Monday 4 May 2015

WHL Commissioner Speaks to Shareholders

The Commissioner of the Western Hockey League is recommending Lethbridge Hurricanes shareholders "strongly" consider selling the community-owned franchise to a private owner.

Ron Robison was in Lethbridge Monday night and spoke to about 180 shareholders at the ENMAX Centre. He said given teh current financial situation with the team, shareholders should consider looking at private ownership. His full interview with Lethbridge media following the 90 minute meeting is below.

Hurricanes President Doug Paisley also noted that shareholders will soon receive 21 days notice of a special meeting to vote on whether to hold a "sale vote" later on.

Thanks,
Pat


15 comments:

  1. Paisley said himself that he was elected to run a community owned franchise and not pontificate against private ownership, which he happened to sneak in after Robison had spoken. Vote to vote and the actual procedure to run such a vote/poll vote was not clarified all that well by the legal council for the Hurricanes. Be that as it may, Paisley also stated there would be no financials given prior to or during the vote to vote meeting. I would think that if ....if the team has made a profit this year then it would be to their benefit to announce it, however if they have another deficit (highly likely) then it would be to their benefit not to announce it, as either scenario could and I say could swing a vote to not sell or a vote to sell. As for not having the actual figures, they must have a very good idea where this team is financially (they would have to let the Commissioner know) and thus let the shareholders know. It was most obvious that the commissioner (league) wants the team sold, so what happens if the shareholders vote no? How long is the leash?

    RJS

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  2. If the shareholders vote NO then the team will continue as is. They will stagnate and likely attendance will drop as the community will see the NO to a sale vote as a negative. The team will continue to lose money for a period of time and the league will take over the team. If we don't sell and there is not a drastic turnaround then inevitably the WHL will take control of the team as they will become insolvent. I know vendors right now who are having a hard time collecting on accounts receivable from the canes. They will not last long if the status quo is maintained. The commish indirectly said "sell or we will take over and sell it for you." He knows the team can not survive if things do not change.

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  3. Given the advise that Robison presented last year at this time to the Lethbridge City council and to the board that..."until better management/leadership was in place, it was likely that the franchise would not have much success" (which apparently fell on deaf ears) as McNaughton promptly rebutted, he and the board believed that the correct management/leadership was in place? Then, picked right up where they left off and wasted the entire first half of this season, finally relenting to what Robison advised going into the last off season, firing BR/DB. Tells me that the board will likely try to keep control if they can, I doubt that the real financial actuals will ever be made public at any level and that they will hope that the share holders will believe that the margin and limited amount of success that Anholt had will give them more time??? I agree with Robison, this franchise has been stuck in the same hole spinning it's wheels for far to long already and cannot financially continue, its time to sell the team and if the WHL is willing to guarantee that the franchise will stay in our city, then it should be a no brainer to do anything other than follow the advise given by the comish and the league. Time for change folks!!!

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  4. I agree with all the above comments. Time to sell. The Commish couldn't have been more clear. I only hope the shareholders are listening.

    LaRon

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  5. At the meeting a while back the board made it pretty clear that 3500 fans are needed at each home game. Go to the games, financial problems solved. Hockey changes were needed and made. Anholt is a life long WHL guy that will get the job done. It just needs good leadership and I think the right people are now in place unlike the last President and last GM and last Head Coach. No need to sell as long as the right people are in place and 3500 people show up each night.

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  6. I don't think 3 500 people will show up every night. That's been proven over and over. Even when the Hurricanes were a winning team, they don't average 3 500/game. I believe that is wishful thinking.

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  7. Having private ownership, will help in the long term rebuilding, When tough decisions need to be made with private it will happen with the board, it will be like it has for the last 10 yrs, I am willing to give Anholt some time, but His record in the past has not been glowing,

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  8. The club's poor results aren't because of the fact it's a publicly owned club, it's because the Shareholders previously elected a subpar Board, the Board hired subpar Mgmt, and Mgmt hired subpar coaches.

    The Canes now have a Board and a President with both common sense and hockey sense. They hired a GM with vast WHL connections which will help with scouting, recruiting, and hiring future coaches and scouts.

    The Leafs and Oilers are also privately owned... it's not a guarantee of success.

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    1. Well said. The founders never intended to sell this club, and as such, there is no mechanism in place to do so. Would appear to be a "palace coup" if done otherwise than amending the Articles and providing such a vehicle. Any amendments to the Articles need to be brought before the shareholders as in the past where exactly that was done so. One was changing the cycle of the tenure of board members.
      Private means nothing other than we can pinpoint who to yell at when the team struggles.

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  9. This team consistently, in the past had 3500 average fans, or very close. That information was also presented. The problem is the building was in reno mode for 3 years which lead to a less than ideal game experience (it was f'n cold in there). Then people got on the band wagon of demise as the team on ice performance was subpar, then the disastrous Berehowsky/Robson debacle. If the team is truly past all of those hurdles (who knows if they are) then I think 3500 will be there like they were in years past. According to the board this solves the money issue. The hockey issues appear to be moving forward nicely.

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  10. It's funny to see people saying the hockey is all good now when the canes were just as bad at the end of the season as they were at the start. That is a fact. Numbers don't lie. People with agendas do. Stability is a word being tossed around a lot. Reminds me of the "accountability" and "systems" days. Until there are wins Anholt has proven nothing. I support him but it is ridiculous to think that things are stable when you end the last season with an 8 game losing streak. It is also really sad that BOD member Cory Mclean is on twitter putting out pro community owned propaganda. When the BOD is undermining the league and commish we got problems. It is not his place to run a campaign to squash the vote. Please stick to your job and not working to try and protect it.

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  11. Placed this in wrong article earlier---

    Interesting item in Taking Note by Gregg Drinnan, Kamloops (May 4) regarding the Blazers from Community owned to Private.......was not smooth sailing.....

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  12. On the other side of the coin, the forced sale of the floundering Portland Winterhawks (who were in a horrible mess on and off the ice) to another owner ended up with the franchise being one of the most consistent and successful franchises in the league.

    Paisley said a the shareholder meeting with the commissioner that he was elected to run a community owned franchise and it was not his place to comment on community owned vs private. Maybe he should pass on that to Cory Mclean.

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  13. and on the other side of another coin, the commish was just in Cranbrook singing the no improved attendance tune or we gonna move song. Had smilar song book in PA only it was a new building there. Face it, community owned, private owned, they go where the money is or the best deal. Now if we go private just how much of the taxpayers dime are we willing to give up in concessions. We have already spent 34 mil on the rink, next??? Unfortunately the city is way to diverse and the competition for entertainment dollars is immense. I can't think off the top of my head any organization that doesn't get dip from the city. Should a privately owned hockey team be next.

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  14. Anonymous May 8th and 10th, people like you shouldn't be allowed to post your void of fact or tact crap you post. This team is finally being lead by hockey people, on the board and with the new GM. A lot of very good hockey moves have been made. The record was better, the team is really young with lots of pieces to build around. Very likely this team will miss the playoffs again in 2015-16 but I can comfortably say the hockey issues are fixed. As for slagging a board member because he posted something on his personal twitter... get a life. I read the article and would hardly say he is posting pro-community, maybe he is posting something to shed perspective (that is what he said) and something that is interesting (that is also what he said). And I would say the article is interesting and it should be shared with everyone who thinks the magic potion of private ownership will shed many rays of sunshine across this land. The article was written by a guy in Kamloops on the topic of how not smooth that transaction was and since private ownership the team essentially still sucks. Who are you to question the article when it was written by someone with vast knowledge of that situation. How about instead of slagging a guy for his twitter account you shake his hand and thank him for his hundreds of hours of work to try to make this better (along with all of the other board members). I would say it is pretty clear that things are much different and much improved. Go Canes!

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