McCAIN ON THE MEMORIAL CUP BID

Saint John Sea Dogs CEO Scott McCain went on News 95.7 during the second intermission of Saturday’s 5-3 win in Halifax against the Mooseheads.

In an interview with Mooseheads play-by-play man John Moore, the topic of hosting the 2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup came up, a tournament in which both Saint John and Halifax have begun bidding on.

Here is what McCain had to said when asked about Saint John’s chances of landing the tournament:

"Well it’s a good question, John. We do have a bid in amongst four teams: Halifax, Shawinigan, Cape Breton, and ourselves. I would say that our intention is to move forward, albeit we are going through some financial analysis to make sure that this thing works on a financial basis. There have been some challenges, there’s some economic uncertainty out there, there’s a number of other factors that are going to play into this. But at this point we still plan to move forward. But, again, we should make a final decision certainly, probably by November. I fully expect we will but it’s not without some challenges."

When asked about the submission deadline:

"The deadline I think is in late November - and then we’ll know for sure. We’re moving forward as if we are going to go ahead because we think that at the end of the day we feel that our hockey team is ready for it next year. Our team is still quite young. We’ve got a lot of 17 and 18 year olds that should peak in 2012 which is the year that somebody from the ‘Q’ will host the Memorial Cup. So we feel good about the hockey operation side of it and we feel good on the business side albeit that, you know, the economy in New Brunswick is not in the best of shape and that concerns us deeply. But we’re evaluating it and we’re putting our best foot forward and moving forward as if we’re going full blast."

According to a QMJHL press release, “a brief which underlines the ability of bidding franchises to host the event must then be forwarded to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s head office prior to November 30th, 2010.”

Obviously, the three other teams are likely going through the same process right now to ensure that this tournament can be a financial success for their club. But it is interesting to hear some slight concerns from the Sea Dogs moving forward as the team has not expressed many over the past few months.

Although McCain seems confident in moving forward, you have to wonder how Sea Dogs fans would feel if the organization decided to drop their bid. After all, Saint John has been telling fans about this bid for over a year now.

But on the other hand, and this is all speculation, maybe Sea Dogs management is going this route of showing some minor concerns to get the community behind the bid. Just look at the Subway Super Series. Despite radio commercials and ads at Harbour Station stating that selling-out this event will give Saint John’s Memorial Cup hosting chances a boost, the game still has great seats available with just two weeks to go.

But on the other, other hand, this could all be meaningless and the Sea Dogs will be moving forward with, hopefully, a winning bid.