Nearly two weeks after the Guelph Storm were named the hosts of the 2027 Memorial Cup, the other finalist, the Kitchener Rangers, have raised concerns about a possible conflict of interest. The Canadian Hockey League (CHL) announced their decision for the 2027 tournament on Nov. 20 following a “competitive bidding process” that narrowed down the finalists to the Storm and Rangers. The Rangers said they were disappointed and ready to move on, until they learned of a recent development. The week following the Memorial Cup announcement, Hockey Canada announced a three-year partnership with Sleeman Breweries, the Guelph-based company that owns the naming rights to the Guelph Storm’s home arena. “As an international marketing partner of Hockey Canada, Sleeman will have visibility at International Ice Hockey Federation events as well as national and international tournaments hosted by Hockey Canada,” explained a media released, published by Hockey Canada, on Nov. 27. That’s when worries about the selection process began to brew. Joe Birch, the Chief Operating Officer and governor of the Kitchener Rangers, said he approached the CHL after hearing about the deal. “I asked the CHL to investigate whether or not they felt as though a conflict of interest existed. It was important for me,” Birch said in a statement to CTV News. The CHL confirmed the Rangers had shared their concerns. “Site selection for the Memorial Cup is conducted with the utmost rigour by the CHL,” a spokesperson for the league said in a statement to CTV News. “We can state unequivocally that there was no conflict of interest, and we have full confidence in both the independence and expertise of the site selection committee.” The committee was made up of five people: “To protect the integrity of the process, all scores were submitted anonymously to the CHL, which then compiled and tallied the results to determine the host city,” the league said. The bids were evaluated across four key categories: business operations, community engagement and atmosphere, event logistics and hockey operations. The vote to pick Guelph over Kitchener was 4-1. “We don’t think anything was ill merited on anybody’s part on the CHL selection committee,” Birch insisted. In the future, Birch hoped there would be more transparency between bid committee judges and any prospective hosts of the hockey tournament. “I do believe we want to be advocates and agents of change and try to help make sure that future processes are better,” Birch said. According to the CHL, there is no formal appeal process for host selections and the decision to award the 2027 Memorial Cup to Guelph is final. The tournament will be held in spring 2027, but the exact dates have yet to be confirmed. The CHL said the Memorial Cup could bring $12 to $21 million to the host community.
