CFL in the Maritimes

[Hali87]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

The team should belong to the collectivist majority, not just the bourgeoise!

I'm just fighting for the little people.....

So Halifax is the bourgeoisie, and the rest of the Maritimes are the proletariat? This seems... inaccurate at best. I'm also not sure why you think that a Halifax team would be "for the peninsula"... I'd guess that the majority of fans would actually come from areas like Dartmouth and the Mainland, incidentally very "proley" areas. Many residents of the peninsula are actually from other parts of Canada (consider all the students and military personnel) and would probably be more likely to cheer for their home teams.

[MonctonRad]

CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon will be in the area next week.

He will be delivering a lecture at Mount Allison University in Sackville (NB) entitled "The Turnaround League: Lessons in Innovation From the CFL".

The lecture will be at Brunton Auditorium at 7PM on March 26th. I believe the lecture is open to the public.....

The lecture is part of the Ron Joyce Speakers Series.

[BlackYear]

Wow, seriously Bourgeois and Hicks, you guys are joking right? I have absolutely no problems with my city dishing out $180k to host this event.

http://www.news919.com/2013/03/19/tw...ay-nay-to-cfl/


Two Moncton councillors say nay to CFL
Citing cost overruns, Councillors Bourgeois and Hicks vote against bringing the CFL back to Moncton.

Allan Dearing Mar 19, 2013 05:55:34 AM

MONCTON, NB – Two Moncton councillors have voted against bringing another CFL game to the city.

The City of Moncton will spend $180,000 to bring a third CFL matchup to Moncton Stadium this September.

Councillor Daniel Bourgeois says he has nothing against the CFL but feels it’s time the province of New Brunswick stepped up to the plate to help finance big events in Moncton.

“There is no cost sharing or benefit sharing with the province, so it’s not a fair, level playing field,” he noted.

Bourgeois was also concerned about cost overruns and notes how the other two games went over budget which also worried Councillor Brian Hicks.

But Councillor Paulette Theriault encouraged them to look at the bigger picture and the millions of dollars in economic spinoffs the games generate.

Councillors Bourgeois and Hicks voted against the motion but it still passed by a vote of 6-2.

Mayor LeBlanc and Councillors Pellerin and Landry were absent last night.

[MonctonRad]

Councillors Bourgeois and Hicks are the self appointed guardians of the public purse in Moncton which is fine. They do a good job at holding the city mandarins accountable for their budgets. Somebody has to do this.

$180K however is not a lot of money. Even with only the City of Moncton (and not Riverview and Dieppe etc) footing the bill, this still amounts to an expenditure of only $2.57 per capita.

For all of the positive spin offs of this event, this would appear to be money well spent.

[Bishop2047]

I gotta say, that is a pretty reasonable price tag for a CFL game. The way that number was not disclosed earlier made me assume it was on the higher end, but that price would be just fine with me. Moncton will more than make it back.

[RyeJay]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

$180K however is not a lot of money. Even with only the City of Moncton (and not Riverview and Dieppe etc) footing the bill, this still amounts to an expenditure of only $2.57 per capita.

For all of the positive spin offs of this event, this would appear to be money well spent.

Agreed.

[BlackYear]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Councillors Bourgeois and Hicks are the self appointed guardians of the public purse in Moncton which is fine. They do a good job at holding the city mandarins accountable for their budgets. Somebody has to do this.

Since you put into those words, I can understand the reason, however to actually vote against it?

$180,000 divided by 20,000 fans = $9 a head. The City can just tack that on as a service charge on my ticket.

[Taeolas]

Originally Posted by Budyser

Since you put into those words, I can understand the reason, however to actually vote against it?

$180,000 divided by 20,000 fans = $9 a head. The City can just tack that on as a service charge on my ticket.

Actually the city can't. That's one of the big things the Cities of NB want to do is get the City Laws changed so they can do things like Hotel Surcharges and similar. Currently that can't be done unless the province allows it.

But yeah, the amount is pretty trivial for all the benefits it will bring the city. Well in the 'no brainer' category.

[MonctonRad]

CFL, other events are economic catalysts
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Times & Transcript
By: Brent Mazerolle

City of Moncton investments not just about impact of events themselves, says businessman, but their role in attracting business investment

One of the key organizers of the largest sporting event ever held in Atlantic Canada said yesterday that hosting events like the IAAF World Junior Championships in track and field and CFL football games are part of a direction community leaders set out on a quarter-century ago as part of the Moncton Miracle.

'I think if you look back at the event file in general, I go back to 1990 when we started Sport Moncton to chase sport tourism dollars,' said Bill Whalen. 'Sports tourism is now the fastest growing segment in the tourism business.' Whalen was co-chairman of the IAAF 2010 games with fellow Moncton businessman Larry Nelson. He has also worked side by side with City of Moncton officials on several regional, national and international events held in Moncton over the years.

In his paying job, he is president and CEO of Hawk, one of the area's most highly regarded communications and marketing firms.

With all that experience, he said yesterday the criticism of how much the city will spend bringing the CFL to the city for a third time this September is a 'very narrow view' of the value of such events.

Read more
http://22864.vws.magma.ca/index.php?&article_id=10793

[MonctonRad]

Tickets for the upcoming Montreal/Hamilton CFL football game at the Moncton 2010 Stadium will apparently go on sale on June 1st.

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Tickets for the upcoming Montreal/Hamilton CFL football game at the Moncton 2010 Stadium will apparently go on sale on June 1st.

But there will apparently be a presale available May 24th.

@CFL: NAPA #TDAtlantic Pre-sale for CFL Field Pass subscribers is on May 24th. Register here - http://t.co/qxVbJP291K #CFL

As per twitter

If you were planning on going, look into it.

[BlackYear]

Presale Friday May 24th at 10:00am Atlantic time.
General Public sale Saturday May 25th at 10:00 Atlantic time.

End Zone $49
Gold $79
Platinum $95

[MonctonRad]

Damn, they said June 1st this morning on CBC Radio.

Thanks for the clarification!

[isaidso]

So will capacity be 20,000 again?

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by isaidso

So will capacity be 20,000 again?

The seating chart looks the same as previous years, so I would say yes, but if I recall correctly, capacity is 20,875 or something very close to that.....

[c-way-dude]

No new information here, but at least CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon is being more positive on the maritime business community's ability to support a franchise.
http://cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunsw...ntic-team.html

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by c-way-dude

No new information here, but at least CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon is being more positive on the maritime business community's ability to support a franchise.
http://cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunsw...ntic-team.html

Could the Maritime business community support a CFL franchise? - of this, I have no doubt.

Two of the richest business families in the entire country are based in New Brunswick, and they both already have interests in sports teams. Robert Irving in Moncton owns the Moncton Wildcats and Scott McCain owns the Saint John Sea Dogs. Both are very successful teams in the QMJHL, with the Wildcats winning the President's Cup in 2006 & 2010, and the Sea Dogs winning in 2011 & 2012.

Could the Irvings & McCains be convinced to invest in a CFL franchise? - perhaps. Could they work together on making a franchise happen? - maybe. Are there other rich investors that could become involved in a Maritime franchise? - sure.

There are at least a half dozen individuals or families in Moncton who have personal wealth or business interests which exceed $100M. In Nova Scotia, the Sobeys and Bragg families are very wealthy. Ross Bragg also has media (cable) interests, which could be a nice fit for a professional sports team.

There is the money in the region to make this happen. It is just a matter of convincing these people that it would be a good business decision to make. That is the ultimate challenge here!

[c-way-dude]

I agree with Cohon that it would be a good time for Moncton city council to hire someone to determine what it would cost to make their stadium CFL-calibre. It is the next logical step if the city is serious about getting a franchise.

[Taeolas]

I'd love to see Moncton get both a downtown convention centre and a CFL team, but for the city to try and work on both may be reaching for too much. Still, if they can get the Downtown CC locked in fast, they might still be able to grab a CFL team from Halifax. Otherwise we're probably looking at a couple decades before it could happen.

[Demeshio]

Originally Posted by Budyser

Presale Friday May 24th at 10:00am Atlantic time.
General Public sale Saturday May 25th at 10:00 Atlantic time.

End Zone $49
Gold $79
Platinum $95

Anyone notice the lower seating area in the end zones are not available for a cheaper price this year? It's also a bit more for the Platinum section.