The City of Saskatoon is looking to partner with a private company to manage and operate the future downtown arena.
The Governance and Priorities Committee voted and unanimously approved the motion on Tuesday.
“Many municipalities that own event centres are moving towards private contracted management,” Director of Technical Services Dan Willems said in a news release.
“It’s nearly unheard of for a facility to move from private management back to public management.”
A statement from the city said the proposal would allow for a single company to operate both the new arena and the SaskTel Centre, which is already managed by a private company.
However, Willems said that they would not give preferential treatment to any third-party firms.
“This will be a clean slate with the goal of obtaining the highest overall value for Saskatoon. We want to ensure any future management arrangement will maximize seat sales, profits and animation of the facilities, which will, in turn, create spinoff benefits to the surrounding downtown area and entire community.”
The City also said that finding a private partner to help with capital funding would reduce the pressure to find funds from other sources.
The committee’s decision allows the City to receive bids for the project and negotiate a management agreement, and streamline the governance structures of both facilities.
Administration will seek the council’s approval for key elements of the request for proposals in April or May, according to the news release.
