I attended probably the last AHL game at AESC, sorry Abbotsford Centre, and my observations aren’t about the poor decisions made by the previous council regarding the arena and signing the deal with the Calgary Flames.
I hear the “City in the Country” promoted by the city and that isn’t a truth. We may have the population to support city status but we are far from there. We had the opportunity to support the Heat and failed. Why? They are a Calgary farm club!
The AHL is the second-best hockey league in North America and we didn’t support it because we are still small town. Whether or not the process was flawed to get the team to Abbotsford isn’t the issue! We had the opportunity to step up in the sports world and dropped the ball. Are we doomed to support through taxes a white elephant of an arena?
I would think that the odds of landing another major tenant for the Centre may be long as there are communities out there that do support local teams. The sports world is a close-knit community and the news of the attendance problems in Abbotsford won’t go unnoticed when locations are scouted.
Can anyone connected with the Centre explain to us taxpayers why when arenas all throughout B.C. can get major naming sponsors and we can’t?
Grant Schettler
Abbotsford
