Post by Jack Bauer on Jun 14, 2023 9:36:57 GMT -4
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/irwin-simon-cape-breton-eagles-invests-in-team-1.5375501
4 year old article. Looked back on Irwin's 1st year here. Some quotes and some comments....
Can anyone with better knowledge of the inner workings of these teams tell us how many scouts Cape Breton has vs say everyone else just in the Maritimes? The last thing it would appear they have done is properly build out the infrastructure to support any growth. Especially based on the people he was proudly declaring are in key positions.
Irwin was asked: Is there new money going into the Eagles? Is there more money being spent?
His answer:
Where has there been any investment? Where has there been any major change? Yes, covid happened. But where has any sort of major spending been done to change the culture, team success, bring in the right people, etc?
His attendance goals:
We just had an entire season. Played Halifax in the playoffs. 2 games with 3000+. Not 1 starting with a "4".
The point of showing this is to point out that when Irwin took over...games with a "3" were way more common place. It took another bottoming out and another top kid turning his nose up at us for the market to sink to where we're at now.
So as much as Irwin came in talking about investing, working with government, and wanting to do fan friendly things...after 5 years of it what can anyone say he's actually done? Can we even say we have more scouts since that time? Better management? Coaching? Amenities?
The real irony, though, is this: Article is from November 2019. The team, at that point: 5th out of 10 teams in the Eastern Conference. 1 month from the trade period. So what does Irwin and his team of an out of town GM and great President do? They buy from the middle. Based on where the standings were when the season ended they ended 6-4 in their final 10 and were looking at a very tough 2nd round series. So the best case scenario was likely being a 3rd round walkover for one of the elite teams. But covid happened. They blame the rebuild on covid but their actions in Dec 2019 set up the rebuild as being inevitable.
And he's still blaming us. This entire cycle of shit is because he bought from the middle of the league. Now he's trying to buy from the bottom. And wonders why we're not rushing to buy season tickets.
You're not a new owner any more Irwin. You've been here long enough that we see you're all talk and no action.
I can at least see where the money was spent on the Cambridge Suites. You bought a sign with your name on it.
I don't even see that as happening for this hockey team over the last 5 years.
4 year old article. Looked back on Irwin's 1st year here. Some quotes and some comments....
We have a new general manager in Jacques Carriere. We have a new head of marketing and social media and strategic planning, Courtney Schriver-Richard, and then we have Gerard Shaw, our great president. We also have 10 scouts that are strategically located around the country and in Europe looking for players.
So we've really built out the infrastructure to support the growth of the team, the future of the team and the recruitment and drafting of players.
So we've really built out the infrastructure to support the growth of the team, the future of the team and the recruitment and drafting of players.
Can anyone with better knowledge of the inner workings of these teams tell us how many scouts Cape Breton has vs say everyone else just in the Maritimes? The last thing it would appear they have done is properly build out the infrastructure to support any growth. Especially based on the people he was proudly declaring are in key positions.
Irwin was asked: Is there new money going into the Eagles? Is there more money being spent?
His answer:
Myself being the largest shareholder, owning over 80 percent of it, yes. There's additional cash needed. There is absolutely some major investment that's gone into the team. I want to build a winner and we've got to invest to do that.
Cape Breton has never had a winner in 22 years. Ultimately, I'd love to host the Memorial Cup, love to host the draft.
I'm working with the city in regards to things we can do to upgrade Centre 200. So there's a lot happening in the background. There's a lot of investment that needs to happen to make sure we're able to bring these into Centre 200 and back to Sydney.
Cape Breton has never had a winner in 22 years. Ultimately, I'd love to host the Memorial Cup, love to host the draft.
I'm working with the city in regards to things we can do to upgrade Centre 200. So there's a lot happening in the background. There's a lot of investment that needs to happen to make sure we're able to bring these into Centre 200 and back to Sydney.
Where has there been any investment? Where has there been any major change? Yes, covid happened. But where has any sort of major spending been done to change the culture, team success, bring in the right people, etc?
His attendance goals:
I'd love to have something with a "4" in front of it, but you know we had the other day, 3400, 3500 at the game. We're above last year. Last year, average attendance was about 2400. We're at about 2700, 2800. So we're up already over last year, but we still have a lot of work to do.
We just had an entire season. Played Halifax in the playoffs. 2 games with 3000+. Not 1 starting with a "4".
The point of showing this is to point out that when Irwin took over...games with a "3" were way more common place. It took another bottoming out and another top kid turning his nose up at us for the market to sink to where we're at now.
So as much as Irwin came in talking about investing, working with government, and wanting to do fan friendly things...after 5 years of it what can anyone say he's actually done? Can we even say we have more scouts since that time? Better management? Coaching? Amenities?
The real irony, though, is this: Article is from November 2019. The team, at that point: 5th out of 10 teams in the Eastern Conference. 1 month from the trade period. So what does Irwin and his team of an out of town GM and great President do? They buy from the middle. Based on where the standings were when the season ended they ended 6-4 in their final 10 and were looking at a very tough 2nd round series. So the best case scenario was likely being a 3rd round walkover for one of the elite teams. But covid happened. They blame the rebuild on covid but their actions in Dec 2019 set up the rebuild as being inevitable.
And he's still blaming us. This entire cycle of shit is because he bought from the middle of the league. Now he's trying to buy from the bottom. And wonders why we're not rushing to buy season tickets.
You're not a new owner any more Irwin. You've been here long enough that we see you're all talk and no action.
I can at least see where the money was spent on the Cambridge Suites. You bought a sign with your name on it.
I don't even see that as happening for this hockey team over the last 5 years.