A A

SYDNEY, N.S. — The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency won’t say whether it was planning to provide any funding through Golf Cape Breton for the Cape Breton Open if it had gone ahead this year.

That was how federal money was directed to the PGA tour event in past years. While ACOA has not supported the Cape Breton Open directly in the past, it has supported golf marketing projects through Golf Cape Breton, which is affiliated with Destination Cape Breton.

“The question you are asking would be speculative, and it would be inappropriate to speculate,” Paul Moore, ACOA senior communications officer, wrote in an email when asked if the agency would have provided any funding this year had the tournament not been cancelled.

Organizers announced the cancellation of the event Friday due to the withdrawal of a sponsor but tournament director Sandy Campbell declined to say which sponsor pulled out. He would only say it was a high-level returning sponsor.

The Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada event was due to be played at Bell Bay Golf Club in Baddeck, Aug. 27-Sept. 2.

According to the Cape Breton Open website, its two “main” sponsors in 2017 were Golf Cape Breton and the Province of Nova Scotia. It also lists founding sponsors, supporting sponsors, hosting sponsors as well as media and supplying sponsors.

When asked what reason was given by the sponsor for the decision to pull out, Campbell said it was because the event no longer fit the sponsor’s “strategy going forward.”

Information provided by Moore shows that in 2017, Golf Cape Breton’s support of the Cape Breton Open was $70,000‎ (ACOA's support was at 75 per cent, or about $52,500). In 2016, Golf Cape Breton's support of the Cape Breton Open was $75,000‎ (ACOA’s support was at 75.4 per cent, or about $56,550)‎.

“ACOA support was provided to further promotion of Cape Breton Island as a golf tourism destination,” Moore wrote‎. “Every funding application to ACOA is assessed on its own merits.”

When asked if an application flowed through Golf Cape Breton to support the Cape Breton Open this year, Moore replied that ACOA does not comment on any applications that it may or may not have received.‎

The Cape Breton Post made efforts to speak with Destination Cape Breton CEO Mary Tulle for comment on the cancellation of the Cape Breton Open. She replied with an email listing some of the figures associated with the event — noting that it brought in 170 players, 85 people in player support, 1,500 spectators and 234 volunteers as well as 72 caddies. She said the event had a television reach of 6.7 million viewers and an online media value of $1.3 million. She added it resulted in 1,136 room nights sold and is believed to have had an overall economic impact of $1.45 million.

When asked via email if Golf Cape Breton was the sponsor that pulled out of the event, Tulle said it was not. When asked a followup question via email about ACOA’s involvement this year, Tulle replied, “It was not our application and we had nothing to do with the event this year,” and referred any further comment to Campbell.

Campbell said this year the Cape Breton Open itself had submitted an application to ACOA.

In an email, Lynette MacLeod, spokesperson for the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage, wrote that the department could confirm that it had received a funding application for the 2018 event, and was in the process of evaluating it when it was informed by organizers that the tournament was no longer going to take place.

MacLeod wrote that the province invested $50,000 in the 2017 Cape Breton Open. In 2016 and 2015, the province contributed $50,000; and $100,000 in 2014.

The Municipality of Victoria County had been set to honour its three-year funding commitment of $20,000 to support the Bell Bay tournament.

It was to be the third time that Bell Bay would host the Cape Breton Open. It was an official Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada event. The Celtic Classic was held at The Lakes Golf Club in Ben Eoin for three years before moving to Bell Bay in 2016.

The overall budget of the tournament was more than $300,000, according to Campbell. He has said he hopes to be able to resurrect the event in the future.

nancy.king@cbpost.com