City seeking deals for TD Station

SAINT JOHN - More changes could be on the way to the Saint John Sea Dogs' home - and they may be much more significant than a name change.

The City of Saint John announced yesterday that it is open to selling or leasing the publicly owned and operated facility to the private sector. From a news release:

The City of Saint John is seeking to engage with experienced organizations interested in the purchase or lease, and related operation, of TD Station, one of Eastern Canada’s most popular and successful multi-purpose event venues. Any partnership would be for the purposes of maintaining the facility as a major events venue for the benefit of the Greater Saint John Region. The formal and open request for expressions of interest was issued by the City on January 20, 2020 and will close on February 14, 2020. 

“There are a number of potential types of partnerships whereby the importance of the facility to the Region could be protected but perhaps with reduced overall costs,” says Saint John Mayor Don Darling. “At this point, we are in the early exploratory stages to find out what they might be. Deliberations and a decision to proceed with any interested party will only be made once options are explored and City staff report to Common Council with a business case.”

It is noted a couple times in the release that the facility must remain an entertainment venue and its current lease agreements with the Sea Dogs and TD, which both run until 2024, must be honoured. The idea of the venue being bought and blown up is out of the question.

This news comes at an interesting time. In December, the Telegraph-Journal first reported that the Sea Dogs sent a letter to the city inquiring about the possibility of purchasing or entering into a management agreement for TD Station. Here's a screenshot from the paywalled article:

The language used by the Sea Dogs and the city is quite similar. The city making this announcement definitely doesn't mean any deal with the Sea Dogs is dead; in fact, it could mean the opposite. The city needs to seek out the best possible deal for its taxpayers, and if a small private company like the Sea Dogs is interested, there may just be more interested parties out there.

It seems like any sort of change could be good for all parties moving forward. The city can relieve some of its debts and operating costs by dealing the arena away. Ideally, a private company either owning or operating the venue would be good the building itself as well. More investments and events could be put into TD Station by an entertainment minded organization as a way to create more revenue.

Moncton's new Avenir Centre is still owned by the city but managed by ASM Global, one of the largest arena management companies in the world. ASM Global manages CHL arenas in Medicine Hat, Saginaw, Kingston, St. Catharines and Quebec City. Spectra, meanwhile, manages a number of CHL rinks in Ontario, including London's Budweiser Gardens. Having an organization own or manage an arena that, y'know, knows how to manage an arena just makes sense.

TD Station is still one of the best facilities in the CHL - but it needs to keep pace with some of the newer rinks. Having the private sector take the building off the hands of a cash-strapped city seems like a best case scenario.