Brian Burke's media disaster, threatens Calgary may relocate + talk on concussions

[Kamiccolo]

Didn't see a thread on this, but it is certainly blowing up in the hockey news. Brian Burke again is making himself not well liked around the NHL and in Calgary right now.

Per TSN: "Brian Burke spoke at the Canadian Club in Calgary Wednesday and expressed his disappointment that Calgary city council essentially shelved the public-private sports complex proposal called CalgaryNEXT and said the team could leave without a new arena. Burke also got into a heated exchange with a member of the audience."

http://www.tsn.ca/video/are-the-flames-leaving-calgary~1141418

As there was so much said in this gongshow it's impossible to cover all of it, but here are some of the most quotable talking points he said

On concussions:



Can't imagine the NHL likes this with their concussion lawsuits and the players must not appreciate that either.

To the season ticket holders:







And to throw more fire onto this with the team wanting tax payers to foot most of the bill for new arena, the flames owner actually moved to England to avoid paying Canadian taxes

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/rep...explains-his-move-to-england/article29879463/

So there is a ton of information here, but I felt a thread was really appropriate as not only did Burke threaten relocation of a franchise, he also had to make boneheaded concussion comments.

Discuss.

Click to read more...

 

[boredmale]

Bring back the Atlanta Flames

 

[hockey17jp]

I understand why people may be upset with the concussions quote but in all honesty he's 100% right.

Any hockey player at any level knows by now that because it is a fast paced, physical sport there is a risk of a concussion. If you aren't comfortable with that risk, simply do not play hockey. He's not wrong there.

 

[7even]

Bring back the Atlanta Flames

Pls.

 

[King In The North]

That last bit is gold. Everyone knows owners are greedy ****** who want to use public money to finance a new arena. Doesn't make it right. Especially if the public themselves don't want to do it.

This guy shouldn't touch a microphone.

 

[King In The North]

I understand why people may be upset with the concussions quote but in all honesty he's 100% right.

Any hockey player at any level knows by now that because it is a fast paced, physical sport there is a risk of a concussion. If you aren't comfortable with that risk, simply do not play hockey. He's not wrong there.

Yeah he just said it in a real condescending way. You know the risks if you're playing a fast-paced physical contact sport.

 

[Kamiccolo]

That last bit is gold. Everyone knows owners are greedy ****** who want to use public money to finance a new arena. Doesn't make it right. Especially if the public themselves don't want to do it.

This guy shouldn't touch a microphone.

I'll say I am not a huge Calgary fan.. However Calgary has been one of the most profitable and dedicated fanbases in the last few years. I get this is a business and all that, however to me this is a huge slap in the face to Calgary fans.

How dare they threaten relocation? Even if it happened, Calgary instantly moves to the top of any relocation lists. Just seems really, really stupid and a way to **** off your fanbase.

 

[Madic]

"Media disaster", "Brian Burke threatens relocation". You don't find it ironic, you sensationalizing an issue about Brian Burke sensationalizing something?

He didn't threaten relocation, he cautioned it, and his concussion comment was realistic. There probably always will be concussions in a competitive sport played by 200 pound humans on ice. You can disagree, but Steve Simmons-ing a thread is a but much.

 

[CanadianPensFan1]

No no. No threats. It was made very clear it wasn't a threat. *eye roll*

Honestly ... It's such a see through ploy. Say **** and it articially creates pressure.

Then you have King coming out and releasing a statement "Burke does not speak for the entire organization."

What a gong show

 

[Kamiccolo]

"Media disaster", "Brian Burke threatens relocation". You don't find it ironic, you sensationalizing an issue about Brian Burke sensationalizing something?

He didn't threaten relocation, he cautioned it, and his concussion comment was realistic. There probably always will be concussions in a competitive sport played by 200 pound humans on ice. You can disagree, but Steve Simmons-ing a thread is a but much.

Interested to hear the difference. Given the context it was used, I think the implication that not getting their way could lead to the team leaving Calgary is as close as you can get to the threat of relocation.

Even Teams like Arizona or Carolina don't have management coming out and saying things like this.

 

[WTFMAN99]

No no. No threats. It was made very clear it wasn't a threat. *eye roll*

Honestly ... It's such a see through ploy. Say **** and it articially creates pressure.

Then you have King coming out and releasing a statement "Burke does not speak for the entire organization."

What a gong show

You know he got blasted in an office after his comments were coming out on twitter etc.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Worth the five minutes to watch this gong show

 

[King In The North]

If you know the Calgary Flames you know Ken King is also an idiot.

 

[bleedgreen]

Love Burke. Always have, always will.

 

[Mickey Marner]

Haha, that tie joke was a zinger.

 

[King In The North]

Btw, this is Mayor Nenshi's reponse:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/flames-president-brian-burke-calgary-next-1.4150420

"This is me kind of shrugging," he said when asked for a reaction. "This is page 26 of the script. It's always page 26 of the script in every city, and my job now is, I'm supposed to go to page 27 and 28 in the script when I point out that Rogers has given them billions of dollars and they're not going to let them remove a team from a western Canadian market, that in order for them to go to Quebec, they'll have to sell the team to Pierre Karl Peladeau, and he's not going to give them a deal the way they're going to get in Calgary, blah, blah, blah. I'm not interested in doing that."

"Five out of the seven teams in Canada have privately owned rinks, only Edmonton and Calgary are publicly owned, and the Edmonton deal may have been right for Edmonton, where they desperately needed revitalization and construction in their downtown core, that is not the case in Calgary … so we have to find a new model."

 

[ACC1224]

Burke is entertaining no doubt. Gruff in his delivery but what he said made sense to me.

 

[KingBran]

That last bit is gold. Everyone knows owners are greedy ****** who want to use public money to finance a new arena. Doesn't make it right. Especially if the public themselves don't want to do it.

This guy shouldn't touch a microphone.

Because the arena is owned by the city. Right? I mean correct me if I am wrong and I get it, owners are greedy rich dudes but they don't own the stadium so why should they pay for one? Again, correct me if I am wrong and the stadium is not owned by the public. I get it if they want a whole new stadium though.

 

[Deadly Dogma]

Burke "We don't like the fans here so we are moving!"

 

[Pestilence]

I understand why people may be upset with the concussions quote but in all honesty he's 100% right.

Any hockey player at any level knows by now that because it is a fast paced, physical sport there is a risk of a concussion. If you aren't comfortable with that risk, simply do not play hockey. He's not wrong there.

Sure, but the emphasis is on the word risk and how big it is. League and its instances can do a lot to lower that risk, and when the inevitable happens, treat the players accordingly. They can't mitigate the risk entirely, which the players obviously know.

 

[King In The North]

Because the arena is owned by the city. Right? I mean correct me if I am wrong and I get it, owners are greedy rich dudes but they don't own the stadium so why should they pay for one? Again, correct me if I am wrong and the stadium is not owned by the public. I get it if they want a whole new stadium though.

You are correct, the current stadium is publicly owned.

This may be a stupid question but could they not finance one themselves and move the team to their now privately owned stadium? I'm not a Calgary resident so they'll have much better context than I do.

 

[KingBran]

You are correct, the current stadium is publicly owned.

This may be a stupid question but could they not finance one themselves and move the team to their now privately owned stadium? I'm not a Calgary resident so they'll have much better context than I do.

There is A LOT of hoops they need to jump through to move a team including getting all (most?) of the other owners to agree for the team to be relocated. I am no expert on NHL and teams moving but dealing with the STL Rams moving to LA the past couple of years if I have learned anything, if some rich owner wants to move a team, they will find a way to do it.

 

[The Panther]

Calgary is such a great city (I haven't lived there since 1998, but was back last August with my wife). I was thinking recently that something must be in the planning stages for a new arena. I'm just surprised to see that, evidently, nothing is.

 

[DJJones]

Can't say anything he said bothered me.

Of course they'll move if they don't get a new arena and they won't pay for it themselves.

A child should be able to see the link between hockey and concussions. I don't get why saying something obvious is a problem.

Ties suck

 

[Hello Johnny]

Either tie the tie or don't even wear it like wtf