‘We’re at a time where patience is necessary’: Raiders’ Broda shares insight on WHL’s return

“We’re very concerned about the players. You’ve got training and development, they’re all young boys. Some of them it might be their NHL draft year, so there’s a lot of other things that motivate us to push hard to still try to have a season.”

A key part of the efforts toward the league’s return are regular discussions with government and health authorities in all four provinces and two states that are home to WHL member clubs. Broda is part of a task force that is working with the Saskatchewan government.

“They’ve been extremely cooperative and extremely aware of the importance of the WHL and all of the teams in each of our communities. We’ve had a very positive reception, we’ve had some back and forth regarding questions, concerns, let’s get a little bit more information,” Broda said. “I’m very pleased to report that our Saskatchewan government has been really great to work with to help us with our initiatives.”

Broda noted there is a lot in common between the six jurisdictions involved and the communication that the league has had with them, but there are some differences in each region that make the collective effort a challenge. The decision to push the start date back to December will buy more time to give all jurisdictions and task forces an opportunity to work through the situation.

“There’s certainly optimism that that’s a realistic date to work with.”

Crossing the line

Complicating things further is the continued closure of the USA-Canada border to non-essential travel, as five of the 22 teams in the league reside in the United States. Many Canadian and European players play for American teams, and many American players play for Canadian teams.

As of mid-July, the closure was extended to Aug. 21, and further extensions are possible.

“That’s another one of those fluid situations, the border is obviously an important line in the sand and if there’s restrictions or quarantine we do need to find ways to work with that or find ways around that,” Broda said. “With the delayed start we have a little bit more time to think of what those options may be, but it is a concern if that border remains closed for an extended period of time.”

Asked a hypothetical question of whether teams could start by playing exclusively within their own divisions to allow for competition without frequent border-crossing, Broda said that’s one of many options being looked at in a continuously changing situation.

On the home front

Although today’s announcement didn’t specify how many fans would need to be allowed in the building to make the league feasible, the previous benchmark of 50 per cent is likely still the minimum requirement.

Playing out of the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre, that limitation would create a significant financial challenge for the Raiders, who averaged 2,642 fans [including standing room] in 2019-20.

“I’ll speak for the Prince Albert Raiders only, even at 50 per cent capacity, we’re going to have financial shortfalls. I think it’s a realistic goal as a starting point to maybe work with our medical authorities and hopefully they find that an acceptable capacity level. And at the same time at least it’s a reasonable start from a financial perspective. It’s going to be financially very challenging to have reduced capacity in all the buildings. We all know we’re a ticket-driven venue and we’ve got to have fans in the seats,” Broda said.

Before they can get to December, the Raiders need to continue weathering the crisis that has impacted countless businesses in all sectors since the pandemic struck North America in March. Having missed out on two regular season home games as well as the entire postseason, which could have been a significant source of revenue, the Raiders have had to find ways to cut costs.

“I want to give some credit to our management, we’ve got some very focused, very dedicated people. There’s been a lot of things cut back in the background that people aren’t seeing. We’ve re-worked budgets, we’ve done everything we can to try to streamline things much more than would be normal. Certainly, some of the government assistance has been a big help to all businesses that have had difficulties,” Broda said.

The one thing the team hasn’t done is eliminate any employees. Broda said they’ve done some very detailed analysis, taking a hard look at all avenues to cut expenses, but ultimately the people in place were too valuable to let go. Wage subsidy programs offered by the government have helped keep the staff in place.

Ultimately, it’s a constant balancing act of health and safety, financial considerations, and many other factors, but Broda feels the most important thing is finding a way to make it work.

“Amongst all the other concerns, financial and everything else, we’ve still got a bunch of young players that are very important to us,” he said.

From a financial standpoint, he said it’s all about falling within the ‘goalposts’ of a season that’s at best break-even, or even losing a ‘reasonable’ amount of money.

“I think [losing money] is still worth it. I’m mentioning players, I’m mentioning community, the fans, there’s a lot of reasons to still push to have this season even if there’s a pinch of financial hardship that comes with it,” he said.

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trevor.redden@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Trevor_Redden

by Trevor Redden

‘We’re at a time where patience is necessary’: Raiders’ Broda shares insight on WHL’s return

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