The Crescent Point Energy Western Canada Cup (WCC) corporate sponsors and the many individuals who have picked up tournament passes are now getting their seats for the April 30 to May 8 tournament, but a call is out for more supporters to get involved.
Warren Waldegger, co-chair of the WCC organizing committee, said as the community gets closer to the event a more determined push is on to make sure there are bodies in the seats. He said they’ve done a lot of work so far to bring corporate sponsors to the event to make sure it is financially sound, but the focus now is definitely towards ticket sales.
The WCC will bring together the host Estevan Bruins along with the British Columbia Junior Hockey League, Alberta Junior Hockey League, Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League and Manitoba Junior Hockey League champions for a tournament in which the top two teams will advance to the Canadian Junior A Championship RBC Cup.
Tournament passes for the WCC, which are good for 10 round-robin games and three elimination games, are on sale now for $250 plus tax at the Bruins’ office. Tickets are assigned seating and seat reservations are on a first-come first-serve basis.
“The full tournament package will be on sale right up until the tournament,” said Waldegger, noting individual day passes won’t be available until the event. He said the afternoon games’ attendance figures at the tournament are unsure right now, but the expectation is Affinity Place will be filled for the evening games.
“The Bruins are scheduled in the evenings for most of those games,” he said. “We’re hoping the community comes out in droves and fills the arena for those evenings and we get as many as possible during the day.”
Waldegger said they raised well over $400,000 in sponsorships to this point, which is ahead of where previous WCC events in other communities were, but more $7,500 sponsors are still needed. A premier sponsor package gets the donor four WCC tournament passes, their name listed on the Legacy Clock that will be erected at the entrance to Affinity Place, four tickets to the sponsors-only banquet hosted by Brian Burke, exclusive recognition and advertising in all game programs and their name included on an arena entrance banner.
“We’re feeling fully confident that the event will be a financial success, but that comes down to ticket sales,” said Waldegger. “Obviously additional sponsorship would secure the event and we’re still working on that.”
