Struggling franchise looks for help from city
The financially-struggling Windsor Express is looking for a new rent-free deal at the city-owned WFCU Centre.
“They’re trying to maintain themselves and sustain themselves in the city of Windsor and they’re at the point now where I suspect if they can’t get some relief, this could be the last season,” Mayor Drew Dilkens said Monday.
In exchange for the waived fees, the two-time National Basketball League of Canada champion is proposing giving the city marketing and promotional services.
A devoted fan of the team, Dilkens said while attendance has been building year upon year, it’s been growing slower than the team anticipated.
“I think it would be a shame if the city was to lose the Express, but that doesn’t mean there’s a blank cheque on the table to save them, either,” he said.
Though the team has one year remaining in a three-year deal with the city, it’s asking for a new deal in which the city waives its $3,500 per game fee, its $1 ticket surcharge and allows the Express to keep 100 per cent of concession revenues instead of the 50 per cent it gets. All those waived fees would add up to $114,900 in lost annual revenue for the city.
In exchange, the team is offering a list of promotional initiatives, including promoting the city’s Adventure Bay water park with signage and giveaways; players running a kids basketball program; players appearing at city events; giving out hundreds of season tickets to disadvantaged youths; and giving 250 season tickets to the city for use promoting Adventure Bay or other programs.
Express president Dartis Willis Sr. said the estimated value of all 12 initiatives totals $115,400. They are “tangible investments in the community,” he said in a letter to the city. He couldn’t be reached on the holiday Monday.
Dilkens said the team is presenting an interesting proposition, which goes to council next week.
Dilkens said he’s told team officials he’ll help in any way possible, but if they want taxpayers to subsidize the operation, they’re “taking me beyond my comfort zone.”
At the end of the team’s playoff run last season, Willis told the Star’s Jim Parker while attendance has risen each of its five years in Windsor, it hasn’t risen enough.
“The city, the arena administration must recognize it’s a slow growth to this basketball and if they want it here, and I want it here, we have to make it a feasible opportunity for all of us,” Willis said, expressing hope Year 6 will be “doable” in Windsor.
A city staff report shows the $1 ticket surcharge provided the city an average of $481 per game last season, meaning paid attendance averaged 481, while complimentary tickets averaged 795.
The deal has become better for the team over the years. When it started in the 2012-13 season, game fees were as high as $4,530, there was the $1 ticket surcharge and the city took 100 per cent of concession revenue. That improved the next year to a maximum $4,030 game fee and the city and team splitting concession revenues 50:50. The three-year deal that started in 2015-16 calls for $3,500 game fees, the $1 surcharge and the 50:50 split for concession revenues.
In a breakdown of revenues and expenses last season, the cost to the city to host games averaged $3,978, while the fee paid by the Express was $3,500.