Making the Move to Dedicated Ice
(on a budget)
Craig Fischer
President & Co‐Founder Fort Wayne Curling Club
Why did we move to dedicated ice?
• Couldn’t sustain even a full league with ice times that we had
• Couldn’t take advantage of the Olympics
• Couldn’t profit from our Summerspiel
• Weren’t sure we would be in existence in 4 years without a herculean amount of effort
• Decision:
– Exert the effort over next 1 year to get to dedicated ice – Exert the effort over the next 4 years to keep the arena club going
– Give up curling
• An easy choice What steps did we take?
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Getting Board Support
Finding a Location
Negotiating the Lease
Architecture and Construction
Ice Installation
Launching
Step 1: Getting Board Support
• The first step towards moving to dedicated ice is developing strong support for the move on the Board of Directors
• Does your board have the stomach to do this?
• To do this, we did the following:
– Polled members on their support for building dedicated ice and running a dedicated facility (SurveyMonkey)
– Built a financial model that showed what we needed to raise to build the facility
– Built a financial model that showed what we needed to maintain the facility ongoing
Polling your Members
• Confirm strong support for the move
• Determine appetite for donations and loans
• Determine appetite for volunteer labor
• Determine the skills of each of your members
• Determine appetite for membership and league fees required to support dedicated club
• Determine appetite for leagues (how many, what type, when, etc.)
Building the Construction Cost Model
• Identify approximate costs for rent/purchase of a facility
• Determine size (3 sheets, 4 sheets, etc.)
• Get multiple estimate on ice equipment
• Develop a range of costs for additional build‐out
– Architect
– Electrical
– HVAC
– Plumbing
– Fire Safety
– ADA Requirements
– Construction (walls, doors, windows, concrete, flooring)
– Finishing (bar, tables, chairs, benches, etc.)
• Decide on your goal (Yugo or Cadillac or somewhere in between)
• Decide on what level of volunteer effort you believe that you might have
• Determine skill sets of your membership
Building the Operational Cost Model
• Develop a model that outlines your ongoing operational expenses and ongoing revenue sources
• Ongoing Expenses:
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Electricity
Gas/Oil
Rent/Common Area Maintenance or Mortgage
Dues (USCA, regional association)
Internet/Cable/Satellite/Telephone
Insurance (USCA program + property insurance)
Loan Repayments
General operational expenses (bar, food, etc.)
Maintenance
Building the Operational Revenue Model
• Ongoing Operational Revenue
– Membership
– Leagues
– Bonspiels (external and internal)
– Challenge Cups
– Equipment Sales
– Bar Revenue
– Corporate Events
– Sponsorships
Considerations
• Do you have enough members to support a facility today?
– If not, what will help you get large enough?
• Olympics
• Press Coverage
• Target pricing to be no higher than arena curling and provide discounts for more avid curlers. Work to bring price down as you grow
• We found that having a higher membership level that has full access to the club was a much larger draw than anticipated
• Ice Maintenance is a lot of work. Do you have the people with the time, willingness and temperament for this?
• Your ice is now an asset that is a fixed cost – Find every opportunity to exploit that asset.
Finding a Location
• Finding a warehouse the right size is difficult • Prove financial wherewithal to realtor upfront
• Consider:
– Ice room size (3/4 sheets, catwalks, storage)
– Warm room size (bathrooms, changing rooms, kitchen, viewing area)
– Viewing location
– Parking
– Other tenants (do hours overlap, will noise be a factor)
– Distance from arena location
– Traffic (commute time from work, what kind of exposure will you get?)
Negotiating a Lease
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Find someone that has negotiated contracts before
Pick your battles
Consider tailoring lease payments to match curling season
Financial Guarantees
Ensure landlord has responsibility for roof, foundation, HVAC, etc.
How long has space been vacant? If vacant for a while use that to your advantage to negotiate:
– Lower lease amount (we are $2.50 per sq ft, ~12,000 sq ft)
– Construction Allowance (we got $15,000)
• Ensure landlord pays for any changes that support other tenants • Take into account any improvements that you will make that will improve the “rentability” of the space in the future
• Make sure you communicate any and all changes you will be making now when they are more likely to agree to them.
Architecture & Construction
• Find someone who knows construction. Offer free membership and leagues to get them to volunteer their efforts
• Have this construction person recommend all contractors based on price, quality of work and ease of doing business
• Negotiate sponsorships with all contractors – You will be surprised at how easy this is
• ADA and Fire Requirements will be more onerous than you think
• Make sure you get plenty of volunteers
• Develop a construction waiver • Get builders risk insurance – volunteers make mistakes
• Recognize the hardest working volunteers
– We identified “Builders of the Club” that will have special privileges going forward
– We awarded a Purple Heart to the member that bled the most during construction
Ice Installation
• Make sure you get a reputable vendor that provides you an all‐in cost including installation
• Check references – Make sure they have done curling facilities before. Big difference from hockey
• Ensure you will have ongoing telephone support
• Seek a discount if you provide volunteer labor
• Make sure you understand everything that is happening and why (you’ll be left with this going forward)
• A very exciting time
• Find a professional icemaker to help you build the ice the first time – They have a lot of tricks to make the process go quicker and to simplify the process as well
Launch
• Your launch is your best opportunity for exposure outside of the Olympics
• Take as much advantage of the uniqueness of your launch as you can:
– TV Commercial
– Press Coverage
– Open Houses
– Invite the Mayor & other dignitaries
– Make friends with the Convention & Visitors Bureau
• Reward your hardest workers
What did we do right?
• LED Lights – A little more expensive but long life (100,000 hours), no heat, excellent light
• Liquor License – Set up as a fraternal
• Web‐enabled Thermostats
• Contractors, inspectors and anyone you bring into the facility will think building a curling club is the coolest thing that they have seen. Use this to your advantage.
• Chillers have an ambient temperature operating range. The weather does not have the same range necessarily
• Grants for video and streaming (~$20k)
• Liners can develop tears
What would we do differently?
• More storage space
• Modify our duct sox on the dehumidifier
• More bathrooms
Must Haves
• Club members that are willing to volunteer a LOT of time
• Club members that are willing to donate or loan a LOT of money (unless you have a sizable bank account)
• Club members that are willing to make Financial Guarantees
• A member with leadership and project management experience that is willing to spend a LOT of time on this project
By the Numbers
• Fall 2013
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40 Members –
<1 full league, –
$500 bank account
• Construction
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2 weeks of demolition
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2.5 months of construction
• Winter 2014
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40 Members & 71 Rookies
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3 12 week leagues (Men’s, Open and Drop‐in) & 6 rookie leagues
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>$20,000 bank account today
• Fall 2014
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70 members& 24 rookies
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5 full leagues (Men’s, Mixed Doubles, Weeknight Open, Women’s, Drop‐in and Weekend Open) & 1 rookie league
• Operating Budget of roughly $85,000 per year
• Outstanding loans of $205,000 (~75% owed to members, none to banks)
Come Check Out our Facility
• See what is possible by participating in one of our upcoming bonspiels:
– Mad Anthony Men’s ‐ December 12‐14, 2014
– USWCA Open 5 & Under – January 23‐25, 2015
– Summit City Open – March 13‐15, 2015
– Stone Cold Beauties Women’s Spiel – April 9‐11, 2015 (same weekend as Vera Bradley Outlet Sale – tickets will be available)
Additional
Materials
• Key documents are available on Dropbox at:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/w4jpr8d
g1yrq1zi/AAC6LhQFlNdLc‐
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Pro‐Forma (Construction and Ongoing)
Actual Construction Costs
2014 Fiscal Year Report
Sponsorship Programs
Surveys
• Contact me if you have any questions:
• Craig Fischer, President & Co‐Founder, Fort Wayne Curling Club
• 260‐443‐6673
• [email protected]
Thank You