Miller won’t let stadium stop success

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/04/2015 (3322 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Wade Miller assumed the reins of the embattled Winnipeg Blue Bombers, every day was an adventure.

Not a happy-go-lucky, feel-good thrill ride like How To Train Your Dragon, mind you. More like a perilous, lethal, what-the-hell-is-happening adrenaline freak-out like the opening scene of Raiders Of The Lost Ark or the Cornucopia bloodbath in the Hunger Games.

In 2013, Miller adopted a football club that couldn’t block or tackle, a new stadium in need of repairs and a fan base angry enough to consider tearing up their season tickets.

Some of those fans actually did. But after a full year as president and CEO of the Blue and Gold, the former Bomber fullback doesn’t have to put out fires every morning.

“Those days are happening a lot less often,” Miller said Wednesday, when the football club disclosed a $3.9-million operating profit, up $1 million over the figure posted in 2013.

The club’s financial statements also boasted good news in the form of a $500,000 top-up to the operating reserve, more actual money in the coffers and greater assets on paper.

But this does not mean Miller gets to stand on the cracked concourse of Investors Group Field in front of a “mission accomplished” banner.

Around this time last year, the Bomber president and CEO predicted the club would generate enough revenue in 2014 to cover off the first $4.5-million annual transfer over to Triple B Stadium, the shell company that built the new stadium and owns it.

The club made that payment at the end of the year. But since the operating profits were only $3.9 million, on paper the club went into the hole by about $600,000 last year.

At first glance, this is concerning, as the Bombers are only beginning to pay back Triple B for $95 million worth of loans taken out to build Investors Group Field, whose final cost stands at $209 million.

The Bombers are required to fork over another $4.5 million in 2016 and then again in 2017. The burden for repaying the principal, covering interest and topping up the operating reserve drops to $3.5 million in 2018 and then rises to a maximum of $4.4 million in 2019.

Those payments remain at a maximum of $4.4 million every year for nearly four decades — in other words, the entire life of the football stadium. Miller, however, isn’t concerned about the 2014 shortfall, even after he predicted the revenue would materialize.

For starters, he insists depreciation on the still-new stadium factors into the club’s financial statements. More significantly, he predicts the Bombers will make anywhere from $5 million to $7 million off the 2015 Grey Cup.

This will happen regardless of whether the RBC Convention Centre expansion is finished in time for the CFL championship in November. Grey Cup events are only planned for the existing portion of the convention centre, he said.

In any case, Grey Cup revenue will serve as a cushion for modest shortfalls in the years when the big game isn’t held in Winnipeg. This arrangement will work for the club as long as this city gets to host the Cup at least once every nine years.

Events such as concerts and the future NHL outdoor game also help. Miller declined to disclose how much cash the Bombers hope to receive from the two concerts slated for this year — One Direction and AC/DC — but would say the outdoor Jets game will generate revenue comparable to that of a single concert.

Miller also insists extensive repairs slated for Investors Group Field won’t impact any of the events or football games. Triple B Stadium is planning to tear up the entire IGF concourse to deal with design and construction issues that include improper drainage, heating and insulation.

That work can be done in sections and won’t wind up costing the football club a penny, Miller said. “That’s a Triple B matter, to be resolved,” he said.

Triple B Stadium says insurance will cover the cost of ripping up the concrete at Investors Group Field and repairing the damage. The total tab is expected to be in the tens of millions.

Triple B’s statement of claim against stadium builder Stuart Olson and architect Ray Wan appears to be a tactic to force the settlement of the insurance claim.

To date, Miller has managed to sidestep the stadium construction mess, aside from a miscue in 2014 when the Bombers refused to allow media to view the aftermath of spring water damage.

If more stadium problems emerge in the long run, however, it’s not clear who covers the costs. While the Bombers are doing well enough to swallow a $4.5-million burden right now, four decades is a long time to pay for a stadium.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca