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Post by Dirty Afanasenkov on Dec 10, 2008 13:24:32 GMT -4
Surprised Neil Hodge hasn't written about this yet... but this year the Cats will need to do some juggling around the Ford World Men's Curling Championship. It runs from April 4 to April 12.
The Coliseum is booked for an entire playoff round based upon last years playoff schedule, the 1/4 finals.
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Post by jimmy on Dec 10, 2008 13:43:52 GMT -4
Yes, I would be curious to hear what the plan is for those playoff games if necessary. One can only assume Four Plex or perhaps the JLL (which I understand is undergoing renovations) ... would drastically limit attendance, pretty much be season ticket holders only at either venue.
I actually wouldn't be surprised if the facility is unavailable longer than the 4th to 12th ... given the nature of the event they will need to put in a fresh sheet of ice which takes a few days if not mistaken both before and after the event ... the ice probably needs to be available for practice a few days before the event as well ... I thought a local curler told me it was going to be available for the local tri-club league to use for one week prior to the event as well, I could be wrong about that part ...
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Post by catnut on Dec 10, 2008 13:44:13 GMT -4
We'll have to beat up our first round so badly that the league will grant us a bye in the 2nd round.
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Post by tostitos on Dec 10, 2008 13:58:07 GMT -4
I know when Saint John hosted the Ford World Curling in 1999, they got started prepping the ice before people were even cleared out of Harbour Station after a Flames game on a Sunday afternoon. The event didn't start until Thursday with the opening ceremonies. So you need almost 4-5 days before the event, and then I do believe the ice was ready again 2-3 days after the event. So, you're looking at the Coliseum being booked up from March 29/09 to around April 14th.
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Post by SteveUL on Dec 10, 2008 15:31:46 GMT -4
It will probably be season ticket holders only at the 4-Plex.
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Post by mikeb on Dec 10, 2008 15:37:53 GMT -4
It will probably be season ticket holders only at the 4-Plex. Not very professional.
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Post by jimmy on Dec 10, 2008 16:04:01 GMT -4
It will probably be season ticket holders only at the 4-Plex. Not very professional. Agree, but not much anyone could do about it ... the City wasn't going to turn down the World Curling event, and there really isn't another venue it could be held in. Short of owning their own building and refusing to rent it to anyone else during the April/May timeframe there is nothing the Cats could do either. I thought I read that the J Louis could (or would after renovations for to be completed by the start of the Fred Page Cup) hold 2500 fans - I doubt they get that many into the 4 Plex ... so perhaps they should consider it instead.
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Post by SteveUL on Dec 10, 2008 16:11:04 GMT -4
Agree, but not much anyone could do about it ... the City wasn't going to turn down the World Curling event, and there really isn't another venue it could be held in. Short of owning their own building and refusing to rent it to anyone else during the April/May timeframe there is nothing the Cats could do either. I thought I read that the J Louis could (or would after renovations for to be completed by the start of the Fred Page Cup) hold 2500 fans - I doubt they get that many into the 4 Plex ... so perhaps they should consider it instead. But when is the Fred Page Cup ?
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tal
Blue-Chip Prospect
Posts: 327
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Post by tal on Dec 10, 2008 16:13:26 GMT -4
Agree, but not much anyone could do about it ... the City wasn't going to turn down the World Curling event, and there really isn't another venue it could be held in. Short of owning their own building and refusing to rent it to anyone else during the April/May timeframe there is nothing the Cats could do either. I thought I read that the J Louis could (or would after renovations for to be completed by the start of the Fred Page Cup) hold 2500 fans - I doubt they get that many into the 4 Plex ... so perhaps they should consider it instead. But when is the Fred Page Cup ? April 22-26
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Post by SteveUL on Dec 10, 2008 16:16:22 GMT -4
It will probably be season ticket holders only at the 4-Plex. Not very professional. The Wildcats don't own the building ... and they don't generate enough revenue by themselves to keep the Coliseum running ... so the City uses the facility for many events through the year ... mostly trade shows ... to generate the revenue needed to keep it going. The Wildcats can't book the rink for every possible playoff date ... so the City has to take the events as they come and the Wildcats have to work around that. It is a multi-use facility ... if it just relied on hockey it would struggle to stay afloat. The plan is now in the works to build a new facility downtown ... 10,000+ seats ... that the Wildcats would play out of ... and the Coliseum would become more for trade shows than anything.
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Post by jimmy on Dec 10, 2008 16:29:00 GMT -4
The Wildcats don't own the building ... and they don't generate enough revenue by themselves to keep the Coliseum running ... so the City uses the facility for many events through the year ... mostly trade shows ... to generate the revenue needed to keep it going. The Wildcats can't book the rink for every possible playoff date ... so the City has to take the events as they come and the Wildcats have to work around that. It is a multi-use facility ... if it just relied on hockey it would struggle to stay afloat. The plan is now in the works to build a new facility downtown ... 10,000+ seats ... that the Wildcats would play out of ... and the Coliseum would become more for trade shows than anything. Even if they build a new facility downtown, in the event a large international event like the World Curling Championships became available, you can be sure the Cats would get the boot ... presumably at that point they could return to the Coliseum, which would eliminate the attendance issue. The one bright side to the team being forced to play playoff games at the JLL or 4 Plex is that the atmosphere would likely be really good as the place would be packed to the rafters. Might create a lot more crowd noise than at the Colisuem with 2000-3000 empty seats.
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Post by Mike Gundy on Dec 11, 2008 0:40:39 GMT -4
back in 2006, during the first round the Cats played the first two games on the road in Victoriaville and then hosted the next 3. i forget what the reason for doing that was (perhaps someone else remembers). another possibilty that season if i remember correctly was to play games one and two in saint john (read it in the t&t or telegraph journal), as their building was vacant at that time of the year. but barring a major collapse this year, the sea dogs should still be playing while the Coliseum is booked. therefore, i am wondering if there's any chance the Cats may play in another city with a larger arena than the JLL. the only arena i can think of is the aitken centre in fredericton (roughly 4,000 seats), but that would probably only work on a weekend as it would be very difficult for people to attend a 7:00 start on a weeknight having to drive 90 mins to get there. any thoughts on how that could work as a weekend solution?
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Post by jimmy on Dec 11, 2008 9:17:12 GMT -4
For what it is worth, I am told that the curling event will have the ice tied up for an entire week prior to the start of the event, and probably a couple of days afterwards ... the ice will likely be unavailable from about March 28 until April 15 ...
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Post by habh8er on Dec 11, 2008 9:57:30 GMT -4
back in 2006, during the first round the Cats played the first two games on the road in Victoriaville and then hosted the next 3. i forget what the reason for doing that was (perhaps someone else remembers). another possibilty that season if i remember correctly was to play games one and two in saint john (read it in the t&t or telegraph journal), as their building was vacant at that time of the year.? Yeah, I was going to mention that too. There was quite a buzz around SJ about that possibility. Wasn't it a scheduling conflict with the University playoffs?
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Post by SteveUL on Dec 11, 2008 10:04:45 GMT -4
back in 2006, during the first round the Cats played the first two games on the road in Victoriaville and then hosted the next 3. i forget what the reason for doing that was (perhaps someone else remembers). another possibilty that season if i remember correctly was to play games one and two in saint john (read it in the t&t or telegraph journal), as their building was vacant at that time of the year.? Yeah, I was going to mention that too. There was quite a buzz around SJ about that possibility. Wasn't it a scheduling conflict with the University playoffs? It is usually weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun) trade shows ... car show ... lifestyle show ... trailer show. These events have been coming to the Coliseum much longer than the Wildcats have been around ... and they generate a lot of revenue for the facility.
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