The Grande Prairie Storm won’t have to pay back its $157,974 loan to the city before 2026. City council approved deferring the hockey organization’s loan payments interest-free for the next three years in an effort to help the team get back on its feet financially.
At the end of June, members of the Storm organization made a presentation to committee with a roughly $200,000 ask. The ask included the loan and waiving the usage fee for 250 hours of ice time around the city for youth programming and Bonnetts Energy Centre facility fees. As of June 21st, the team has paid off $71,000.
According to the organization’s presentation, because of COVID-19, the team took on roughly $310,000 worth of debt, with the principal loan payments being around $127,000. At the time of the presentation, the 2023-2024 budget was in the red by $38,257.