When the puck drops at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre for a Truro Bearcats game, there could be as many as 2,500 MHL hockey fans in attendance. When big ticket bands like the Beach Boys and Kenny Rogers take to the stage, there are as many as 3,000 concert-goers coming through the gates. And when that puck drops and when that first cord is played on any given night, there are 1.37 million Atlantic Canadians within a three-hour drive of the RECC. “People travel from communities in all three Maritime provinces to watch their hometown MHL teams take-on the Bearcats; the team has a rich history of success both on and off the ice,” Matt Moore, the General Manager of the RECC, said with a sincere snicker. “We take our hockey very serious and as you know, people in Atlantic Canada take their music equally serious. The parking lot has license plates from Newfoundland, New Brunswick, PEI, and of course Nova Scotia when we get a big name on stage.” But the real appeal of the state-of- the-art RECC isn’t limited to sport and song. The RECC is a hybrid facility and its overall business model ranges “quite broadly,” explained Nick Sharpe, the Director of Partnerships and Events. “We have five key segments that play an integral role to our success: Health promotion; aquatic programming; fitness programming; community ice rentals and programming; and event attraction. Walking the tightrope of business development in all of these areas can be a broad challenge, but that’s what keeps us excited.”
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2017
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