Keystone lost $1M in revenue in 2019-20

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This article was published 15/01/2021 (1836 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was a rough year for venues all over the world because of COVID-19 and the Keystone Centre was no exception.

Financial information presented at the centre’s annual general meeting late Thursday evening said the centre brought in about $1 million less in revenue than was originally budgeted for.

“The two most heard phrases in 2020 were ‘your mic isn’t on’ and ‘2020 has been a challenging year’,” said Bruce Luebke, who elected board chair after serving in an interim role for the past several months. “Indeed the latter applies to the Keystone Centre.”

The venue was originally projected to bring in $6,613,379 in net revenue but only ended up bringing in $5,569,641.

That figure would have been worse if not for the $569,328 the Keystone received from the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy.

Expenses were also lower than expected, coming in at $6,308,726 compared to the original projection of $7,254,253. Fewer events meant fewer costs for engineering, maintenance and concessions at the centre.

Events the facility had cancelled last year included PBR Mazergroup Chuteout, High Valley in concert, Baby Shark Live, the Saints & Sinners rock tour and ZZ Top. The Mazergroup event is considered likely to be rescheduled while ZZ Top has postponed rather than cancel outright.

Despite all the problems the venue faced, it still managed to post a $22,881 surplus for the 2019-20 fiscal year.

General manager and CEO Jeff Schumacher said the facility was able to reduce up to 90 per cent of its payroll towards the end of the year.

He quipped during his introduction that he has become a permanent resident and joined Team Canada, which means he’s now only 90 per cent as annoying as the average American.

On top of COVID-19 shutting down the facility for much of the year, Schumacher also pointed out that the 2019 Arabian national horse show was smaller than normal due to some equine health concerns.

However, he touted the $2.9 million debt relief grant provided to the facility by the province in March 2019, cost-cutting measures and creative ways of bringing in revenue as providing a foundation that helped the Keystone Centre weather the storm during the pandemic.

He also touted some of the accomplishments the centre was able to achieve despite the circumstances like the installation of automated sliding doors, the addition of new change rooms, payments made on the HD scoreboard in Westoba Place, improvements to the facility’s website, upgrading lights in the facility to LED and the installation of new, safer boards for use in Brandon Wheat Kings games.

For the 2020-21 fiscal year, Schumacher warned that it will likely be more difficult for the venue as large events will likely remain impossible to hold until late in the year. Continuing assistance from the wage subsidy and rent revenue from hosting the province’s COVID-19 vaccination super-site will help offset revenue losses.

“None of us are going to be surprised when next year is really the big hit because it’s going to be a really slow reopening,” Schumacher told the Sun after the meeting had ended. “The total impact is going to be seen for the entire fiscal year we’re in.”

He added that on top of the financial benefits of hosting parts of the province’s COVID-19 response and helping out the province in a time of need, hosting the super-site and the testing site is also keeping staff sharp while they wait for a full reopening.

While speaking during the meeting, Schumacher referred to the venue rebuilding burned bridges over the last couple of years. He clarified during the interview that some entities in the touring industry weren’t impressed with how the centre handled visiting acts and that he has made it a priority to make visiting Brandon and the Keystone Centre a better experience for them so they’ll want to come back.

During the Q&A portion of the meeting, Mayor Rick Chrest thanked the venue and the board of directors for their hard work during the pandemic.

» cslark@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @ColinSlark