BCHL Holds Its Annual Mid-Season Meeting:

This was in the Merritt Herald Newspaper:

BCHL holds its annual mid-season meeting

 By Ian Webster on January 28, 2014

The British Columbia Hockey League held its mid-season meeting in Richmond last week. Merritt Centennials’ Director of Hockey Operations and long-standing BCHL governor Brian Barrett was in attendance.

“It was a very good meeting,” Barrett said. “Everyone was on the same page when it comes to the future of the league, and the financial health of its member clubs.”

Barrett said that all the teams in the BCHL, as well as junior teams across the country, are feeling the crunch of ever-rising operational costs.

“We’re all looking for ways to increase revenue and decrease expenses.”

To that end, Barrett said teams have restated their commitment to the BCHL’s mission statement — “Competitors on the ice, but partners off the ice” — and findings ways and means by which to help one another.

“One of the discussion points was ticket prices,” said Barrett. “Several teams actually lowered their season ticket prices this year in order to try and get more people coming to games on a regular basis. I think all the teams, including us, are looking at that possibility for next season. It might even extend to walk-up prices.”

The league would also like to make its annual Showcase at the beginning of the season more financially viable.

“Everyone agrees that it’s a great event on the ice, with all the teams in attendance at one place,” said Barrett. “But right now, the Showcase loses money. We’ve got to find a way to get more sponsorships and other revenue streams.”

Another way the BCHL is looking to reduce costs is by dropping the number of player cards that a club begins the season with from 45 down to 35, and by limiting the number of separate player transactions a club can make in a season to seven.

“Trades of any kind incur additional costs,” said Barrett. “By limiting the amount of player movement, perhaps we can reduce those expenses.”

In another interesting piece of business, the BCHL received an application again this year from Wenatchee, Wash. for a league franchise. The American city made a similar request in January 2013.

The Wenatchee Wild have been a Tier II Junior A hockey team in the North American Hockey League since 2008. The teams plays out of the 4,300-seat Town Toyota Centre.

The Wild have won three NAHL Western Division titles in their five-year history. Last season, they lost in the league’s Robertson Cup final to the Amarillo Bulls.