WHL, BCHL teams ask for $9.5 million from province
VANCOUVER — The five WHL teams in B.C. and the 17 B.C. Hockey League clubs are asking for $9.5 million in financial assistance from the provincial government
Shirley Bond, interim leader of the Liberal party, brought that up in question period Wednesday in the legislature, asking Premier John Horgan whether he’ll provide the “funding they need to survive the hockey season.”
The WHL’s Vancouver Giants, Kelowna Rockets, Kamloops Blazers, Victoria Royals and Prince George Cougars, and the 17 BCHL squads, banded together to approach the government for money.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has signed off on the WHL teams’ return-to-play protocol. She’s yet to OK the BCHL’s plan. They had given Wednesday as a deadline to get word or league governors could vote to cancel their season as early as today.
The five WHL teams are playing out of bubbles in Kamloops and Kelowna, which includes staying in hotels there and paying for their own additional testing. No fans are permitted in buildings.
The current BCHL plan has them playing in five pods, which involves the teams staying at their billet homes and then travelling to those particular centres for games. There’s no additional testing planned. Fans won’t be allowed in rinks.
Henry wasn’t keen on their plan when she talked about it during a media session Tuesday. The money the BCHL could get from the government to bubble and test might be the answer, as long it comes before them opting to cancel the season.
Horgan did sound receptive Wednesday to the idea of the leagues getting money. Bond, the MLA for Prince GeorgeValemount, took a good-hearted dig at him along the way, mentioning how her Prince George Spruce Kings beat his Victoria Grizzlies in the 2019 BCHL Coastal Conference final.
“We are not yet in a position to make a final determination on the funds that have been requested, but there is good news,” Horgan said. “Although both the member and I talked about our BCHL teams, there are also WHL teams in Prince George, in Kamloops, in Kelowna, in Victoria and in Vancouver, and all of them will be hitting the ice again very, very soon. That’s good news for the kids; it’s good news for the teams. We can do that, according to Dr. Henry, in a safe and effective way.
“There’s going to be more news about both hockey leagues. They provide an economic benefit. Certainly the WHL restart will be a bonus for Kamloops and Kelowna. But it will also be a difficult time for those teams, because outside of those two cities, they will not be having revenue coming in. We understand the issue. We’ve been working on it for a number of months. I regrettably have to say: ‘Stay tuned’ at this point.”