Official Aquilini Thread

[skeena1]

Francesco Aquilini is worth 5 billion.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dai...ks-billionaire-owner-bids-keep-181701591.html

Mark Cuban is worth 2.6 billion.
http://www.forbes.com/profile/mark-cuban/

 

[Wilch]

Francesco Aquilini is worth 5 billion.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dai...ks-billionaire-owner-bids-keep-181701591.html

Mark Cuban is worth 2.6 billion.
http://www.forbes.com/profile/mark-cuban/

He is "said" to be worth 5 billion.

I question that estimation because I cannot find a single valid source on this subject (including Forbes).

Estimating net worth of people with shares in publicly listed companies are already difficult, because it's extremely difficult (and illegal in some cases) to find out how much money is being held in offshore accounts and other investment vehicles not under their name.

Doubly so when you're trying to estimate businessmen running private companies, because their financials are usually undisclosed to the public.

 

[skeena1]

He is "said" to be worth 5 billion.

I question that estimation because I cannot find a single valid source on this subject (including Forbes).

Estimating net worth of people with shares in publicly listed companies are already difficult, because it's extremely difficult (and illegal in some cases) to find out how much money is being held in offshore accounts and other investment vehicles not under their name.

Doubly so when you're trying to estimate businessmen running private companies, because their financials are usually undisclosed to the public.

So how do you know Cuban's pockets are deeper?

 

[Wilch]

So how do you know Cuban's pockets are deeper?

He's been fined roughly $1.6m altogether by the NBA over several occasions and doesn't give a damn.

Doubled down on several fines and donated matching amount to charities.

Has on many occasions, spent beyond the luxury tax threshold and almost always use the available cap amnesties and exceptions to go beyond the soft cap (NBA cap structure is different).

Has expressed strong interest to purchase a MLB team concurrently holding the Mavs - has put up to $1.3bn on the table before. Also took part in a bid to purchase the Pens.

Canucks average ticket price is roughly $90. Mavericks is $60. Ball park figure. Operating a more competitive market with alternatives (Stars, Astros, Spurs, Rockets, etc). Smaller revenue buffer to take hits.

But you're right, I don't know for sure whether his pockets are deeper or not.

But he has shown to be a more willing spender than the Aquilinis.

 

[GCM]

For those of you that hate Aquaman with a passion, consider some perspective please.

Take a look at Eugene Melnyk.

Then take a look at Charles Wang.


Now look back at Aquaman and be grateful and appreciative of the vast improvement that he is over either of those two. Across the league the only owner I'd rather have is Terry Pegula, I think.

I have lots of friends that are Ottawa fans and I feel really bad for them. Constantly their #1 problem is their team is losing all its players, young and old, because Melnyk won't spend and he interferes. GM Bryan Murray is operating under a handicap trying to ice a competitive team. They're never in on the big free agents or even the moderate ones because of the unwillingness to spend.

That's a real handicap. Every owner is going to have some downside to them, but here we have Aquaman throwing money at buyouts for Booth Ballard etc. Paying to the cap year in, year out. Making improvements to the arena, the Canucks for Kids Fund etc., etc.

I think the people hating on Aquaman are being unfair and looking for some perfect owner who has endless pockets, spends to the cap and hires a genius that is unmatched in intellect as GM and then staying completely separate from hockey operations.

It's a pipe dream. Be realistic.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

For those of you that hate Aquaman with a passion, consider some perspective please.

Take a look at Eugene Melnyk.

Then take a look at Charles Wang.


Now look back at Aquaman and be grateful and appreciative of the vast improvement that he is over either of those two. Across the league the only owner I'd rather have is Terry Pegula, I think.

I have lots of friends that are Ottawa fans and I feel really bad for them. Constantly their #1 problem is their team is losing all its players, young and old, because Melnyk won't spend and he interferes. GM Bryan Murray is operating under a handicap trying to ice a competitive team. They're never in on the big free agents or even the moderate ones because of the unwillingness to spend.

That's a real handicap. Every owner is going to have some downside to them, but here we have Aquaman throwing money at buyouts for Booth Ballard etc. Paying to the cap year in, year out. Making improvements to the arena, the Canucks for Kids Fund etc., etc.

I think the people hating on Aquaman are being unfair and looking for some perfect owner who has endless pockets, spends to the cap and hires a genius that is unmatched in intellect as GM and then staying completely separate from hockey operations.

It's a pipe dream. Be realistic.

and look at pegula himself: buys the team, immediately pays out for leino and ehrhoff, both of whom would be bought out this season. cleaned house and sacked his longtime coach and GM, hired and fired another coach, hired pat lafontaine to be president only to see him resign almost immediately. spent money but not wisely and nosedived right to the bottom of the league.

owners gonna own.

 

[y2kcanucks]

I really hope not. They're not perfect owners by any means, but they're still one of the better ones in the league. Meddling aside, they are more than willing to write blank cheques for the team, spend to the cap and pour money in all sorts of stuff to make the team better (sleep doctors, nutrition programs, an AHL team).

You compare the Aquillinis to someone like Melnyk, I'd take the Aquillinis every ******* time.

I honestly can't wait for them to sell the team. Maybe at that point we can have ownership that leaves hockey decisions to the hockey people and just stays off on the sidelines.

The Aquilini's are terrible owners.

 

[Bean in Charge]

I honestly can't wait for them to sell the team. Maybe at that point we can have ownership that leaves hockey decisions to the hockey people and just stays off on the sidelines.

The Aquilini's are terrible owners.

You are like the child that got a Sega Gensis for Christmas, but throws a temper tantrum because he wanted a Super Nintendo.

 

[carolinacanuck]

You are like the child that got a Sega Gensis for Christmas, but throws a temper tantrum because he wanted a Super Nintendo.

haha it's true.

but he has friends in low places 'who know' frank aquilini.

lemme guess, blueberry pickers?

 

[Burke's Evil Spirit]

The Aquilini Group is worth $5 billion. How that's divided up among the family, who knows.

What I've heard is that Francesco is all in on throwing money around for the Canucks, the rest of his family less so, and want to run it more like a business (hence all the stress about waning interest on the team).

 

[y2kcanucks]

You are like the child that got a Sega Gensis for Christmas, but throws a temper tantrum because he wanted a Super Nintendo.

Nope. I just refuse to accept the crap that's fed to me. But hey, if you're happy with all this ownership group has given you then by all means be happy.

 

[LeftCoast]

Honestly, I think we have possibly the best owners in the league.

Deep pockets - since the AquaBros gained full control of the team, there has never been even the slightest inkling that they were unwilling or unable to pay whatever it takes/took to improve the team. In fact the only item I recall them balking at paying was Messier's deferred compensation for increasing the value of the team - and rightly so, as that was a complete crock. The "banned poster who shall not be named" was very critical of Quinn and Burke, but many of the questionable moves were driven by the limited budget of the Grifiths family.

Committed to winning - there is no question that the AquaBros are passionate about hockey are are committed to a championship team. I'd far rather an owner who favours a winner at least as much or more than a return on his investment. Craig McCaw didn't care much about hockey - it was purely about ROI and this was the root of the divide between him and Burke.

Results orientation - if anything, with the firings of Dave Nonis and Mike Gillis, the AquaBros have sent a clear message that losing is not going to be tolerated. Ss long as it doesn't get to Al Davis or Charles Wang levels, I'll take the occasional mistake over the persistent neglect that was the hallmark of the Teacher's era in Toronto or Ralston Purina era in St. Louis. Teacher's let their management team run hockey operations, but never held anyone accountable for results.

 

[RandV]

Honestly, I think we have possibly the best owners in the league.

Deep pockets - since the AquaBros gained full control of the team, there has never been even the slightest inkling that they were unwilling or unable to pay whatever it takes/took to improve the team. In fact the only item I recall them balking at paying was Messier's deferred compensation for increasing the value of the team - and rightly so, as that was a complete crock. The "banned poster who shall not be named" was very critical of Quinn and Burke, but many of the questionable moves were driven by the limited budget of the Grifiths family.

This angle can be a huge minus to an owner/team but it really isn't that big a plus anymore. The real question to put to the test is how much would he allow to be spent if there were no salary cap?

Thanks to the salary cap it keeps a level playing field for teams like our own and prevents the Rangers & the Leafs from badly outdistancing everyone. As the cap keeps rising we could see more separation, but typically about half the league is spending to the cap. Anything extra Vancouver spends, whether that be in amenity's our staff, isn't going to amount to more than a few million extra on top of other cap spending teams. And considering the revenues they're pulling in with the success and those ticket prices, they're easily making it all back.

'Spend money when you're making money' and 'committed to winning' is probably an attribute shared by at least half the owners in the league. It's appreciated but really no special feat when the Aquilini's are making fists full of cash off the team/fans. Something that the Griffiths probably never received.

 

[Angry Little Elf]

If the Aquamen sell the team, I get the feeling we'd get an owner who won't open his wallet. That's Canuck luck.
Most of you who dislike the Aquamen would pray for them to come back

 

[Free Edler]

I wouldn't want to work for the Aquilinis in any capacity but they're spending money on the hockey team I support, so I haven't got any personal problems with them. They're probably middle of the pack if we were to rank Canadian owners, definitely not worse than the trainwrecks owning teams in Ottawa, Edmonton and Toronto.

 

[y2kcanucks]

If the Aquamen sell the team, I get the feeling we'd get an owner who won't open his wallet. That's Canuck luck.
Most of you who dislike the Aquamen would pray for them to come back

I can guarantee you I won't be one of them.

 

[Spectrefire]

I honestly can't wait for them to sell the team. Maybe at that point we can have ownership that leaves hockey decisions to the hockey people and just stays off on the sidelines.

The Aquilini's are terrible owners.

Jeremy Jacobs is a terrible owner, Eugene Melnyk is a terrible owner.

Aquillinis aren't David Thomson or Jeff Vinik, but they're far from terrible.

You're just being typically unreasonable and childish.

 

[Jyrki21]

I have lots of friends that are Ottawa fans and I feel really bad for them. Constantly their #1 problem is their team is losing all its players, young and old, because Melnyk won't spend and he interferes. GM Bryan Murray is operating under a handicap trying to ice a competitive team. They're never in on the big free agents or even the moderate ones because of the unwillingness to spend.

I expect that has more to do with it being Ottawa... And I'm saying that as someone who likes it fine here. For a 20-something millionaire, a town as small, sleepy and cold as this is largely unappealing when you have far sexier destinations to go to.

I'll bet if Melnyk owned the Flyers or Kings there'd be no issue.

 

[y2kcanucks]

Jeremy Jacobs is a terrible owner, Eugene Melnyk is a terrible owner.

Aquillinis aren't David Thomson or Jeff Vinik, but they're far from terrible.

You're just being typically unreasonable and childish.

Nope. But hey, enjoy what you get. You apparently love these owners so don't be upset.

 

[Spectrefire]

Nope. But hey, enjoy what you get. You apparently love these owners so don't be upset.

They opened their wallets for the team. That is literally all anyone should care about out of their franchise owners.

 

[y2kcanucks]

They opened their wallets for the team. That is literally all anyone should care about out of their franchise owners.

Because the team was a cash cow. Now with season ticket renewals declining, just wait and see. Just watch what happens over the next year or two as attendance drops. But hey, remember, this is what you wanted.

 

[me2]

If the Aquamen sell the team, I get the feeling we'd get an owner who won't open his wallet. That's Canuck luck.
Most of you who dislike the Aquamen would pray for them to come back

"cheap" tend to be the guys with teams that lose money, the Canucks make money, good big wads of it. Even a "cheap" owner would spend here so long as the Canucks make a nice profit. Aquilini shoves $20m of your cash into his pocket every year and then added $300m in capital gain - the dude is hardly going broke keeping hockey in Vancouver.

A lot of "cheap" owners are just fiscally responsible who spend to their market, they get shat on when they overspend what their market can pay and lose money. Cheapskate Wang spends 10s of millions of his own cash supplies keeping the NYI a float - but he's cheap while the guy pocketing 10s of millions is taking one for the team. The tampa owners in a weak market bought out Lecavalier.

Aquilini is no financial saviour. Even Wang would spend to cap in this market, do you think Aquilini would spend to the cap if he owned the NYI, would he even be prepared to take on their loses every year?

 

[Jimson Hogarth*]

They opened their wallets for the team. That is literally all anyone should care about out of their franchise owners.

Yea, who cares if one of their companies was caught diverting water illegally from the Alouette river. That kind of stuff doesn't matter as long as my hockey team gets theirs.

 

[I in the Eye]

Because the team was a cash cow. Now with season ticket renewals declining, just wait and see. Just watch what happens over the next year or two as attendance drops. But hey, remember, this is what you wanted.

What you'd see is better food and drink. What you'd see is better in-arena entertainment. What you'd see is a better "experience".

When the team is doing well, we get overpriced hotdogs with Cheese whiz. When the team isn't doing well, we get "The Steamer"... hot dog wrapped in bacon! Same price of admission.

There are ways to maintain high ticket sales, even if the Canucks suck as badly as you want them to during a possible transition, the next few years. The team can be a cash cow, even if the on-ice product sucks.

Don't believe me? Ask Jon Spoelstra: http://www.amazon.com/Ice-Eskimos-Market-Product-Nobody/dp/0887308511 . He's made a real good living generating lots of revenue for sports franchises that suck.

We're seeing it even with the latest summer summit - signed big name "free agents" bartender and executive chef. The Aquillini's will open their wallets to maintain high ticket sales. They are not just going to let the season ticket holders go. They're going to provide as best as they can buy on-ice product, and as best as they can buy off-ice experience... and that golden day, when the two mesh at the same time, ticket prices go through the roof. The new "experiences" is to justify maintaining the current ticket prices, while there are current questions about the on-ice product. After things are comfortable again that the Canucks are likely an annual playoff team, major jump in price.

The Aquillini's may or may not be a lot of things... but stupid isn't one. Cheap isn't one either.

 

[JuniorNelson]

Jeremy Jacobs is a terrible owner, Eugene Melnyk is a terrible owner.

Aquillinis aren't David Thomson or Jeff Vinik, but they're far from terrible.

They're just being typically unreasonable and childish.

Fixed!