The Mayor of Kamloops says the taxpayers of the city aren’t going to have to bear any of the costs to upgrade the Sandman Centre ahead of next year’s Memorial Cup.

Ken Christian says the roughly $940,000 needed to upgrade the 5,500 seat facility so that the tournament can be broadcast across Canada will be coming from grant money and gaming revenue.

“We put forward a bid that we felt was very strong,” Christian said. “We met a couple of times with the bid committee and with the technical group in terms of the asset we have here in the Sandman Centre and some of the things that they need to be able to broadcast this tournament to the nation.”

“We as a council met and unanimously approved that investment.”

It is not yet clear what exactly the upgrades to the Sandman Centre will entail as that vote was done behind closed doors, a few weeks before the Canadian Hockey League confirmed speculation that Kamloops would indeed be hosting the 2023 Memorial Cup.

Christian notes that event will be held just three months after Kamloops hosts the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in February, which he says should lead to a significant boost to local hotels and restaurants.

“I think for Kamloops in 2023 we’re going to just launch from the Scotties straight into the Memorial Cup and I think it is absolutely great,” he added. “I think that this is what we need as we emerge from the pandemic and sort of get us back to being Canada’s Tournament Capital.”

“It won’t be a draw on the taxpayer but it will be a big boon for the community remembering that everyone who comes to the Memorial Cup [and the Scotties] is going to have accommodation, food and beverage, rentals, purchases and things like that.”

It will be the first time since 1995 that the Memorial Cup is held in Kamloops. At that tournament 27 years ago, the Blazers went undefeated to win their third Memorial Cup title in four years.

“I’m excited for Kamloops,” Blazers majority owner, Tom Gaglardi, added. “This is a city that is built for the Memorial Cup and cities like Kamloops should host the Memorial Cup, and so I’m just thrilled that a city of 100,000 people gets to host the amazing event that is the Memorial Cup.”

“This win belongs to the people of Kamloops because it was their proxy, it was their City, and the people locally that got involved that really made the difference to win this bid.”

“Kamloops is going to do a marvellous job,” Gaglardi added.

– With files from Paul James