Regina Exhibition Association Limited projects $7M loss in 2020 due to loss of summer events

Summer time usually means money for the Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL), the company that operates Evraz Place. There are Rider games, the Exhibition, Canada's Farm Show, the WHL season beginning in September and many other events throughout the year.

With all this year's cancellations due to COVID-19, REAL's financial future has taken a huge hit. 

"It's a very damaging time to our business, but we still have all the cost of managing the overhead of big buildings," Tim Reid, president and CEO of REAL, said. 

"There's not many options that we have. We have to continue to maintain our buildings in a safe and reliable way, but we also don't have revenue coming in to offset those costs."

Despite REAL doing everything it can to mitigate costs — reducing staff, cutting all non-essential expenses — Reid said it could lose $6.8 to $7 million dollars this year.

Had COVID-19 not happened, REAL was looking at an estimated $1 million profit.

In April, the company was projecting it had lost $4 million so far. 

Despite this, Reid said there are a couple bright spots. 

"We've had more time to invest in some of our partners and building out our site plans," Reid said. "We've continued to see great optimism and interest in our site."

Reid said in February that the city could see up to four new developments break ground at Evraz Place in the next year. This week he said REAL is in the final negotiations on a hotel.