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Post by nsvees on Feb 21, 2023 13:44:48 GMT -4
Unless I missed something, I did not see this coming.
The Mooseheads have had a tremendous amount of success during his ownership. I thank him for that, along with everyone involved in the franchise; hockey people, players, coaches, support staff, business side, etc. Has everything gone right/has every decision they've made been the right ones? No, but a lot more gone right than wrong. I don't want to sound like a Bobby Smith/Mooseheads homer/sycophant, I just want to acknowledge the overall story. Every team has their ups and downs.
I wish the new ownership well going forward. All they need to do is keep things going and don't bleep it up. Make sure the hockey side is in good competent hands and don't get in the way. Even in down years, the team still draws around 5,000 fans per game. They'll undoubtedly make some changes as they do things their way. Hopefully, whatever comes next has a positive impact on the franchise and they are still a team that we can be proud of both on and off the ice.
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Post by bois on Feb 21, 2023 13:48:00 GMT -4
Weird - if somebody was to have told me back in 2009 there would come a day I would feel some misgiving about Bobby selling the team I would have laughed in their face ….. yet here we are and I don’t feel good about this at all. I hope the new ownership doesn’t try to “fix” what isn’t broken. I hope they understand the cycle that goes into building championship teams. I really hope new ownership doesn’t make the same mistake Bobby did that led into the dark ages of the franchise. I hope that if there is a learning curve it doesn’t take them as long as it took Bobby to figure it out. I hope this new owner doesn't have a 15 yo son...  Daniel Simon second line center in 2025 |
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Post by JEagle on Feb 21, 2023 13:54:01 GMT -4
I just hope for Mooseheads fans sake that having a new owner with the last name of Simon works out better for them then it has for Eagles fans thus far.
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Post by englishjet on Feb 21, 2023 14:12:53 GMT -4
Something I didn’t definitely see happening and I echo the calls for the status quo.
Away from hockey, I do hope they tap into the Scotiabank’s potential as a music venue more; there’s money to be made in using it for shows and whatnot, rather than having it sit empty 5 nights a week and most of the summer. . Saying this as a music lover, not necessarily as a hockey fan.
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Post by yesisaiditfirst on Feb 21, 2023 14:23:44 GMT -4
We will move from an era of a hockey guy owning a hockey team and perhaps knowing enough to meddle in the hockey stuff to an era of a business guy hiring people to do the hockey stuff and let them make the hockey decisions.
We have often wondered if some trades and moves were done (or not done) because of the Bobby veto.
Well this can't be a bad thing if the new owner is there to expand the fan experience and deliver cash. Can it? Maybe better coaching long term, better facilities, better influence on the league?
The biggest difference probably is division of responsibility better defined.
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Post by Jack Bauer on Feb 21, 2023 14:27:01 GMT -4
Something I didn’t definitely see happening and I echo the calls for the status quo. Away from hockey, I do hope they tap into the Scotiabank’s potential as a music venue more; there’s money to be made in using it for shows and whatnot, rather than having it sit empty 5 nights a week and most of the summer. . Saying this as a music lover, not necessarily as a hockey fan. Is there money to be made though? Most local acts play the smaller venues because its just more practical. You need a band with a following to draw 5000+ to use SBC...but also be someone small enough where you don't need 9000 @ $140 each to make a profit. Its a tough middle ground to find. Its also not practical to have an event like that more then 1-2 times per month because you're expecting the same people to come every time. People who support Rock or Classic Rock acts probably aren't going to be into a big country act and vice versa. But thinking they can do say 10 shows in July because the building is empty would probably just lead to a pile of money being lost because people can't afford to go that often when you add the $80+ tickets with the other costs of a night out. |
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Post by yesisaiditfirst on Feb 21, 2023 14:29:47 GMT -4
It would be very interesting if the new owners are entertaining buying the facility down the road. Many of these owners do go that route. Big picture makes sense for them.
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Post by Jack Bauer on Feb 21, 2023 14:34:23 GMT -4
It would be very interesting if the new owners are entertaining buying the facility down the road. Many of these owners do go that route. Big picture makes sense for them. Does it for a Q team though? Managing the building would be a headache. You also can't prevent the scenario of: Owner buys property. Owner doesn't upkeep property. Public gets pissed at state of arena. Government eventually forced to reclaim arena and spend millions on overdue maintenance or do tear down/rebuild. |
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Post by Briwhel on Feb 21, 2023 14:36:43 GMT -4
It would be very interesting if the new owners are entertaining buying the facility down the road. Many of these owners do go that route. Big picture makes sense for them. Does it for a Q team though? Managing the building would be a headache. You also can't prevent the scenario of: Owner buys property. Owner doesn't upkeep property. Public gets pissed at state of arena. Government eventually forced to reclaim arena and spend millions on overdue maintenance or do tear down/rebuild. Also, it's hard to justify any public funds going towards upkeep of the arena if it is privately held, meaning the owner becomes 100% responsible for upkeep. |
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Post by nsvees on Feb 21, 2023 15:18:18 GMT -4
Willy Palov's story on the sale and new owner Sam Simon/family:
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Post by Reesor on Feb 21, 2023 15:27:29 GMT -4
We'll be back and forth but I think that the city will see and the community will see and the team will see that we're very hands-on people.
- Peter Simon, son of new Mooseheads owner Sam Simon
The phrase "hands-on" from a owner can seem scary. There have been many hands-on owners that didn't know what they were putting their hands on. If you have people hired to operate the hockey team, they should operate the hockey team. But yes it would be encouraging to have ownership that is always trying to improve the fan experience.
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Post by Jack Bauer on Feb 21, 2023 15:51:00 GMT -4
We'll be back and forth but I think that the city will see and the community will see and the team will see that we're very hands-on people.- Peter Simon, son of new Mooseheads owner Sam Simon The phrase "hands-on" from a owner can seem scary. There have been many hands-on owners that didn't know what they were putting their hands on. If you have people hired to operate the hockey team, they should operate the hockey team. But yes it would be encouraging to have ownership that is always trying to improve the fan experience. The phrase "hands-on" from the son of the owner IS scary to me. Daddy giving him a new toy to play with might not necessarily be a great business plan. |
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Post by lirette on Feb 21, 2023 16:05:50 GMT -4
We'll be back and forth but I think that the city will see and the community will see and the team will see that we're very hands-on people.- Peter Simon, son of new Mooseheads owner Sam Simon The phrase "hands-on" from a owner can seem scary. There have been many hands-on owners that didn't know what they were putting their hands on. If you have people hired to operate the hockey team, they should operate the hockey team. But yes it would be encouraging to have ownership that is always trying to improve the fan experience. There is a big difference between being hands on from a fan experience, ticket sales, marketing etc to wanting to give the approval on every hockey move the team makes and have input on who gets drafted. Junior hockey has been relatively stale from a marketing and game day perspective in the last 10 years. For Halifax thats kind of fine, the hockey speaks for itself along with a well located arena. But there's untapped potential also to grow the fanbase. There's' the odd promo night like 80s night, or discounted tickets for hockey teams, but there's a lot more you can do. I even look at what SJ is doing with the tribute acts as something "innovative" for junior hockey and thats just one thing. Making the game more of an experience where you are drawing fans who may not even care about hockey. Professional sports does this quite well. I went to a sitcom night at Rogers Centre this year where they played sitcom music throughout the night, had a bunch of funny videos with jays players doing impressions of their favorite sitcom lines, they had the westjet flight deck area of the mezzinine filled with interesting photo ops. The lines at some of these things were hundreds and hundreds of people long. You can't really do those type of nights well though if you dont have the financial backing to do so. Teams like Bathurst are just worried about paying the bills. I'd imagine within a few years of ownership you'll have a sense on what hands on means. I'd be nervous if I was a moose fan, its not like new ownership is something that was needed. In fact clearly it wasn't since the team wasnt even for sale. You had a stable situation and now you have an unsure situation. If the owner doesn't get along with Cam Russell then it doesn't matter what new interesting fan experiences you might get if the hockey is negatively impacted because the owner hired his son as the head of scouting. |
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Post by trueblue on Feb 21, 2023 16:24:09 GMT -4
Another excerpt from the article:
This sounds like a whole lot of off-ice stuff - "fan experience", "business strategies".
Maybe they tweak the game day experience. Maybe there's more promos. Maybe we see more special edition jerseys. Maybe they do a proper pride night/hockey is for everyone night like the thread on this board earlier this year was asking for. Maybe they ask if Hal can hang out here and there Wanderers Grounds over the summer.
As Bobby said today, he didn't have many fresh ideas left 20 years into it.
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Post by hockeydad on Feb 21, 2023 16:39:32 GMT -4
Without knowing the actual deal I would not be surprise to think that Bobby Smith will be around for a short period of time to guide the new owners through the process 3 to 6 month period is generally the norm .
With that being said the take over should be a lot smoother and business as usually .
Like any business it has to make money the biggest question I have is why did Bobby sell the business ?
Those facts and more will will come out over the coming days .
I for one can see this as more of a future transaction with new rink coming down the road and who no’s maybe a futuristic NHL team but that is all likely 10 or more years away .
All it’s nice to see a billionaire investing in are future !
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