CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — The outgoing general manager of Eastlink Centre in Charlottetown says a new multi-purpose sports and entertainment complex is long overdue.
Dave McGrath, 66, officially retired on Oct. 1 but has agreed to stay on until his successor is chosen to help with the transition process.
“Not just Charlottetown but Prince Edward Island as a whole deserves to have the type of facility that we’re looking to have here,’’ McGrath said, acknowledging that he’s biased on the subject.
“It will help us with our market share here, and we’ll be able to offer the best of entertainment (and) sport, all of those things to this community. I think it’s long overdue.’’
Talk about building a new complex has been going on since the first study was done in 2008. The city set up a task force that produced a report in 2017, recommending the development of a 5,000-seat multi-use sports and event centre.
The cost of such a building could be anywhere from $50 to $80 million depending on how extravagant it would be, but one thing has remained abundantly clear — it would take all three levels of government teaming up to share the cost.
“Yes, there is a cost but, at the end of the day, I’ll use the line that a mentor of mine once used . . . “you can have the safest city in the world, perfect sidewalks and streets, but if you don’t have someplace to go to socialize and recreate then what kind of community do you really have’?’’
McGrath said he was happy to see city council recently hire Ontario-based Sierra, a company that specializes in this sort of thing, to go out and seek funding models for such a project.
“It’s a critical stepping stone to moving forward. If you can build a new facility that has all the amenities and the energy efficiency and the rest of those things, it does keep your costs down.
But it also offers a venue that promoters are looking for. Promoters have reached out to me, and the first question out of their mouth is, ‘Is that (new) facility going to be built. We’re waiting, we’re waiting’.’’
McGrath said a new facility would make it much more enticing to promoters that bring concerts to the Maritimes but bypass Charlottetown. He added that a new facility would also be able to host a Memorial Cup. He said the difference between 3,700 seats and 5,000 seats when it comes to profit margins for promoters can be significant.
One of the biggest challenges with Eastlink Centre is that the public, entertainers, workers and athletes all have access to the same corridor under the seats. There was no dedicated back stage area, and that was the major reason Elton John, who is big on security, refused to play the arena in 2011.
“It presents a real challenge,’’ McGrath said.
Without a new complex, McGrath said “we’re going to lose market share, (and) events are going to be tough to draw here. We’ve already witnessed some of that happening’’.
In addition, he said maintenance costs for Eastlink Centre have “been a tough haul over the last few years’’.
At a glance
Following is a brief biography on Dave McGrath:
- His first job was as program director for the City of Halifax in the recreation department
- He then moved on to Edmonton where he became director of marketing, communications and contracts for the parks and recreation department
- Still with Edmonton, McGrath was promoted to manager of facilities and major attractions
- He arrived in Charlottetown in the mid-1990s, working first for the City of Charlottetown at the then-Civic Centre and then as general manager of the complex in 1997-present when operations were assumed by an independent board of directors
- Prior to McGrath, people like Billy Mulligan and James Nottingham ran the facility after it opened in 1990
McGrath has been used to working on big files long before he came to Charlottetown.
He was manager of facilities and major attractions in Edmonton when he decided it was time to move on and raise a family. His two choices, head to Vancouver or the East Coast. He chose to come to P.E.I.
McGrath ran the arena portion of Eastlink Centre for two years when he arrived in 1995. Then the city and province, under a joint management agreement, created a board that would run the building independently. McGrath became general manager for the board in 1997.
Asked to list some of the highlights over his tenure, McGrath points to helping rejuvenate Old Home Week, which had been struggling financially, bringing in the Scotties Tournament of
Hearts tournament, providing a new home for the QMJHL franchise Montreal Rocket and hosting entertainers such as Bryan Adams, the Tragically Hip, as well as the big outdoor show with Shania Twain.
“It’s been a fun ride; I’ve enjoyed every moment of it. I’m really pleased to be able to end my career here.’’
