City of Red Deer assumes financial oversight of Westerner Park

On Tuesday, January 28th Westerner Park announced that the City of Red of Deer will be assuming temporary financial oversight of the park in order to alleviate financial instability. 

The difficult economy, managing expansion costs, and Canadian Finals Rodeo negotiations were listed as factors contributing to the park’s financial difficulties. Desperate in their struggles, the Westerner Park Board of Directors approached the City of Red Deer for aid. 

“Bringing the city into our situation has been - I won’t say a load off - it certainly is not something that we are happy about, but we feel well supported. I know that we will be supported by the community, but I want the community to understand we are not taking this lightly. This is a very hard time,” explained Janice Wing, President and Board Chair of Westerner Park. 

Westerner Park has been involved with the economic success of Red Deer as a non-profit since 1831 with an estimated 1.5 million visitors annually. The facility rents the land from the City of Red Deer under a 50-year lease. 

“We absolutely know that Westerner Park is an absolute economic engine—not just for our economy, but for our region and our province of Western Canada. We know that many local businesses and families rely on the events and facilities at Westerner park in order to engage in community life, but also for their own economic prosperity,” explained Red Deer Mayor Tara Veer.

Veer said the city would be taking control of the park’s finances until success is foreseeable. To begin their work, the city will be implementing a third-party audit of Westerner Park to gain a better grasp of the situation at hand. 

“We want to make sure we know exactly where we stand and make sure we know the future. I know Mike and his team are fully supportive of that and we believe that will get us on a strong footing to move forward,” said Allan Seabrooke, City Manager. 

Having known about the financial difficulties the park was facing, Westerner Park’s Board of Directors has already begun making some changes. 

On Monday, January 27th, 14 full-time staff, and 24 part-time staff members were laid off. In addition to the layoffs, the remaining staff has seen a significant reduction in wages and benefits. 

So far, on-site catering services have been eliminated and negotiations have begun regarding current contracts, including one involving Canadian Finals Rodeo. 

“The Canadian Pro-Rodeo Association has been very supportive of the challenges that we have had. They recognize that the model for the CFR is likely going to have to evolve from the 44 years it was in Edmonton. It’s a completely different market. Central Alberta is obviously a different size and our arena is a different size,” said Mike Olesen, Westerner Park CEO, continuing, “All in all, they are very supportive in working with us. We’re working on renegotiating that contract to make sure it’s right for us and at the end of the day, nobody wants to see that event go because that event does positive things for us at a time when we really need it.”

So far, Westerner Park has seen quite a bit of support from their community and partners. The Red Deer Rebels have alluded to cooperation from their team as well as the World Junior partners. 

Westerner Park is set to co-host the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships with Edmonton in December of 2020. 

Heading forward, the CEO would like to utilize the city’s volunteer community for more events. He also confirmed that current pricing would not be increased anytime soon if he can help it. 

“What I’ve been pushing our staff on strategically is to evaluate our pricing to make sure that more people can come to our park and enjoy it. This is not the time for us to raise prices, and frankly, I would rather it go in the other direction,” said Olesen. 

For now, Westerner Park’s events will continue on as planned. Westerner Park’s Board of Directors takes full responsibility and hopes to grow stronger from the current challenges they face.