"DC" David Morehouse Discussion

[theicebox]

This is sparked by Dejan's radio show discussion, comparing upper-management and their concern/interest in media and public perception.

David Morehouse is one who we never discuss. The President and CEO. He is somewhere in the current equation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Morehouse

I would like to discuss his involvement in politics (keep this non-partisan). His entire life experience is manipulating public opinion to support politicians. Not hockey operations management. Were we shammed the past couple years by a political media juggernaut?

(again, keep it non-partisan)

Click to read more...

 

[billybudd]

This is sparked by Dejan's radio show discussion, comparing upper-management and their concern/interest in media and media perception.

David Morehouse is one who we never discuss. The President and CEO. He is somewhere in the current equation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Morehouse

I would like to discuss his involvement in politics (keep this non-partisan). His entire life experience is manipulating public opinion to support politicians. Not hockey operations management. Were we shammed the past couple years by a political media juggernaut?

(again, keep it non-partisan)

Can you link the radio discussion before this thread is (in all probability) closed?

 

[theicebox]

Can you link the radio discussion before this thread is (in all probability) closed?

Here you go

http://sportstalk.triblive.com/tribradio/player/

I think this is a very interesting discussion, and can be kept civil and informed. Dejan's currently discussing the draft.

 

[UnrealMachine]

People keep bringing up his name as if they found the Grassy Knoll shooter, but have offered next to zero evidence of his impact one way or another (unless you count hearsay, conjecture and conspiracy theories as compelling evidence).

 

[Beauner]

Mentioned this a few days ago. He worked on Clinton's presidential campaign. Guy knows how to brand things.

With all the talk about the "brand" and all that ********, I think he needs to go. Until this franchise starts worrying about hockey first and foremost, they won't be successful. Not even if Shero and Bylsma are fired. Don't worry about how the 10-18 demographic view the Pens, don't worry about keeping the family-friendly, 'Dance for a Dilly-Bar', let's have a jolly-good time mantra. Stop prioritizing the PR machine and entertainment value of the team/Arena. Worry about the team.

Winning will make people like the Pens. Not PensPoints, being politically correct or employing really nice role-models.

 

[theicebox]

People keep bringing up his name as if they found the Grassy Knoll shooter, but have offered next to zero evidence of his impact one way or another (unless you count hearsay, conjecture and conspiracy theories as compelling evidence).

I am simply questioning his professional experience, and how it is applied to hockey operations. Hockey players are not politicians.

 

[Frederick Stanley]

Can you link the radio discussion before this thread is (in all probability) closed?

We have seperate threads for Bylsma and Shero. I see no reason why we can't have a thread for Morehouse.

 

[SwordofStMichael]

Wondering if he was the "upper management" that nixed a rumored trade of a "marketable" player??

 

[MeticulouslyDishevel]

He's a marketing and communications guy. There's nothing wrong with him putting a spin on things to make the team more marketable and sell tickets - all businesses do that.

However, I prefer when the hockey operations are kept separate from the business side, and judging from the Wiki entry his responsibilities do not include hockey ops. It seems like he came onboard when the new arena was being built. He doesn't have any high-level hockey background and he shouldn't have any input into the hockey side of things (if the rumour is true, which I'm not sure I believe). I hear that Burkle is tight with Clinton so there's probably a link there.

 

[exHornet]

New poster here. Just want to interject and say much of this stuff is right on. Morehouse is a big, big problem. His influence is strong, and his recent track record is disastrous. I won't go into details, but it will be a good thing for the team if his power is reduced. Right now everything he gets involved in personally has blown up in his face.

I know nobody knows me here, but eventually he'll get canned, and you can remember this post. It won't be this year, or even next year, but it is inevitable. Talk to anyone involved in hockey in Pittsburgh that has any kind of contact with the NHL team, and you will quickly hear details that will prove that I am telling the truth here.

 

[Til the End of Time]

People keep bringing up his name as if they found the Grassy Knoll shooter, but have offered next to zero evidence of his impact one way or another (unless you count hearsay, conjecture and conspiracy theories as compelling evidence).

agreed. i wouldnt be surprised if morehouse is just the scapegoat. do we know anything about morehouse, or just that he worked on the clinton campaign? i dont think there is much evidence that he is a meddling individual.

mario should probably shoulder some of the blame. he clearly has strong opinions about how the game is played (citing frustration with obstruction as a reason for retirement) and pretty much led the development of the 90s country club (telling scotty bowman not to come to practice... come on). for a hands off owner he sure seems to be in the locker room a lot. i mean, its nice that he came down and spoke to the team in game 7 in '09 against the wings and inspired them, but thats not hands off.

lets hypothetically say mario was the one who has led this country club resurgence, that mario was the one who vetoed the letang trade because he was too marketable... does anyone seriously expect the pittsburgh media to speak ill of their hero? the pittsburgh media only started questioning this clearly flawed team once the national media started it. the local media would go out of their way to not say a bad word about lemieux, imo.

i dont think we can say who is to blame, but i think lemieux has more of a track record to suggest that he would have strong opinions about how a hockey team is run than morehouse.

i think we can say that burkle is hands off, or at least moreso than lemieux. but saying who is to blame, lemieux or morehouse, well, its pretty hard to distinguish.

 

[Allie Kitsune]

It's not even really about Morehouse's politics, so much as it is we've been complaining for a good while about the Pens' Propaganda Machine ("Everything's fine, nothing to see here!"), and how Totalitarian it almost seems to be.

And this guy seems to be the one behind it.

 

[SuburbanRhythm]

I don't agree with Madden very much. But a point he made towards the end of the regular season (and seems to fit here), is that the sellouts and family atmosphere and fuzzy good feelings, while nice, should be secondary to winning.

And I no longer think they are.

I get it's a business, and Burkle and Lemieux can run the organ-eye-zation however they see fit, and not have to answer to anyone internally. But at some point, and it's teetering there now, the sellouts will stop.

I have a partial season plan, 4 seats. in 09-12 or so, I never had an issue getting rid of seats, usually at a nice profit.

As my kids have gotten older, and involved in more activities, we make fewer games. Now, sometimes, day of the game, I'm watching TicketExchange hoping that I break even after Ticketmaster takes their 10% cut.

While I have no proof Morehouse is part of this problem - the business side ahead of the competitive side - it sure feels like he does.

 

[wgknestrick]

New poster here. Just want to interject and say much of this stuff is right on. Morehouse is a big, big problem. His influence is strong, and his recent track record is disastrous. I won't go into details, but it will be a good thing for the team if his power is reduced. Right now everything he gets involved in personally has blown up in his face.

I know nobody knows me here, but eventually he'll get canned, and you can remember this post. It won't be this year, or even next year, but it is inevitable. Talk to anyone involved in hockey in Pittsburgh that has any kind of contact with the NHL team, and you will quickly hear details that will prove that I am telling the truth here.

He'll probably die too. Maybe not this year, or next, or the year after that, but I am putting my money on him dieing one day. Mark my post.

 

[Ziggyjoe21]

Morehouse resume contains the following accomplishments in relation to the Pens:

-Helped bring new arena to Pittsburgh. No CEC, no Pittsburgh Penguins.
-Market the team to its current level. Pittsburgh is arguably the best American hockey market. 5+ years of straight sell outs, great TV ratings, etc.
-One of the top sports franchises according to Forbes.

To translate, Morehouse is a big reason that a small market team can afford to pay Crosby and Malkin their big time contracts and compete with big market teams like NYR, Chicago, and Philly.

This guy has nothing to do hockey operations. Funny how everyone associated with the Penguins is now being thrown under the bus, no matter how stupid the reason is.

Tomorrow let's all complain about the equipment staff.

 

[MeticulouslyDishevel]

Morehouse resume contains the following accomplishments in relation to the Pens:

-Helped bring new arena to Pittsburgh. No CEC, no Pittsburgh Penguins.
-Market the team to its current level. Pittsburgh is arguably the best American hockey market. 5+ years of straight sell outs, great TV ratings, etc.
-One of the top sports franchises according to Forbes.

To translate, Morehouse is a big reason that a small market team can afford to pay Crosby and Malkin their big time contracts and compete with big market teams like NYR, Chicago, and Philly.

This guy has nothing to do hockey operations. Funny how everyone associated with the Penguins is now being thrown under the bus, no matter how stupid the reason is.

Tomorrow let's all complain about the equipment staff.

Fair enough, but I think winning the Sidney Crosby lottery played a significant factor in these accomplishments.

 

[vyktor]

New poster here. Just want to interject and say much of this stuff is right on. Morehouse is a big, big problem. His influence is strong, and his recent track record is disastrous. I won't go into details, but it will be a good thing for the team if his power is reduced. Right now everything he gets involved in personally has blown up in his face.

I know nobody knows me here, but eventually he'll get canned, and you can remember this post. It won't be this year, or even next year, but it is inevitable. Talk to anyone involved in hockey in Pittsburgh that has any kind of contact with the NHL team, and you will quickly hear details that will prove that I am telling the truth here.

I'm pretty sure I know where you are going with this.

 

[Allie Kitsune]

Morehouse resume contains the following accomplishments in relation to the Pens:

-Helped bring new arena to Pittsburgh. No CEC, no Pittsburgh Penguins.
-Market the team to its current level. Pittsburgh is arguably the best American hockey market. 5+ years of straight sell outs, great TV ratings, etc.
-One of the top sports franchises according to Forbes.

To translate, Morehouse is a big reason that a small market team can afford to pay Crosby and Malkin their big time contracts and compete with big market teams like NYR, Chicago, and Philly.

This guy has nothing to do hockey operations. Funny how everyone associated with the Penguins is now being thrown under the bus, no matter how stupid the reason is.

Tomorrow let's all complain about the equipment staff.

I'm going to start the rampant, Rossi-level-stupid level of speculation here...

Was Morehouse somehow involved in Majestic Star winning the casino bid over Isle of Capri?

 

[Darth Vitale]

I see this thread has started off well.

No doubt that Morehouse has a significant part to play in the "Penguins as branding phenomenon" effect that sometimes seems to take precedent over actual hockey operations. And I'm confident that if he was once a political operator in this country (either ****ed up party), then his main talent is branding / image. Almost by definition, because our political process no longer has any substance to it. It's all image and innuendo and manipulating emotions.

However, so long as he does not touch the personnel acquisition process, I don't give a ****. As long as the GM can tell him to go **** himself if they disagree on a personnel move, it's all good. Problems will occur if he has the ability to interfere with the GM, which is something we can't know from our perspective, unless Mario or someone else comments on it directly. And I don't mean Captain Toolbag, Rob Rossi or his Slobbering Sidekick Mark Madden.

 

[Trepanated]

I'm going to start the rampant, Rossi-level-stupid level of speculation here...

Was Morehouse somehow involved in Majestic Star winning the casino bid over Isle of Capri?

If you are genuinely curious, you might want to check out Andrew Conte's book, Breakaway.

 

[zero8771]

He's a guy that likes money,

I think he learned this year that on ice product influences your stock more than anything else. I expect that will be his focus now.

 

[SuburbanRhythm]

I see this thread has started off well.

No doubt that Morehouse has a significant part to play in the "Penguins as branding phenomenon" effect that sometimes seems to take precedent over actual hockey operations. And I'm confident that if he was once a political operator in this country (either ****ed up party), then his main talent is branding / image. Almost by definition, because our political process no longer has any substance to it. It's all image and innuendo and manipulating emotions.

However, so long as he does not touch the personnel acquisition process, I don't give a ****. As long as the GM can tell him to go **** himself if they disagree on a personnel move, it's all good. Problems will occur if he has the ability to interfere with the GM, which is something we can't know from our perspective, unless Mario or someone else comments on it directly. And I don't mean Captain Toolbag, Rob Rossi or his Slobbering Sidekick Mark Madden.

Not sure if you're referring to this in particular, but it came up on the DVE interview this morning that is being discussed in the other Twitter personalities thread, especially the Crosby personal stuff speculation.

One of the other things he said that handcuffed Shero (and Bylsma to a lesser degree) was the "power struggle going on above him." Prisuta questioned it, and he said disagreement within the management group on how the organization is built. He referenced where the money being spent by ownership was being spent - ie, star power, top heavy roster vs a deeper, less star-laden roster.

 

[mgd525]

If in fact it is true that someone nixed a Letang trade lets not pretend even a handful of guys have that power. It had to have been One of 2 people and I have a feeling most likely Lemieux and no one on this board will say that. Lemieux surely was the one that made sure this team become soft after that Isles fight night game.

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

Weekes said on NHL that there are ongoing meetings between Mario, Burkle, and Morehouse to decide how to proceed.

I have to admit, I didn't think he was of such importance to be weighing in on hockey decisions. I've love to listen to these meetings.

 

[Darth Vitale]

Weekes said on NHL that there are ongoing meetings between Mario, Burkle, and Morehouse to decide how to proceed.

I have to admit, I didn't think he was of such importance to be weighing in on hockey decisions. I've love to listen to these meetings.

Well that's not good. That suggests he can **** with the GM's decisions. Get that ********* out of here, too.