Sault Ste. Marie reaches new deal with Soo Greyhounds

The last agreement between the city and the Soo Greyhounds lasted 20 years. (File)

Meeting on Monday evening, city council in Sault Ste. Marie will vote on a new agreement with the Soo Greyhounds, the main tenant at the GFL Memorial Gardens.

The last agreement was signed in 2006 and has been in place for the last two decades. The proposed new agreement is for 10 years, with two, five-year options to extend the deal.

“Through the life of this agreement, the city expanded box office services to include online sales, increased marketing and advertising opportunities throughout the venue, expanded suite rental opportunities and broadened food and beverage options and services to accommodate increased patron demand,” said a staff report on the new proposed deal.

“In addition, the city and the Soo Greyhounds partnered to add an additional 113 seats to the arena capacity to include infill seating and further partnered to replace the original video scoreboard in 2020 with a state-of-the-art video display system for the facility.”

In the last 20 years, more than three million tickets have been sold for 773 Greyhound games, including 73 playoff matches. The city’s share of ticket sales has totalled $3,146,064, or 8.87 per cent of ticket revenue.

City expects to break even

The previous agreement was calculated to give the city a larger share when the OHL team made the playoffs. Under the new agreement, the city’s share of ticket sales would increase to 10 per cent.

“Year 1 ticket revenue is estimated at approximately $210,000 and is expected to increase annually,” the report said.

“In addition, the proposed agreement formalizes current ticketing practices, ensuring modern and convenient purchasing options remain available for patrons while generating an estimated $35,000 in facility revenue to support operating costs.”

Other elements of the agreement would remain the same, including the city receiving 90 per cent of gross food and beverage revenue, 10 per cent of advertising revenue, 80 per cent of suite lease revenue and 100 per cent of revenue from name rights.

“In addition to direct facility revenues, Soo Greyhounds events generate indirect economic benefits through increased hotel occupancy, restaurant and bar activity, transportation usage, and visitor spending associated with both regular-season and playoff games,” the report said.

“Overall, the city can anticipate a breakeven, or modest operating surplus from game operations, with annual results fluctuating based on attendance and playoff performance.”

Read the full report here.