It’s very likely that the Collingwood Blues will be skating into their 2024/25 season without a new contract in place.
At their meeting on July 29, council voted in favour of extending the existing Blues contract until Sept. 30, as negotiations over the tenancy of the Eddie Bush Memorial Arena have still not come to a conclusion despite both parties announcing in February that they were close.
This week, both the town and Blues co-owner Dave Steele have said that the big items such as term and costs have been decided, with Steele saying they are not dissimilar to the existing contract.
But the devil is in the details.
“The new (contract) is just totally changed. There are so many more things put in,” Steele told CollingwoodToday in an interview. “This one is massive. It’s much more involved. It’s like a phone book.”
“Had I seen this one initially, I would have never bid to be in Collingwood,” he said.
The existing Collingwood Blues contract (when signed, the team was called the Collingwood Colts), was signed by the town and team ownership and went into effect in 2019, following the Colts being awarded tenancy of the Eddie Bush Memorial Arena.
The current contract expires Aug. 19, 2024. This past December, the Blues requested an extension to the existing contract for an additional year to allow time for renegotiation while having some certainty prior to committing to the Ontario Junior Hockey League for the 2024-2025 season by their deadline of Jan. 15.
Town council denied the request for an extension, leading Steele to commit to the league for next season without knowing for sure whether there would be a new contract for the Eddie Bush in place.
On Feb. 14, Blues owner Dave Steele told CollingwoodToday that talks between the Blues and the town had broken down, and he had been considering other options for the team for the 2024-25 season. However, on Feb. 15, town council called an emergency closed-session meeting and announced that the town had come to an agreement with Blues ownership for the tenancy, which would last for 10 years minimum.
Despite that, the deal has remained unsigned as negotiations over details continued.
“In working through the details, some time was required. We’ve been going back and forth a fair bit,” the town’s CAO Sonya Skinner told councillors on Monday. “There have been some new items introduced which will take some time to work through with our respective lawyers.”
As council is on break throughout the month of August, Skinner said it was important to extend the existing contract to give everyone time to go over final details.
Mayor Yvonne Hamlin said that if they still don’t have an agreement signed by mid-September, that both the town and Blues ownership had blocked out Sept. 11 to 18 to sit in a room together with their lawyers and hammer out final details.
“It’s time to bring this to a conclusion,” said Hamlin.
During Monday’s meeting, not all councillors agreed that the Blues should be given an extension.
“I’m having a hard time extending this much longer than it already has. We’ve been guaranteed more than once that this will get done,” said Coun. Rob Ring. "A while ago we were requested a one-year extension, which we turned down. We are all personally getting blamed for this going on as long as it has.”
Hamlin spoke broadly about issues holding up the signing, which included the overall length of the agreement, and sections exploring if the team would be moved if a multi-use recreation facility is built in town over the next 10 years.
Under the current contract, Blues ownership pays 30 per cent of the advertising revenue they take in at the Eddie Bush and Central Park Arenas. They also pay the town for additional ice time outside of their regular season.
The advertising revenue deal (30 per cent) is still included in the new contract and that part of it is settled, Steele said on Tuesday.
The Hall of Fame room, prior to the Blues tenancy, was open all the time the arena was open. However, some vandalism that started before the Blues took tenancy in 2019 and continued in late 2022 had Steele calling for more security at that time.
While the room is part of the Eddie Bush and is town-owned, Steele invested $86,000 into renovating the room in 2019, including new tables, chairs and couches for the space, which is also branded as the "founders lounge" and access is exclusive during Blues games.
“We still can’t decide whether that door is going to be locked or unlocked,” lamented Ring during council discussion on Monday. “This should have been done months and months ago.”
Steele said in a previous interview he wants the room open to whoever wanted to use it, but he wanted users to sign in so they could be held responsible if there was any damage done.
This week, he said some of the sticking points in the current negotiation has been liability, including insurances.
“These are things sports teams aren’t typicaly liable for,” said Steele. “It’s been a lot about the hall of fame room, the concessions, equipment and which groups are allowed to use the room.”
Overall, Steele said he’s had a good working relationship with the mayor and town councillors, who have been vocal about their support of the team. However, his headaches have come from the process.
He said he’s had at least 12 sit-down meetings with members of town staff over the past year.
“I’m numb to it now. It’s not my fault. I petitioned a year ago to act on the renewal of a good contract, and was turned down,” he said.
In May, the Collingwood Blues won the Centennial Cup, making them the Canadian Junior Hockey League champions.
“We put the Town of Collingwood on a national map. You’d think this would be simple, but it’s become very involved,” said Steele. “The reason I’ve made so many concessions is because I love Collingwood. I want to stay here.”
On Monday night, council voted unanimously in favour of a Blues contract extension until Sept. 30. Coun. Chris Potts and Coun. Kathy Jeffery both declared a conflict on the matter and did not participate in discussions or vote. Coun. Christopher Baines was absent from Monday’s meeting.
