The start of the week brought some good and bad news day with regard to Chatham-Kent's unfolding OHL expansion saga.
On one hand, OHL commissioner Bryan Crawford addressed the municipality's City Council on Monday to further outline what the process of earning an expansion franchise would look like. At the same time, he essentially confirmed that the league is interested in expansion while noting that the process could be more of a long-term investment.
On the other hand, Crawford said that the question of a new arena is one that is keeping the league from awarding Chatham-Kent an expansion franchise.
"Without an arena, there isn't much to discuss"
The city's largest hockey rink, the Chatham Memorial Arena, can hold just under 2,500 people when at full capacity.
That may seem like a small crowd, but the TD Civic Centre, home of the Brantford Bulldogs, seats just under 3,000 people; the next largest arena in terms of capacity is North Bay's Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens, which holds just over 4,000 people.
That may seem to go against the commissioner's arguments, but outside of the North Bay Batallion, Flint Firebirds, Owen Sound Attack, Peterborough Petes, and the Bulldogs, the OHL's arenas are capable of holding over 5,000 people.
On top of that, there are plans in place to build a new sports and entertainment complex in Brantford, one that includes a new arena capable of holding over 5,000 people.
The league did indicate its willingness to commit to the expansion if Chatham-Kent agreed to invest in an arena suitable for OHL action. New OHL arenas do come with price tags of at least $150 million, but these can easily go up to $200 million depending on the project.
Brantford's new sports and entertainment district has a price tag of $152 million, with almost 90% of that taking the form of municipal investments.
What's next for Chatham-Kent?
The city is currently exploring several next steps as part of their push for an expansion team.
No plans for an arena have been made official as of this writing; however, there have been city councillors who feel optimistic that this is becoming a popular topic of discussion.
The Chatham Memorial Arena, opened in 1949, is currently 86 years old. That has also played a role in the city's interest in exploring an arena project.
There has also been no word as to potential interest from the corporate world.