The City of Kamloops anticipates the temporary skyway inside Sandman Centre being built for the Memorial Cup should be complete before the end of this month.

After securing $200,000 to create the temporary platform – half from the City of Kamloops and half from the Memorial Cup Host Committee – the City’s Event Supervisor Sean Smith says the skyway could be open before the tournament next month.

“We’ll be able to have an opportunity to use it as a dry run during the playoffs before the Memorial Cup gets here to figure out how its going to work operationally with people accessing it up and down and food and service as well,” Smith said.

The skyway is being built on the east-end of the Sandman Centre to add roughly 200 additional seats for CHL brass, families of the out-of-town players, and TSN’s broadcast team.

Smith says the logistics of how people will be able to access the skyway has been finalized.

“In the north east corner, I think there is normally a 50/50 booth there, there will be a set of stairs that comes down in the corner and then on the southeast corner along Lorne Street there, they are going to use the existing staircase that is accessing the Loge seating up top,” he said.

“It’ll be ticketed area similar to the Loge and with having TSN up there, we’re going to have to monitor it and make sure that people who are up there are supposed to be up there. It won’t be a regular thoroughfare.”

While it will be taken down after the Memorial Cup, the City intends to use this temporary skyway as a test to see if a more permanent structure might be viable inside the 30-year old Sandman Centre.

“It certainly is a possibility to have a similar structure that may be more permanent in the future,” Smith added. “It would require a business case and some budgeting because there will be fairly significant costs involved in that.”

“The fees for the rental structures don’t make it easy so it needs to come down right away but if its going to be permanent, then we would look at doing a proper building renovation.”