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Flailing finances could force sale of Peterborough Petes
The Peterborough Petes are in dire financial trouble according to the team’s president.
In a Peterborough Examiner story published on Thursday, Dave Pogue outlined the Petes’ monetary problems telling city council that the team would be broke within four years if the city did not help improve the terms of their current lease at the Memorial Centre.
“We need a proactive approach so we can be viable into the future,” Pogue was quoted as saying.
Pogue said that under their lease agreement, the city rakes in somewhere between $800,000 and $1 million a year from having the Petes as the main tenant of the Memorial Centre.
The city shares in Petes ticket sales, for instance. They also get money from the concessions (the Petes get nothing) and from parking (again, the Petes don’t share in this revenue).
Pogue suggested the team would like a new agreement so they can share more of that $1 million with the city.
“We’re suggesting maybe the city could scale back, so they make about $650,000,” he said.
At issue are the expenses the not-for-profit team is accruing with not only the running of the club, but the funds needed to pay for player scholarships. The team says they will have to set aside at least $150,000 in 2016 to fund their portion of the player education program.
According to Pogue the team has lost $658,000 over the course of the last five seasons. From an outsider’s perspective it’s not a huge surprise considering the team has struggled to ice an exciting, winning product for some time. Currently, the Petes are sitting at .500 in the Eastern Conference with a 10-10-3 record.
Last season the team forced a Game 7 with the North Bay Battalion (which they lost), but the Petes haven’t advanced past the first round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs since 2014. There was a span of three seasons (2011-2013) where the team failed to even make the playoffs and the two years prior to that, the team was swept in the first round.
It’s hard to be financially viable when there isn’t extra money coming in through the playoffs and fans are tired of watching a middling hockey team during the regular season.
Pogue told city council that unless the team finds a way to cut costs, there’s a real possibility the long-standing franchise could be sold.
“We’ve looked at every expense we have,” Pogue said. “There’s just not enough revenue-sharing options, in the rink.”
