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Canada’s Number One

THE VOICE OF NORTH AND WEST VANCOUVER

. Place sues

B.C. PLACE stadium has filed a writ in B.C.

Supreme Court against the North Shore Colts for

payment of $44,000.
The civil suit results from

the non-payment of stadium
rental bills racked up by the

By TIMOTHY. RENSHAW

local soccer club from a = attendance for the three
June 5 to 6 B.C. Place in- nights of competition a
ternational soccer tourna- dismal 17,000.
a ment. The Colts and team
That tournament, which chairman Grant Johnstone
was bankrolled and = pro- lost an estimated $150,000 of

the tournament's $300,000
sponsorship costs.

moted by the Colts, fell far
short of expectations, with

According to the Dec. 2
writ, monies owed by the
Colts to B.C. Place after the
tournament were demanded
July §. A payment schedule
was subsequently agreed
upon with the Colts to pay
$5,000 in August and three
$10,000 installments over the
following three months.

The August payment was
made, but the three subse-
quent payments were delin-
quent.

Johnstone said Tuesday
that a new payment sched-
ule, in’ which the North
Shore team agreed to pay
$6,000 per month, was set
up after the team’s failure to
meet the $40,000 payments.

The first payment,
Johnstone said, was due
Nov. 30. ‘That payment
was made on Dec. 3, before
I knew the writ was filed.”

Johnstone added that the
Colts will continue to make

payments: “B.C. Place has
been very good to us." The
next is due Jan. 2.

B.C. Place general man-
ager Harry Renaud declined
to comment on the stadium's
legal action against the
Colts.

Johnstone added that the
future of the Colts is ex-
tremely tenuous at this
point.

“Tt doesn't look like there
will be a team next year.”

On Oct. 7, Johnstone an-
nounced his team would be
suspending its 1986 regular
season involvement in the
Pacific Rim Soccer League
(PRSL) after learning that
his team’s home park,
Kinsmen Stadium, would
not be available in 1986.

The PRSL_ subsequently
suspended the Colts.

Johnstone said he would
make a full statement con-
cerning the future of the
Colts early next week.