Yellowknife’s city council has given the go-ahead to city staff to start planning for Hockey Day in Canada 2020.
The event involves a full-day broadcast from the host community to 9.6 million viewers – one in four Canadians – as well as hockey, music and community events. The city was approached by Scotiabank in December, to host the event from February 5th to 8th, 2020.
READ MORE: Details: Hockey Day in Canada 2020, possibly in Yellowknife
Hockey day will show Yellowknife in all seasons, as well as the history and contemporary life in the city. “In between all those hockey games will be basically one big, long Yellowknife commercial,” city facilities manager Johanna Elliot told council at an April 1st committee meeting. The city would get two commercial spots during the day-long broadcast, a value of around $15,000.
The event would require around 1,200 hours of staff time and $55,000, a monetary amount city administrator Sheila Bassi-Kellett says could be recouped through things like ticket sales and sponsorship.
At a city council meeting Monday, Mayor and council voted unanimously in support of the city taking the steps needed to host the event. Councillor Robin Williams excused himself from the vote as he is a member of the NWT Tourism Conferences Bureau and therefore in conflict on the topic.
