The drive to bring the 2013 Mastercard Memorial Cup to Prince George hit another gear on Monday when the local bid committee and the Prince George Cougars submitted required paperwork to the Western Hockey League's bid evaluation committee.
"We are pleased to say that we feel very positive about our submission where we were able to provide strong answers for most of this process, the exception being our season ticket attendance numbers," said a media release issued by the Cougars.
WHL commissioner Ron Robison said in November the league would not consider Prince George as a possible Memorial Cup site unless attendance at Cougars home games improved dramatically. However, average attendance remained low all season -- around the 2,000 mark or below.
Part of hosting the Memorial Cup -- the championship tournament of the Canadian Hockey League -- is being able to guarantee a certain amount of revenue for the WHL. Kelowna Rockets president Bruce Hamilton, whose team is also bidding to host the event, told The Kelowna Capital News he expects that number to be in the range of $1.5 to $1.8 million.
In making its decision, the WHL bid evaluation committee will also consider factors like the quality of facilities, the arena, transportation and hotel availability. Bid committee co-chair Mike Doran said Prince George meets the requirements in all those areas.
Besides Prince George and Kelowna, cities interested in hosting the 2013 Memorial Cup are Red Deer, Lethbridge and Saskatoon. The bid evaluation committee is expected to trim the overall number of contenders down to three or four. Finalists will be announced on June 15.
If Prince George makes it to the last round of the process, the next task will be to establish a more detailed bid and then make an appearance in front of the WHL board of governors Oct. 12 in Calgary.
A final decision will be made the next day.
