The return of Quesnel Junior Hockey has taken a step back, at least for the time being.
This comes after a resolution passed by the North Cariboo Joint Advisory Committee requiring potential junior franchise’s to provide $100,000 each year to the Quesnel Kangaroos from sponsor advertising.
Potential Owner, Rob McMillan says they were prepared to split proceeds from arena advertising, but the proposed financial obligations were unreasonable.
“We did think that it was unrealistic and not fair, and ultimately a death sentence for the team.” says McMillan.
“Right off the top you have to come up with $100,000, some of these teams in the league don’t even get $100,000 of advertising, let alone sharing it with someone.”
McMillan added that these teams don’t operate with a big budget so, to guarantee $100,000 per year would make it impossible to operate a team.
He says for any teams in the future seeing this as one of the stipulations, they will see that the City is essentially closed for business.
When asked if there was any flexibility around the resolution McMillan says that as of now, there are no negotiations and is looking like it’s something set in stone.
He hopes that potential feedback from citizens and business owners sheds light that the decision made was the wrong one, and maybe change to some sort of profit sharing.
McMillan says they are looking at other options, such as Williams Lake, which they’ve already reached out to them in hopes to have a team this coming season.
He notes it may be a little too late, as the timeline for the application to be made to the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League is February 15th.
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