Business owners divided on World Series banners

by Chris Richards

Downtown Windsor business owners are having mixed opinions about the city’s recent decision to invest thousands of dollars in decorating for the World Series.

Windsor City Council approved the purchase of 50 World Series banners Oct. 22.  The banners will be hung from streetlights in the downtown area and cost $200 each, meaning it will cost the city a total $10,000.

Patrick Kim, executive consultant and partner at Blue Apple print shop on Ouellette Avenue, prints major event banners.  Kim said the amount paid by the city is far too much. 

“I know for Labatt’s, we printed over 100 banners for Canada Day for Ottawa,” Kim said.  “That $10,000 value is not even close to what they paid.  It was a fraction of that if anything.  So $10,000 for 50 banners?  In my opinion, that shouldn’t cost more than $3,000.”

Like the Red Bull Air Race banners, the city plans to sell the World Series banners after the series is over to recoup most or all of the cost.  Kim said regardless it is money “not at all” well spent.

“I think it’d be great if it was presale, but I don’t think anyone’s going to buy them.  I think it’ll be busy downtown whether they spend that money or not,” he said.

Owner and operator of The Dugout Sports Lounge Derek Farrugia said banners are a great idea.  Being in the sports bar industry and a restaurateur, Farrugia said he feels Windsor shares a sense of ownership with Detroit towards their sports teams.

“I directly am one of the people that are going to benefit from that, so I’m for it,” said Farrugia.  “It’s something that’s in lieu of the Detroit teams.  All of their professional franchises are kind of like our pseudo local professional franchise teams here in Windsor as well.”

“Being in the hospitality industry and particularly the sports bar industry, I see the amount of support for those teams here in Windsor,” he said.  “So do I think it’s a bad idea?  No, I think it’s a great idea.  Why not capitalize.”

While agreeing $10,000 is a lot of money, Farrugia said the amount is a “paltry sum” compared to what the city has spent before.  While he appreciates the hype and excitement in the downtown core, he doesn’t feel the buyback option will be as popular as the city hopes.

“We might buy something like that to see where cost goes,” said Farrugia.  “If it was something that ends up going towards (charity), like we’re going to sell these off and donate (the money) to a local fundraising program, then for sure we’d be right on board with that.  Other than that, I don’t know if it would be in our interest to buy a World Series banner.”