SaskTel Centre executives make pitch to operate downtown arena

Leadership at SaskTel Centre gather local business leaders to call on the city to keep downtown arena management local. Keenan Sorokan reports.

SaskTel Centre leadership feels it should be the operator of Saskatoon’s eventual downtown arena and convention centre.

At a luncheon hosted by the North Saskatoon Business Association (NSBA) on Thursday, members of its board spoke to business leaders presenting their pitch to run the two flagship buildings at the centre of the planned development.

“I think it’s really about: what value are they providing the city that the city doesn’t already have with a business that they own and they retain the profits from?” CEO, John Howden said while answering a question from the crowd.

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Rather than looking abroad for the right team, Howden said there’s an experienced group of individuals with a proven track record of running an aging building with plenty of success.

“We do a lot with the facility we have now, and we get really creative to make things happen,” he said. “I’m really confident that in a new facility, given modern amenities, that we’ll be able to do some really remarkable things.

The city unveiled a funding strategy for a new $1.2 billion downtown event and entertainment district in August 2024, after years of talks of moving the 38-year-old SaskTel Centre arena to a central downtown location.

The development, located along 22nd Street between Idylwyld Drive and 1st Avenue, will have a new arena, a retrofit version of TCU Place and an expanded convention centre as the cornerstone developments.

Part of the funding scheme for the new arena involved taking on a private partner to operate the two buildings while providing financial incentives to the city.

City administration evaluated proposals for arena operators and eventually began negotiating a framework agreement with American-based Oakview Group, or OVG360, which runs hundreds of venues across the world.

But the deal has hit multiple snags over the last 18 months.

Administration originally struck a 25-year deal with OVG. But OVG representatives didn’t show up to the following city committee meeting to answer questions from councillors.

Administration then said OVG was looking to revise some details before the deal was ultimately paused due to economic and political uncertainty surrounding tariffs.

In October 2025, a new deal changed the term from 25 years to 15 years, with an option for both parties to extend the deal another 15 years. OVG’s initial capital contribution to build the arena lowered from $20 million to $15 million, and the incentive structure underwent some significant changes.

Trevor Jacek, a member of SaskTel Centre’s board, was critical of the deal at the subsequent council meeting, which led to Thursday’s luncheon discussion.

“If we can keep all the money by running it ourselves and not having partners having to share it out, why wouldn’t we? If we know we can run it as well or better,” said Kirby Wirchenko, a director at TCU Place.

Council did not agree to the deal with OVG and instead deferred another vote until sometime before March 31 to review the specifics.

Earlier this week, the city began amalgamating SaskTel Centre and TCU Place into one organization, since it planned on working with one operator once the downtown district opens. Both organizations are aligned on keeping future operations local.

“Oakview doesn’t have 400 employees waiting to move to Saskatoon and take over the arena, or to take over TCU Place,” Wirchenko said. “They’re an operational organization point. They’re a management company.”

Mayor Cynthia Block agrees SaskTel Centre leadership has done great things to continue to bring large events to an aging arena in recent years. With many decisions about the project to be made over the coming months and years, she is interested in what’s best for the district.

“We will have some big decisions to make in this term. And I guess all I hope is that, however that plays out, that it is a resounding success over the next four years as it has been the last,” she said.

Block wasn’t able to say if SaskTel Centre leadership organized an official bid to become an operator during the request for proposals stage, but she says its leadership did not come to council prior to Thursday’s luncheon.