The finish line is in sight for the soon-to-open Cenovus Energy Hub, according to a construction update presented to Lloydminster city council.
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Council heard more detailed plans for the new arena at the July 14 Governance and Priorities Committee meeting. The update included the concession lease, which went to the Lloydminster junior A Bobcats.
“After releasing an expression of interest in 2024, the City worked with the junior A Bobcats to negotiate a lease on operating the food and beverage agreement,” said Joel Turcotte, director of recreation and cultural services, City of Lloydminster.
“The five-year agreement, which will start when the building opens, will provide the City with seven per cent of the gross revenue for all the food and beverage sales.”
The Bobcats will open the concession during all tournaments and games.
Turcotte also noted ice installation has been top of mind.
“We’ve also started to plan out our Ice installation. The process will start Aug. 18 and will take seven to 10 days. We’ll do both ice sheets,” said Turcotte, adding a grand opening date has also been set.
“Grand opening will be held on Oct. 1.”
The event will start in the morning with an invite-only ceremony featuring speeches, a ribbon-cutting and pictures. A larger public event will be held in the evening with free public skating, tours of the facility and more.
Looking ahead, the city is working hard to book events for the upcoming year at the new arena.
“(Bookings) for next season include the Lloydminster Athletic Showcase, the Lloydminster Skating Club will do their ice show and year-end carnival, (and a) community concert is being looked after and looked forward to,” said Turcotte.
“We’ll do a try-sledge hockey event (and) have a new user group this year who will do sledge hockey on a weekly basis at the Cenovus Energy Hub.
“There’ll be a powwow, maybe two, Alberta speed skating provincial championship and then Hockey Alberta junior B Provincials. The Bandits will be hosting that.”
The aim for the hub is to host one event per month for the year.
The day-to-day schedule will see Lloydminster Minor Hockey Association (LMHA) practice starting at 6 a.m. Monday to Thursday. The U18 AAA female team and Lakeland College Rustlers will practise during the week starting at 7:15 a.m. and the noon hour will have the local adult groups play.
The Bobcats will practice on the Event Arena in the afternoon slot and the U18 AAA men’s team will practise after the Bobcats.
Starting at 4:15 p.m., youth local user groups like the LMHA and Lloydminster Skating Club will operate until 10 p.m., while adult and junior groups will practise and play games until 11 p.m.
Of the $101 million budget for the Cenovus Energy Hub, nearly $81 million has been spent.
The question of how much the facility would cost to operate was also posed to administration.
Tracy Simpson, executive manager of community development services, explained operational costs and date from the Servus Sports Centre can be used as benchmarking.
“The first year is always a little bit of an estimate, but it’s based on data we have available.”
The Bobcats’ home opener is scheduled for Sept. 19, which the city hopes will be held in the new arena.
“We’re pushing hard that we’ll be open for that first game,” said Turcotte.
The back-up plan would be for the team to play in the Centennial Civic Centre until the new arena is ready.
“The Civic Centre ice is going in in August for camps. The backup plan would be to keep everything at the Civic,” said Simpson. “Working with our contractors, we’re on track for September utilization at the facility.
“We’re optimistic home openers will be in the new facility.”
Read more: Understanding the Cenovus Energy Hub
