The Niagara IceDogs are preparing for some tough times.
Owner Bill Burke says he has looked into alternate revenue streams, such as setting up television broadcast deals, but most of their money comes from ticket sales.
"For us, we're 100% relying on our ticket sales and our group sales and certainly our corporate advertising. That makes up about $3 million and our operating budget is between $3 - 3.5 million."
But given the current state of things, that revenue stream has dried up.
"We've purposely held off on trying any kind of renewals because everyone's finances are so fragile at this time." He explains. "And certainly it's a fear that if we were reaching out to people, season tickets or corporate, there would be a lot of hard no's because of the uncertainty of the time. So we're not doing anything until we know we can return to play."
Burke says currently the Memorial Cup is set for the first two weeks of June, the regular season ends in early April, and the window for opening the season is between the end of September and Thanksgiving.
"Me personally, and talking to other owners, it has to be at a point where there's a treatment and there's a vaccine down the road. We just want to have it that if you come down with it you can take this, do this and that, and you'll be okay in 10 days."