The Yorkton Terriers once again ended their year in the red.
The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League franchise held its annual general meeting last week where it was reported the team lost just more than $13,000.
“Thirteen thousand was a positive thing for us. We had expected more,” said team president Dave Baron.
The financial loss reflected a less than stellar season on the ice for the team.
“We were a 12th place team, and we deserved to be a 12th place team,” said Baron.
With the team struggling on the ice, fans stayed away more than usual.
“Crowds were down, and when crowds are down the 50/50 is down, and all those sort of things were down,” said Baron.
The result of the loss, compounded with a $112,424 profit at year-end 2013, and a $34,309 deficit for the year ending May 31, 2014, means the Terrier bank account is down to about $25,000 as a cushion, said Baron.
“We’ve dipped into the nest egg,” he said.
If there is a positive, Baron said that with the team missing the playoffs they have been able to focus more attention earlier on recruiting, as well as seeking corporate sponsorships, and preparing for the new season ahead.
“Trent (Terrier coach Trent Cassan) has been very happy with who he’s been able to recruit,” said Baron, adding the team will be young, but should develop from that base.
As for the deficit in finances, Baron said the team has a solid core of season ticket holders and now wants to concentrate some effort on attracting the casual fan.
“We want the casual fan that might go to five, 10 games, buy some 50/50 tickets,” he said.
Baron said they also want to find ways to bring younger fans back to games.
The team also has to work on maintaining good results from off-ice fundraisers.
The major lottery had a better year with $35,000 in profit, compared to $13,000 a year earlier, said Baron.
The sale of grain from the farm land dedicated to the team returned $30,000, and is seeded to canola this year.
In other Terrier news the organization appears poised to make a bid to host the 2018 Royal Bank Cup.
“We’ve got all our stuff in place,” said Baron, the material collected for a possible bid for the 2016 Western Canada Cup that they did not pursue.
Baron said they have talked to previous host committees, and are waiting to go over things with this year’s hosts in Portage la Prairie, MB.
“We want to see how it went in Portage after the fact to see what they might have done differently, and then we’ll make our decision (on a bid),” he said.
The RBC will be in Lloydminster in 2016, and Cobourg, ON. in 2017.
