To all the "They should have chosen a local brewer folks in the crowd"..... I agree... they should have chosen an Alberta based brewer, or at least a brewer that has a brewery in Alberta as the title sponsor. You all subsidize Great West (google "Great West Brewery Alberta Lawsuit")... so by buying their beers at the dome you are paying for beer that you already subsidize.
BUT a quick economics discussion. There are 120 Breweries in Alberta. The value of the Edmonton Oilers beer sponsorship is in the realm of $5,000,000 to $7,000,000 (estimate) as they have a newer building... so lets conservatively say Calgary is pegged at $5,000,000. If there are 10,000 beer consuming patrons per game (45 games) + concerts and hitmen and other events (estimated total of 220 events per year), they probably sell in the realm of 12,000 kegs per year... There are like 120-130 taps at the saddledome.
SOOOO... lets say every brewery in alberta (120 breweries) gets 1 draught line at the saddledome and pays an equal share for equal volume... thats 100 kegs per brewer, and costs them $42,000 per year for 100 kegs ($420 per keg). thats a lot of money for a brewery that only makes about $1,000,000 - $2,000,000 in gross revenue per year on average and not a lot of return for them.
AND... lets not forget this is the company (CSEC) that walked away from a new rink over $15,000,000 amortized over the life of an arena because of some sidewalks and lights. They aren't gonna give away a beer sponsorship to local brewers for kicks.
So moral of all this is to say. The flames are a business... they made a business decision to sell Great West beer... A beer that gets the same tax break from the government that Eighty Eight, Big Rock, The Establishment, Sea Change all get. Just wanted yall to know
