CBRM council orders staff to weigh possible sale of Centre 200 arena

Cape Breton regional councillors are weighing the pros and cons of privatizing the Centre 200 arena in Sydney, N.S.

Coun. James Edwards asked staff on Tuesday to provide an issue paper on selling the 5,000-seat rink to a private operator.

But no one has approached him looking to buy the facility, Edwards told reporters after the council meeting.

"Over the last couple of years, there's always been a discussion — especially at budget time — about Centre 200, about the cost to repair it, the operating costs and the like," he said.

"Different conversations have taken place about ... what it would look like in the private sector. In order to have that informed discussion, you need the facts and figures to support that."

Several councillors said they would not like to see the rink sold, but all voted in favour of getting a report on the financial implications for the municipality.

"I'm looking forward to the conversation, for sure, just to finally put some things to bed, but it's definitely not something I support at this point in time," said Deputy Mayor Earlene MacMullin.

Arena a 'service to community' says councillor

Coun. Steve Gillespie agreed.

"It's a service that we provide to the community, no different than transit," he said. "Transit doesn't make money. Transit actually loses money every year, so are we going to privatize that, as well?"

Coun. Darren Bruckschwaiger said he didn't believe council would sell the arena, but said there's nothing wrong with taking a look at the numbers.

Bruckschwaiger said he can recall a time years ago when council tried out privatization at Centre 200, but it didn't work.

The leaseholders did not keep up with maintenance or repairs to the facility, he said.

"I'm around long enough to remember when we leased the facility out ... and you know they tried it for several years and what we ended up with when we ended up getting it back was a mess," Bruckschwaiger said.

The arena was built to mark the city of Sydney's bicentennial in 1985 and opened two years later.

A buyer approached CBRM about three years ago, chief administrative officer Marie Walsh told council.

The municipality had the building appraised and it was valued at about $19 million, although it would cost more than that to replace, she said.

The interested party then took a look at the operating revenues and expenses, but did not pursue it further, Walsh said.

All of CBRM's recreation facilities, including Centre 200, cost the municipality about $2.25 million last year, although revenues were at least $1 million short due to the pandemic, according to budget documents presented earlier this year.

The projection for the coming year is that revenues will be back, but the shortfall from all facilities will be about $1.7 million.

Centre 200 general manager Paul MacDonald said the facility employs 11 full-time staff and costs the municipality about $1 million a year to operate.

CBRM is also slated to spend about $500,000 on the building this year and more over the next two years.

Naming rights to be included

MacDonald said CBRM has never done a study on the economic benefits of having the arena in Sydney and he will examine that in his report.

CBRM also had an evaluation done of the potential revenue from naming rights, but it was delayed by the pandemic.

That will also be part of the facility report, which MacDonald expects will be ready this fall.

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