Abbotsford taxpayers are not alone in potentially having to cover financial losses expected at the new spectator arena.

City hall representatives said on Friday that based on current attendance numbers for hockey and entertainment, the operating deficit for the 7,000-seat Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre could peak at $2.8 million next year.

The building opened in May 2009, so numbers from its full first year of operation are not yet available. However, unless attendance improves for hockey and entertainment acts, the arena’s 2010 deficit is predicted to go considerably higher than the $500,000 budgeted in 2009.

The estimates are similar at the South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton, which opened in September 2008.

With 5,200 seats for hockey and 6,500 seats for other entertainment, operators predicted a loss of $980,000 in 2009. That number has now been pegged at $1.8 million, events centre advisory committee chairman Mike Pearce told The News yesterday, with next year’s number expected to be larger unless attendance improves.

Whereas Abbotsford has American Hockey League hockey (with crowds currently averaging approximately 3,500), Pearce said the major sporting tenant at the Okanagan building is the lower-tiered Junior A Penticton Vees. They are drawing an average of 1,700, he said.

Penticton is also attracting many similar entertainment acts as Abbotsford – partly due to the fact they are managed by the same company, Global Spectrum.

Like Abbotsford, its recent Alan Jackson concert was a sell-out. And like Abbotsford, its weekend attendance for ZZ Top was around 3,500.

“We have a problem, in that we expected a lot more attendance and food buying,” said Pearce. “We are now doing a detailed analysis. What are the core costs? What policies should we be modifying?”

Pearce said the Okanagan centre may look at booking fewer acts, but ones more likely to fill the facility.

“There’s only so many times people will buy tickets at 50 bucks each. There’s a saturation limit for anything you do,” said Pearce, adding that he believes Global Spectrum have “by and large been doing a good job.”

While there are similarities between the venues, there are significant differences in terms of how they were funded.

The City of Abbotsford borrowed $85 million to fund the three Plan A projects – the entertainment and sports, centre, the Reach Gallery Museum and the expansion to the Abbotsford Recreation Centre. Additional costs pulled a further $30 million from reserves. Taxpayers started repaying the Plan A loan in 2007, and will continue to do so for the next 20 years.

Penticton secured a $9.7-million grant from the provincial govern-ment, which then approved $40 million in long-term income, by designating gaming revenues from the city’s casino to the project.

Even so, Pearce said there were additional costs of approximately $30 million for the centre, which came from public funds and will be repaid over the next 10 years.

That’s on top of any operating subsidy that the centre needs each year, he said.

The municipalities of Chilliwack and Langley are also involved in the financing of their arenas, but have used a different model than Abbotsford and Penticton.

Chris Crosman, general manager of operational services for the City of Chilliwack’s finance department, said funding for Chilliwack’s Prospera Centre was agreed upon in 2003.

The Prospera Centre was built as a public-private partnership with an investment group, which owned the Chilliwack Chiefs Junior A hockey team.

The Chiefs later moved to Langley, while the higher-level Chilliwack Bruins of the Western Hockey League moved into the Prospera Centre. The ownership group also invested $15 million at the centre in Langley.

Crosman said the city put an initial $8-million down payment for the $20-million building in 2005.

Since then, it has paid $1.2 million annually in capital and interest costs on the remainder. Once that is fully paid in 2021, he said the city will own the building. Also for the duration of the debt repayment, he said the city pays the arena operators $400,000 a year so the community can use the second ice sheet in the structure.

For its part, the private investor group takes any revenues from the hockey and entertainment events it attracts to the building.

Like the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre, the $57.4-million Langley Events Centre opened in 2009.

Its costs were split three ways – $15 million from a provincial government grant, $19.9 million from the City of Langley and $15 million from a private investment group (with some of the investors from the Prospera Centre in Chilliwack.)

The remainder came from community partners, including the Langley School District and Trinity Western University.

The Langley Events Centre has 3,800 seats for hockey and entertainment, and also has a gym and banquet hall.

Langley-Aldergrove MLA Rich Coleman was able to secure $15 million in government funding through his then-role as the minister of forests, using B.C. wood in the construction of the events centre to showcase the product.

All of the city’s portion was pulled from capital reserves and other surpluses, the municipality’s finance department confirmed, with no future impact to taxes.