Prince George will not play host to the 2017 Men’s U21 Pan-American Cup. The Prince George Youth Volleyball Club and Tourism Prince George have abandoned their bid.
Last month, they asked the City to support the bid financially but then had to rethink things.
“We sat down, the group of us and we discussed what we were dealing with in the timeline,” says Tourism Prince George spokesperson Leanne Schinkel. “ It’s a super tight timeline and then the turnaround on the hosting time was going to be a lot too and there’s a pretty substantial financial commitment that needs to be raised.”
She says the partnership felt it was important to be able to produce the best event possible and that just wasn’t possible for next year.
“We just thought, given the capacity of the club and the issues with that timeline, we were taking on a bit of a risk. We want to make sure that when we’re hosting events we’re able to deliver the best event possible. We looked at the timeline and the financial equipment and decided to go for the next one.”
Schinkel says the idea of bringing a high level volleyball tournament to Prince George hasn’t been abandoned – just delayed.
“I think, from the club standpoint, they’d love to see a women specific event and so we’re keeping our eyes open for one of those. And I know that Volleyball Canada was definitely interested in hosting an event in Prince George so we feel like our chances are pretty good to host something in the coming years.”
They may still pursue the U21 Men’s Pan-American Cup but for 2019 or 2020.