The City of Burnaby has opted not to provide a $10,000 sponsorship grant to an inaugural video game event taking place at the local Delta Hotel.
In a memo included in an agenda package for city council’s executive committee, staff noted a $10,000 community grant request from Tourism Burnaby. The group had originally applied through the city’s festivals grant program, but because it’s a sports tournament, the application didn’t meet the criteria for that grant.
BashFest is an event created in partnership between Tourism Burnaby and The Gaming Stadium, an esports company with a video-gaming stadium in Richmond. The event will be held over three days at the Delta Hotel, including an esports tournament, a concert and an esports roundtable.
In the memo, city staff said BashFest is expected to bring 1,000 esports athletes and attendees from around the world.
Staff noted the city tends to provide in-kind grants to a variety of sports tournaments hosted at city facilities, including the Pat Quinn Classic hockey tournament, the 2017 Rowing Championships and the 2016 World Junior Taekwondo Championship.
In the case of all of those grants, the support came in the form of the city offering a discount on the use of city facilities or other similar types of grants. Staff also noted the city has typically not provided grants to other sports events that were not hosted at city facilities.
Since BashFest is being hosted at the Delta Hotel, rather than at a city-owned facility, staff said the city should “respectfully decline” approving a grant for the event.
BashFest is running from Feb. 21 to 23 at the Delta Hotel.
