Niagara Falls, junior hockey teams face off in arena deal negotiations
Council defers decision on agreements with Canucks and RiverHawks pending further talks
Niagara Falls’ two junior hockey teams are caught up in budgetary pressures facing city hall.
As the junior-A Niagara Falls Canucks and junior-C Niagara RiverHawks appeared before city council, requesting increases to their municipal funding, politicians and staff continue to search for $1 million in city savings.
“We appreciate both teams being here, such a long history,” said Coun. Mike Strange, noting that expenses for minor hockey groups, much like municipalities, continue to increase.
“I understand that you need money, and council, believe me, we want to give you the money, it’s just we don’t know where to get the money from.”
The Canucks and RiverHawks have licensing agreements outlining their access to services and amenities at Gale Centre.
The Canucks’ agreement expires this month and RiverHawks’ in August.
The current city operating grant for the Canucks is $60,000; it’s $20,000 for the RiverHawks.
The Canucks are asking for a 10year agreement and a grant increase to $160,000 annually. The RiverHawks are asking for $100,000 each year.
During Tuesday’s council meeting, staff recommended a one-year extension of existing agreements with the same financial terms.
Staff said it would give them time to provide a full review of the teams’ agreements and prepare options to be considered as part of 2025 budget deliberations.
Canucks officials said a one-year extension doesn’t provide longterm certainty, and could derail national and provincial event opportunities, such as an Ontario Junior Hockey League Governor’s Showcase, which is looking for a new location with a long-term commitment, with preliminary approval for Niagara Falls to host, starting in September.
Brandon Boone, co-owner of the Canucks, said the showcase involves all 24 OJHL teams from across the province and western New York, plus hundreds of NCAA, NHL and other scouts gathered in a host city for three days, where each team plays two games.
“The economic benefit and exposure for the city would be fantastic,” Boone said, adding it’s estimated to be about $315,000 per year.
Boone said he and Frank Pietrangelo, the other co-owner of the Canucks and a former Stanley Cup champion, are concerned the city will “lose this opportunity if we simply kick the can down the road, as staff is recommending” with a one-year extension.
“We’ve been requesting a longterm agreement with the city for almost a year now,” said Boone.
“We’re asking for a long-term agreement, so we can commit to these national and provincial events and we’re asking for an additional investment from the city … the return on which would be fouror fivefold per event per year,” he added.
Kathy Moldenhauer, general manager of parks and recreation, said staff recommended the year extension to allow for “further study” and to look at some other “co-operative kind of funding options” for the teams, one being arena boards and other advertising opportunities.
“Prior to the Gale Centre opening (in 2010), the junior teams both did look after the advertising in the arenas (the Canucks at Niagara Falls Memorial Arena and RiverHawks at Chippawa Willoughby Memorial Arena), so this has happened before and the existing grants that we have were actually based on the amount of advertising revenues that the teams had collected at that time,” she said.
In 2007, council approved the Gale Centre project. Part of the agreement for the business plan was that the city develop and control all advertising opportunities within the arena.
Recognizing revenues from advertising were an important source of revenue to the junior teams, staff’s recommendation to council at the time was each team should receive an operating grant in lieu of advertising revenue they would no longer receive.
Moldenhauer said while external costs for the teams have gone up, the city has “tried to keep our costs low,” calling the existing agreements “very fair” to the clubs.
“Our teams really do have a great agreement. They receive the grants. They also, free of charge, have their exclusive change rooms and office spaces,” she said.
“We do value our teams and, of course, we do support them, but we really feel at this time that we cannot recommend an increase in their grants because we have been directed by council to look at additional savings. I really feel that we need to hold this conversation for a year, give staff time to sit down more with the teams and to have a thorough discussion with council on where we hope to save some dollars for next year.”
Mayor Jim Diodati said while the city wants to support the teams, council has asked chief administrative officer Jason Burgess to find $1 million in operational savings.
“He goes, ‘But you guys keep adding things,’ so we’re falling further behind,” said Diodati. “We’re trying to think innovatively, creatively, how we can still do both.”
In addition to advertising opportunities, council bounced around ideas such as directing money collected through a renegotiated municipal accommodation tax and sport tourism initiatives.
Diodati suggested a five-year extension of the teams’ agreements, but with a clause that the deal can be renegotiated in a year.
Ultimately, council deferred the issue to their May 28 meeting, which gives staff and the teams a few weeks to come up with a plan.
Kira Dolch, general manager of planning, building and development, who was serving as acting chief administrative officer in Burgess’s absence, said she wanted to temper expectations for the next meeting, adding while staff can report back about extension options, they are faced with “budget constraints” and a council directive to find $1 million in savings.