(Image credit: CFJC Today/File photo).

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: City’s share of Memorial Cup ‘platform’ is a $100,000 gift from taxpayers

Mar 29, 2023 | 4:51 AM

THE MEMORIAL CUP will bring a lot of people to the Tournament Capital. They’ll spend money here. Hockey fans, especially Blazers fans, will have a great time. It will be quite the party.

But then there’s the matter of the $200,000 temporary ‘platform.’ Temporary, as in 10 days before it’s taken down.

It will be used by the TSN sports network, Canadian Hockey League officials, sponsors and team executives.

It must be quite the platform. As reported to City council yesterday, it wasn’t part of the original talks with the CHL about the Kamloops bid to host the Cup. What led to the late request for $200,000 more of taxpayers’ money is fuzzy but there it was, just two months before the puck drops.

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City council didn’t exactly embrace the idea, grilling Community and Protective Services director Byron McCorkell about the tardiness of the proposal and wondering why TSN and the CHL don’t pay for it, since it’s for their use.

Coun. Mike O’Reilly’s successful motion to provide up to $100,000 — or 50 per cent — and let the host committee look for the rest isn’t a bad compromise. The deadline to figure it out is Friday and it will take some serious brainstorming to find the other half of the cost.

Either that or the concept will have to be seriously downgraded.

The City’s share will come from the gaming reserve fund which, by the way, isn’t free money. Cities in which casinos are located get a 10 per cent cut of gambling revenues to offset associated costs but, in fact, they can use it for anything they want.

When gaming money is used for something, it doesn’t come directly from taxpayers but there’s certainly an equivalent cost. In the case of the platform, it’s money that won’t be available for other things.

So, regardless of the source of the $100,000, it’s another generous donation from taxpayers towards the big tournament.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops, alternate TNRD director and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.