By Mitch Bach/Charles Lefebvre

Cubs and Travelodge end sponsorship agreement early

Apr 10, 2019 | 4:18 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — The Medicine Hat Travelodge Cubs have terminated its sponsorship agreement with the local Travelodge Hotel, one year before it was allegedly set to expire.

The agreement, which was announced in 2017, saw the Junior B hockey team become the Travelodge Cubs, and unveil new, Travelodge-themed jerseys. Now, the club is changing its name back to the Medicine Hat Cubs and plans to unveil a new jersey for their upcoming season.

According to Ted Breznik, vice-president of the Cubs hockey team, the two sides put pen-to-paper on a contract in July of 2017. Breznik says the agreement would see the Medicine Hat Travelodge sponsor $10,000 for each of the following three seasons, with the final cash installment coming during the 2019-20 season.

However, Bob Behari, general manager of the local Travelodge Hotel, says a signed hard copy of the contract does not exist. He says the organization verbally agreed to support the Cubs as long as it helped both sides.

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“Unfortunately, the benefits to the hotel business were negligible,”Behari wrote to CHAT News in an email. “The hotel business in Medicine Hat in general is really hurting badly, the supply is to [sic] great and the demand is decreasing.”

Breznik says losing a sponsor can bring hardship to a local hockey team.

“Unfortunately, we are a non-profit organization,” Breznik said. “We don’t do this for any profit or anything for our own pocket. This is done for kids between 16 to 21, and it’s for them to have a place to play hockey. When a sponsor doesn’t pull through or come up with the remaining $5,000 or what their commitment was going to be, it actually leaves the Cubs in a financial stress, that we have to come up with and try and find that from the public, because there are no additional funds sitting in the bank account to make up for those kinds of losses.”

Breznik says there is a hard copy of the contract, and the Cubs are currently in the process of tracking it down.

“We’ve done everything that was expected of us to be done,” added Breznik. “We’ve steered a lot of business their way. We’ve steered teams their way when they do stay, we’ve steered parents to stay there because of the sponsorship they have provided. For whatever reasons they have, they just chose not to pay it. They put a financial strain on the Cubs by doing that.”

Behari says Travelodge has done all it can to support the Cubs, under the impression of the agreement he made. He sponsored $5,000 this year as a means to keep the local hotel branch in good faith.

“The Travelodge never sign [sic] any contract with the Cubs, still we gave 10,000 [sic] last year as well as free laundry services, complimentary rooms and complimentary meeting rooms,” the statement reads. “This year although there was no agreement wither [sic] verbal or in writing, in good faith, again we have given 5,000 dollars [sic]without having any contract or obligation to do so.  We wish the Cubs all the Best and a Very Successful Year and hope they appreciate the support we have given and that we can continue to maintain a positive relationship for years to come.”

Breznik says the Cubs are looking for new sponsors for the season, and are keeping all legal avenues open.