Clippers staying put as non-profit

The Nanaimo Clippers will remain in the Harbour City with the B.C. Hockey League team to be owned entirely by a newly formed non-profit group under the name of the Nanaimo Clippers Hockey Society.

A transitional phase will occur, says team president David LeNeveu, one of several of the society’s $50,000 contributors, along with Andrea Trepanier, who takes over as the business operations manager for the group.

LeNeveu told a Monday morning news conference that the current group of contributors sits at less than 10 and that the society needs to move above those double digits to carry on comfortably. Anyone can join the society with no minimum donation.

“If you’re a major contributor of $50,000 or over, you would be a debenture holder in the society,” said LeNeveu. “The goal is to make sure we have enough money to operate moving forward, which we have guaranteed for the next year that we do, and to make it all local ownership to off-load the debentures of the current ownership, which is Calgary-based.”

The move comes after majority owner Ken Wagner announced he and the ownership group were considering an offer to purchase the club from another Vancouver Island-based group, rumoured to be in Campbell River.

“They are the ones who have turned down an offer to move the team and we’re convinced this is the best possible scenario. We just have to get the club operating the way we want it to, to move forward,” said LeNeveu, who requires more major contributors to step up and also needs smaller contributions raised through the donation process for the society.

The society added that it is already working toward a longterm lease agreement with the city to play at Frank Crane Arena.