Waconia Hockey - Circling the Drain

WayOutWest · Post by **WayOutWest** » Sun May 16, 2010 11:55 am

Ouch!

The Waconia Hockey Association has defaulted on the ice contract at their home rink and now the city is taking action, and has booted them from the building.
Read on:
http://waconiahockey.com/cgi-bin/dbman ... =1&id=518

Granted, the association probably signed a bloated contract, but they did sign it, and just over a year and a half later, they can no longer make their payments. The association pushed for their own rink for many years, and now, shortly after it opened, they can no longer afford it, possibly leaving behind a bit of a white elephant for the city.

This is an embarassment to the association AND the city.

Sorry taxpayers!! Perhaps the rink can be used for dog shows? garage sales? Trekkie conventions?
The city is going to have to be VERY forgiving for the association to see any play in 2010-2011.
Waconia hockey players - Time to start considering your options.

old goalie85 · Post by **old goalie85** » Mon May 17, 2010 11:02 am

I'm assuming that the high school teams are still good to go.

WayOutWest · Post by **WayOutWest** » Sat Jun 05, 2010 8:22 am

old goalie85 wrote:I'm assuming that the high school teams are still good to go.

The high school is safe, yes.

This story is now making headlines...
http://kstp.com/article/stories/S1591391.shtml?cat=0

Who does this?
A year after taking a loan out for a car, do you go back to the bank and say, "Wellllllll....I can only afford to pay 60% of my payment.......so.........you're just going to have to cut me a better deal..........right?

I don't know which group is more ridiculous; the association for signing a contract that they couldn't possibly honor, or the city for ever agreeing to build this facility based on that presumption.
Sorry Waconia taxpayers. YOU are the losers in this whole equation. Who do you think is going to be absorbing the loss of revenue? Yup, it's you.

HockeyDad41 · Post by **HockeyDad41** » Sat Jun 05, 2010 3:13 pm

That's too bad. Sounds like the city might take it over? Isn't $220/hr a bit over the market?

WayOutWest · Post by **WayOutWest** » Sat Jun 05, 2010 4:23 pm

HockeyDad41 wrote:That's too bad. Sounds like the city might take it over? Isn't $220/hr a bit over the market?

Actually, the city has always owned the rink. The WHA was merely the major, contracted tenant. And the hourly rate is WELL above market value, indeed, even in peak season. I don't know what the association was doing when they signed that contract. They obviously knew they would be getting gouged.
But, what do you do? The city probably needed that rate and the guaranteed ice usage from the WHA to build the rink and keep it viable.
If that is what it takes to make it viable, it probably wasn't a good idea to build it. In fact, it was a ludicrous assumption that such a contract could continue for very long. No one else is going to pay that rate for ice time, anytime soon.
Shame on the association for playing what appears to be the "just build it for us and suuuuurrrrrrreeeee, we'll pay 220 an hour, Sept-May to help" game, and then pulling the rug out from under the city. Shame on the city for not realizing that the hourly rate was way above the norm, and that the WHA didn't really have the finances, maturity of their program, or support of the community enough to ensure the contract would be honored.
Both the association and city leadership should be voted out of office. Rather, they should just resign. This is beyond embarrassing. It is irresponsible and downright shameful.