Is Katz the most inept owner in pro sports history??

[Barrsy]

Some silly overreactions here. At worst Katz is an absentee owner. He doesn't really interfere much and he hires people like Chia, McLellan, Nicholson that almost everybody here was thrilled to have. I was one of the very few posters not in favor of any of these coming on board.

Katz seems mostly indifferent to the actual current team. He grew up in a time where most sports owners were like that. Just had pro hockey players as play things and could give a toss other than some wining and dining and feeling like a bigshot.

The worst owners are the ones that know next to nothing and are interfering.

Also some double edged swords exist. The Oilers have made a lot of coin in promotions and events involving the OBC and alumni. Pretty much a constant parade of that **** ever since the Heritage Classic. Katz happens to be present owner of one of the most storied franchises and best team that ever played the game. In pro sports that kind of lineage often comes with a cost in terms of that network feeling very entitled.

The org might even be in a worse position, and might not even be an Edmonton team if the OBC had ever been completely purged. I doubt Katz would even be the owner or that we would still have a club.

Yeah. Historically bad performance with Katz being at the top of the pyramid.
And this is an over reaction.
Holy shit

 

[Drivesaitl]

Hire a half way decent GM. Hell hire Brian Burke.

To be this bad with McDavid means the level of management you're getting is so far below par that you're off the map.

Even Chia as dumb of a dumb **** as he is, if even one of his stupid moves went right, he'd likely have a defence force of tons of people here claiming he's good because McDavid masks so many problems.

That's the frustrating thing, this isn't even that hard.

One of Katz major problems is that most of the NHL hockey world is still stupid and has been for a long time. So that when NHL bigwigs tend to recommend people they tend to look like Chia, Nicholson, McLellan, none of which impressed me. Basic hockey dinosaurs that got where they are by hob knobbing, smiling, and saying all the right things.

Very rarely do hockey orgs recruit somebody with actual acumen. Populist hockey GM's coaches are often not worth what is thought. Katz by virtue of listening to hearsay on who out there is any good gets disservice through those recommendations.

All we ever heard when the org was busy hiring the 3 latest figureheads was how many other teams wanted these guys, they're great and all that.

Years later we tune in here and the same board loving these additions is calling Katz an idiot for hiring them. This is CLASSIC revisionism.

I could be the first person to toss that brick to the glass house and I won't. Katz pays the bills. Essentially that's what its about as a hockey owner. ultimately the biggest mistake is that Nicholson is not half as bright as people thought. TRust the wrong person as a CEO and it easily falls apart. But I was one of the few critics of the Nicholson, Mclellan, Chia hires on this board.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Yeah. Historically bad performance with Katz being at the top of the pyramid.
And this is an over reaction.
Holy ****

The team was really bad when Katz took it over. Even though prior management had obtained an extremely beneficial small cap favoring CBA that allowed the team to compete in 2006 and that then fell apart almost immediately. Katz took over a horrible team and roster in 2008. A club that nobody could love. For years the old owners were spawning off great players like Weight, Guerin, Cujo, etc because they felt they couldn't afford them.

Katz actually payrolling a lineup is positive compared to what went on before that.

The real difficulty is that the hockey world figured people like Nicholson really knew what they were doing. Katz is guilty of no more than listening to what hockey insiders were saying. He's not involved enough in the sport of hockey to know the difference. Like he does in other businesses he hires people that come recommended who he then defers to. Pretty much what conglomerate owners do. Katz is making a killing off the Oilers anyway in corollary investments and sales. he ain't crying.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Imagine if his sorry ass wasn't gifted McD.
Made playoffs once in his wretched history.But at least he was able to extort an Arena out of the City.
At least the EIG knew a bit about winning on a limited budget.

He is not even top ten

all time? he is not even top for nhl owners

Ballard?Bill Wirtz? Several NYI and Tampa Bay Owners--Florida also a few years ago--ask the sens how they feel about their current owner

 

[Heavy Dee]

Whoever has owned the Detroit Lions for the past 20 years should be in the conversation.

 

[oobga]

Might not be the worst ever, but he is certainly becoming noteworthy. Anyone that would still have Kevin Lowe as his #2 and let Lowe continue to hire buddies (and letting buddies hire their friends and family), and help keep their jobs safe (using targeted scapegoating, helped by recruiting assistance from media), deserves to be remembered as a top piece of trash team owner by history.

 

[Barrsy]

He is not even top ten

all time? he is not even top for nhl owners

Ballard?Bill Wirtz? Several NYI and Tampa Bay Owners--Florida also a few years ago--ask the sens how they feel about their current owner

We are not talking about moral character. Though that could be a discussion I guess.We are talking about ineptness (ie performance)
How does it get worse?

 

[Drivesaitl]

He is not even top ten

all time? he is not even top for nhl owners

Ballard?Bill Wirtz? Several NYI and Tampa Bay Owners--Florida also a few years ago--ask the sens how they feel about their current owner

Yeah, some perspective is needed here. At worst Katz is a hands off neutral owner that pays the bills. Theres a lot worse Owners in the sporting world, or in the world.

Proviso that I don't even like Katz, never have, and fought everything, the Arena, the developments the funding, that so many people here supported.

The degree to which people are revising their views here is astounding.

 

[Jumptheshark]

We are not talking about moral character. Though that could be a discussion I guess.We are talking about ineptness (ie performance)
How does it get worse?

Are you old enough to remember Ballard in TO? Bill Wirtz in Chicago? Wang or Spano in NY? Former owners of the Bolts and Panthers ordered players traded and the GM to take no contracts back--IE just picks that would not get high signing bonuses and other stuff

Oilers are snake bitten---they just can not hit the side of the barn with a cannon.

 

[Drivesaitl]

We are not talking about moral character. Though that could be a discussion I guess.We are talking about ineptness (ie performance)
How does it get worse?

Katz wouldn't even be concerned about the kind of performance you are talking about, on ice. His performance is getting a new arena stamped and paid for, getting corrolarly revenue through an Arena district, Having an Edmtonton Tower bankrolled and leased out by the COE and then selling it to an Albert Crown corp already at considerable profit. These are the things that he cares about.

Basically everybody on this board jumped on the Katz train and thought he was great. We'll, he only puts priority on bottom lines typically. The hockey team was only purchased with a view to other asset building. The Edmonton Oilers are Katz pawn. have been from the start. Hardly anybody recognized it.

 

[MikeGrier99]

The worst owners are the ones that know next to nothing and are interfering.

Well it's been heavily rumoured that Katz himself chose Yakupov at the draft. I'd say the worst owners are the ones with the worst winning percentages. How you can defend an owner that produced probably the worst stretch of hockey in NHL history is beyond me. He's responsible for the product and has done virtually nothing but fail year after year. Katz is probably not literally the worst ever, but he is definitely in the conversation of all time most inept NHL owner.

 

[foshizzle]

Yeah, some perspective is needed here. At worst Katz is a hands off neutral owner that pays the bills. Theres a lot worse Owners in the sporting world, or in the world.

Proviso that I don't even like Katz, never have, and fought everything, the Arena, the developments the funding, that so many people here supported.

The degree to which people are revising their views here is astounding.

I agree with this. This is how he made his billions. By placing right people to look after his businesses and letting them do their thing. He just chose the wrong people for his hockey outfit.

 

[Barrsy]

Katz wouldn't even be concerned about the kind of performance you are talking about, on ice. His performance is getting a new arena stamped and paid for, getting corrolarly revenue through an Arena district, Having an Edmtonton Tower bankrolled and leased out by the COE and then selling it to an Albert Crown corp already at considerable profit. These are the things that he cares about.

Basically everybody on this board jumped on the Katz train and thought he was great. We'll, he only puts priority on bottom lines typically. The hockey team was only purchased with a view to other asset building. The Edmonton Oilers are Katz pawn. have been from the start. Hardly anybody recognized it.

Im not sure why you are even in this thread other than to pat Katz on the back as a businessman. The thread is about him presiding over the worst (or close enough) franchise in sports , performance wise, over the past decade. Not about the mounds of $$ he is making thanks to Mandel , his cronies & Edmontonian at large (or to be more specific, the ticket buying public).

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Organizational Ineptitude - it ain't just Chiarelli

 

[Missing smitty]

Well it's been heavily rumoured that Katz himself chose Yakupov at the draft. I'd say the worst owners are the ones with the worst winning percentages. How you can defend an owner that produced probably the worst stretch of hockey in NHL history is beyond me. He's responsible for the product and has done virtually nothing but fail year after year.

He's saying that for the most part Katz isn't the direct reason for the team being bad. As the head of the company, you take ultimate responsibility, but the Oilers are a business and they make a metric crap ton of money, so as a business owner, Katz is doing exactly what he should do.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Well it's been heavily rumoured that Katz himself chose Yakupov at the draft. I'd say the worst owners are the ones with the worst winning percentages. How you can defend an owner that produced probably the worst stretch of hockey in NHL history is beyond me. He's responsible for the product and has done virtually nothing but fail year after year. Katz is probably not literally the worst ever, but he is definitely in the conversation of all time most inept NHL owner.

I'm not really defending him. I'm saying he's a typical sports owner. If anything he's less involved than some owners are.

Katz cares not one bit about the record of the team he owns and that makes him fairly typical too in todays sporting world where money and as much corrolary revenue as possible is the total bottom line.

Its funny, but Slapshot decades ago was allegorical in conveying a sports owner that didn't give two shits about a club beyond it being an investment but it was a known quantity in ownership that has always been common. As fans we want to believe these people care. yeah, they care about making bucks.

btw there is no proof of the Yakupov rumors and I find it unlikely. Yakupov was not even liked in the Canadian hockey community and especially after his comments during the World Juniors. I really doubt Katz would have gone out of his way to go to bat for a Russian player.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Im not sure why you are even in this thread other than to pat Katz on the back as a businessman. The thread is about him presiding over the worst (or close enough) franchise in sports , performance wise, over the past decade. Not about the mounds of $$ he is making thanks to Mandel , his cronies & Edmontonian at large (or to be more specific, the ticket buying public).

I despise Katz as much as I despise typical sporting owners. I've cited Field of Schemes 200 times on this board. I hate the whole con game and shell game that pro sports is today.

Field of Schemes | sports stadium news and analysis

I'm just saying you're giving your self high blood pressure thinking Katz actually cares about the team performance or that pro sports owners today typically do.

lol the Edmonton Esks missed the playoffs this season and the first thing they do is commission a report on how much more money they made because two out of town teams ended up playing in the Grey Cup game here and they got more corollary revenue that way, as well as the COE getting more.

But respectfully if you don't want me posting in the thread just say so and I will bow out of it.

 

[BlackDogg]

Would trade for melnyk in a minute.

 

[Barrsy]

I despise Katz as much as I despise typical sporting owners. I've cited Field of Schemes 200 times on this board. I hate the whole con game and shell game that pro sports is today.

Field of Schemes | sports stadium news and analysis

I'm just saying you're giving your self high blood pressure thinking Katz actually cares about the team performance or that pro sports owners today typically do.

lol the Edmonton Esks missed the playoffs this season and the first thing they do is commission a report on how much more money they made because two out of teams ended up playing in the Grey Cup game here.

But respectfully if you don't want me posting in the thread just say so and I will bow out of it.

Post all you like. I'm good with it. I'm just not sure what the fact he makes millions off the franchise has to do with his historical ineptness.
And with that, thats all I will post on this particular take on the issue.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Might not be the worst ever, but he is certainly becoming noteworthy. Anyone that would still have Kevin Lowe as his #2 and let Lowe continue to hire buddies (and letting buddies hire their friends and family), and help keep their jobs safe (using targeted scapegoating, helped by recruiting assistance from media), deserves to be remembered as a top piece of trash team owner by history.

But again look at the new arena. Chock full of obc imagery. All the PAST players on the walls in huge murals. Rogers place exists as essentially a new Museum to the old glory years club. That's what the place feels like. Its the whole decoraction of the place, the gretkzy restaurant, etc. Gretz statue relocated. Then think about how much they have sold the new arena or even furthered it being built by having all the OBC in tow, about having Gretz, Mess etc recommend it. This has been the new comfortable home of the OBC since it was built and with many more alumni showing up because theres the all expense paid Katz club etc right in the arena.

Katz and the OBC basically partying when they are here and reminiscing, as old people do. With the current games just on and happening as distraction back drop and hopefully good, but most of these hangers on are having a good time, and for them, its all its about. This is a play team for Katz. A convenient place to party with the orginal team he fancied and partied with in the 80's. Old people often want to turn back the clock like that. heh, I can speak to that.

McBlowe are not still here because of their acumen, obviously, its because they are part of the party. (as sad as that sounds)

The dynamic here with the Oilers is that success corrupts by its nature. By having more success than any other club in modern era the Oilers org were fairly doomed to have alumni hangers on, and hangers on that loved that alumni. Soon as Katz became owner we knew which version of the club he had affinity with. That was never in doubt. In Katz suite its party like its 80's all the time. In new swank surround that was taxpayer fronted. I expect the players themselves all feel he's a little cool for getting these modern digs built so they can all have their little palace to drop by any time like rock stars.

 

[Jumptheshark]

The Owner of the Baltimore colts that did the midnight move or the Cleveland browns guy who moved the team

both guys ran their teams into the ground to help defend the moves

Jeff Laurie when he owned the expos--complete asshole

then in Vancouver and Michael Heisley--here is a guy who held news conference after news conference saying he would try to make the NBA work in Vancouver--but had the contracts for the move to Memphis signed 24 hours after the sale for the team went through

these guys are far worse owners then Katz

 

[BlackDogg]

I'll say one thing - this is the first trip I made to Edmonton in a very long time where I didn't at least make an effort to see a game. Just no interest in supporting this assclown.

PS. That was harsh to clowns.

 

[rboomercat90]

come again?
Where was he when Edmonton needed him most?....alot of other folks bucked up, even beyond their means to save the franchise, and he katz was no where to be seen.
He did NOTHING to save the franchise.....but I do remember his lame attempt to move them to Seattle.

Glad you posted this.

It annoys the hell out of me every time I hear the phrase “Katz saved this franchise”. He was nowhere to be found when Les Alexander bought the team with the intent to move it to Houston. The team was actually going to move if the members of EIG hadn’t stepped up. They were the ones that saved this franchise.

 

[rboomercat90]

Katz wouldn't even be concerned about the kind of performance you are talking about, on ice. His performance is getting a new arena stamped and paid for, getting corrolarly revenue through an Arena district, Having an Edmtonton Tower bankrolled and leased out by the COE and then selling it to an Albert Crown corp already at considerable profit. These are the things that he cares about.

Basically everybody on this board jumped on the Katz train and thought he was great. We'll, he only puts priority on bottom lines typically. The hockey team was only purchased with a view to other asset building. The Edmonton Oilers are Katz pawn. have been from the start. Hardly anybody recognized it.

Doesn’t all this make him a bad owner from a fan perspective?

 

[Bryanbryoil]

The fact that he keeps, listens to and promotes the clowns that led us to the decade + of darkness and has them bringing in their picks says it all. It's like taking a vehicle to a mechanic that does a shitty job working on your fuel injection then trusting that mechanic to do a good job rebuilding your transmission which he proceeds to **** up, and then you have him work on your brakes and wonder why you are flying off a ****ing cliff because the brakes are screwed after you got it back.