Rich history a big part of pitch for world juniors
Bringing junior hockey back to its roots was the underlying theme of a joint presentation by officials from London and Windsor to land the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championships.
Mayor Drew Dilkens was part of a five-person pitch team that presented their plan for hosting the high-profile event to a Hockey Canada panel Monday in Calgary.
“I think we made a strong submission,” Dilkens said Tuesday as he waited in Toronto for a connecting flight home. “I don’t know that we could have done anything different.”
The 2017 tournament is another host split between two major markets in Toronto and Montreal.
“It’s different in a big market, there’s a lot of competing ways to spend entertainment dollars,” Dilkens said. “Our message was why don’t you bring junior hockey back to junior hockey communities.”
London and Windsor each have a rich history in junior hockey.
London has hosted two recent Memorial Cups (2005, 2014) and Windsor will host the Canadian Hockey League championship in 2017.
Samantha Magalas, the city’s sports tourism officer, joined Dilkens in Calgary. The three-person London team included: Cheryl Finn, that city’s director of sport tourism; Brian Ohl, the general manager of Budweiser Gardens; and Tony Foresi, the president of the Ontario Hockey Federation and a bid committee co-chair along with Dilkens.
Dilkens said the group made a 30-minute presentation followed by a 30-minute window for questions. He said they went the full hour in what he described as “a thoughtful dialogue. There were no questions that stumped us.”
The five-person Hockey Canada panel included CHL president and OHL commissioner David Branch and Hockey Canada CEO Tom Renney along with other upperechelon administrators.
Dilkens said the panel asked about the logistics of a two-city partnership. The bid committee highlighted the numerous hosting partnerships Windsor has enjoyed with Detroit.
“If we can do it with an international border and customs, we can surely do this,” he said.
Dilkens said they were quizzed about moving people in and out of the two cities and he pointed to arrangements made with Air Canada regarding open reservations and upsizing aircraft for the impending FINA World Swimming Championships Windsor is hosting this December.
The 10-team international hockey tournament is televised by TSN annually over the Christmas holidays.
“It’s to showcase hockey, but it’s also about money,” Dilkens said. “They (Hockey Canada) have to feel they can meet the revenue targets that have been put out there. I think they’re comfortable with the numbers we put forward.”
Windsor has committed $400,000 to hosting the event. London is kicking in $600,000 because, as the larger venue, Budweiser Garden will host the medal games.
How many communities are bidding for 2019 is a mystery, although Dilkens said presentations were scheduled for both Monday and Tuesday.
He said it was also quite clear there was a bid group from Vancouver there as well.
“Hockey Canada keeps details of the process and of the candidates strictly confidential,” said Lisa Dornan, the hockey body’s director of communication.
“Should the bidding communities wish to discuss it, that’s fine, but we don’t release that information.”
Hockey Canada has the next 10 days to present followup questions.
Doran said the successful bidder should be announced towards the end of November or early December so that members of the host community can take in the 2017 tournament.