Image credit: Kamloops Storm

By Earl Seitz

COVID Storm impact

COVID-19 impact on Kamloops Storm

Apr 21, 2020 | 6:30 PM

KAMLOOPS —- B.C. Hockey League Commissioner Chris Hebb has sounded some alarm bells about how the shutdown in sports is going to affect his league.

Hebb says it could be tough for some teams to survive the storm.

Teams in the junior “B” Kootenay International League are also feeling the pinch.

The Kamloops Storm and Chase Heat were already out of the playoffs when the Kootenay League cancelled the rest of the post-season.

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But the impact goes beyond the end of the hockey season for all teams.

The cancellation of playoffs because of COVID-19 also meant spring camps won’t be held.

“I’d say on average we’ve been about $10,000 the last couple of years, each spring camp.” says Storm general manager Matt Kolle. “That offsets maybe some losses from the year before, or provides a gap fill from the end of one season to the start of the next season.”

Because of no spring camp that gap fill revenue is at zero dollars.

The loss of spring camps also means losing a valuable recruiting tool.

And this is the time teams are usually pounding the pavement looking for partnerships and sponsors and building for next season — none of that’s happening.

“At every league, at every level, no fans, no sponsors ——- we’re all in a bit of trouble right now.”

It costs the players families $8000 to wear the uniform of the Storm and play the game for the season.

If it comes down to starting a season without fans, the Storm may be ahead of the game compared to some other teams, with 80% of the Storms revenue coming from player fees.

“The Kamloops Storm, we function off player fees, because we really haven’t had the fan base there in the past couple of years.” says Matt Kolle. “Fernie, Revelstoke, all these guys, they’re getting packed houses.” says Matt Kolle. “Everybody is paid from the fans who are putting those butts in the seats.”

The Storm are moving back to MacArthur Island for the 2020-21 season, where the team had a faithful fan base before a move downtown to Memorial Arena.

With so much uncertainty, no one knows just when that season will be.

“Timing, timing is horrible.” says Kolle. “We bought this team and we’ve been positive and we’ve been pushing for a positive upswing for the organization, and we feel that the moves we made were all positive impacting moves, and here’s where we are today.”