Devils' departure puts stadium's future further in doubt
The news that St John's is to lose its second professional hockey team in three years has cast an even darker cloud over the already precarious future of the financially troubled Mile One stadium, city officials said this week.
The St. John's Fog Devils announced earlier this week they will be moving to Verdun, Que., next season and will operate under a new, Quebec-based owner in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Hockey biz a 'dog's breakfast,' mayor says
Mayor Andy Wells, who presided over the construction of the city-owned Mile One Centre despite his own misgivings, said the city ought to learn a lesson from bad experiences with the St. John's Maple Leafs — the former Toronto Maple Leafs farm team — and now the Fog Devils.
"This hockey business is a dog's breakfast," said Wells, who credits owner Derm Dobbin and his family — who launched the Fog Devils in 2005 — with at least trying to develop a successful business.
"[Let me] make myself perfectly and completely clear: under no circumstances should taxpayers' dollars go into subsidizing a hockey team," Wells said.
"It should not happen. It would be a misallocation of resources."
In December, council voted to increase its annual subsidy for St. John's Sports and Entertainment, which operates Mile One and a neighbouring convention centre, from $1.5 million in 2007 to $2 million for 2008.
The stadium has never broken even since it opened in 2001, following a campaign by the St. John's Maple Leafs and their supporters for a larger playing space. The team wound up decamping for Toronto in 2005.
No place in budget for stadium subsidy
Coun. Tom Hann said he sees dark clouds gathering over Mile One's future given that the city is facing greater challenges to cover its regular obligations.
"We're coming into a budget year next year where I think we're going to be looking for in excess of $7 [million], maybe $8 million," Hann said.
"Where do we find that? Then you have to sit back and look at your priorities. Do you do the streets and the sidewalks, or do you subsidize hockey at Mile One?"
Apart from the rest of the Fog Devils season, Mile One has only three major events on its schedule for the next six months. What's more, most of the concerts that Mile One has booked over the last year have lost money.
New tenant needed
Coun. Ron Ellsworth, who represents the city on the board of St. John's Sports and Entertainment, said he is not sure how the stadium intends to fill seats without a major tenant.
"We have no idea at this point," Ellsworth said when asked what the public might expect to see at Mile One next year.
"It would be only speculation on our part."
To offset its costs, St. John's Sports and Entertainment leases boxes and suites to corporate sponsors. Councillors say they are not sure how attractive such box seats will be without regularly scheduled hockey.
Scott Cluney, executive director of the Downtown Development Commission, said there is plenty of anecdotal evidence from bars and restaurants that things peaked during the St. John's Maple Leafs era.
"They would see a fair increase in business on [Leafs] game night — before the game and after the game," Cluney said.
"I don't think that has been the case for the Fog Devils."