If you build it, they will come. But it will still take several years.
OHL Commissioner Bryan Crawford, presented to council on Monday what the league looks for in a prospective expansion community.
“Chatham-Kent has always kind of been in the background of potential markets that could one day be interested in hosting an OHL team,” Crawford told council.
This presentation came after several councillors were caught off guard by a meeting held between Crawford, Mayor Darrin Canniff, a small number of councillors and CAO Michael Duben earlier this month.
Crawford’s presentation on Monday included all the same information that was relayed at that first meeting, and allowed all councillors the ability to ask questions.
Currently, the municipality does not have a suitable arena for an OHL team, which Crawford estimates to cost somewhere between 150 and 200 million to build.
Councillor Alysson Storey expressed concern about the guarantee of an OHL team after such a large investment.
“We would certainly sign a commitment to come if the city was ready to commit to build the arena,” said Crawford.
“If you build it they should come should be the model in communities making this investment. We are partners in this and that is how we want to proceed.”
Crawford figured a realistic timeline for an OHL team to be in a city is between three to eight years.
“Thinking about an arena, to where a shovel goes into the ground to where the doors open, you know, is multiple years to get to that final spot,” said Crawford.
As for finding a potential team owner, the OHL would be responsible for that and Crawford sees no issue with a municipality like Chatham-Kent sharing a fandom between an OHL team and the Chatham Maroons, a team in the Greater Ontario Hockey League (GOHL).
“There’s no reason, from our perspective, that both teams don’t thrive and exist in the same community,” said Crawford. “We have a vested interest in making sure the GOHL actually is growing itself and expanding itself and not contracting.”
