I don't know if I would call the Greyhounds ownership stable, but it's been pretty good recently. I guess in regards to ownership stability, I don't really see what that has to do with East and West. Peterborough is a bigger market than the Soo and it seems to me like it's mostly random chance whether a team has a good owner or not.
I understand what you are saying about finances and it's clear when London rolls into town with NHL calibre resources that other teams can only dream of. In terms of management though, I don't necessarily agree. To use your examples, I'm confident that Roger Hunt doesn't make that much more than Mike Oke, if he does at all. There are good exectlutives that will go to any team for a reasonable price. The Greyhounds basically pulled Kyle Dubas out of the stands and put him in the GM chair.
Regarding scouting, the regional scouts are in town a minimum of once per month for meetings. It's not a huge cost, but it adds up. I think this point is kind of irrelevant to the whole conversation though. I shouldn't have mentioned it earlier.
I get what you are saying. I think where the ownership influence comes into play more for stability is:
1> Interference and meddling
2> Trust
3> A deep understanding of Major Junior Hockey operations
Teams with long standing ownership that understands the cycles and nature of revenue/costs usually have better year to year results. Teams with newer owners that are trying to learn on the fly and look at it more a kin to their other businesses tend to be less successful. They tend to make poor decisions and have poor expectations.
You are right that Roger Hunt probably doesn’t make much more if any than Oke but that is just one cost. The total cost of a management team can be staggering from franchise to franchise.
I remember back in the Earl Montagano days (prior to Jeff Hunt) in Ottawa, a guy named Doug Drain was the one person that handled all marketing, advertising, communications, season ticket holder liaison and game day ticket sales. ONE PERSON! It was ridiculous. The 67’s organization was a disaster. Poor attendance, no significant revenue outside of ticket sales etc. Jeff Hunt came in a bank rolled the whole organization from top to bottom and filled the seats and sold a tremendous amount of advertising, he pretty much pimped out all the available space in the rink. It was a dramatic shift.
The point is to do that you have to have the coin. You have to either have an owner willing to make that financial gamble or have enough revenue to reinvest. If you don’t, you are always going to be at the same spot. Costs will rise but revenues won’t rise to match those costs. That shortfall has to come out of someone’s pocket. That could means spending les son administration, game day experiences, management salaries, scouting, road expenses etc. As soon as a team starts to tighten the belt, those on the inside notice and word gets around. It makes it a less desirable place for recruits to play.
To come full circle on the topic at hand, EAST vs WEST, what we’ve seen from many of the Eastern teams is belt tightening. In moderately recent years, we’ve seen Newmarket move to Sarnia, North Bay move to Saginaw, Brampton move to North Bay, Mississauga move to Niagara, St Mikes move to Mississauga, Belleville move to Hamilton. We’ve heard news of the Petes struggling up until last season. Most of this involves Eastern Teams. That suggests that, in general, the Eastern Teams are having a rougher time financially. I didn’t include the Detroit to Plymouth to Flint situation because that wasn’t financial as much as it was a pissing contest between Karmonos and Illitch. Relatively speaking, the Western Teams haven’t had much movement in the last 25 years. In fact, the trend has been teams moving to Western locations.
I guess my point is that a strong foundation starts with stable ownership, follows with stable revenue, and then strong management and coaching. IT is rare for a team to have solid management and coaching if the franchise has bad ownership and poor revenues. The 67’s managed to do it because of Kilrea back before Hunt took over. But, it is rare you see that as a sustainable way forward.
