th-anniversary Memorial Cup to Regina.

Regina host committee chairman Shaun Semple anticipates a $1-million loss on the Eagles concert alone, even though approximately 27,000 seats were sold. (The concert was 3,730 short of a sellout.)

The owners will also absorb a comparable hit as a result of the 10-day hockey event.

Hotels, restaurants and other local businesses stand to derive healthy revenues from the Memorial Cup’s presence. However, the people who actually brought the event to Regina will not get to share in the feast.

“It’s just personally disheartening to see people thinking you’re making money when you really actually never planned to make money,” said Semple, president of the Brandt Group of Companies.

The math simply did not work as soon as the Pats provided a $3-million hosting fee to the Canadian Hockey League as part of the bidding process for a milestone Memorial Cup.

Factor in additional expenses, such as the costs of transporting the teams, and the upfront tab was $3.65 million.

Ordinarily, operators of a major sporting event would not be as open about the figures, but setting the record straight became a priority in light of the fallout. “I thought about not throwing out that ($2-million) number, to be honest with you, because it can make you look like you don’t know what you’re doing,” Semple said.

“But I also wanted to let the people know that we run businesses and we understand how to balance books, but when you want a winner and you want big events, you’ve got to sign up for it and you’ve got to be willing to commit for it.

“So we all said, ‘No matter what happens, we’re going to bring it here and we’re going to put on the best show first.’ ”

As for the unsold seats, they can be attributed to various factors. Cost is certainly a contributor, but not the only one.

“There are 1,000 factors that go into this,” Semple noted.

“One, there have been a lot of things happening this past year. We had a Brier. From the time we (presented the bid) to the time it happened, the economy downturned, so we had all that to factor into it.

“So we were going back and saying, ‘Well, let’s just scale it down.’ I said, ‘No way. It’s the 100th. There’s no way I’m going to scale this thing back.

“I’m not putting my name on something scaled-back, because Regina should deserve more than that.’”

Everything being done, Regina is richer for the experience of playing host to the 100th Memorial Cup.

So instead of taking the heat, the Pats’ owners should be taking a bow.