Outdoor bowl, Evinrude options for Lakers
The show must go on, somewhere, when PMC closes for floor repairs
An outdoor bowl is one of three ideas the city has proposed to the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers to give them a place to play in 2019.
The Memorial Centre will be unavailable next summer to allow the arena floor, refrigeration piping and boards to be replaced.
With no other facility in Peterborough capable of handling the more than 2,500 Lakers season ticket holders the city has devised three options, said commissioner of community services Allan Seabrooke.
One is to build a temporary outdoor rink with a concrete floor on the PMC parking lot with temporary bleacher seating and lighting.
A second option is to play games at the Evinrude Centre, which accommodates 1,000 fans with standing room, and set up large video screens in the adjoining pad to seat more fans. That might create a challenge parking-wise so a third option is to have the viewing party at the Morrow Building.
“We’ve floated a number of those options to the Lakers,” Seabrooke said. “We asked the Lakers to come back with what they would prefer.”
He’s still working on costs for an outdoor bowl but preliminary estimates put the seating at $300,000 or more.
“It would be kind of nice but the issue is weather,” said Lakers spokesman Brian Cowie. “It’s a little bit of old-time lacrosse but we’d have to have a back-up place for the nights weather isn’t good. How can you tell a team like Six Nations that is coming three hours we can’t play tonight because it’s supposed to rain? The league would have a few things to say about it.”
The Evinrude Centre isn’t an attractive option, says Cowie, be- cause it’s general admission seating and not enough seating for season ticket holders.
“That’s a lot of season ticket hold- ers fighting for a spot to get into the rink,” Cowie said. Seabrooke said it’s not known yet if enough seating could be accommodated on the PMC lot, with the necessary height, to make it feasible. Then there is the question of weather.
“My gut feeling would tell me using the Evinrude Centre,” said Seabrooke, “and going with the complimentary tailgate type of party, where you get all the fans who want to be together to cheer the Lakers on as a group, would probably be logistically better.
“The outside bowl would have its challenges particularly with the type of weather we get these days. It’s something we’re definitely omitted to looking at.”
The Lakers hoped that if monitoring of the arena floor showed no further deterioration the work could be postponed or cancelled.
Seabrooke said engineers insist the work is necessary.
“We have to do the work,” Seabrooke said.
“There is substantial degradation. The initial report had a two-to-four year window before you would have a significant situation. We’re at that now and the monitoring reflects we do have to do the work.”
With a replacement for the PMC at least five to seven years in the offing, Seabrooke said there is no way around the repairs. The work is expected to cost at least $2.5 million.
“Though it may not seem reasonable to spend money on the Memorial Centre knowing it has a shelf life, if we can proceed with a new facility, we don’t have a choice,” Seabrooke said.
“It has to function for the Petes, the Lakers, the figure skaters and everyone else who uses the facility for those number of years.”