Playing Basketball

Here’s the latest gossip about Windsor’s new basketball team and where they are going to play. Here is also some news about some of the factors involved before a deal can be done.

There is only one place in town that is suitable considering that the League wants to have up to 6000 people who can be accommodated in an Arena. The word is that the East End Arena is where the team will play, not the Barn as some have speculated. Surprise, surprise.

Now Edgar (aka Eddie) can say that he is filling up dates at the Arena even if it does not make a penny to reduce the white elephant costs of operating the place. He would blame any additional losses on the failure of the NBL team to gain enough attendance. However, it will all be justified on the basis of it being their first season of play and that it will grow in the future.  That  excuse  is a  no-brainer.

Perhaps the traditional media can ask the Mayor at the big press conference who makes the money on the rental charges, the ticket charges, advertising and concession fees. If it is wildly successful, what is the amount of money that the City can expect to make on this deal.

My guess would be that if the Mayor does answer, which he won’t, the amount the City would receive would be minimal compared with the amount that the Spitfires would receive under their deal at the Arena.

However, I hope you remember, dear reader, that the East End Arena is also home to a hockey team, the Spitfires.

Why is that important?

The Basketball season starts sometime in October with preseason games and can go as late as the end of March. I wish I could give you precise times but the League has not yet posted its 2012 schedule.  The Spitfires’ season goes from September until sometime in March or April.

In other words, there is overlapping. Obviously, the two teams need to coordinate their play dates. More importantly, I do not believe that basketball can be played on ice nor can hockey be played on a basketball court.

What is needed therefore is a floor that can be placed on the ice for basketball and can be removed for hockey.

Rumour has it that the Arena management was told to make this happen. That means a floor has to be purchased with a new one costing around $120,000. I have also been told that a used one has been found at a cost of only about $80,000.

Could this be the reason why the big announcement was delayed from last Friday until Wednesday: Who is going to pay for the floor and its placement and removal on game days?

I doubt if the basketball team would be willing to pay out the capital cost of the floor because, after all, it would be an improvement to the Arena. Presumably, the City as the owner of the Arena would do so except why would it unless they knew that they could get their costs back from the Team over time.

I would bet that the delay was due to negotiating how long the Team would guarantee to stay at the Arena. My sources claim that the Team only wanted to provide a minimal timeperiod where they would agree to play at the Arena. After all, Windsor is a big gamble for the backers of the Team. If Windsor is a basketball dud as a City, the Team owners would want to move out as quickly as possible to some other location. The City would want the team to stay as long as possible because Edgar does not need another financial disaster.

What the end result is, is unknown but there must be a deal. Presumably, the cost of the floor and the cost of the operation to put it down and take it out would have to be paid for by the Team.

I assume that the floor will have to be kept somewhere at the Arena, probably in a new storage building at the back of the Arena paid for by the  City.

Then there is the big deal about who will get the advertising revenues for the Basketball games. That would have to be negotiated between the Spitfires and the Team I would expect. Presumably the Spitfires would also rent out the Jumbotron to the team. Rumour has it that the rental charge is not insubstantial.

I guess that we will just have to wait until the big press conference tomorrow to find out none of the significant details that Taxpayers should know about.

PS. One of the big flooring companies is Connor Sports Flooring, located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. You can read about them here

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