Windsor’s highly successful Jurassic Park at Charles Clark Square attracted an estimated 2,700 people to watch the Toronto Raptors take on the Golden State Warriors during Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night.
But it may not be happen again.
Organizer Renaldo Agostino was before Windsor city council Monday night looking for a financial boost to pull off subsequent events at the same venue. He says the first event cost roughly $10,000 to execute, with some funding from LiUNA, Unifor, TWEPI and the Downtown Windsor BIA to offset costs.
Agostino was hoping the city would kick in some funding, indicating in many other cities across Canada, the municipalities actually host the events.
“We really wanted to do more games, and we really hoped that we could get it accomplished but unfortunately because of the lack of funding, and I’m assuming that’s what it is, and there’s no money to do this, it’s not going to happen,” Agostino said.
Agostino was candid with council about the costs – and indicated he was more than happy to turn the event over to the city or not sell alcohol to reduce liability costs. After rejecting a bid to provide $10,000 to offset costs associated with hosting the event, Council agreed to waive the permit fees for the use of Charles Clarke Square, a $650 per-event cost.
“We wanted to be supportive so waiving the fees was one way we could be supportive usually we would only waive the fees for a non-profit corporation,” Mayor Drew Dilkens said after the debate. “This was a for-profit corporation, but we’ll still waive the fees because there’s a community element to it.”
Dilkens said Windsor also doesn’t have the infrastructure to host events on such short notice.
“A city like Mississauga has all the infrastructure in their civic square and we don’t have that, we don’t have it yet. Once we finalize the plans for our civic plaza you’re going to see a much different space here that would accommodate this type of event,” Dilkens said. “It’s a difficult conversation to spring on council because you have to find a budget on it.”
Agostino says the city’s proposed contribution is not enough to keep the event going.
“We’re doing this because we’re basketball fans. We’re NBA fans, we’re City of Windsor fans. Never once did we do this and say here’s a chance for us to make money. Because we know there’s zero per cent chance of making money,” Agostino said.
Agostino told reporters he’s open to holding another event on Friday, June 7, but only if someone steps up to help out financially.
“Maybe there’s an angel out there, but as of right now, we don’t have the money to make it happen.”
