Has their ever ben a more inept/poor owner in pro sports than Katz?

[Sheikyerbouti]

Remember the EIG?

Who wants to own a pro franchise in the sticks?


When Katz bought the team he gave the team money to spend. We were a cap team and not on a budget.

The "experts" who ran the team told him he needed to rebuild because they couldn't land star players like Hossa and Heatley. Those experts will have to be held accountable soon. I'm pretty sure Katz wants to win just as bad, or more, than anyone of us. He's just being fed bad information. The only way to become aware of bad information is over time and I'm pretty sure he's figuring it out. I'd be shocked if we had more than one more year without a change of direction

 

[Bangers]

Wirtz Sr. used to black out home games. Katz isn't great, but not many owners are.

 

[MoneyGuy]

Holy over dramatization. You can really tell the age of this forum when the kids don't know a simple history lesson nor even bother to look outside the world of hockey. He's a great owner, fighting for the future of this franchise in Edmonton. It's a business folks.

Right.

I can't believe this is even a serious question.

 

[Soundwave]

Holy over dramatization. You can really tell the age of this forum when the kids don't know a simple history lesson nor even bother to look outside the world of hockey. He's a great owner, fighting for the future of this franchise in Edmonton. It's a business folks.

No kidding. Go look up the LA Clippers, kids.

When Katz acquired the team a new arena was a pipe dream and the best player on the team was Hemsky. You wanna go back to those days? No thanks.

 

[Senor Catface]

Yep. Loria for sure.

For now. I think very little of Katz as an owner (and I wasn't a hater when he bought the team at all) but he keeps surprising me.

Howson. Bwahahahahaha.

...what about Howson?

 

[The Nuge]

Man what I wouldn't give to have Pocklington or the ownership group back.

Though Harold Ballard would be worse.

I guess, we just need to wait for this owner to 'pass on down the road' and we can have a winner again. The next 20 or 30 year's will go buy fast.

What do you think we could sell Hall for? He'd probably cover a decent chunk of the new arena

 

[Silver]

...what about Howson?

He got hired back.

 

[Senor Catface]

He got hired back.

Was it Howson who got Bobrovsky?

 

[The Nuge]

Was it Howson who got Bobrovsky?

yep.

 

[nabob]

hes got a master plan. we are just pawns with wallets in his game, unfortunately.

everything will come together once the new building is opening its doors. easiest way to maximize his investment.

he tricks us into buying in on a rebuild, distracts us with draft picks and the fancy new toy (arena), nobody sells their season tickets, we continue to sustain his hockey business while he amasses assets, and when the time is right, he cashes in and we all fall over each other to get in the new building and spend twice as much on playoff beers that aren't northlands.

being nearsighted isnt part of a recipe for a successful business plan, its the slow play.

in 5 years, he will be seen as a genius.

I can see that happening. As long as Tambellini gets canned soon.

 

[Billybaroo*]

Remember the EIG?

Who wants to own a pro franchise in the sticks?


When Katz bought the team he gave the team money to spend. We were a cap team and not on a budget.

The "experts" who ran the team told him he needed to rebuild because they couldn't land star players like Hossa and Heatley. Those experts will have to be held accountable soon. I'm pretty sure Katz wants to win just as bad, or more, than anyone of us. He's just being fed bad information. The only way to become aware of bad information is over time and I'm pretty sure he's figuring it out. I'd be shocked if we had more than one more year without a change of direction

I recall the EIG operating with integrity, in a difficult financial world with no cap & a brutal exchange rate.
Katz on the other hand has a far more inept team in a cap world, with fantastic economics, sold out arena, & who threatens to leave numerous times if he is not gifted a new arena.
Its not even close.

 

[abootzky]

There's a lot that I don't love about Daryl Katz:
-being good buddies with Kevin Lowe (and all the collateral damage that friendship continues to inflict on the Oilers franchise)
-that ridiculous Seattle charade- a badly misguided and ultimately unsuccessful effort to turn Oilers fans against Edmonton city council regarding the downtown arena project
-giving Bob Stauffer his dream job (great for Bob, bad for those of us who enjoyed the 'old Bob')
-trotting his kid up on the stage at the NHL draft every year which, to me, brings back embarrassing memories of Peter Pocklington getting his dad's name engraved on the Stanley Cup

I'm sure there's more that I dislike but none of the above makes him the 'worst'. Give me an owner like Katz who, while out to make a buck (his right last time I checked), is willing to spend money on his team. This is far better than some of the tightwads (Ballard) or smallwads (Pocklington) who inflicted their cheapness on their cities for years on end.

 

[Oiltankjob Fail]

I recall the EIG operating with integrity, in a difficult financial world with no cap.
Katz on the other hand has a far more inept team in a cap world, with fantastic economics, sold out arena, & who threatens to leave numerous times if he is not gifted a new arena.
Its not even close.

Yeah like telling Lowe to go get a million on top of Perry in a trade he had already completed with the Ducks.

 

[Billybaroo*]

Yeah like telling Lowe to go get a million on top of Perry in a trade he had already completed with the Ducks.

I dunno if that was the EIG or Lowe on his own. I also cant remember if the trade had actually been concluded or not, & Lowe asked for it afterwards.
If it was prior to trade been done, though its kinda stupid cause its never been done, I dont think there is an integrity issue there.

 

[Beerfish]

Holy over dramatization. You can really tell the age of this forum when the kids don't know a simple history lesson nor even bother to look outside the world of hockey. He's a great owner, fighting for the future of this franchise in Edmonton. It's a business folks.

I'm very very glad you posted this, especially the bold part. As I have maintained for a long time, when a team, or player or owner do something not popular that line always comes out. "It's a business" as long as it is convenient for pro sports. All other times it is a 'sport' in which as fans you are expected to put up the cash, cheer for the team no matter what and be happy about it.

If this was 'a business' then Oiler fans should up and leave en masse because of the totally ****y product, epic failure of management, rampant nepotism near blackmail by the owner. Or at the very least boo the **** our of these jokers after each and every game.

No, sports is only a 'business' when it is convenient to be a business. If it was truly a business the city would tell these guys to go pound sand at the mere thought of the city buiulding a multi millioniare a huge capital project in which to run his business taking all the risk and non of the rewards.

Katz is indeed a bad owner. Arena dealings aside he is still a bad owner because he does not have the best interests of the team and the fans at heart. Katz is the defintion of a fanboy.

 

[McOilbleeder]

If you want this thread to stay open and want to contribute to it, please be civil.

With regards to the OP, Katz may not be what everyone hoped, but there is undoubtedly owners who are 100000x worse.

Ever heard of Bob Nutting? Peter Angelos? Jeffrey Loria? (About 10 more baseball owners work) About 2/3 of NBA owners? Al Davis in his latter years? Hell the clowns running the Maple Leafs?

Trust me, we could do much worse. So no, he's not the worst owner in sports. He's not even in the bottom 3rd.

 

[Billybaroo*]

If you want this thread to stay open and want to contribute to it, please be civil.

With regards to the OP, Katz may not be what everyone hoped, but there is undoubtedly owners who are 100000x worse.

Ever heard of Bob Nutting? Peter Angelos? Jeffrey Loria? (About 10 more baseball owners work) About 2/3 of NBA owners? Al Davis in his latter years? Hell the clowns running the Maple Leafs?

Trust me, we could do much worse. So no, he's not the worst owner in sports. He's not even in the bottom 3rd.

Yes , it was & is hyperbole, but he's no champ. And far from the saviour that so many thought he would be.
I just have a bit of an issue with the guy pretending to come in as some sort of philanthropist & saviour, where its clear to me that he just wants to !@#$ & pillage the City & taxpayer & ticket buyer as much as he can.
Plus his clear threats to move the team don't really endear him to me.

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

Katz isn't even the most incompetent in Oilers history. That's Peter Pocklington AINEC.

 

[Tarus]

Katz isn't even the most incompetent in Oilers history. That's Peter Pocklington AINEC.

Yeah, it isn't close.

You can really spot the new Oiler fans. The ones who weren't around in the late 80s/90s, and weren't forced to watch the dismantling of a dynasty while forever wondering what could have been with a real owner(very likely a few more cups).

 

[McspOiler]

We can go to the cap...if you expect more from an owner then like half the teams in the league that have in house caps have an issue with you...

 

[alanschu]

Ballard & Wirtz had the nuts to own their own buildings. And not to try & extort the citizens of their City by implicitly threatening to move every few months. And I dont recall them having 3 #1's in a row.
Maybe they had disgusting, grossly over priced draft though. I dont know about that one.

Harold Ballard basically gutted his team, refused to even consider paying top dollar (as he didn't need to, fans came anyways), and eventually left a legacy of controversial allegations regarding child molestation and a host of other issues.


You can be pissy with Katz and this group's performance, but for the most part their issues are tied to not being particularly strong hockey managers, not because they are awful human beings. I suspect Katz has likely bought in to the idea of a rebuild, which could explain Steve's long leash, but Ballard hated pro athletes and forcibly ran them out of town by refusing to pay them competitive contracts and ultimately decided to do piss all while his team was in the toilet. It's argued the only reason they got Salming was because Ballard happened to be in prison at the time. Never mind the fact he was a rabid micromanager and actively sought to undermine Sittler (his own player!) because Sittler was gaining influence in the NHLPA. He sabotaged his own team to get at his own player.


Wirtz also effectively hated pro athletes and the salaries they made, instituted a host of frugal and cheapskate antics. He actively blocked home games from being televised unless they were on network TV (which was typically only the playoffs), and was the owner when the Blackhawks were considered the worst franchise in pro sports (2004), and in 2002 was considered the 3rd greediest man in pro sports. Although he was okay televising Home games for a short stretch, through a $30/month subscription television service called HawkVision.

 

[Lay Z Boy GM]

Funny thing is, if/when this team gets good and they're playing in that shiny new arena, most of us will probably be praising Katz.

 

[Soundwave]

Funny thing is, if/when this team gets good and they're playing in that shiny new arena, most of us will probably be praising Katz.

Unless Nugent Hopkins completely busts from here on out, this is bound to happen anyway.

 

[darkwave09]

Katz is a goof who doesn't even live in Edmonton. I miss the integrity of the EIG. I never thought they should of sold the team to Katz. I knew something was up when that *** wouldn't do a TV interview with Gene Principe. Snet broadcasts over 70% of the Oilers games. I hat Katz, I hope he rots in hell with billions of tax payer money!!!

 

[Tarus]

Katz is a goof who doesn't even live in Edmonton. I miss the integrity of the EIG. I never thought they should of sold the team to Katz. I knew something was up when that *** wouldn't do a TV interview with Gene Principe. Snet broadcasts over 70% of the Oilers games. I hat Katz, I hope he rots in hell with billions of tax payer money!!!

Billions is it?

Hatred and wishing eternal suffering on someone for business practices you don't agree with?

Bit of a sadistic and emotional overreaction don't you think?