The Town of Amherstburg and the Amherstburg Admirals have entered into an updated agreement for the Jr. C hockey club’s use of the Libro Centre.
The hockey team moved from Kingsville to Amherstburg in 2013 and the original owners entered into an occupancy agreement with the town. A report from CAO Valerie Critchley noted the agreement was assumed after the sale of the franchise in 2015.
Critchley’s report notes that the initial term of the agreement was for five years and had a renewal option for another five years, with the latter renewal concluding in 2023.
“Since that time, the Town and the Admirals have continued the occupancy arrangement based on the terms of the original Agreement with some mutually agreed upon modifications. However, it should be noted that the Admirals continue to rent ice time at the posted user rates,” Critchley stated in her report.
The new agreement includes such provisions as rental of ice time for games and practices at the public user fee rates, exclusive use of dressing rooms five and seven, access to the press box at no additional charge, use of laundry facilities at the Libro Centre for team purposes, use of a portion of the arena for two hours prior to a home game for the purposes of selling tickets, the exclusive right to sell and retain advertising revenue within the main ice pad (Rink A) with the exception that two on-ice logos for the Amherstburg Minor Hockey Association (AMHA) be provided at no charge, exclusive right to display the club name at centre ice in Rink A, exclusive right to the sale and revenue from club tickets and souvenirs, exclusive broadcast rights of club games and the right to receive free advertisements on the town’s digital gateway signs for a 48-hour period prior to each home game.
“Of note in this Agreement is the granting of the exclusive rights to sell advertising and retain the revenue from the same within Rink A and on the Rink A ice surface, subject to two on ice logos for AMHA which are installed free of charge. In researching other municipal agreements with Junior C teams in the area, administration has found that it is common for municipalities to grant the right to sell advertising and retain the revenue to teams, or to negotiate an advertising revenue sharing agreement,” Critchley wrote. “For example, the Municipality of Lakeshore’s agreement with the Lakeshore Canadiens Junior C team stipulates that the Team has the exclusive right to sell and retain the revenue from advertising within rinks at the Atlas Tube Centre in exchange for the Club paying $1,500 per year.”
According to the report, town administration estimates the maximum revenue-generating potential for Rink A is approximately $48,000. That does not include the Zamboni, which the town retains the advertising rights on. Critchley noted the ability to have rights to the advertising is “integral to sustaining their operations” but added “alternative discussions around how the Admirals could leverage advertising revenue included the Town retaining the advertising and sharing those revenue dollars with the Admirals.”
The CAO’s report added: “Upon further review of how best to address the need for the Admirals to have advertising revenue, as was negotiated in their previous agreement, the best way in which to achieve it was to provide them the rights to directly manage the sale and revenue directly. They have sponsors and contacts willing to support and assist the Admirals directly and autonomy to sell the advertising spots based on what they can sell rather than as directed by the Town’s User Fee Bylaw. The Town also has limited resources to sell advertising and may fall short in revenue resulting in the Town providing less than agreed to revenue and or funding committed revenue through tax dollars. The Admirals have a focus on this as it is integral to their operations so this solution avoids any potential risk of tax payer dollars being used and or adversely impacting the Admirals success.”
Rink B, a.k.a. the Movati ice pad, will see the advertising rights retained by the town with the ability to offer them to user groups such as AMHA or Skate Amherstburg.
Critchley stated while schedules can vary, the Admirals use approximately 123 hours of ice time per year with that generating $30,000 in revenue.
“In addition to this amount, the club also books ice time for its summer hockey camp and pays for storage used apart from the dedicated dressing rooms,” she said.
Town council approved the recommendation to execute the agreement with the Admirals and to offer the advertising opportunities in Rink B to community groups like AMHA and Skate Amherstburg with no debate.
Town enters into new agreement with Admirals for Libro Centre use
By Ron Giofu
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