It's official: Canadian Finals Rodeo returns to Edmonton
'This is great for the city of Edmonton,' says Coun. Tony Caterina
Despite plans to steer the Canadian Finals Rodeo away from Alberta, the city of Edmonton won't be relinquishing the reins after all.
The Canadian Professional Rodeo Association has rescinded a memorandum of understanding it had with the City of Saskatoon which would have seen the huge event move from Edmonton's Northlands Coliseum to Saskatoon's SaskTel Centre.
Coun. Tony Caterina confirms Edmonton — which has laid claim to the event for the last 43 years — is back in the saddle.
The rodeo will be riding into the city for the 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons.
"Absolutely, the event is going to be staying here," Caterina said Tuesday in an interview with CBC Edmonton.
"I feel terrific. I'm glad to see that they've come to their senses. And I say that laughingly.
"Edmonton has provided a home to them for so many years and, certainly Northlands Coliseum is the place they should be."
The CPRA and the city of Saskatoon had signed a memorandum in July after Edmonton, Northlands and the Oilers Entertainment Group made a final offer in March to renew the contract.
That offer was rejected by the rodeo association, which said it wanted to entertain bids from other municipalities that had shown interest in hosting the event, including Saskatoon.
But then, on Monday, Tourism Saskatoon confirmed that after a series of "high level meetings," negotiations fell apart, the deal had been dissolved, and the rodeo would be reclaimed by Edmonton.
"This is great for the city of Edmonton," Caterina said.
"The CFR attracts tens of millions of dollars in economic activity and the way the economy is now, we need all the help we can get, so I'm extremely happy that they've come to this decision."
For Coun. Michael Oshry, the news was a welcome a surprise.
He says the contract will provide the struggling Northlands Coliseum some stability, and financial relief.
"It's going to be a couple years before we know for sure what's happening with that building … but in the meantime it lets Northlands have another event that can be hosted at the Coliseum," Oshry said.
"That's a good thing for Northlands and a good thing for the city."
Edmonton Northlands, the non-profit organization which runs the arena formerly known as Rexall Place, is trying to reinvent itself in the wake of losing the Oilers, Oil Kings and many concert events to Rogers Place downtown.
Northlands has proposed a number of changes to the arena, the Expo Centre, the horse racing track and the casino, including a plan to convert the arena space into a series of ice surfaces.
But as negotiations over the plan continue, Northlands is projecting a negative annual cash flow of $7.7 million because of Oilers games and major concerts moving to Rogers Place.
"Now Northlands is going to keep the arena open for another couple years for the rodeo, which gives Northlands and the city some time to, once and for all, make a decision on the building," Oshry said.
'Disappointing'
But the sentiment was not so optimistic among would-be organizers in Saskatoon.
"This was a really important event for us," Tourism Saskatoon executive director Todd Brandt said in an interview with CBC Radio's' Edmonton AM.
"We thought it was a really great opportunity to bring all the fans from Alberta into Saskatoon ... we thought we could build on the brand that Edmonton did such a great job of building up over the years."
Brandt added that shortly after the memorandum was signed, board members who were part of the agreement resigned. The CPRA asked for some time to restructure its executive, but he never expected the agreement to fall apart.
"The senior staff from CPRA were all on board with us and we were ready to roll," said Brandt.
"And I'm just disenfranchised by the fact that we were never given an opportunity to meet with the new board and to bring them up to speed.
"To find out that they simply went back to negotiating with the Northlands facility was disappointing to say the least."
More details on the renewed rodeo contract with Edmonton are expected to be announced at a Wednesday morning media launch.
With files from CBC's Lydia Neufeld