Hometown Hockey profile comes at a price

By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express

The chance to be a featured community on the Roger’s Hometown Hockey series later this year has led council to set aside $60,000 to carry out the event.

The budget, approved at a special meeting of council on July 27, will see $30,000 set aside as an operating budget for the recreation and culture staff, and another $30,000 reserved for staffing, security, equipment rentals, the waiving of fees for facility rental and a budget contingency.

Part of the budget will involve hiring an event coordinator for 18 weeks to handle the event at an approximate cost of $25,000.

The event is set to span the days of Dec. 26 and 27 and would involve free outdoor hockey activities and culminate with an outdoor viewing party of an NHL broadcast hosted by Ron McLean.

“The Rogers Hometown Hockey Tour will provide Oshawa with a unique opportunity to profile the community nation-wide through the live broadcast of an NHL game,” reads the report from city staff.

The same was said by Mayor John Henry, who claims the event will be an opportunity to show off Oshawa to the rest of the country.

“We’ll get national exposure, coast to coast,” he says. “It shows the attributes of our city and shows the best part of Oshawa and where we’re going.”

Hometown Hockey, now in it’s second season, had an average of 2.8 million viewers last year. This year, the tour kicks off in Kitchener on Oct. 8 with plans to hit a total of 24 communities.