Giants losing money at Coliseum
New venue?: So far it’s talk: Toigo
SCENE & HEARD: Complete with the unveiling this week of a new 15th anniversary logo, the Vancouver Giants have launched an off-season ticket sales campaign in an increasingly tough local market.
At this point, it seems there won’t be any plans on the drawing board for a 20th anniversary celebration, at least not at the Pacific Coliseum. For now, the Giants are locked into a lease with the PNE but the drums in junior hockey’s jungle continue to send signals that principal owner Ron Toigo is looking for a new home. South Surrey appears to be on his wish list.
“I keep hearing that a new arena in South Surrey is in the planning stages,” Toigo said Friday. “But so far it’s just been a lot of talk.”
The Giants’ per-game home average attendance numbers in recent years has fallen from a high of 8,717 in 2008-09 to just over 5,800 this past season.
“Am I concerned about it? Absolutely,” Toigo says. “We’re starting to lose money. The rent we’re paying is the highest in the league. It’s not working. The Coliseum is tired and needs capital funding but doesn’t get a subsidy from any level of government.”
Toigo is the first to acknowledge that a more successful and entertaining product at ice level will bring the fans back to some degree. But in the long term, he’s keeping his options open.
HERE ‘N’ THERE: The final death knell of sports on CKNW sounded earlier this week when word came down from Corus Entertainment in Toronto that Dave Sheldon and Bob Addison were included in a cost-cutting national flushing of on-air talent. Sheldon had been doing the morning sports run with Jon McComb and the prime time noon slot with Simi Sara. Addison was the afternoon sports guy. They were the sole survivors of a sports department that was once the envy of every station in Vancouver. Long live the memory of the late Tiger Al Davidson. SHORT HOPS: It seems every year there is one B. C. Hockey Hall of Fame inductee who steals the show with his acceptance speech. That honour went to former Canucks stalwart and now Dallas Stars assistant coach Curt Fraser last week in Penticton … Burnaby-born and former Edmonton Oilers firstround draft pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has been added to the softball-playing roster of celebrities Aug. 12 at Nat Bailey Stadium for a Shriners Hospitals for Kids charity game. All three Reinhart boys — Max, Sam and Griffin — have confirmed their presence to organizer Brendan Gallagher. Nugent-Hopkins’ focus on Monday will be on his B.C.-bred, four-year-old filly Zenya in the ninth race on the BC Cup card at Hastings Racecourse.
END ZONE: Don’t even dare mention the words ‘ladies tees’ when discussing the Aug. 17-23 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open at the Vancouver Golf Club. The LPGA Tour determines whether they want long or short par 4s and 5s with the par 3s changing from round to round. The expression ‘ladies tees’ is taboo.