The story broke on Friday as the 2006 regular season of the CFL was about to get under way, David Naylor and Grant Kerr of the Globe and Mail with an inside scoop that the BC Lions have quietly been put on the market for sale.
It was a featured event on the season debut of Friday Night Football as the recently hired Brian Williams (yet another CBC refugee to find a home at TSN and CTV) slid into a spot in the pre game show with a tease for his interview with Naylor at half time.
The interview itself was a recap of the newspaper article earlier in the day, as well as with a bit of speculation as to motive. Is Braley angling for the job of Commissioner once Tom Wright is finally shown the door? Is he interested in doing for Ottawa, what he has done for BC, return a football team from the ashes of near bankruptcy to one of the showpieces of the league?
Regardless of the motive, it's an interesting story, one of the few franchises over the years that may actually bring in a significant dollar figure for an owner should he sell, mind you Braley has lost more than a few dollars over the years he nurtured the Leos back to fiscal responsibility, so it may take a few dollars to bring him back to where he started from.
As we try to read the tea leaves about where Braley and the Leos go from this point, here is the original article from the Globe and Mail.
Lions for sale, sources say
DAVID NAYLOR AND GRANT KERR
From Friday's Globe and Mail
The owner of the B.C. Lions, David Braley, has quietly put his Canadian Football League team up for sale, according to two league sources.
Braley, who brought the team out of receivership midway through the 1996 season when no one else locally was willing to step forward, is said to be seeking between $10-million and $15-million for the club. The Lions have experienced a tremendous resurgence during the past four seasons under president Bob Ackles.
Braley, who lives in Burlington, Ont., is in Vancouver for tonight's home opener against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Yesterday, he was not prepared to go public with what he has made known in limited CFL circles, saying his team was "unequivocally not for sale."
The timing of Braley's decision to sell, however, makes sense. While most CFL teams change hands in times of crisis, the Lions' story is all good news.
The club heads into this season with 19,000 season-ticket holders, roughly the same total as last season, when Vancouver played host to the Grey Cup game and hit a 14-year high with an average attendance of 32,615 a game.
During this past off-season, the club announced it had turned a profit on operations for the first time since Braley took over.
"David made money for the first time . . . and we didn't make much," Ackles told the Vancouver Sun in January. "We're not hemorrhaging any more. But he still has a huge nut that he's lost over nine years. His debts are substantial since he bought the franchise."
Being able to sell the club with Ackles and general manager and head coach Wally Buono on board is also a significant plus, ensuring competitiveness both on and off the field. Even so, Braley's notion that the team could be worth as much as $15-million is a stretch, given that the Calgary Stampeders sold for $6.5-million a year ago.
Braley, the owner of Hamilton-based Orlick Industries, a tool-and-die company, owned the Hamilton Tiger-Cats from 1989 to 1992 and was the CFL's interim commissioner during the 2002 season. Sources said he has had multiple inquiries about the Lions in recent years.
Braley's potential exit from the CFL could have a significant impact on the league at the board level.
Closely aligned with Montreal Alouettes owner Bob Wetenhall, Braley has often been at odds with the league office, including being strongly opposed to the past three commissioners. He has been recently critical of the league's new salary management system and commissioner Tom Wright.
No comments:
Post a Comment