Brandon Sun - PRINT EDITION
Visitors get their plates filled at the Western Breakfast at the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair at the Keystone Centre in this file photo. The Keystone says that taking over catering services has helped their bottom line. (BRANDON SUN FILE)
Keystone Centre general manager Neil Thomson disputed information that appeared in today’s Brandon Sun, referring to a quote he gave the Brandon Sun that "the bottom line for the facilities, (are) $165,000."
On Friday, Thomson issued a press release to clarify the budget announcement and stated the following.
"On behalf of the Keystone Centre, I would like to clarify the report from today’s Brandon Sun that the Keystone has posted a $165,000 surplus — when in fact the Keystone has not yet released its current years surplus as we await our audited financial statements before we release said information. Unfortunately there was a misunderstanding — The $165,000 was the budgeted income before unusual items for the upcoming year concluding July 31, 2013," Thomson said.
There are hopes there could be a better year ahead, as the Keystone Centre took over control over the vending machines in the building, and bought out the catering contract with Canad Inns so that more food and beverage services could be done in-house.
"We’ve taken over the catering for the facility and that’s probably the most significant because that’s given us a new revenue arm," Thomson said. "It’s something the Keystone Centre hasn’t had for eight years. We did make some margin on catering sales through the facility but now we’ve taken over the entire activity so our margin will go up to reflect that."
The Keystone Centre plans to make more money thanks to a new plan, called Hockey House, where as of Oct. 5, fans can grab some food and drink in a room off the main concourse prior to Brandon Wheat Kings games.
The construction of a 43-site, serviced campground is underway, as evidenced by the closure of 13th Street near the facility. Thomson expected construction to be complete in three to four weeks and would include water and sewer services.
"They are out there doing a connection to the sewer system now," Thomson said.
That’s not to say there aren’t concerns about the facility’s operations. Rising repairs and maintenance costs and needed capital expenditures are starting to grow, Thomson said.
"The aspect of repairs and maintenance has always been a concern because we are getting close to the facility’s 40th anniversary," Thomson said. "We have recently experienced some significant repairs. I guess we are just expecting there will be more considering the age of the building."
One of the recent major repair jobs came in Optimist Arena, where a brine leak from a busted pipe forced a quick repair. A compressor in an ice plant also required work.
"We were lucky this time around when it happened during a slower time for our ice clients," Thomson said. "We were just coming out of the Arabian Show, so it just delayed us for a couple of days. If you take that same scenario and put it in the middle of January and prime-time hockey season, it can be a pretty disruptive incident for our hockey tenants. Obviously one of them are the Brandon Wheat Kings."
For those reasons, Thomson said there would be more of a push to encourage the facility’s leadership group to deal with fixing up the aging infrastructure and reduce the repairs and maintenance budget lines.
» kborkowsky@brandonsun.com
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition September 28, 2012
Updated on Friday, September 28, 2012 at 10:59 AM CDT:
Updates to include clarification from Keystone
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Keystone Centre general manager Neil Thomson disputed information that appeared in today’s Brandon Sun, referring to a quote he gave the Brandon Sun that "the bottom line for the facilities, (are) $165,000."
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Keystone Centre general manager Neil Thomson disputed information that appeared in today’s Brandon Sun, referring to a quote he gave the Brandon Sun that "the bottom line for the facilities, (are) $165,000."
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