Upgrades are coming to Mosaic Place with player safety in mind. The Western Hockey League has mandated new boards and glass to help reduce hockey-related concussions but when the downtown facility was built, they weren't included. Now the WHL says it must be done by September 2019 and city is being pressured to comply.

Councillor Brian Swanson says it's hard for him to vote in favour of replacing something that's less than a decade old. "There are approximately 30 teams in the WHL and there are three venues that have yet to comply with this league standard and Moose Jaw is one of them."

"What sealed the deal for me was that the Warriors have offered to pay 50 per cent of the cost of this," said Swanson. "The impact of concussions is a well known social topic these days and it would be possible that we would increase our liability if we don't comply."

The new boards and glass will cost over $400,000 and the work is said to be already underway to install the new system but there will be other benefits to the upgrade according to Councillor Crystal Froese.

"The other part of this speaks to the efficiency that will happen once this is charged over," said Froese. "The current boards and glass are very labour intensive to change over for events so this will be a time saver of up to 72 hours... and they're estimating about savings of about $11,000 annually."

The goal is to have the renovations completed in time for the new WHL season this fall.