Pricey proposition hosting a Cup

Pats owners deserve pat on the back for absorbing $2-million loss

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

They are staging the Canadian Hockey League’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) the event is 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 Shaun Semple, Gavin Semple, Anthony Marquart, Todd Lumbard and/or Jason Drummond for the pricing structure.

Even if the Pats win 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 the owners due commendation for their willingness to swallow assured losses in order to bring the 100th-anniversary Memorial Cup to Regina.

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 financial hit as a result of the 10-day major-junior 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 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 host committee chairman Shaun Semple, who is also 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 CHL as part of the bidding process for a milestone Memorial Cup.

Factor in additional expenses, such as 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,” Shaun 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.”

The Pats typically draw a capacity of crowd of 6,484 for games of any magnitude. However, the once-automatic 6,484 figure was elusive over the Memorial Cup’s first five games.

Leading up to Wednesday’s highly anticipated preliminary round finale between the host Pats and the WHL-champion Swift Current Broncos, announced attendances had been 5,678, 6,237, 5,832, 5,820 and 6,072.

Although much has been made of the vacant seats, 91.4 per cent of the tickets for the first five games had been sold.

As for the unsold seats, they can be attributed to various factors. Cost is certainly a contributor, but not the only one. The Victoria Day long weekend and the accompanying idyllic weather hardly provided an incentive to stay indoors and watch hockey.

Four of the games were scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. — not family friendly by any means. Those times were not set locally.

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

Tournament packages for Pats season-ticket holders were available at two rates — $695 and $645.

For Wednesday’s contest, individual prices started at $74. That is on par with the least-expensive single-game rate ($75) from last year, when the event was held in Windsor, Ont.

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

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