Sudden end of Marquis Downs spotlights the quiet power of Prairieland Park Corporation

Prairieland Park Corporation stayed largely below the public's radar in Saskatoon for more than a century, quietly sponsoring a range of events in its sprawling convention halls while also running horse racing at Marquis Downs and the Saskatoon Ex on its fair grounds.

This all changed abruptly in March when the non-profit corporation permanently cancelled live thoroughbred horse racing at Marquis Downs, ending a 50-year relationship with the horse racing community.

Then it announced that it wanted to build a multi-million dollar soccer stadium on the site of the race track and help bring a pro team to Saskatoon. The pointed questions and protests that came in the wake of the horse racing decision prompted the city solicitor to release a statement explaining how, despite a close relationship, city council and the administration have no say in Prairieland's operations

Stung by what it saw as "misleading claims" circulating after the Marquis Downs decision, Prairieland took to social media with a post called "Setting the Record Straight" in an effort to answer questions about how it operates.

The post spoke of its historical roots as an agricultural society created in 1886, why it's getting out of live thoroughbred horse racing, the scope of its operations as a not-for-profit corporation and its long-term lease agreement with the city.

Nicole Hein is an apprentice jockey who helped spearhead the protests against the end of Marquis Downs. She said the city's response to what happened to horse racing, and the public explainer from Prairieland, made one thing clear to her.

"Prairieland can do pretty much whatever it wants," she said in an interview.

"They can just go ahead and cancel something, or bring something new in. The sky's the limit."

From farm shows to pro soccer

Prairieland Park Corporation's roots trace back to 1886, when it began as the Central Saskatchewan Agricultural Society, according to the Exhibition Local Area Plan prepared for city council in September 2020.

Its purpose in 1886 was to hold a fair that fall.

"It was believed that the Agricultural Society wanted its exhibitions to prove two things. First, to federal officials that the Saskatoon area was capable of being successfully homesteaded. Second, to convince those who lived here to stay," the plan said.

"[In 1909] the city purchased the current Saskatoon Ex land to establish permanent structures and facilities. Earlier years of the Saskatoon Ex emphasized agricultural products, domestic arts and entertainment like baseball and horse racing."

The name changed over the following decades — from the Agricultural Society to The Saskatoon Industrial Exhibition to Saskachimo Exposition Ltd. to Saskatoon Prairieland Exhibition Corporation — and today its operations are a far cry from its original farm show roots.

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Prairieland occupies a privileged position in the city's business community.

Prairieland Park Corporation leases 136 acres from the city. It's a 50-year lease that doesn't expire until 2045, and Prairieland pays $100 a year.

It's designated a not-for-profit corporation, so it pays no taxes, including no property tax. It collects an amusement tax as part of admission to the Ex every year, but that money is then returned to Prairieland as a grant to help pay for capital improvements.

It has members, not shareholders, so it need not worry about paying dividends. Canadian citizens and permanent residents can apply to be members, but applicants are reviewed by the board.

It operates the World Trade Centre Saskatoon, billed on its website as the largest trade and convention space in the city. The halls play host everything from trade shows to weddings to the Premier's Dinner.

It's got the Sports on Tap bar, where the Emerald Casino used to operate, and runs a beach volleyball league.

Although there is a city councillor on Prairieland's board of directors, the elected official has no say in its operational decisions. Ward 7 Coun. Mairin Loewen currently has the position.

"When I'm at that board table, I'm not carrying out any kind of mandates or instruction from city council," she said in an interview.

"I'm just another board member with the same responsibilities as any other board member."

Even though Prairieland's role has evolved as the city has grown, its core mandate has remained the same.

"To provide what the community needs most," Prairieland wrote in its Setting the Record Straight post.

Today, the corporation has decided what the city needs most is a professional soccer team and stadium.

The beautiful game

Mark Regier is Prairieland's chief executive officer of two decades and he's excited to talk about soccer, 'the beautiful game.' This proposal is a big deal for the corporation and there are some significant parts still unresolved.

Prairieland has a memorandum of understanding signed with Living Sky Sports and Entertainment in Regina. Living Sky owns the rights to bring a Canadian Premier League team to Saskatchewan and the plan as of August 2021 remains to locate the team in Saskatoon.

Living Sky would own the team and be the anchor tenant in the soccer stadium, which would be owned by Prairieland Park.

Regier said Prairieland is working with PCL Construction locally, and an Edmonton engineering firm drawing up plans for the site and open air stadium that would initially seat 5,500. The cost is projected at about $20 million, with the money coming from Living Sky Sports, Prairieland Park — and hopefully the city.

But Regier cautions that the plans and financing arrangements are still fluid.

"This will be the first time, if the city invests in this, they've invested in a major capital project here in 40 years, 50 years," he said in an interview.

"So we think a $7 million, $8 million ask from the city is not unreasonable this time. Because this is a project that won't just be for a pro soccer team. It'll also be used by the community."

Regier said that at some point later this year or in early 2022, Prairieland will approach the city with its formal proposal.

"They own the land, we own the property on the park ... so they will have to approve this, the stadium, even if they weren't investing money in it."

Boiling a frog

Les Butler is the former executive vice-president of Racetracks of Canada Inc. and has held senior positions at seven tracks across the country, including at one time Marquis Downs.

He doesn't oppose soccer, but questions whether the economic benefits from having a stadium and professional team are overstated.

"I respect professional soccer and I certainly don't want to disparage that. But that's what it is — professional. And there are many studies that show professional sports contribute a lot less to the community than people think," he said in an interview.

Butler knows that live horse racing has its ups and downs.

"I think racing is a struggle. It's been a struggle for decades at Marquis Downs, no doubt about that. It's many times a thankless struggle because everything you do, and everything you don't do, get's criticized," he said.

"I think they just got tired and saw a shiny object and reached for it."

Nicole Hein said she's slowly adjusting to the reality that live thoroughbred horse racing is ending in Saskatoon. She knows that to pursue her career dream of riding professionally, she'll have to leave her family and the city.

She views what happened to Marquis Downs as a cautionary tale for other businesses in the city. She warns that Prairieland's willingness to expand as it sees fit has consequences.

"Even if Prairieland just takes a little bit of business from the community, here and there, it's still enough to be significant and it's still enough to cause harm to businesses that are actually paying property taxes ... and doing what they set out to do, running a bar exclusively, or having weddings exclusively," she said.

"I don't think people notice how much damage Prairieland could do to them, until it happens to them. It's like boiling a frog, right? Eventually it happens. You don't realize until it's too late."