Biggest venues in Sask. lobbying province to open up crowd restrictions

More than six months after COVID-19 arrived in Saskatchewan, event venues in Saskatoon remain largely empty.

That’s not a surprise considering the business model of gathering large groups of people counteracts any efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

“We have a whole team of event planners that suddenly have no event world,” TCU Place CEO Tammy Sweeney said of the holding pattern the industry has been in since March.

Now there is an increasing interest from venues and their customers across the province to get back to live performances as some of the province’s largest event spaces – like Evraz Place in Regina and SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon – lobby the province to allow more people into arenas, theatres and convention centres.

“I think the community is ready,” Sweeney said. “Respecting the virus, not fearing the virus.”

Sweeney and her staff are gearing up for two sold-out Chantal Kreviazuk shows at the theatre on Sunday, the biggest act to land in Saskatoon during the pandemic. Existing regulations only allow a maximum capacity of 150 people indoors, which does little to make up for any lost revenue in 2020.

“It is not a type of event that would sustain us economically,” Sweeney said. “We will break even at the very best – and that’s ok – it is about getting people back into our space and getting them to understand they can enjoy an event differently.”

With existing regulations in place, Prairieland Park is stuck in an awkward position. Although the convention centre has roughly 246,000 sq. ft. of space, it is still limited to gathering 30 people per room.

“We really understand where (The Ministry of Health) is coming from,” Prairieland Park Marketing Manager Kristy Rempel said. “We appreciate that large gatherings without any kind of safety protocols is how COVID-19 is spreading, but we’ve kind of been in the safety event industry for a very long time.”

SaskTel Centre is keeping a close eye on guidelines. Executive director Scott Ford is having trouble understanding how the province’s largest arenas are limited to the same regulations as a restaurant.

“There are some regulations that make sense, and there are some, in our opinion, that don’t make sense,” Ford said. “A restaurant with a 200-person capacity can have 150 people in it, but a large venue like TCU Place, for example, can only have 150 people.”

Rempel said Prairieland Park is preparing its reopening plan with plans of holding anywhere from five to 10 events this fall. SaskTel Centre is in constant communication with the sports teams that call it home, promotors and other executives to map out a possible schedule of events for the winter. The only thing missing is government approval.

“Down the road, we’re optimistic that there’s a window where we can open up to large crowds,” Ford said. “That lobbying effort is a good one because everybody wants to get back to work and start hosting events again.”

TCU Place isn’t expecting any shows that are large enough to financially sustain the venue until June or July 2021.

Ford is becoming more optimistic with each passing day, citing the province’s desire to see how school’s return looked after the opening month of classes. As of Wednesday morning, there were 138 active COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan.

“There will be a time where the Saskatchewan Health Authority and the province makes a decision to allow larger groups, and we’re optimistic that will come sooner rather than later,” Ford said.

Venues fearing economic viability

All three of Saskatoon’s largest event venues aren’t sure how much longer they can go without hosting events larger than what the province is currently permitting.

The void left by Prairieland’s empty space is being felt by dozens of organizations across the province.

“One of the biggest pieces to this puzzle is how much further this goes,” Rempel said. “Normally we’re used to hosting 400 events a year, and a majority of those are fundraisers for charities across the province – 500 to 600 people (in attendance) is regulated to 30 people.”

Ford said all of the venue’s part-time workers have been laid off, in addition to roughly a dozen full-time workers. Prairieland Park and TCU Place have been able to avoid laying off full-time staff, but aren’t sure how much longer that will last.

“The honest truth is this is not sustainable,” Rempel said. “We are hoping that we can talk in the next little while about how to have gatherings during COVID as opposed to cancel gatherings during COVID.”