Forslund contract negotiations

MinJaBen

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we had a long, long relationship. eventually, we gave him a hall pass. then he wanted to spend more and more time with the hall pass. so, does he want to be a national guy as first priority? if so, cool. we can amicably split and the kids will get used to seeing him with the new partner. but don't tell the 'canes 'i really want to be with you' while also trying to spend more and more and more time with the side-piece.
I don't buy this for one second. The did the same thing to him as they did Chuck. Offered him his job back for a substantial cut in pay. Neither seemed willing to take the pay cut, so they moved on to other opportunities.
 

Nikishin Go Boom

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I don't buy this for one second. The did the same thing to him as they did Chuck. Offered him his job back for a substantial cut in pay. Neither seemed willing to take the pay cut, so they moved on to other opportunities.
didnt we offer Chuck a low offer for one year to give him a final run with the team? Chuck and everyone knowing it would be his last year? Chuck said no and went to find something with more stability?

They didnt do anything different to JF that they did with the other folks in the office. JF is just the only one that said no
 
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AeroFishOne

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It just seemed like 30 because he is So. Bad.

Speaking of: what happens with Shaya? I presume he stays with the Checkers, in which case, do we have a backup PBP guy now? Maybe Shane Willis in a pinch?
It’s gotta be Mike right? I thought he did a perfectly fine job. After that no idea
 

MinJaBen

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didnt we offer Chuck a low offer for one year to give him a final run with the team? Chuck and everyone knowing it would be his last year? Chuck said no and went to find something with more stability?

They didnt do anything different to JF that they did with the other folks in the office. JF is just the only one that said no
My understanding was they offered him a low salary for more "ambassadorial" position at a reduced rate. I have no idea about the "last year" time frame.
 

DaveG

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Apr 7, 2003
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I think he means who is the backup to Mike.

I'm hoping we don't have another emergency situation with Mike, so a backup PBP guy is less important than it was with Forslund and NBC conflicts.
I wouldn't mind Abby as the backup in case something happens with Rig. She's come across as more than competent in her current role. I like Shane a lot as an analyst/color type but I think that's where he'd end up being best rather than a full pbp buy.

Random thought but Aaron Ward? He was rather good any time he was in the booth with John and Tripp, though I don't know if he lives locally anymore creating logistical issues.
 
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Svechhammer

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I wouldn't mind Abby as the backup in case something happens with Rig. She's come across as more than competent in her current role. I like Shane a lot as an analyst/color type but I think that's where he'd end up being best rather than a full pbp buy.

Random thought but Aaron Ward? He was rather good any time he was in the booth with John and Tripp, though I don't know if he lives locally anymore creating logistical issues.
I saw him in the concourses during intermission multiple times this season.
 
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tarheelhockey

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I don't buy this for one second. The did the same thing to him as they did Chuck. Offered him his job back for a substantial cut in pay. Neither seemed willing to take the pay cut, so they moved on to other opportunities.

didnt we offer Chuck a low offer for one year to give him a final run with the team? Chuck and everyone knowing it would be his last year? Chuck said no and went to find something with more stability?

They didnt do anything different to JF that they did with the other folks in the office. JF is just the only one that said no

In both cases, the salary was reported to be contingent:

- In order to avoid a pay cut, Chuck would have been selling ads to pay for his program.
- A portion of Forslund's salary would have been contingent on having fans at home games, which at this point looks pretty dicey.

For what it's worth, Kaiton is still working independently, over 2 years after he left. That doesn't necessarily mean he hasn't been able to find work, but it does suggest that pro sports orgs aren't exactly falling over themselves to spend big on PBP guys.
 

Svechhammer

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In both cases, the salary was reported to be contingent:

- In order to avoid a pay cut, Chuck would have been selling ads to pay for his program.
- A portion of Forslund's salary would have been contingent on having fans at home games, which at this point looks pretty dicey.

For what it's worth, Kaiton is still working independently, over 2 years after he left. That doesn't necessarily mean he hasn't been able to find work, but it does suggest that pro sports orgs aren't exactly falling over themselves to spend big on PBP guys.
Not that this at all excuses what is going on, but we don't know when that fans in the stadium clause got put into the negotiations for Forslund. For all we know, that could be a direct result of the early stages of the quarantine and the realization of the financial issues the entire league was about to undertake. Its not like we haven't already furloughed a hefty portion of the front office as it is.
 

tarheelhockey

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Not that this at all excuses what is going on, but we don't know when that fans in the stadium clause got put into the negotiations for Forslund. For all we know, that could be a direct result of the early stages of the quarantine and the realization of the financial issues the entire league was about to undertake. Its not like we haven't already furloughed a hefty portion of the front office as it is.

Indeed, and much like the Kaiton divorce we really only have one side of the story.
 

NotOpie

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Jun 12, 2006
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In both cases, the salary was reported to be contingent:

- In order to avoid a pay cut, Chuck would have been selling ads to pay for his program.
- A portion of Forslund's salary would have been contingent on having fans at home games, which at this point looks pretty dicey.

For what it's worth, Kaiton is still working independently, over 2 years after he left. That doesn't necessarily mean he hasn't been able to find work, but it does suggest that pro sports orgs aren't exactly falling over themselves to spend big on PBP guys.

Yeah, @tarheelhockey I think that's about right. The way I heard it put was that the "fixed" part of the income was a notable reduction, but there were variable opportunities that could have brought it back to current or even greater levels.

I think I also heard on the Chuck thing that they wanted him to be more involved on the digital side (maybe that also included advertising). I believe Forslund's proposed deal was pretty complex with a number of team performance metrics tied to attendance and team success, but I may be misremembering.
 

Vagrant

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my last information on kaiton was that they were trying to get him to hoof it and work up his own sponsorships like he was running a radio show with an association with the team but sort of operating with permission outside of their operations and basically paying his own freight to keep the lights on. but we've talked these poor points to death and at the end of the day, dundon is right in his estimate that hardly anyone would be more upset about this than a few weeks worth of whinging and then it would be back to business as usual. basically leveraging us against our emotional investment in the team with the knowledge that we probably couldn't fully walk away on such an arbitrary point. he's probably right. the truth is that hockey clubs have been operating with so much dead money in their front offices in the form of players that weren't able to leave the nest after retirement in manufactured roles and dundon has been heavily critical of those type of roles because there's literally no ROI for him. the old boys club got worked up about it, but it's not a point without merit. we had 3 lines of the 05-06 team here at some point cashing checks for no reason. executive oversight is not going to be something that creates job security with the way he runs the team. i think it's his dealership experience that has made him so intent on people needing to be able to have a diversity of contributions in order to justify their price. brind'amour seems more heavily involved in player transactions than you'd expect and don seems to have all sorts of unofficial capacities. before all else, they're employees of the team.
 

Blueline Bomber

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For what it's worth, I believe Kaiton's currently doing a radio show about investing your money(?)

Dunno the name of it, but I catch pieces of it when trying to find a station early in the morning. His voice remains pretty recognizable.
 

A Star is Burns

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Certainly not something I love, but I'm sure it will still be easy enough to get our dose of John in other places. Mike seemed fine and one hopes that he'll improve as he gets more time in the gig.
 

HisIceness

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It is what it is, John wants to do the NBC thing and that's fine. I'm sure when FOX or whoever pays the league a nice penny for the TV rights next year, John will get a nice share of that penny. Don't get me wrong, it does suck to lose Forslund but he's been doing national broadcasts going back to the OLN/VS days, of course he was going to leave at some point.

As for Mike, good for him, hopefully he gets better with time.
 

Canes

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I still have to warm up to Mike. He wasn't bad but you could tell he felt like a fish out of water for much of the broadcasts. Hopefully with more experience he can become one of the better PBP guys eventually.

Sad for Forslund but he'll be getting the main national gig once Doc retires in a couple years and that will be more than enough on his plate. And he can always take another job with a different team.
 
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A Star is Burns

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I don't know how he sounded in the playoffs last year when he did some radio, but as for this year, I have to imagine it was incredibly difficult to do your first TV PBP gig off a TV screen and not live. Not to mention in the playoffs replacing a local broadcasting legend. I'm sure he'll get a bit more comfortable.
 

CandyCanes

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I know we knew this was basically the answer already, but man this still really stings. Still going to hold out hope for a few years probably that John and the Canes can remarkably rekindle a relationship. Tho again I know how that likely goes and is just false hope.

That said I’m happy for Mike. The dude is a standup guy. And I’m personally thankful we had him in house as a replacement, I think his passion for this team will make him a lot better than some of the other potential fill in options (I enjoy a sprinkle of homerism). Thought he was pretty decent on the call and definitely see him getting better at this job as the seasons go by.
 

Vagrant

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he's just not quick enough to relay what is happening and also have a reaction to it. he just starts talking when play starts and doesn't process anything until it ends. it's like he has a slightly slower feed than real time.
 

Oldracer

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Jan 30, 2010
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Let's not forget- we are spoiled rotten here! We've had a top 3-4 in the league guy forever. I thought Mike seemed pretty uptight on the first playoff broadcast, but improved a lot over the playoff run. He'll work out just fine.

Just for giggles try announcing a game sometime. (with or without adult beverages!)
 

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