Pandemic wreaks havoc on MJHL teams’ bottom lines

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This article was published 12/05/2020 (2311 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A pandemic-induced cash crunch is hammering sports leagues everywhere and the Manitoba Junior Hockey League isn’t immune to the harsh reality.

Incoming MJHL commissioner Kevin Saurette said Tuesday the league’s board of governors is meeting regularly to assess the damage and consider options for surviving the budget crisis currently facing its 11 member teams. He admitted part of the solution may be some form of government assistance.

“We’re definitely looking at every funding option that’s available to us as a league,” said Saurette. “It may come to a point where we do discuss with the government different options but we’re also very cognizant that we’re not the only ones going through this. This is a situation affecting everyone, from every sport organization, every industry, every business and every family.”

Saurette said MJHL clubs, which operate on annual budgets averaging approximately $550,000 and depend on attendance for 30 to 40 per cent of their revenue, are concerned about how playing a reduced schedule with a limited number of spectators might affect the bottom line. The possibility of losing the entire season has also been considered.

If and when government restrictions are eased, Saurette was asked what would be the minimum requirement for a viable 2020-21 season.

“It’s hard to put a number on it but right now we’re planning on a (full) 60-game regular-season schedule,” said Saurette. “But within that, we have contingency plans and critical dates where, if we start in the middle of November, it’s potentially going to be a 40-game season. That’s the process we’re going through, too (is) we’re trying to find as much funding as possible.”

For a team such as the community-owned Neepawa Natives, the pandemic has wreaked havoc on the budgetary bottom line. On Tuesday, team president Ken Waddell launched an appeal for supporters of the hockey club to purchase tickets for the annual cash lottery.

Selling out the lottery would net the club $50,000 in profit and help to overcome the cancellation of a spring prospects camp, which normally generates $15,000 in player fees.

“If we can sell out the lottery we have a pretty good chance of breaking even, which is a lot better than we’ve done the last two or three years,” said Waddell via telephone. “We would’ve done better if we’d have been in the playoffs and we’d have done better if we’d have had camp — we would’ve made a profit likely — but we’re in a position now with the lottery and a little bit of luck, pardon the pun, we can break even.”

Playoffs are normally a cash cow for MJHL teams and Neepawa failed to qualify in 2019-20, although the post-season was halted midway through the first round.

“It’s definitely not singular (concern) to Neepawa,” said Saurette, who officially takes the reins from retiring commissioner Kim Davis on July 1. “A lot of our teams, with the season cancelled in the middle of playoffs, those teams involved lost potential playoff revenue to start and a lot of the team’s spring camps are fundraiser events for them and other events they generally hold in the summer, from awards banquets or golf tournaments, prospects camps, it’s limited their resources financially.”

The Natives were able to finese their annual Ag Expo auction fundraiser, moving what is normally a banquet-style event online and onto local television. The event, which normally generates about $25,000 for the club, brought in about 85 per cent of that total in 2020.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14