Brandon is very fortunate to have a facility as unique as the Keystone Centre in a market our size. Living here and driving by its 540,000 square feet of interconnected buildings every day might lead to it being taken for granted by many local folks, but its quite unique for a trading area of this population to have a facility with so much under one roof that one can access.
One of the Keystoneâs major uses is hockey and now thanks to an active submission in Kraftâs Hockeyville promotion thatâs been ongoing since last week you have a chance to tell Canada what the sport and facility mean to us and perhaps even play a part in dollars coming this cityâs way for needed renovations that help keep the Keystone in the shape it needs to be in going forward.
In the not too distant future for example the facility will require $500k in board and glass upgrades to keep up with WHL standard. The Kinsmen and Enns Brothers arenas are also in need of glass upgrades at a cost of $30k. Looking further ahead, at some point in the main arena an estimated $1.8M in seat upgrades will also be on the docket.
Brandon had a prominent run in the same competition in 2011 when an active campaign helped the Sportsplex make the Top 10. It would be great for local hockey fans to see the Keystone win this time around and have Brandon host an NHL game. Because of the way the facility is funded it would also be a nice little potential future bonus for the local taxpayer when you consider that the City and Province are its funding partners. For argumentâs sake if $250,000 was taking the place of a contribution from the City it would be the equivalent of a little over $10 on the average homeâs property tax bill.
When news of this yearâs entry came out last week a handful of local contributions popped up but many more will be needed if thereâs going to be a serious run this time around. The Keystoneâs entry and place to make your submissions is at this link. You can help by adding notes or reactions at that link or by sharing the content.