As of June 1st 2013 Kal Tire took over major sponsorship of the arena, formerly known as Wesbild Centre. The arena first know as the Vernon Multi-Plex first opened its doors back in October of 2001 when the Vernon Vipers returned home froma ten game road trip to start the 2001-2002 BCHL regular season. The Vipers hosted the Salmon Arm Silverbacks (first year in the league) Mark Nelson's overtime winning goal sent the sell-out crowd home happy as the Vipers picked up just there third win of the season with a 3-2 OT win.
It was on March, 7th 2008 when Wesbild Holdings Limited aquired the naming rights to the arena and took over the new name of the Vernon Multi-Plex. It was this past hockey season when there was talks that Wesbild was thinking of not re-newing there contract, when Kal Tire come to the plate and signed a new four year contract in April to become the new name-sponsor of the arena.
This is a great choice, and the first choice I had in mind before the arena was even finished being built. They were looking for a sponsor-name before the arena was built. I had thought a big major local company like Kal Tire who started here in Vernon would be the perfect fit.
If you take a drive by the rink these days you will notice there are no name or signage on the front of the arena. The new name-signs will be installed sometime in July.
With the new name-new sponsor I hope Kal Tire and the arena management can get together and work on sprucing the rink up-doing some major ugrading, especially with the Vipers hosting the 2014 Royal Bank Cup next May.
A few weeks ago they have placed new cabinets to the arena for the Okanagan sports Hall of fame, wich look great! It would be great to see more added over the next several months and through out the year. The previous ones that were added the second year the arena was open are way over due for a new look-new photos and articles etc. Something I would like to see is more photos and articles on Junior hockey here in Vernon. Junior hockey is a big part of the City of Vernon, having some of the best Junior teams across Canada over the years, winning six National Championships and they dont really have much in these display cases on any of this. I think they have two boxes but not alot on the Lakers-Vipers history wich is the main tennant for the building. It would also be nice to see a plaque or some kind of display put up on when the arena opened, when the first ever Vipers game was played there, the score, who won, maybe a ticket or puck or program from that game. Something for people who are new to town or just visiting the rink for the first time.
With Kal Tire being the major sponsor it would also be nice to see those very small now outdated tvs replaced around the rink and in the beer gardens. Those are a joke! My computer monitor is bigger then those little tvs. Have you gone for a beer in the beer gardens and tried watching the hockey game shown on one of them tvs. Only one of the three along the wall work and it barley works as it has big black lines coming across the screen. If you walk around the rink during a Vipers game, some of the tvs around the concourse arnt even turned on. This is very sad, and with the RBC Cup next season the City and arena will be the laughing stock of the tournament. I was hoping somebody like Andres or Future shop etc would come along and make some kind of an offer to the arena and work out a deal to get some new flat screens put in.
Not including hockey, It would also be great to see some more concerts, shows and events etc come to the arena, something that has lacked since the day the building opened. Can you tell me the last concert that was held there? Its pretty sad!
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