Mallory Clarkson/Courtesy of lloydminstersource.com
The Lloydminster Bobcats will be staying at the city-owned Centennial Civic Centre, at least until April 30, 2019.
During its regular meeting Monday, council approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the city and the Junior “A” Bobcats Hockey Association, effective Oct. 1 this year.
City Coun. Larry Sauer — council’s liaison with the community services department — said an extended agreement will help both the hockey club and the city.
“They wanted a longer term and I can see that for budgeting purposes, obviously, so they can look into the future and for our people as well,” Sauer said.
Included under the contract are stipulations that the Bobcats will have preferred bookings of ice allocation for scheduled training camps, exhibition, league and playoff dates.
The club will also continue to hold exclusive rights to some advertising at the facility, but the city reserves the right to cover those if it conflicts with special event sponsors.
Sauer said that could relate to events such as the ScotiaBank Hockey Day in Canada, which will be coming to the Border City this January.
“They have specific requirements that we have to adhere to, so it’ll cover that,” he added.
Also included in the contract is a stipulation that if the club receives a third-party offer to buy the team, the city has the first right of refusal.
“Within 60 days, it may exercise its option to purchase the team on the same terms and conditions and may assign this right to other local of community interests,” the contract read.
Sauer said this condition was included in the previous contract, but is an important point to include in the MOU.
“We want this to be a long-term deal; we’d like to have junior A hockey in our city for a long time to come,” he said. “If for some reason, shareholders find it’s not working for them and someone comes into purchase the franchise, then the city has taken out a 60-day first right of refusal so we can check out to see if there are people in the community who would like to keep it here.”
