The Moncton city administrator says the city loses $600 every time the QMJHL Moncton Wildcats play a game and wants to stop the losses, but the team’s not interested in making changes to the Moncton Coliseum lease.
Jacques Dubé, Moncton’s city manager, says the city has lost a million dollars over the last 12 years of the team’s lease at the 40-year-old arena. Wildcats owner Robvert Irving counters and says his team pays $500,000 annually in rent and other payments — which should be more than enough for the city to turn a profit on the facility.
The two sides have been sniping for months; the Wildcats went through many machinations in terms of dates and start times during last spring’s playoffs. And it certainly grates city management that the lease calls for the Wildcats to control concessions in the building during all events, not just hockey games.
It’s a lot of posturing, of course, as serious lease negotiations take place.
