The Sandman Centre in Kamloops is hosting the 2023 Memorial Cup.

(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

The home of the Kelowna Rockets is bigger and newer than Sandman Centre in Kamloops but that clearly wasn't enough because it was not even able to bid on the 2023 Canadian Hockey League Memorial Cup.

Instead, that’s going to Kamloops which is seven years older and holds fewer fans.

READ MORE: Kamloops Blazers announced as 2023 Memorial Cup hosts

One of the key reasons the older building is better suited for the Canadian junior hockey championship may be the ownership structure.

Sandman Centre is 100% owned by the City of Kamloops.

“One of the areas we got high scores in was the facility itself, in terms of number of dressing rooms, the size of them and the availability of broadcast and storage space within the building,” Jeff Putnam, the city’s parks and civic facilities manager told iNFOnews.ca. “In the last five years, the city invested over $3 million to upgrade lighting, the board and glass system as well as some of the utility infrastructure.”

It will spend almost $1 million more to make further improvements recommended by the Canadian Hockey League before it hosts the 2023 Memorial Cup for the major junior hockey championship.

Much of the new spending will be for enhanced broadcast and video equipment that will include 18 large video screens in the concourse so fans can still see the game while getting food. It also includes cables to allow for ultra-high-density broadcasts.

When it comes to dressing rooms, the Kamloops Blazers hockey team built their own at some time since the building opened in 1992, Putnam said.

That freed up space for more dressing rooms for public use. A large room was recently renovated to serve as a dressing room for the exclusive use of visiting Western Hockey League teams.

Seating was also expanded some years ago so with standing room, it can fit 5,500 to 6,000 fans, Putnam said. Prospera has 6,886 seats for hockey.

Prospera Place opened in 1999 through a public-private partnership with GSL Holdings and hasn’t had the same kinds of upgrades.

“GSL Group is owner and operator of the facility until 2029,” the City of Kelowna said in an email to iNFOnews.ca. “They should be undertaking maintenance and investment to ensure it is a desirable facility for event hosting. Unfortunately, this has not been happening as evidenced by not meeting their own league’s standards for major events.”

GSL Group did not respond to requests for an interview.

Kamloops has an ongoing schedule of maintenance and upgrades to Sandman Centre, just like it does with any other city-owned buildings.

Some of the deficiencies in Prospera Place include the dressing rooms but it also has lighting, video scoreboard, dehumidification, ventilation and internet shortcomings, the City of Kelowna email says.

Since the GSL Group has ownership of the building until 2029, the City is looking at ways to make sure they take it over in good condition.

“We will continue to work with the Kelowna Rockets organization to advocate for the building upgrades needed to host high-caliber events in the future,” the City of Kelowna’s email says.

READ MORE: 20 years later: How an arena helped transform downtown Kelowna

But it’s not just the upgrades needed in order to apply to host the Memorial Cup. The building itself is in need of some major repairs, even though its basic structure is sound.

“The large dome roof membrane has an expected life of approximately 30 years,” states a report on Prospera Place by Stadium Consultants International that was completed at this time last year. “Given the age of Prospera Place, at 22 years, many of the larger pieces of equipment, or building components, if they haven’t been replaced, will be coming due in the next 5-8 year timeframe.”

That roof dome is estimated to cost about $2.4 million to replace.

Sandman Centre will also faces those kinds of costs.

“At some point the roof will need to get replaced,” Putnam said. “Right now, it’s in quite good condition for its age, so it’s not an immediate concern. Longer term, we do have a building infrastructure maintenance plan we budget for and implement in the desired year.”

There are numerous other “remedial repairs” needed for Prospera Place. Some are recommended to be done immediately but others can wait for five to eight years. Those would add about $5 million more to the tally.

Those range from replacing carpeting, flooring and hot water heaters to stopping roof leaks.

That’s just the repairs that are needed and doesn’t include things like more dressing rooms or other upgrades that would make Prospera more attractive to fans and allow it to bid for a future Memorial Cup championship.

“In order for Prospera to continue to compete, it should address some of the areas where we consider it to be underperforming,” the report says. “Several factors play into a better fan experience; quality food and beverage service, increased rest room ratios, more concourse space to manoeuvre. These raise the quality level of the experience, reduce congestion and patron frustration, so therefore result in a happier customer base.”

It recommends more concession services and washrooms.

Retail spaces could be brought back into the building and “re-invented as creative food and beverage zones, that will result in increased concourse space for patrons, as well as better food and beverage product.”

That space could be opened to the outside at non-event times and include things like food halls and micro-breweries, it suggests.

It also suggested creating “loge” seating spaces where tables are set up in the concourse with four to six luxury seats, drink rails and TV monitors.

That’s something that Sandman Centre already has.

“Those are very popular,” Putnam said. “We modelled them after Rogers Place in Edmonton that we saw a few years ago.”

People can rent them by the game or by the season. They are semi-private but get food and beverage service and have “great sightlines,” he said.

Along with many other recommendations, the Prospera study also suggests expanding the building into the parking lot to the south to increase storage space and improve loading docks for concerts and other shows.

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