Peterborough POINT OF VIEW comes through for its Petes

Any one who doubted the depth of Peter borough’ s commitment to its Petes can doubt no longer. City council’ s unanimous support Monday for a rewrite of the hockey team’ s Memorial Centre lease, which will cost taxpayers an expected $2.4 million over seven years, made that abundant ly clear.

The Pete shad gone public in November with their fear that the storied franchise could not survive without an extra $350,000 a year.

A staff report to city council recommended less generous changes that would net the team $113,000 annually.

Council’ s order for new negotiations made it clear who would win that stand off. The Pete swill get an average $343,000 annually for the remainder of their lease.

That was the right decision, emotionally and financially. Losing the Petes would be a devastating blow to Peterborough’s image and its civic pride. It would also turn the city-owned Memorial Centre into a giant white elephant.

And, in a more recent development, it would have pulled the rug out from under an ambitious downtown redevelopment plan anchored by a new, larger arena and entertainment complex with the Pet es as the premier tenant.

That said, the rewritten lease could present a challenge.

The new terms are retro active to the start of this hockey season. The city will make good on the first year of the deal by taking $313,000 out of a contingency fund.

In future years the cost will grow and will have to be built into the city budget. That will likely mean cutting back some other services, or a tax increase.

But the financial pressure won’t be as great if the Pete scan keep winning. After a decade of mediocre performance the team is back challenging for first place in the Eastern Conference. After bottoming out at the start of the season attendance has spiked to 3,500 or more per game.

Should the Petes continue to play well this year and ride the current roster for another two years –not an unusual pattern in Major Junior hockey – increased ticket revenue alone could solve the problem.

It would more than solve the Pet es’ problem. With the new revenue sharing agreement annual surplus es approaching $500,000 could be possible.

That would allow the Pet es to build up a war chest. It would also provide space tot weak the Memorial Centre leaseback a bit toward the city’s favour.

That possibility seems to be anticipated in a joint statement that if future conditions require it the partners“will work to modify the agreement as necessary and in the best interests of the relationship.”

The Pete shave been Peter borough’ s bestknown symbol for more than 60 years. This new agreement should carry that relationship into an equally successful future.