Graham Lee, CEO of GLS Group that owns and operates Prospera Place.

Image Credit: Zoom

In a rare media appearance, GSL Group CEO Graham Lee says, as owner of the Prospera Place arena, that he’s not to blame for the Kelowna Rockets not bidding to host the 2023 Memorial Cup.

At the time, the Rockets team posted on its website that a report on the building found it did not meet the minimum standards required by the Canadian Hockey League to host the national hockey championships so “the Rockets could not proceed with our bid.”

Lee held a press “scrum” by Zoom today, Jan. 31, to answer questions about a proposal he submitted to the City of Kelowna to help upgrade the building and continue operating it after his lease expires in 2029.

That proposal includes upgrades that would qualify the Rockets to bid for the 2026 tournament.

“Most of the things that were required under the Canadian Hockey League report, we had committed that we would do them,” Lee said. “We left it in the hands of the Rockets, which the Rockets decided not to bid on.”

That report has never been made public.

READ MORE: Why couldn't the Kelowna Rockets host this year’s Memorial Cup? It's a secret

Lee pointed out that all the revenue from the event goes to the Rockets or the Memorial Cup Society, not to his company.

“Our involvement, at that time, would almost have been a gift because we only had so many years left with our agreement and we had no certainty whether we would be able to continue or not,” Lee said.

GSL has been looking into ways to upgrade the arena since 2017, he said. He had discussions with the city last year but in January the city announced it was looking for a new operator to take over once the lease expired.

READ MORE: Kelowna looking for a new operator for Prospera Place

“They asked us for a proposal, which we submitted,” Lee said. “We even updated them in December, saying we were planning to submit, so that was a surprise.”

The proposal is for $18 to $22 million in improvements that could be done in seven to nine months, in time to bid for the 2026 Memorial Cup.

“What we tried to do was put together a very practical solution that does not become a burden on the taxpayers,” Lee said. “It allows the city to, maybe, allocate funding in other areas that are more important in today’s world, such as homelessness.

“We know this business. We’ve been running this building for 25 years now. We brought all these shows in. We know what’s required from the shows side of it. We’ve got a pretty good feel about what could be enhanced on the user experience side. We’re trying to keep it practical. We’re trying to keep it to the point where it’s not a ridiculous amount of money to spend and that would be shared and it would be a mutual sort of arrangement and all of us would say it would be a win-win situation.”

He's willing to contribute to the annual cost of improvements to things like the lobby and dressing rooms along with another $2.3 million for things like a new score clock, sound system and TV display panels.

READ MORE: Prospera Place owner offering to pay some costs to upgrade Kelowna arena

Lee was asked whether he could still bid to continue to operate Prospera Place if this proposal is rejected by the city.

“I don’t know what that process is,” he responded. “All we were doing was responding to what was requested of us, which was to put a proposal in, which is what we did. We kept the city informed, in December, that we would do that. Like I said, it was a surprise that they said we’re out. We’ll have to see how this evolves.”

— This story was updated at 10:54 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024, to clarify how proposed improvements would be funded.

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