After Chatham-Kent (CK) Mayor Darrin Canniff received backlash for a "secretive" Ontario Hockey League (OHL) meeting, council has been given a presentation by OHL Commissioner Bryan Crawford.
At Monday night's council meeting, the commissioner highlighted the economic impact that an OHL team would bring to the municipality. He noted that the OHL spent roughly $20 million locally in the clubs' communities, and in total, the league employs 1,500 full and part-time staff members.
"When people come downtown for the games, they go to restaurants, they stay in the hotels, they do all those sorts of things that are associated with a major sport and entertainment complex," Crawford claimed.
He added that although some players do make it to the National Hockey League (NHL), the OHL is also focused on further education, explaining that $42 million has been invested in scholarships since 2000.
"It's a pretty special connection that we have, not only to the communities, but to the families within those communities," Crawford explained.
He explained that there are many reasons why the OHL is interested in CK, including the area's hockey fanbase, the population, and prospective team ownership.
"Many people had grown up going to games with their parents, and now they're taking their kids and so forth, and it is so interwoven in the fabric of the community," said Crawford.
If an OHL team is to come to CK, an arena that seats between 5,000 and 7,000 people would likely be a necessity. An arena that size would cost roughly $150 to $200 million. Crawford explained that the OHL will work with the municipality to sign a multi-decade lease before the arena is constructed.
"We would certainly sign a commitment to come if the city was ready to commit to build the arena, and that's essentially what we did with Brantford," Crawford added.
A big concern among councillors was how this would affect CK's Greater Ontario Hockey League team, the Chatham Maroons.
"We've got a great relationship with the Junior B's. They are very intimately interwoven into what the OHL is all about," said Crawford. "There's no reason from our perspective that both teams don't thrive and exist in the same community. We have a vested interest in making sure that the GOHL actually is growing itself and expanding itself and not contracting."
Crawford was thanked for his presentation with councillor Lauren Anderson mentioning her excitement for hockey players to have the opportunity to stay local and play at their highest level of the sport they love.
