Comparing Kingston to Barrie

[Norton]

A Case Study: Barrie, Ontario (Report by June Wild to Task Force)


There are many similarities between Barrie and Kingston:
Population: 146,838 (B); 148,480 (K)
Land Area: 1906 km2 (B); 897 km2 (K)
Average Earnings (All): $30,497 (B); $33,171 (K)
Average Earnings (FT): $42,875 (B); $43,862 (K)
Colts (Molson Centre 1996) (B); Frontenacs, (Memorial Centre 1951) (K)
Average Seating/game 4200 (3800 – 91%) (B); 2250 (3000 - 75%) (K)

[NOTE: 45% of venues are filled by higher income audience. Market area defined by area covered by local media -- limited to core population of Kingston (146,838 people)]

Recent and Upcoming Events in Barrie, Ontario
- Barrie Colts Regular Season
- Nickelback (popular music concert)
- Seasame Street Live (kid’s show)
- Provincial Horse Show
- Charley Pride (country music concert)
- World Wrestling Entertainment Live!
- Bryan Adams (rock music conert)
- Technology Trade Show
[NOTE: Task force is pursuing how many non-hockey events might be held in Kingston. They should also connect with the Grand, Queen’s, Ambassador, Portsmouth Harbour, etc. to find out if the new facility would attract new venues to the city or compete with these other facilities.]

[Phil Day]

Do any of the facilities you and Bandit have placed on the site include other recreational activities? If the site is to be used fewer than 100 days per year for 'events' then should we not consider how to get more bang for our buck? How are these facilities used during the summer? Do they include an indoor running track? Tennis? What else is possible?

[macphail]

Originally posted by Phil Day
...how to get more bang for our buck?

Hopefully, we won't have one red cent invested in this thing.

But if it is bang for your buck, perhaps the Accommodations Committee could use 60,000 sq. ft as office space for staff. ;)

Cheers, Derek

[Sandy Levin]

In London, the facility was dark 280 days in the year, this despite upgraded food facilities (you would think they would open them when there was nothing going on). People go for events, and the operator of the place (Global Spectrum, a subsidiary of Comcast, a multi-billion dollar company), is not going to open the place for people to run around a track, unless the city were to subsidize the cost of operating the joint for such uses.

Be careful Kingston, don't let the political egos push you into spending lots of tax dollars for a palace.

[Bandit]

The economics in Kingston will be far worse then London. Our new mayor always uses London as the model of success while ignoring that the population difference and the fewer seats will mean a difference in the quality of acts, number of dates utilized and difficulty selling tickets.

Most of the events that will be there are only 4 hours long, but the committee has already declared it will be a LVEC not a recreational facility . Just a year ago it was supposedly essential to move quickly on the centre 70 twinning because of the demand for ice and probability of a problem with the other pads. Now thats scrapped for the arena which will presumably get some increased "event" useage then the M centre and leave even less available time for recreational users. They don't seem to be considering twinning the M centre so it won't be long before additional ice capacity is called for.

"don't let the political egos push you into spending lots of tax dollars for a palace."

This appears to be too late, most councillors are so gung ho on this it is hard to imagine more then 3 votes against proceeding.

[Sandy Levin]

If there are public forums before Council, I would be happy to come to Kingston to present. I served on London City Council while the city went through the process and did not support the deal. It sounds like your situation is very different and your Council needs to at least have both eyes open.