The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The Manitoba Junior Hockey League is not coming to Thompson anytime soon. The league sent out a media release last week stating the group from Thompson that was trying to buy the St. James Canadians and relocate the team to the northern Manitoba city had withdrawn its proposal. Randy McKay, who was one of the major frontmen for the group that consisted of more than 15, says he is extremely disappointed things did not work out. "Ever since last Friday when I drafted the letter to let Kim (Davis) know of our intent to withdraw it has been disappointing. However, the MJHL had an opportunity to go another step. They didn't. It was just another signal they (the teams) didn't want us there anyway. We left the door open for the MJHL to submit a proposal. There was none. It was almost as though they saw the letter as an easy way out. They saw that we quit, so they accepted it." McKay goes on, "On Monday of this week, it looked like there might be a light at the end of the tunnel. But, yesterday (Tuesday) the light was gone again." McKay admits the cost of travelling north for the other existing teams is what killed the potential of Junior 'A' hockey in Thompson. "We were basically told to pay all of the costs. Period. One Governor told us we would, in fact, have to pay all of the expenses forever in order to get in. That was the only position ever taken by the league." While McKay says it would not have been feasible for his organizers to cover everything, he did do some number crunching. "We offered to pay between 70 and 75 percent of the expenses for three years. We were told that wasn't good enough. We looked at some other scenarios in that the league would be divided up into three divisions. We'd then pay 100 percent for teams in the South for three years. It would have been a lower percentage for teams in the central and an even lower percentage than that for teams in the north. We were also told 'no' to that proposal. In their (MJHL) defense, it is too much change to accomodate us. They mentioned that our group was not in a position to dictate realignment and stuff like that, so we backed off. I, personally, still think three divisions would work and reduce overall travel costs for everybody. We then looked at playing with the other teams currently in the Addison Division. We'd pay 70-75 percent for three years. They wanted more, so I offered to extend the three years to six and then in the seventh it would be reviewed. The overall cost in each season over three years would be a $30,000 cheque to the MJHL and we would take care of the hotels on top of that. In the fourth year we would cover hotel and meals. The fifth season, we'd take care of half of the hotel costs and meals. The sixth season would be half of hotel expense. Then, in the seventh year it would be open for a review. This last seven year proposal wasn't even discussed by our committee. I don't think I could've sold it to our own group. Yet, the league still said 'no'. I put together five different proposals. We were hoping to get something from them. We got nothing. We never got anything from them." "To say our group is frustrated is a huge understatement. We wasted a lot of time and money on doing this. We got nowhere." McKay says his research indicates that if the MJHL wanted Thompson to cover every aspect of the expense to travel north, it was a deal only a fool would sign. "Nobody anywhere pays everything. There are some teams in Alberta and BC that do subsidize. Some teams subsidize forever. But, they are not paying for everything. I know OCN did that for two years. If we could've made a deal like OCN's, we would've taken it." When given a dollar figure by the MJHL as to what it cost to get Thompson into the league, McKay was taken aback. "The numbers they gave us are not even close to what we have worked out. I guess we had a disagreement right there on what it would cost to come here." As an example, McKay says one document indicated each MJHL team would need to book 12 hotel rooms. However, McKay spoke to one club, in particular, and they said they never book more than nine. An additional phone call to the hotel, itself, confirmed this. "St. James (Canadians) was at one of our meetings and discredited the numbers right there. Our cost was much lower. The MJHL had a figure of over $100,000. The representative from St. James said it should've been closer to $60-70,000." Then there is the issue of bus costs. "People in Thompson know bus costs. We do it all the time with our minor hockey system. The figure we were given was $2,800 for a round trip. I know that a bus to OCN and back for the weekend is $1,600. From Winnipeg to Thompson and then back is $2,575. If it was going to Swan River and back, the price was $2,300." McKay says his numbers show an overall expense of $70,188 in travel and lodging costs if Thompson joined the existing 11 team league. See 'Figures' P.# Con't from P.# "Those figures are very generous. We included bus money for every team. As much $3,000-$3,500 for Waywayseecappo and Neepawa. Even the teams that already have a bus were going to get the same amount as the ones that do not. Also included in the overall total is eight hotel rooms per team and $250 in cash per meal. "That number ($70 188) is based on Sherwood teams coming up to play us twice and Addison Division teams once." "The bottom line is that they didn't want us from the get go. We gave them an out with our letter the other day, and they took it."
