Confirmed with Link: #MelnykOut Campaign - successfully raised 8K over this past weekend.

[Micklebot]

From living in Ottawa for the past 35 years.

Threaten to move the team.
Bryden: many, many times
Melnyk: once

Get sued by partners, business associates directly involved with the Senators.
Bryden: yes
Melnyk: yes

Failed to make payroll for the players.
Bryden: yes
Melnyk: never

I don’t know either man personally, but neither is stacking up as a great team owner IMHO. If you think the guy who ran the team into bankruptcy is a great guy, then fine. He’s probably a wonderful person. I get that. But he wasn’t a great owner.

I don’t even know how this is a debate?

I guess the argument would stem from Bryden's financial crisis was the result of insumountable debt initiated by outside forces in a new gov't reneging on the prior gov't promises (bonk made a nice post summarizing this a while back) which threw the entire business plan out of whack before it even started. They had bought about 7 mil dollars in farm land (an additional 500 acres beyond the 100 used for the arena) that the gov't had promissed to rezone, which Terrace would have been able to develop and see the value increase by an estimated 10 to 15 fold. Then to top it off foot the bill for 30 mil in building and off ramp. So before you even have an arena you're down ~130+ mil from where you expected to be. Add to that ~50 mil expansion fee, 190 mil to build the arena, and you can see why the team struggled financially.

The difference being that Melnyk seems to have snookered himself, while Bryden (and Firestone for that matter) had the legs chopped out from underneath them. On the other hand, in Melnyk's defense, the team hasn't gone into bankrupcy protection.

 

[slamigo]

Ugh, I think the bottom line is that this fan base could use some good news right now. Either EK resigns this summer, or an advancement in the Lebreton deal, or new stable ownership (or even partners). Something.
Anti-owner billboards are just a symptom of a larger systemic problem.

 

[Ray Kinsella]

From living in Ottawa for the past 35 years.

Threaten to move the team.
Bryden: many, many times
Melnyk: once

Get sued by partners, business associates directly involved with the Senators.
Bryden: yes
Melnyk: yes

Failed to make payroll for the players.
Bryden: yes
Melnyk: never

I don’t know either man personally, but neither is stacking up as a great team owner IMHO. If you think the guy who ran the team into bankruptcy is a great guy, then fine. He’s probably a wonderful person. I get that. But he wasn’t a great owner.

I don’t even know how this is a debate?

Seriously, aside from living in Ottawa for 35 years, what’s the credible source of all your statements?

 

[Ray Kinsella]

Ugh, I think the bottom line is that this fan base could use some good news right now. Either EK resigns this summer, or an advancement in the Lebreton deal, or new stable ownership (or even partners). Something.
Anti-owner billboards are just a symptom of a larger systemic problem.

So you want EK to resign?

 

[BoardsofCanada]

This whole thing is so embarrassing. This guy with his billboards and all of you who support him are just the shit topping on what has been a ridiculously disappointing season.

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

This whole thing is so embarrassing. This guy with his billboards and all of you who support him are just the **** topping on what has been a ridiculously disappointing season.

Embarrassing because fans are showing passion?

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Embarrassing because fans are showing passion?

Maybe apathy would be better. Since when do sports teams require passion, anyways? humbug

 

[slamigo]

So you want EK to resign?

Yes. I think the owner just has fear that EK could turn into another albatross contract. I think EK will be fine. I’m hoping they work it out.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

This whole thing is so embarrassing. This guy with his billboards and all of you who support him are just the **** topping on what has been a ridiculously disappointing season.

It’s probably the only bright spot of the season to be honest.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

It’s probably the only bright spot of the season to be honest.

Nope. Last road trip was.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Nope. Last road trip was.

Ah yes. Need to make sure that winning culture transfers into next season, even if players who won’t even be here play a factor in it.

 

[slamigo]

Seriously, aside from living in Ottawa for 35 years, what’s the credible source of all your statements?

Even after prefacing your remarks with “seriously”, I’m honestly not sure if serious. Google it.
You don’t remember the threatening season ticket drives? That time that Bryden failed to pay the players? The lawsuits? I mean just Google it.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Maybe apathy would be better. Since when do sports teams require passion, anyways? humbug

The powerless tend to claim moral highground to compensate for their lack of power.

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

The powerless tend to claim moral highground to compensate for their lack of power.

Or perhaps they want their voices heard on a different platform

 

[Qward]

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

Ah yes. Need to make sure that winning culture transfers into next season, even if players who won’t even be here play a factor in it.

Overruled! Hearsay.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

The powerless tend to claim moral highground to compensate for their lack of power.

Customers have all the power in a capitalist society. They're just too stupid to realize it.

 

[Joeyjoejoe]

This whole thing is so embarrassing. This guy with his billboards and all of you who support him are just the **** topping on what has been a ridiculously disappointing season.

The only embarrassing thing is your response to people voicing their frustrations.

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

From living in Ottawa for the past 35 years.

Threaten to move the team.
Bryden: many, many times
Melnyk: once

Get sued by partners, business associates directly involved with the Senators.
Bryden: yes
Melnyk: yes

Failed to make payroll for the players.
Bryden: yes
Melnyk: never

I don’t know either man personally, but neither is stacking up as a great team owner IMHO. If you think the guy who ran the team into bankruptcy is a great guy, then fine. He’s probably a wonderful person. I get that. But he wasn’t a great owner.

I don’t even know how this is a debate?

A brief history of the Ottawa Senators

Spring of 2003, a momentous season for the Ottawa Senators. For the first time in franchise history it won the President's Trophy and made it past the second round of the playoffs. Off the ice, the Senators get sold through bankruptcy proceedings, a way of shaking its crippling debt.
What follows is a brief chronology of the team.


Sens ticket drive heats up

Waving flags in Senators sweaters, hundreds of hockey fans jammed the Sparks Street Mall on Wednesday. With just 24 hours to go before the ticket countdown deadline, the push to keep the Ottawa Senators in the capital has hit overdrive.




Judge grants Ottawa Senators bankruptcy protection

Owner Rod Bryden said he hopes the team will be able to stay in the city. But he warned that one of the deciding factors will be whether fans buy tickets. If the seats can't be filled now, while the Senators are in or near first place in the league, investors will be scared away.

 

[BoardsofCanada]

Voicing your frustration in a respectful way is fine. Putting up billboards to publicly shame a man sounds more like catty, highschool bullying. And I am all for passion...how about passion in the form of supporting your team through the good years and bad years. Newsflash!! Teams have down years.

 

[Zorf]

Eugene Melnyk had best beware the Ides of March.



I'm not saying he should be assassinated (RIP Julius Caesar), but perhaps he should take heed of the ill-will that is percolating underneath his feet.










PS. I just wanted to post something about the Ides of March...since today is the Ides of March.

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

Voicing your frustration in a respectful way is fine. Putting up billboards to publicly shame a man sounds more like catty, highschool bullying. And I am all for passion...how about passion in the form of supporting your team through the good years and bad years. Newsflash!! Teams have down years.

The "fans" who decided to put their money into these Billboards, could have proclaimed their desire to have Karlsson remain a Senator, and promise to support the team if that happened, by committing to a 5 pack of tickets for next year.

Instead they decided to ask the Owner to sell the team, as if that would in someway make the difficulties of the Ottawa market disappear.

They could have taken the High road, but instead decided to take the Low road.

 

[Joeyjoejoe]

Oh boo hoo. The man has shamed embarrassed and insulted the city for too long, where were you during the tirade he threw in December before the outdoor game and threw the city and the fans under the bus, now some fans are giving him a taste of his own medicine.

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

Eugene Melnyk had best beware the Ides of March.



I'm not saying he should be assassinated (RIP Julius Caesar), but perhaps he should take heed of the ill-will that is percolating underneath his feet.










PS. I just wanted to post something about the Ides of March...since today is the Ides of March.

Did you post something about Pie Day?

 

[Joeyjoejoe]

The "fans" who decided to put their money into these Billboards, could have proclaimed their desire to have Karlsson remain a Senator, and promise to support the team if that happened, by committing to a 5 pack of tickets for next year.

Instead they decided to ask the Owner to sell the team, as if that would in someway make the difficulties of the Ottawa market disappear.

They could have taken the High road, but instead decided to take the Low road.

hahahahahahahahahaha

Whos man is this?