Moncton loses Brier bid, again, after what officials call a bidding war

Monctonhas lost its third bid to host a major sporting event at the city's newAvenirCentre, something officials say underscores the need for a hotel tax that can help pay for future bids.

Curling Canada announced Kingston, Ont. will host the Brier men's curling championship in 2020. Prince George, B.C., and St.Catharines, Ont., also were in the running.

It's the second year in a rowMonctonbid for the Brier and lost. The city was also unsuccessful in securing the Memorial Cup hockey championship for2019.

JacquesRobichaudis president of CurlMonctonand chair of the city's 2019 and 2020 Brier bid committees.

He said Curling Canada told the committee the latest bid was unsuccessful because the amount of money put forward as a bid fee and the number of deposits for event tickets weren't enough.

"We were outbid on the money part,"Robichaudsaid.

The province publicly committed to provide $750,000 for the bid fee, money the committee would pay Curling Canada if it won the bid.

CurlMonctoncommitted to pay $50,000 on top of that.The City ofMonctonalso promised to contribute money for the bid.

MonctonMayor Dawn Arnoldwouldn't disclose the city's amount, but said it was "nothing terribly significant." She called the amount a "moot" point now.

"If we got it, it would've been made public," Arnold said.

Al Cameron, Curling Canada's director of communications and media relations,wouldn't say how much Kingston bid and declined to comment on whyMoncton's bid lost.

Arnold andRobichaudsaid the bidding war for events shows the need for a hotel room tax.

The tax is a fee applied to hotel bills.The revenue can be used for tourism promotion or to help pay for event bid fees such as the Brier.

"It underlines the importance and the need for a destination marketing fund,"Robichaudsaid after the failed Brier bid. "This would allowMonctonto be more competitive without going into taxpayer dollars."

Earlier this year, the province rejected requests to pass legislation to make such a tax mandatory for guests.

Arnold called for that to be revisited.

"We simply cannot be competitive without a fee like this," she said.

She rejected the idea the city should set up a budget line in the meantime so it would beclear how much the city may pay out as part of future bids tolure events.

Monctonasked potential Brier attendees to place $50 deposits ahead of the bid submission.

Meanwhile, Kingston pre-sold 2,200 ticket packages, whichRobichaudsaid was double the number sold inMoncton.

"We were a bit disappointed in our pre-sale,"Robichaudsaid. "We were expecting stronger support from the business community, which we did not get."

CurlMonctonmade a last-minute appeal online this year to sell more tickets to boost its numbers, saying this would be "a critical factor" in evaluating the strength of its bid.

Cameron described pre-sale tickets as "a factor" in evaluating bids.

The deposits will be returned to those who paid since the bid was unsuccessful.

"Those were the two things," he said, referring to ticket pre-sales and the bid fee amount. "They thought we had a strong bid on a lot of the other aspects."

Those other aspects include the new 8,800-seatAvenirCentre and a legacy project the bid committee proposed to help develop junior curling in the region.

Robichaudsaid the city won't bid on the 2021 Brier because the city is hosting theJeuxde laFrancophoniethat year.