N.B. officials attended NCAA games courtesy of firm awarded public grant money
CBC
Civil servants with the New Brunswick Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture attended basketball games in Arizona in April, using tickets supplied by a company that has received grant money from the department, CBC News has learned.
Four Tourism Department staff members, including deputy minister Yennah Hurley, travelled to Phoenix for five days to attend events around the Final Four of the NCAA men's college basketball tournament.
During that trip, according to information pieced together by CBC News, the group accepted tickets worth hundreds of dollars to attend basketball games, including the national championship game that concludes "March Madness."
According to Bruce Macfarlane, New Brunswick's acting director of media relations, the trip to Phoenix was made in support of a basketball event the company On Ice Entertainment held in Moncton last year and is trying to stage again this fall.
The event, called Atlantic Slam, involves recruiting four of the 362 Division 1 U.S. college men's basketball teams to travel to Moncton to play against one another in a weekend mini tournament.
Last year, teams from Yale University, Colgate University, Weber State University and Gardner-Webb University participated.
Macfarlane said tourism officials, as well as at least two officials from the City of Moncton, attended an NCAA trade show held in the Phoenix area during the basketball finals to promote Atlantic Slam and help On Ice Entertainment find teams for this year's Moncton event.
"The Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture was invited by the On Ice Entertainment to attend the National Basketball Association Conference and Final 4 Meetings/Events," wrote Macfarlane.
During the trip, Macfarlane said, the provincial delegation "met with NCAA officials, coaches and players" with a goal "to ensure that top teams are being secured for the 2024 NCAA Atlantic Slam event."
The Final Four is a major American sporting spectacle staged annually by the NCAA. It has television ratings similar to baseball's World Series and begins with 68 college men's basketball teams playing single elimination games in March and April until four teams are left.
Those four teams play off in a host city to determine a national collegiate men's basketball champion during a long weekend that includes two semifinal games and the championship game.
Records show Hurley's personal bill for flights, accommodations, meals and other expenses to attend the event in Phoenix totalled $5,188.
However, there were no expense receipts submitted for attending basketball games.
Macfarlane said tourism officials did attend games while in Phoenix but with tickets that were supplied by On Ice Entertainment. He said they were given to the Moncton city officials, who then distributed them to the New Brunswick delegation.
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