Read sports columnist Don Barrie’s opinion on

City council voted Monday to take less money from the Petes and Lakers.

The city now takes nearly $1 million annually from the Petes, somewhat less from the Lakers, in facility rentals, advertisements, restaurant profits, parking fees, all of which is generated by the teams themselves. If these two teams ceased operations, the Memorial Centre would be receiving zilch.

This measure is much like the governments which, when cutting a tax, make it sound like they are giving taxpayers something when in fact they are just digging a little less deeply into their collective pockets.

The city, which has been fleecing the two teams with completely out-of-line charges compared to other provincial teams, are now making it sound like they are giving something back. They are just taking a more reasonable and fairer amount!

Council voted to take $353,500 less of the million dollars they get, which is the amount the Petes told them they needed to survive. The deal is much more realistic than staff’s embarrassing original offer of $113,000.

That offer showed that city staff, especially those involved with sports facilities, is completely out of touch with the reality of the city’s sporting scene. If they had done their due diligence, something taxpayers have a right to expect from their sunshine list salaried positions, this kerfuffle would never have surfaced.

Now with this re-visit, it only again awakens that city’s cohort of naysayers who will again begin chirping about the deal. This city has been held back for decades by a vocal minority that considers anything that makes life a little better for a segment of the population. but has little to do with them. to be wrong.

Over the years, their bleating, unfortunately too often listened to by various councils, of no Parkway, no casino, no box stores, no new arenas, among others, has stymied growth in our city.

Speaking of bureaucrats and their decisions, last weekend Jeremy Giles, facility manager of the Memorial Centre, announced the mystery event that he had in mind when he refused the Laker Lacrosse Classic the use of the Memorial Centre for a key part of their 32nd annual tournament in May.

Instead of young lacrosse players running around the carpet there will be some near-naked Australians gyrating about. A travelling troop of Australian male performers called Australia’s Thunder from Down Under has been booked into the Memorial Centre for Saturday, May 27, the middle day of the lacrosse classic.

As the centre’s release to suite holders stated, “Don’t miss the chiselled bodies and cheeky humour that you won’t be able to resist.” What will be missed are the opportunities of young lacrosse players hoping to experience the thrill of playing on the same carpet as the Lakers that Saturday.

Word is the tournament may still receive some floor time at the Centre over the weekend but the problem is many of the teams that look forward to playing a game on the carpet where the men play will lose that opportunity this year.

The question is not with the number and type of shows Giles brings into what he now calls the city’s Entertainment Centre -each will stand or fail on its own merit -- it is the lack of consideration of the long-standing local events that are shunted aside in the process.

Obviously, the prancing Aussies have a tightly booked tour and this may be the only time available, but much like the optics of the city staff snubbing the Petes and Lakers, the Memorial Centre must carefully weigh the booking of events against the obligation to the local population whose relatives originally paid for the arena by payroll deductions.