New Brunswick done for 2020

[Hollywood3]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-...ery-plan-new-brunswick-blaine-higgs-1.5543682

There won't be any concerts or festivals for at least the rest of the year, Higgs said, and bars and organized sports may not be able to start up again until a vaccine is available, which could take 12 to 18 months.
It wasn't a decision the government took lightly, he said.

IMO there will never be a good vaccine for the Wuhan virus. They never did find one for SARS.

By the way, here are Manitoba's numbers as of April 28th:

57 active cases
7 in hospital
209 recovered
6 deceased

Unknown # of operations cancelled.

Seasonal flu is usually way worse.

Click to read more...

 

[AUS Fan]

SARS didn't kill 60 K people in the US. SARS killed about 1 K worldwide. That was one reason the search for a vaccine stopped. Good to see low numbers in Manitoba.

 

[Rob]

He said “may not”

NB has done relatively well. Our season probably hinges on what happens in NS.

 

[timbitca]

Nobody died (yet) in NB, everyone is healthy. I think that's a bit more important than hockey at this point.

Wouldn't be surprised if all of '20-'21 is cancelled, Ontario and Quebec are still in it for the long run and there are too many U Sports teams and cross-overs between the AUS and OUA/RSEQ happening (talking broader here, not just hockey). As of now we are still working and on the payroll here, but if they cancel the whole season I am a bit concerned. Could be a lot worse though.

 

[FreddyFoyle]

NB has been very, very lucky that coronavirus didn't get into any of our senior care homes. So far.

 

[MiamiHockey]

Nobody died (yet) in NB, everyone is healthy. I think that's a bit more important than hockey at this point.

Wouldn't be surprised if all of '20-'21 is cancelled, Ontario and Quebec are still in it for the long run and there are too many U Sports teams and cross-overs between the AUS and OUA/RSEQ happening (talking broader here, not just hockey). As of now we are still working and on the payroll here, but if they cancel the whole season I am a bit concerned. Could be a lot worse though.

Here's my prediction for the upcoming USports year (all sports will be treated equally because, you know, it's Canada):
- All Canadian universities will move the vast majority of their courses for all of the 20-21 academic year to online-only. Exceptions will be made for courses requiring physical lab time (e.g., chemistry, physiotherapy).
- University athletic centres will remain closed to the public.
- Athletic scholarhips will be honoured.
- Teams will be allowed to practice, with no games / competitions before January 2021 (in any sport).

 

[timbitca]

Not so sure on that last point. If no games are played, I don't see the universities who have their own rinks (like us) putting the ice in. More than likely if we cancel the games, most pick up leagues won't be running either and CARHA likely won't issue insurance certificates (we shut the rink down two weeks early because they pulled their insurance mid-March).

I run the schedules and I've already received a cancellation for a ringette school I was hosting in August, not a good start. Rinks cost a fortune to run, even thoug my schedule is basically as full as I can have it, I woulnd't be surprised if the school doesn't allow me to put in the ice if we don't have any U Sports hockey.

And besides, to mix-in your first observation with your first, third and last bullet points... how the eff can I tell my two hockey teams they are allowed to practice if I don't allow my volleyball team to practice if the rec center is closed (and no, it's not because "this is Canada" it's the right thing to do).

For the record, our offices are in the rec center. I can't even get into my office right now without getting an advance authorization from our security service and notifying my boss's superior.

 

[MiamiHockey]

Not so sure on that last point. If no games are played, I don't see the universities who have their own rinks (like us) putting the ice in. More than likely if we cancel the games, most pick up leagues won't be running either and CARHA likely won't issue insurance certificates (we shut the rink down two weeks early because they pulled their insurance mid-March).

Yes, it costs a lot to maintain the ice ... but most of the athletics department is a fixed cost anyways. For a lot of the larger universities, that cost difference is negligible in the grand scheme of things, and the revenue generated from external ice rental is negligible because the ice times are filled with classes and intramurals. I get shutting it down in the spring / summer when there is no internal use for it ... but in the winter? Depends on the university.

And besides, to mix-in your first observation with your first, third and last bullet points... how the eff can I tell my two hockey teams they are allowed to practice if I don't allow my volleyball team to practice if the rec center is closed (and no, it's not because "this is Canada" it's the right thing to do).

I meant the Rec Centre would be closed to the public (i.e., non-athlete students). It can't be that difficult to monitor access to the facility and restrict it to varsity athletes.

By "this is Canada" I meant that it's not like the NCAA where Football and Basketball are revenue generators. No USports programs generate meaningful revenue for the university, so all would be treated equally for that reason.

For the record, our offices are in the rec center. I can't even get into my office right now without getting an advance authorization from our security service and notifying my boss's superior.

Yikes! Good luck, amigo.

 

[Drummer]

Well - as the numbers improve, the phases will advance (limited access, partial access, improved access, full access - etc). You can call it whatever you want, but things will be relaxed as capacity to respond becomes available. It's a matter of 'when'

There are three issues/milestones;
1) if schools can be open with 30 kids in a class, then you can play any organized sport which has about 30 kids (two groups of 15) on the court; hockey, basketball, baseball, etc.
2) travel
3) fans

So, for us Maritime USPORTS fans, we need 1) schools to be open, 2) open borders between PEI and NS and 3) limit tickets and fan entry.

3 is easy, 1 is likely to happen in September if numbers continue to improve but #2 is the wild-card - someone gets a bad 2nd wave and regresses - it's all done.

 

[timbitca]

Yes, it costs a lot to maintain the ice ... but most of the athletics department is a fixed cost anyways. For a lot of the larger universities, that cost difference is negligible in the grand scheme of things, and the revenue generated from external ice rental is negligible because the ice times are filled with classes and intramurals. I get shutting it down in the spring / summer when there is no internal use for it ... but in the winter? Depends on the university.

I can't vouch for all schools, but here anyways we have budgets (revenues and expenses) that need to be respected, and we have a hard time hitting our targets in a good year, I can't begin to wonder what would happen in a scenario like this. Take it this way... our revenue targets are about 60k in sports revenues, about 275k in rec center revenue and about 170k in ice time. We have 15 full-time employees accross our sports department and rec center ops (both departments are combined under one service). That's not taking into account (in a good year) 200k in travel for the teams, 100k+ in equipment costs, 100k in game day/other part-time staff, 300k (global, all sports) bursaries etc etc... Most of the time Sports departments end up being loss centers for small (and often bigger) universities, we don't generate the revenue levels the NCAA does unfortunately. The bursaries they will have to honour either way, but I can see campus's all over trying to keep expenses to a minimum if there is no possibility of revenue coming in.

I meant the Rec Centre would be closed to the public (i.e., non-athlete students). It can't be that difficult to monitor access to the facility and restrict it to varsity athletes.

By "this is Canada" I meant that it's not like the NCAA where Football and Basketball are revenue generators. No USports programs generate meaningful revenue for the university, so all would be treated equally for that reason.



Yikes! Good luck, amigo.

It wouldn't be hard to control access no, but it would create a shit storm in the community, which we don't need. Besides, if in your scenario most classes would be online (which I can easily see happening) it would be kind of hard to get the kids to move to campus/the city only for practices. It probably costs a studen nearly 1000 $ month to live on their own while at university, while if they were to stay at home to attend classes, close to 0. With the summer job season looking like it is, many students (not just student-athletes) won't have much wiggle room come September. That's another point too, if too many students are without employment this summer, some might not be able to come back to university in the fall, creating another black hole of revenue for most schools.

Even if we hit our revenue targets (or exceed them by a LOT) it doesn't even match the maintenance, upkeep and utility costs of keeping the rec center and arena going for a full season.


Thanks, I'm not too worried right at this moment, our year-end is today so I've got work for a bit still, and getting things set-up for a hypothetical 2020-2021 season for a bit too, but if they were to cancel the full 20-21 season I'd get a little worried. My U Sports/other duties are pretty much 50/50 but if the rec center stays closed to well... a sports department accountant/game day supervisor is pretty damn low on the list of essential employees for a university campus, and my GF is our front desk receptionist/bookings coordinator for the rec center, so we're both in the same boat.

 

[Rob]

Thanks, I'm not too worried right at this moment, our year-end is today so I've got work for a bit still, and getting things set-up for a hypothetical 2020-2021 season for a bit too, but if they were to cancel the full 20-21 season I'd get a little worried. My U Sports/other duties are pretty much 50/50 but if the rec center stays closed to well... a sports department accountant/game day supervisor is pretty damn low on the list of essential employees for a university campus, and my GF is our front desk receptionist/bookings coordinator for the rec center, so we're both in the same boat.

Sorry to read this timbit. The rest of us are anxious about seeing hockey again while you have to worry about employment.
Really hope the worst case scenario is the season is just delayed.

 

[timbitca]

Like I said, it could be a lot worse, I've been sitting at home working for the past month and a half. A lot of people have been out of work for that same amount of time. Besides, there are some perks. I have a great big picture window right by my desk right now (which is a folding table in our living room) instead of being in my office which is 4 cinder block walls with 0 natural light and on top of that everyone is healthy and well, could be a lot worse.