The Cougars are equipping the CN Centre with state-of-the-art equipment for the upcoming hockey season and beyond.
The team is installing new subwoofers and 44-seat luxury seating to name a few things. The Cougars recently refurbished the lobby and spent over one million dollars on renovations to the city-owned arena in the past 28 months.
Cougars VP Andy Beesley says all this is possible because of a special bond between the team and the City.
“The relationship that we have is really rare. It doesn’t happen in a lot of arenas, sadly. We are probably the top arenas as far as being able to work in true partnership.”
The arena is also getting a new score clock to which the City is contributing $546,000. The Cougars will pay for the clock add-ons like high-definition screens, increased camera locations, and an NHL-quality digital goal judge system to show automatic replays.
Mayor Lyn Hall says the renovations will enhance all arena events like the upcoming 2017 Telus Cup. Looking even further down the road, he thinks these upgrades could attract something as big as a Memorial Cup.
“We at the City would certainly be on board with (the Cougars) as a partner. They have the capacity and they’re very well organised. They’ve got a great team running a great team and I think they’re ready for it.”
CN Centre Event and Marketing Supervisor Tracy Shaw sits on a WHL Arena advisory committee. She and other board members exchange new ideas and practices and she says the CN Centre stacks up really well to other WHL teams after all these upgrades.
“We have, I think, one of the best relationships with a team that there is out there. They’ve been fantastic. They’re always bringing new ideas or thinking out of the box, they’re trying to be progressive and they’ve always got the best practice at heart.”
The upgrades aren’t limited to just the Cougars and local hockey fans. Beesley believes that anyone visiting the arena will enjoy what’s new.
“If there’s a motorcycle show if there’s a figure skating show, conventions and so on; they’ll all be able to use the sound system, the new video score clock, and even the upgraded seating and those are just some examples. Everyone in the community will benefit from these upgrades that we’re doing.”
The score clock will be going up in late September or early October. The new goal judge system will go in around the same time.
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