77 years of public ownership is over, a new era and if all goes according to plan, soon a new stadium will be on the way for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
David Asper, the media mogul of Manitoba, has fulfilled a long held ambition to become the sole owner of the Winnipeg Blue Bomber football team. The CFL franchise announced on Friday that the board of directors had voted in favour of the terms of Asper’s application. A move that adds one more team to the private owner’s club of the CFL, leaving only Saskatchewan and Edmonton as community run teams.
The Asper negotiations were a gut wrenching procedure for the community board, and indeed for the fans of Manitoba’s team, a 77 year investment is hard to just turn over without a few sad glances back at what was once was. But in simple terms, the deal with Asper seems to be one of the few ways to at least get the process of a new stadium for Winnipeg underway. Asper has had his plans drawn up for close to a year now, promising a state of the art stadium, entertainment and shopping complex for the city, a new home for the Bombers who have had to make do with the out of date Maroon road park for far too long.
Asper will pay 40 million for the team and, 7-10 million the value of the franchise, the remainder is his share of the required monies to build a new stadium on the current site in Winnipeg's Polo Park. Combined with expected contributions from federal an provincial governments, his investment will bring him control of the new stadium as well as the ancillary revenues to be generated around the stadium site upon development, for which he will spend another 25 million dollars.
How his move into the boardroom impacts on the product on the field remains to be seen, there may be changes in the upper management structure of the squad, with Lyle Bauer perhaps exploring greener pastures soon, Bauer and Asper once got into a heated argument over Bomber matters, with Bauer having to get Asper escorted out of the park on one occasion. Whether the new boss has decided to turn the page on that episode will be of interest to many.
It’s a turning of the page for football in Manitoba, a long time fixture of the community, complete with fundraising drives, dinners and traveling caravans now goes corporate. If the product on the field improves steadily this year, the growing pains of the transition may not even be noticed. If the Mr. Asper can deliver on his promise of a new stadium, one which suits the needs of not only the Bombers, but the community at large, then this day will be known more for a new chapter, than any kind of funeral mass.
Most importantly, reassuring football fans that their team’s future is safe in the hands of Mr. Asper is key. If he can earn the trust of the fans of the Bombers, his days as owner of the team should be calm and successful. If however, the new regime becomes to secretive and excludes the fan base of a sense of ownership, then the privatized era of Blue Bomber football could very well be as controversial as the major issues of the day that break down along public/private lines.
There’s no middle ground in Manitoba on some issues, most of them revolve around health care, car insurance and governance, with a new direction for the football team, the Blue Bombers may very well become one of the major debating issues for Manitobans for years to come.
The media reviews so far:
CFL's Bombers transfered to private owner
David Asper, the media mogul of Manitoba, has fulfilled a long held ambition to become the sole owner of the Winnipeg Blue Bomber football team. The CFL franchise announced on Friday that the board of directors had voted in favour of the terms of Asper’s application. A move that adds one more team to the private owner’s club of the CFL, leaving only Saskatchewan and Edmonton as community run teams.
The Asper negotiations were a gut wrenching procedure for the community board, and indeed for the fans of Manitoba’s team, a 77 year investment is hard to just turn over without a few sad glances back at what was once was. But in simple terms, the deal with Asper seems to be one of the few ways to at least get the process of a new stadium for Winnipeg underway. Asper has had his plans drawn up for close to a year now, promising a state of the art stadium, entertainment and shopping complex for the city, a new home for the Bombers who have had to make do with the out of date Maroon road park for far too long.
Asper will pay 40 million for the team and, 7-10 million the value of the franchise, the remainder is his share of the required monies to build a new stadium on the current site in Winnipeg's Polo Park. Combined with expected contributions from federal an provincial governments, his investment will bring him control of the new stadium as well as the ancillary revenues to be generated around the stadium site upon development, for which he will spend another 25 million dollars.
How his move into the boardroom impacts on the product on the field remains to be seen, there may be changes in the upper management structure of the squad, with Lyle Bauer perhaps exploring greener pastures soon, Bauer and Asper once got into a heated argument over Bomber matters, with Bauer having to get Asper escorted out of the park on one occasion. Whether the new boss has decided to turn the page on that episode will be of interest to many.
It’s a turning of the page for football in Manitoba, a long time fixture of the community, complete with fundraising drives, dinners and traveling caravans now goes corporate. If the product on the field improves steadily this year, the growing pains of the transition may not even be noticed. If the Mr. Asper can deliver on his promise of a new stadium, one which suits the needs of not only the Bombers, but the community at large, then this day will be known more for a new chapter, than any kind of funeral mass.
Most importantly, reassuring football fans that their team’s future is safe in the hands of Mr. Asper is key. If he can earn the trust of the fans of the Bombers, his days as owner of the team should be calm and successful. If however, the new regime becomes to secretive and excludes the fan base of a sense of ownership, then the privatized era of Blue Bomber football could very well be as controversial as the major issues of the day that break down along public/private lines.
There’s no middle ground in Manitoba on some issues, most of them revolve around health care, car insurance and governance, with a new direction for the football team, the Blue Bombers may very well become one of the major debating issues for Manitobans for years to come.
The media reviews so far:
CFL's Bombers transfered to private owner
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