Moncton loses Brier bid, again, after what officials call a bidding war

Moncton has lost its third bid to host a major sporting event at the city's new Avenir Centre, something officials say underscores the need for a hotel tax that can help pay for future bids.

Curling Canada announced Kingston, Ont. will host the Brier men's curling championship in 2020. Prince George, B.C., and St. Catharines, Ont., also were in the running.

It's the second year in a row Moncton bid for the Brier and lost. The city was also unsuccessful in securing the Memorial Cup hockey championship for 2019.

Jacques Robichaud is president of Curl Moncton and chair of the city's 2019 and 2020 Brier bid committees.

He said Curling Canada told the committee the latest bid was unsuccessful because the amount of money put forward as a bid fee and the number of deposits for event tickets weren't enough.

"We were outbid on the money part," Robichaud said.

The province publicly committed to provide $750,000 for the bid fee, money the committee would pay Curling Canada if it won the bid.

Curl Moncton committed to pay $50,000 on top of that. The City of Moncton also promised to contribute money for the bid.

Moncton Mayor Dawn Arnold wouldn't disclose the city's amount, but said it was "nothing terribly significant." She called the amount a "moot" point now.

"If we got it, it would've been made public," Arnold said.

Al Cameron, Curling Canada's director of communications and media relations, wouldn't say how much Kingston bid and declined to comment on why Moncton's bid lost. 

Arnold and Robichaud said the bidding war for events shows the need for a hotel room tax.

The tax is a fee applied to hotel bills. The revenue can be used for tourism promotion or to help pay for event bid fees such as the Brier. 

"It underlines the importance and the need for a destination marketing fund," Robichaud said after the failed Brier bid. "This would allow Moncton to be more competitive without going into taxpayer dollars."

Earlier this year, the province rejected requests to pass legislation to make such a tax mandatory for guests.

Arnold called for that to be revisited.

"We simply cannot be competitive without a fee like this," she said.

She rejected the idea the city should set up a budget line in the meantime so it would be clear how much the city may pay out as part of future bids to lure events.

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Moncton asked potential Brier attendees to place $50 deposits ahead of the bid submission.

Meanwhile, Kingston pre-sold 2,200 ticket packages, which Robichaud said was double the number sold in Moncton.

"We were a bit disappointed in our pre-sale," Robichaud said. "We were expecting stronger support from the business community, which we did not get."

Curl Moncton made a last-minute appeal online this year to sell more tickets to boost its numbers, saying this would be "a critical factor" in evaluating the strength of its bid.

Cameron described pre-sale tickets as "a factor" in evaluating bids.

The deposits will be returned to those who paid since the bid was unsuccessful. 

"Those were the two things," he said, referring to ticket pre-sales and the bid fee amount. "They thought we had a strong bid on a lot of the other aspects."

Those other aspects include the new 8,800-seat Avenir Centre and a legacy project the bid committee proposed to help develop junior curling in the region.

Robichaud said the city won't bid on the 2021 Brier because the city is hosting the Jeux de la Francophonie that year.