CALGARY — Perhaps, just perhaps, the Red Deer Rebels bid never stood a chance.
Western Hockey League governors, by way of a majority vote, decided Wednesday at the Deerfoot Inn and Casino that the Saskatoon Blades will host the 2013 Memorial Cup tournament. The Blades won out over the Red Deer Rebels and Kelowna Rockets, both of whom play out of smaller cities with decidedly smaller facilities.
League commissioner Ron Robison was impressed with all three bids.
“The bar continues to be raised in these bid presentations,” he said. “I must say that all three were outstanding presentations, all of them put a great deal of work and thought into the preparation of their bids.
“You never know until the day of the presentations what they’re all going to contain, but I can tell you we would have been comfortable with any of the three centres based on the qualities of the bid presentations, for sure.”
But in the end the deciding factors had much to do with size. Saskatoon boasts an immediate population of roughly 230,000 — more than twice that of either Red Deer or Kelowna — and the Credit Union Centre seats about 15,000, well beyond the capacity of Red Deer’s Centrium, which will accommodate about 7,000 fans following renovations in 2012, and Prospera Place in Kelowna, which seats 6,000.
“The differential there, the capacity of their facility versus the traditional junior hockey sized market . . . no question, that played a role (in the final decision),” said Robison.
“Clearly, with the Saskatchewan and the Alberta bids, the provincial governments were fully behind them which was great to see. It was some of the most significant support we’ve seen in previous bids. But yes, I think the real difference at the end of the day came down to the capacity that Saskatoon was able to offer.”
Members of the Rebels bid committee were visibly dejected, yet proud of their presentation and the labour that when into preparing the official bid.
“We put forth our best bid. I don’t know if you could put together a better package combined with our support from all three levels of government and our fan support in Red Deer,” said Rebels senior vice-president Merrick Sutter. “But sometimes it’s hard to compete against a building of that size.
“Saskatoon will do a good job of putting on the event and I wish them all the best. They put together a great bid as well. It’s just disappointing for the fans of Central Alberta that we couldn’t bring a Memorial Cup back to them, but we gave it our best shot.”
Like Sutter, Rebels bid committee chairman Darcy Mykytyshyn was a gracious loser.
“We’re disappointed, but we had a strong bid, we had a very compelling plan,” he said. “I’m proud of the committee, I’m proud of the Rebels. And as disappointing as it may be, it’s been a good experience for the Rebels, a good experience for Red Deer. We spoke to 21 different communities (teams) about what Red Deer has to offer and that will benefit us in the future.”
Mykytyshyn said the Red Deer bid was based on the potential strength of the team in the 2012-13 season, the features and advantages of the Centrium and Westerner Park and the commitment of the Central Alberta community.
“I think we excelled in presenting all of that, but Saskatoon put forward a very compelling bid of their own and they won it,” he said. “I congratulate them. I used to live in Saskatoon and they’ll do a great job. The event will be highly successful in that community.”
Mykytyshyn didn’t deny that the seating capacity of Saskatoon’s arena worked to the Blades’ advantage.
“It would be hard to suggest that didn’t impact their (governors’) decision,” he said. “They have 15,000 seats they can fill. Our rink works great for our part of the world. It’s a great facility and we’ll look for other sporting events to bring to Central Alberta, events that will fit well into the Enmax Centrium.”
Rebels general manager/head coach Jesse Wallin was also involved in the bid presentation, as were owner/president Brent Sutter, Red Deer mayor Morris Flewwelling and Westerner Park managers.
“We’re certainly disappointed. We gave everything we had,” said Wallin. “We had tremendous community support, great support from everyone. We went in with as good a bid as we possibly could and came up a little short. Ultimately it’s tough to compete against a city that’s three times the size and has a building that’s twice as big. I think that’s what it came down to.
“Had it been a different year when a big centre like that wasn’t bidding in the process, we probably would have been in there. But I don’t think there’s anything we could have done differently. We put as strong a bid as we could on the table. There’s been a lot of work, a lot of hours that have gone into it and we’re certainly not leaving here hanging our heads.”
Blades governor/president Jack Brodsky was a gracious winner.
“There were three cities bidding for this event and any one of them would have done an outstanding job,” he said. “Kelowna and Red Deer both did absolute great jobs with the presentations they put together. We feel very fortunate to have this opportunity.”
gmeachem@www.reddeeradvocate.com
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