Hockey Calgary’s executive director said he was shocked to see proposed increases to arena rental rates in Calgary’s budget, saying costs will have to be passed on to families.

In Calgary’s proposed 2027-2030 budget (p.268), minor non-prime time (July and August) cost for arena rentals will jump from $82.30 per hour to $133.33 per hour in 2027, and then level off to finish at $141.76 per hour by 2030.

Minor / youth prime time (September to March / April – August) goes from $230.30 to $270.83 in 2027, going to $287.97 per hour.

The fee schedules have not been approved by city council.

Kevin Kobelka, executive director with Hockey Calgary, said they hadn’t been informed or consulted on the Calgary arena fee hike.

“Between 65 and 70 percent of the cost of our program is basically ice, so this will have huge ramifications for the affordability of our program,” Kobelka told LiveWire Calgary.

“Based on that, the average cost of our program is going to have to go up between 15 and 20 percent just to remain whole.”

He questioned why the adult ice rental fees were only up marginally, and youth sports up so much. Further, that other ice users (public skating) weren’t being asked to share the burden. Kobelka also pointed out that other recreation fees — including for artificial or natural turf — weren’t going up more than a few per cent.

“The increase of 17 per cent is really targeted at minor hockey, ringette, and figure skating to pay the brunt of the increase in fees,” he said.

In the City’s budget documents, it states that they’re raising rates to be more comparable to overall market rates for ice time.

At WinSport, youth non-prime rates are $176 per hour, and youth prime is $276.36 per hour. Non-prime time for youth at YMCA arenas is $175 per hour, and $296 per hour for prime time.

‘Middle of the market’: City of Calgary

The City of Calgary said that some ice rental rates have remained below comparable market rates following several years of limited increases, including years where there have been rate and fee freezes.

“The City reviews recreation rates and fees to balance affordability with the cost of maintaining facilities and services. Proposed changes consider inflation, customer demand, service-delivery costs and rates relative to market,” read a response from the City of Calgary to questions about the increases.

“Revenue from rates and fees, combined with tax support, helps balance the operating costs of recreation facilities, services and the customer experience.”

The City of Calgary has undertaken an ambitious recreation plan called GamePlan, and it largely outlines a strategy for infrastructure and service delivery. It doesn’t dictate annual fee schedules, however, it does specifically talk about youth affordability and removing financial, social and geographic barriers to participation.

Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot said that the increase in rates is counter to what the city is trying to do to encourage people to be active.

“A lot of our parks and playgrounds, specifically our soccer fields and whatnot, the reason we continue to own and operate, same with a lot of our facilities, is so that we can offer a less expensive option rather than the private sector,” he said.

“Private sector is always expensive. The idea that we’re looking at increasing our rec rates by that much to me flies in the face of what it is that we try to do as a city, which is to continue to offer reasonable rates to encourage more active lifestyles and greater participation.”

Ward 8 Coun. Nathan Schmidt said the city has to be careful not to increase barriers to youth sports.

“When affordability is one of the top issues, and we’re seeing some projected tax increases that are significant, if we’re increasing taxes and raising costs for other programming, that’s a volatile combination for people.”

Kobelka said already hockey can be a costly sport – with equipment, tournaments and registration fees. His concern is that tacking on another 17 to 20 per cent could be the tipping point that keeps kids out of the sport.

“Just registration is probably not that bad. But when you add on the extra stuff, it’s starting to get unaffordable for the average family, so there are huge concerns,” he said.

Calgary will begin the budget deliberations on Nov. 23.