The bid is in: Tigers officially submit 2026 Mem Cup bid

By JAMES TUBB on September 21, 2024.

Medicine Hat’s Memorial Cup bid has been submitted.

The Tigers and the six-person bid committee sent in the official bid Friday around 3 p.m. MST, ahead of the 5 p.m. deadline.

“We are really pleased with the bid document done by the Host Committee and the City of Medicine Hat Communications Department. The presentation does an excellent job of capturing the spirit of our city and team,” Tigers president Darrell Maser said.

“We also recognize that all the teams bidding to host the tournament have excellent programs and facilities. Any of these organizations would be a deserving host for the Memorial Cup.”

Chair of Medicine Hat’s bid committee, Brent Sauer says they’re proud of the documents and videos submitted Friday afternoon.

“We have viewed it and gone through it, looked it over, and the video portion of it and I can say we’re all pretty, pretty proud of what we’ve put together here,” Sauer said. “It’s just a really good feeling that everybody’s put a lot of work into this and now to see the finished product and now that it’s been submitted to the CHL is a good feeling that it’s done.”

Medicine Hat’s bid will go up against similar interest from Brandon, Spokane, Kelowna and Lethbridge. A confirmation of the bids was not available by press time.

Sauer, who served as director of hockey operations and facilities when Medicine Hat hosted the U17 Hockey Challenge in 2019, says they met with city officials multiple times over the last few weeks to iron out the documents and get everything in perfect order.

“They were exceptional and they were a tremendous help to us,” Sauer said. “They put it all together, they did a fantastic job, it would have been really hard to do without them.”

The bid was submitted a day before the Tigers’ kick off the 2024-25 season at Co-op Place against the Edmonton Oil Kings. With bids finalized, the CHL will narrow the submissions to a short list, and those teams remaining will be contacted for a 90-minute phone call from the CHL’s five-person committee to answer any questions.

Sauer says while they await the phone call, they’ll start working with anticipation of success.

“We’ll start talking to some people, trying to get a (host) committee rounded out and get some key roles filled, anticipating receiving the good news,” Sauer said. “Then we can hit the ground running and get rolling.”

He thanks all those involved and looks forward to the process playing out.

“People put in a lot of time, a lot of work into it and we’re looking forward to what’s coming next,” Sauer said.