As reported yesterday in the Ottawa Citizen, city council’s finance and economic development committee will consider today whether it will support a successful bid for the 2013 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Women’s Hockey Championship with $200,000 in in-kind services and cash. If the motion is successful, it will be the third time in the past month that council has approved funds to support a sporting event in Ottawa, for a total of $1 million in expenditures.
In February, council agreed to contribute $400,000 to bolster a bid by the Canadian Soccer Association to bring FIFA Women’s World Cup to Ottawa and other Canadian cities in 2014 and 2015. It also agreed to another $400,000 in cash and in-kind services to support a bid — only if successful — by Senators Sports and Entertainment to host the Olympic Canadian Curling Trials scheduled for December 2013.
Senators Sports and Entertainment is also behind the bid for the women’s hockey championship, which was held previously in Ottawa in 1990. According to a city report, the councillors will look at providing $50,000 in cash and $150,000 in police and paramedic services, but only if Ottawa is selected as the host city.
The report also said that when Winnipeg and Selkirk, Man., played host to the women’s world hockey championship in 2007, the estimated economic activity in the province related to the event was $12 million and that it “generated a local legacy fund of close to $200,000 which was reinvested in the local amateur hockey association.
By hosting the 2013 championship, Ottawa would acquire a similar local legacy fund that is expected to exceed $250,000 that would be used for the development of amateur hockey in and around Ottawa.”
These are just one person’s thoughts. What do you think?