Skyhawks and City reach tentative deal

City councillor Dave Mendicino (left) and Skyhawks G.M. Guy Blanchard (right) address the media to announce a tentative deal. Photo by Chris Dawson.

The North Bay Skyhawks and the city of North Bay have reached a tentative three year deal which both sides hope will get approval by city council on June 6th.

Councillor Dave Mendicino spoke on behalf of the city at the press conference at Memorial Gardens. He says the deal is a revenue sharing agreement based on attendance and a percentage of the gate.

“Our costs have gone up over the past three years and any deal that we would agree to would have to reflect those rising costs,” Mendicino told the media.

“If the Skyhawks succeed then the city of North Bay succeeds, it is a true partnership in that sense.”

Skyhawks G.M. Guy Blanchard inked a similar deal with the community of Sturgeon Falls when the franchise operated out of West Nipissing.

“We felt it was a win-win over there, and we feel it will be a win-win here also,” Blanchard said.

“We felt we could work with that percentage and we’re okay with that and if our fan base stays the exactly where it is as last year then they have an increase, if it drops we still have the same expenses so somebody has to take some of the hit, so it’s a shared hit on expenses and everything else so we are hoping everything goes well.”

Both sides would not release any details on this new partnership, however Councillor Mendicino did admit that it won’t be a 50-50 split.

While deal isn’t official both Blanchard and Mendicino both are confident City Council will vote in favour of the new agreement.

“The deal is struck subject to council approval but I’m confident council will look at this in a positive way and in my opinion it should be a done deal,” Mendicino said.

“It’s just a matter of them (council) stamping it,” Blanchard added.

Interlocking Issues

Blanchard says the CJHL has given the Skyhawks general approval earlier this week to play an interlocking schedule with teams out of the Central Junior Hockey League. North Bay recently got approval from the NOJHL as well to have an interlocking 5 home and 5 away schedule with teams in the Ottawa league. However, Blanchard believes that some of the interlocking home games will have to be played on non-traditional dates, like Saturday nights instead of Sunday.

NOJHL to have AGM here

The NOJHL will have it’s annual general meeting in North Bay next week. The meetings will take place June 3rd - June 5th as they will address issues such as scheduling and some of the new rules that have been approved recently by Hockey Canada.