Cash for Brampton Beast hockey team 'inappropriate,' mayor says
Brampton council voted 8-2 recently to provide $1.5 million over three years for the ECHL's Brampton Beast hockey team.

thestar.com
April 7, 2016
By San Grewal

Brampton is strapped for cash: a special auditor’s report last year stated the city’s reserve funds are dwindling, labour costs are skyrocketing and the tax base cannot cover capital costs, as more and more infrastructure projects are postponed.

So, in a city where professional hockey has struggled, in part because of the rapidly changing demographics, why did council just promise $1.5 million to the city’s floundering hockey club, the ECHL's Brampton Beast?

“From the beginning I had concerns with many aspects of the Beast’s request for funding and financial assistance from the City,” Mayor Linda Jeffrey, who voted against last month’s cash infusion for the club, stated in an email to the Star. But she lost, resoundingly, in an 8-2 vote.

Despite a decision that’s already been made - to give the club $500,000 a year for the next three years - she’s not pulling any punches.

“I believe it is inappropriate for the city to be in the business of providing funding to privately owned, for-profit businesses when we have so many deserving not-for-profit organizations in Brampton looking for our assistance. I believe this is not what residents elected me or my colleagues on council to do with their tax dollars.”

Councillors who supported the deal insist it’s a good marketing opportunity for a city desperate to shed a reputation as a beleaguered manufacturing hub with little to offer residents other than relatively affordable housing.

“The marketing, communications and promotion package that was agreed to by a vote of 8-2 in council is not a ‘bail out’ as has been characterized,” Councillor Jeff Bowman stated in an email.

Bowman and others have admitted they were skeptical at first, until the opportunities were laid out for council.

“This deal is about communication, outreach, economic development, jobs, sports and recreation and building a stronger community.”

The arrangement gives the city advertising at the Powerade Centre for 36 home games, including on the boards around the rink, 250 tickets for each game, an additional 240 season tickets and two “City of Brampton” games with 400 more tickets for each of those games, marketing on the team bus that travels through more than 20 cities across the U.S., jersey advertising and the right to promote city events during games.

The Beast has lost about $4 million in its first three years, but the owners told council that with its support, they can grow the professional game in Brampton. So far the team has been filling about half of the arena’s 5,000 seats for its games.

Councillor Gurpreet Dhillon, who voted against the deal, says many of his constituents, in the predominantly South Asian ward he represents, are unhappy with it. He points to the departure of the OHL’s Brampton Battalion, which packed up and moved to North Bay in 2013, after posting the lowest attendance in the league for four straight years, as a sign that professional hockey might not have a future in his city.

“The city should not be investing taxpayer money in a professional minor league hockey team, but instead focus on nurturing the development of youth sport and our young athletes,” Dhillon said. “Sports such as soccer, kabaddi, cricket and basketball are rapidly growing in their popularity, with Brampton producing high level professional players in each respective sport.”

Councillor Doug Whillans says the Beast generates about $3 million in annual revenue for Brampton businesses. He says the team, with the right attitude across the city, can be widely supported by many groups and individuals within Brampton’s diverse communities.

“If the South Asian community doesn’t like hockey, why is Hockey Night in Canadabroadcast in Punjabi?” he asks, referring to the telecasts that began in 2008, as demand exploded. (In 2009 one of the hosts told the Star the broadcast attracts close to 100,000 viewers across Canada for each game.)

Whillans says the particular sport that is being supported is irrelevant, and the funding issue should not become divisive along ethno-cultural lines.

“If you see the Beast’s school days - the kids get to go free - the place is filled right to the rafters twice a year, and I’m not just talking kids who play Brampton youth hockey.”

Whillans says those children reflect Brampton’s entire population. “They go home and tell their parents how much fun they had.” He points out that sports such as kabaddi and cricket will also be promoted through the marketing deal with the Beast. He says with the new ticket arrangement dozens of groups across the city will be regularly invited to games.

If the Beast generates profits, Whillans points out that some of that revenue will be given back to the city, as part of the deal, but the details for the profit-sharing have not been finalized.

“I was told that part of the reason the Battalion left is because they didn’t work with the community. With what the Beast has put on the table, it’s clear they want to be in Brampton.”

Recent controversies at city hall

* In October council voted 7-4 to reject a provincially funded LRT route up its Main St., arguing for a different route. Critics were alarmed that the city walked away from about $300 million of guaranteed funding. Council has since voted to choose from one of three possible alternate LRT routes, none supported by Mayor Linda Jeffrey.

* Despite calls by council to reduce labour costs and a bleak financial report for the city, in October councillors gave themselves a 7 per cent raise, to offset the loss of a tax break on part of their pay which they gave themselves for years. Facing a public backlash, they voted in secret not to reopen the issue. Jeffrey tried unsuccessfully to defer the pay hike.

* In December council considered spending more than $1 million for renovations to their offices. The Brampton Guardian reported that one of the reasons was because some councillors felt bullied and wanted office space away from their council rivals. Acting CAO Marilyn Ball told council she approved the move of two councillors, but she did not call in human resources.

* After former CAO John Corbett was terminated more than a year ago, the same day Jeffrey publicly blasted him during a budget presentation for refusing to freeze staff wages, Jeffrey in December pushed through a 10 per cent increase to “labour expenditures” in her own office. The city operated without a permanent CAO for more than a year.