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Skate body wants Hangar to figure in bigtime events
But CFSA officials have been frustrated in their attempts to solidify either competition with arena officials.
Peter Montopoli, the CFSA's vice-president of marketing, is waiting for a response to his offer, but time is running out. He said negotiations would have to begin in earnest soon if Toronto was to have any chance of landing either event. If plans aren't completed by this summer, the CFSA will put the 2002 Canadians back into Hamilton's Copps Coliseum.
That would represent another blow to skating fans in Toronto, which hasn't played host to a top-calibre figure skating competition in the past 30 years. The worlds have been held in Canada seven times, with Vancouver's GM Place slated to play host to the 2001 event.
In the 103-year history of the competition, Toronto has never held a worlds and has not played host to a Canadian championships since 1969.
Figure skating is the second-most widely watched sport in Canada, next to hockey, and Canadian and world championships have become huge money makers. CFSA officials estimate the economic impact of a Canadians to the host city to be $12.2 million and $50 million for a worlds.
Montopoli is desperately hoping somebody from the Air Canada Centre contacts his office so a deal can be negotiated.
Brad Parsons, the director of entertainment and event programming at the Air Canada Centre, said he is interested in bringing the 2002 Canadians to the building, although he admitted that his office has been swamped with folks wanting to put various competitions, concerts and other types of events into the Air Canada Centre.
"People are hearing what a wonderful place this is and that's certainly fuelling the fires," he said.