BC Hockey League’s new commissioner, Chris Hebb, was in town recently to check out Powell River Kings’ operations, and he said he liked what he saw.
One of Hebb’s first impressions may come as a surprise to some local hockey fans. He described 43-year-old Hap Parker arena as beautiful.
“I'm doing a tour of all of franchises and I love their rink; it's a great facility,” said Hebb. “The franchise has been around a long time and it's proven to be a real boon to the community.”
Hockey rinks have been known to stand long after their home teams collapse. Hebb said his task is to ensure the financial viability of all 17 BCHL franchises.
“I'm concerned for all of our teams and the league as a whole because financially we need to do better and that's one of the reasons I was brought in, to help on the business side,” said Hebb, who comes to the BCHL with business and marketing experience. He was a senior executive with Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment and has been a business and development advisor for Canada Soccer, Oilers Entertainment Group, USports, Vancouver Whitecaps, Hockey Canada, Curling Canada and BC Lottery Corporation.
Hebb said his priority is to generate league revenue.
“One of the advantages professional sports has is they actually generate revenue that the teams share,” he said. “I don't think the league has done a very good job of that lately. We're going to try to see what we can do to shake every tree and make sure people know what a great league this is and it's a fantastic place for you to market.”
Hebb said he has not encountered any opposition from teams toward the idea for shared revenue.
“In talking with all of the clubs they understand the way it has to work; if we're going to have a strong league you can't have the strong teams rewarded disproportionally,” he added. “So we're saying we're going to generate league revenue as much as we can and everybody gets an equal share.”
