We are reaching out to you today regarding an important and time-sensitive issue that will directly impact youth ice sports in our community.
On March 31, 2026, Guelph City Council is expected to vote on removing the youth subsidy from the Sleeman Centre and restricting youth organizations usage of the Sleeman Centre. While positioned as part of a broader facility strategy, the reality is that this decision will have significant and lasting consequences for youth sport in Guelph.
_________________________________________________________
How You Can Help
Your voice matters. We encourage you to contact your City Councillor and Mayor before March 31 to share your perspective on how this decision will impact your family and our community.
Personal stories—about travel, costs, lost opportunities, and time—are the most powerful ways to ensure this issue is fully understood.
The next council meeting on March 31 where this will be voted on. You can sign up to speak as a delegate no later than Friday March 27 at 10:00am.
To register as a delegate and speak at the council meeting, please follow this LINK to the City of Guelph website and register.
To submit a letter to the members of city council with your questions and concerns, please email [email protected] prior to Friday March 27th at 10:00am.
To view the City Council Meeting Agenda for March 31, 2026, please follow this LINK
Agenda, Minutes and Video of the City of Guelph Committee of the Whole Meeting; March 4, 2026. Culture and Recreation presentation, LINK. The discussion of the Sleeman Centre is agenda item 15, and can be found in the latter portion of the meeting broadcast video.
_________________________________________________________
Understanding Youth Ice Times:
- Youth ice user groups can use the following ice timeslots when planning their programming which are considered prime time ice:
- Monday to Friday 6:30am - 7:30am and 4pm - 10pm
- Weekends: 6am - 10:30pm
- One ice pad from September 1 to March 31 will provide:
- 2024 hours of prime time ice.
- Games can only be played when our governing body permits; Monday to Friday: 6:30pm - 10:30pm and Weekends: 10am - 10:30pm. This means one pad can provide 1,358 hours for game use.
- City ice begins to be installed after labour day and finishes the last weekend of September. Youth ice user groups technically lose the month of September on City ice.
_________________________________________________________________________
What This Means for Youth Ice Sports
Guelph is already operating beyond its ice capacity. This September 2025 - April 2026 hockey season:
- Our association purchased over 150 hours of ice outside of Guelph
- GMHA teams purchased an additional 522+ hours externally, 340 hours were spent outside of Guelph or at the University of Guelph
- An additional 426 hours are required for tryouts this spring. 96% of this ice is at the University of Guelph or Cambridge Sports Park, leaving only 4% on one available city rink - Exhibition.
- Overall, we rely on the University of Guelph for 1050+ hours annually just to meet current needs.
Restricting access and removing the youth subsidy to Sleeman Centre will:
- Increase travel for families and reduce quality family time at home
- Raise costs significantly (ice, fuel, buying food on the run, and loss of local subsidies)
- Limit programming and player development opportunities
- Further restrict already overbooked ice schedules
Simply put—there is no excess capacity in the system to absorb this loss.
_________________________________________________________________________
Planning Certainty and Allocation Concerns
Youth sport organizations operate very differently than casual or adult ice users. Our programming, team formation, coaching assignments, evaluations, and league commitments are all planned 8–12 months in advance.
The proposed shift away from predictable, year-over-year ice contracts at Sleeman Centre introduces a level of uncertainty that creates significant challenges for our association.
Without knowing:
- how many hours we will receive
- when those hours will occur
- and whether those hours will be consistent year over year
we are forced to plan programs without a clear understanding of our actual capacity. This puts GMHA—and all youth user groups—at a significant disadvantage when trying to responsibly build programs for our members.
It is important to note that this is not simply about access to Sleeman Centre—it is about planning certainty across the entire system.
GMHA utilizes approximately 160 hours of prime time ice at the Sleeman Centre each season. Redistributing existing ice within the system, will effectively reduce the benefit of the approximately 160 hours of new ice being introduced at the South End Recreation Centre.
If Sleeman ice is moved into the general booking pool, youth organizations will use those new South End hours just to replace what was previously stable at Sleeman—meaning there is a smaller net gain in usable ice for youth programming.
Our position is that youth organizations should be able to operate under a model similar to other user groups.
For example:
- Adult leagues will have bookings that can be cancelled for events without rescheduling
- They will operate with an understanding of flexibility in exchange for access
We are prepared to operate under a similar model.
We are willing to:
- accommodate event bookings
- adjust schedules when given appropriate notice
- work collaboratively with the City
However, what we require is:
- clear, predictable allocations of ice time
- advance notice of any displacement
- and confidence that new infrastructure adds to capacity rather than replaces existing access
Without this, the uncertainty created will limit our ability to:
- expand programming
- meet growing demand
- and remain competitive as open borders increase competition between associations
Ultimately, this is about ensuring that new investment in facilities results in real growth for youth sport, not simply a reallocation of already insufficient resources.
_________________________________________________________
What We Are Asking
We are asking City Council to:
- Oppose the removal of all youth ice yearly allocations.
- Oppose the removal of the youth subsidy at Sleeman Centre
- Direct staff to create a balanced model that supports events and community sport—driven by better advance planning and more effective use of the summer months.
- Commit to long-term infrastructure planning that reflects Guelph’s growth
- Commit to an immediately action plan to replace the decommissioning of 2 arenas in the next 4 years
- Consider outdoor rinks, as demonstrated by Puslinch, that can be used year round by various groups
- Work collaboratively with community organizations and private partners to expand capacity
- As provided in the city-funded studies, the City was advised to maximize access to ice time for youth and maintain affordability and subsidies for youth sports
_________________________________________________________________________
A Longstanding Issue That Was Never Addressed
For over 15 years, City-commissioned studies (2009, 2013, 2014 Feasibility Study, 2014 Staff Report, 2019,2021, 2020, 2023, 2023) have consistently identified the same concern:
Guelph requires 3–4 additional ice pads to meet demand, required by 2030
- According to the Feasibility study and other City commissioned studies since 2009, aging facilities such as Centennial and Exhibition are expected to be decommissioned by 2030-2031 as they are over 50 years old respectively.
- This means that in 4 years, with a projected population growth of 1.5%, we will lose 2 rinks, creating an even larger deficit for ice
- 11 rinks would be required to service a community of 175,000 residents using the metrics that 1 ice rink can service 15,000 residents.
- 1 ice rink per 550 users. This means GMHA requires 3.15 rinks to cater to our members alone. These metrics can be found in the feasibility study 2014 & Link studies 2023.
- The City has been advised in every City-commissioned study (2009, 2013, 2023) that youth-first access was a key factor in facility planning
- Opening the South End Recreation Centre was identified as a high priority to address growing demand in a 2014 study
- Youth participation continues to exceed available infrastructure
Guelph’s population has grown by more than 50% since 2000 (Stats Canada), without a proportional increase in recreation facilities.
_________________________________________________________________________
Sleeman Centre: Community vs. Events Is Not a Choice
We support bringing more events and concerts to Guelph. However, this should not come at the expense of youth sport. Other cities successfully balance both.
- The associated subsidy for GMHA is estimated at under $30,000, compared to an approximate $1.4 million operating deficit
- City studies state that allocation policies emphasized ensuring youth sports—hockey, figure skating, ringette—receive first access before adult or spectator events.
- According to the 2021-2022 Parks and Recreation Needs Assessment: Prime‑time ice is nearly fully booked across facilities and the vast majority of prime‑time usage is by youth sport organizations
- According to the City’s 2014 Recreation Facility Needs Assessment & Feasibility Study, the Sleeman Centre is completely booked during prime time while the ice is in, demonstrating that there was no slack in the schedule even before accounting for future growth. However, it noted that the Sleeman Centre is extremely under utilized during the months when the ice is out, compared to other City arena facilities.
The city seems to believe that we can not work around events that transpire within the city due to how our program is run, which then limits flexibility for the city to plan events at Sleemans center. This is simply not accurate:
- We are willing to accommodate and book around what has been planned. The city is not booking events and acts with a weeks notice that are intended to fill a 5000 seat stadium.
- The City has six to seven months after the youth season ends to schedule concerts and events, taking advantage of better weather and addressing concerns around a lack of parking in the downtown area. This would have zero impact of ice user groups as a whole
- The city is proposing that in order to reduce the $1.4million deficit, they want to remove current income from Sleeman Center provided by youth user groups, while projecting to spend $200K to $2 million to update Sleeman center to book events not yet even advertised.
Youth organizations have always worked collaboratively around events. We already manage blackout dates, tournaments, and scheduling constraints—often losing 20 plus hours in a single weekend when needed. With proper planning, both priorities can coexist.
_________________________________________________________________________
The GGHA has set up a petition to support youth subsidy at Sleeman. Click here to join today.
_________________________________________________________________________
Guelph’s youth deserve access to the facilities they need to play, grow, and thrive. With thoughtful planning, we can support both a vibrant events calendar and a strong community sport system.
Thank you for your continued support,
GMHA Board of Directors
