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Committee hopes to save the Medicine Hat Arena

Mar 2, 2017 | 4:23 PM

 

MEDICINE HAT, AB — A new community group has emerged with the goal to help ensure the Medicine Hat Arena remains available for hockey teams and other groups in the community.

Last December, the Save the Arena Committee, consisting of several prominent community members, formed after city council voted to close the 46 year old facility. Bill Yuill, CEO of the Monarch Corporation, serves as the current chairman of the community.

“The committee was formed because we were under the understanding that the city had plans to take the Arena out of operation, to close the Arena, and we thought there may be an opportunity to see if we could save it, particularly for the benefit of minor hockey and the user groups,” said Yuill.

CHAT Television reported the ice will be removed from The Arena in April, and teams will use the facility in the spring and summer for lacrosse and ball hockey, before the city closes the building in July.

Yuill said the committee has met with city officials twice to discuss their interest in leasing the facility. He added the group was told to expect the city to ask for an expression of interest, followed by a request for proposal, about their proposal.

The group says it has spoken with several user groups to obtain support for the plan, and has received current financial statements about the Arena and the Kinplex from the city, according to a press release.

The statement states the committee’s eventual goal is to form a not-for-profit enterprise to assume the management of The Arena, and potentially the Kinplex, and ensure the facilities remain open for groups to use.

“It wouldn’t be of any benefit to the city if they had to carry the same costs,” said Yuill. “We’re saying to them, ‘maybe we can help you in that area, keep the facility going, reduce the current cost to the city.”

Yuill says the committee hopes to continue meeting with the city in the future.