Skulsky episode of 2015 Presidents' Week Series on TSN1040

[sj-roc]

He resigned to take the OC job at UMiss.

College geeks will insist on calling it "Ole Miss".

Hotty toddy!!

I knew that didn't look right when I wrote it.

As someone who knows the place less for its athletics and more for its academics (72 Nobel Prizes!) it always disorients me to see Berkeley referred to as Cal.

[B.C.FAN]

David Braley and Wally Buono are the best things to ever happen to the Lions. It was great when they had Bob Ackles too but his record as a GM and president was mixed. A lot of the financial problems that the Lions endured in the late 1980s and 1990s were the result of Ackles overpaying for talent during the lucrative Carling O'Keefe TV contract and the honeymoon era of B.C. Place in the 1980s. The money dried up fast in the late '80s and the club collapsed on and off the field. Things didn't begin to recover until Braley bought the Lions at the end of 1997. The Lions haven't missed the playoffs since and probably haven't missed a bill payment either. When new coach Jeff Tedford asked this year for expanded meeting space at the team's practice facility, a new electronic practice clock and iPads for all the players, Braley opened his chequebook and made it happen. The next owner will have big shoes to fill.

[dupsdell1]

David Braley and Wally Buono are the best things to ever happen to the Lions. It was great when they had Bob Ackles too but his record as a GM and president was mixed. A lot of the financial problems that the Lions endured in the late 1980s and 1990s were the result of Ackles overpaying for talent during the lucrative Carling O'Keefe TV contract and the honeymoon era of B.C. Place in the 1980s. The money dried up fast in the late '80s and the club collapsed on and off the field. Things didn't begin to recover until Braley bought the Lions at the end of 1997. The Lions haven't missed the playoffs since and probably haven't missed a bill payment either. When new coach Jeff Tedford asked this year for expanded meeting space at the team's practice facility, a new electronic practice clock and iPads for all the players, Braley opened his chequebook and made it happen. The next owner will have big shoes to fill.

Yes David is good for writing chqs but that is it , we need ownership that is for more family price oriented packages , this has been a very stale situation for the lions ever since bob ackles died.

[Toppy Vann]

David Braley and Wally Buono are the best things to ever happen to the Lions. It was great when they had Bob Ackles too but his record as a GM and president was mixed. A lot of the financial problems that the Lions endured in the late 1980s and 1990s were the result of Ackles overpaying for talent during the lucrative Carling O'Keefe TV contract and the honeymoon era of B.C. Place in the 1980s. The money dried up fast in the late '80s and the club collapsed on and off the field. Things didn't begin to recover until Braley bought the Lions at the end of 1997. The Lions haven't missed the playoffs since and probably haven't missed a bill payment either. When new coach Jeff Tedford asked this year for expanded meeting space at the team's practice facility, a new electronic practice clock and iPads for all the players, Braley opened his chequebook and made it happen. The next owner will have big shoes to fill.

Yes David is good for writing chqs but that is it , we need ownership that is for more family price oriented packages , this has been a very stale situation for the lions ever since bob ackles died.

You were like many fans dupsdell - playing right into the Lions hands when you wanted a WC type full lower bowl with the top all draped off.

The Lions' President knew four things (only 3 of which were clear to all with the 4th where fans would need to connect some dots and think a bit more strategically and discover themselves):

1. TSN and HD wasn't going to help their gate as they were going to get local blackouts bringing 2500-3000 more out to games.

2. Fans wanted that wonderful Lower Bowl filled up, stadium draped off or whatever , feeling of intimacy on game day just like Whitecaps.

3. Lulay was hurt and given no other QB unlike in the Dickenson,Printers, Pierce, Jackson days was showing he could step up, Wins might be harder to get and fan numbers were going to be down. Things like women's World Cup and two Thursday games for TSN weren't going to help either.

4. The goal is to move the revenue per ticket up given the lower number of seats available and it can be done based on the Lions data.

The Lions fan survey showed IIRC incomes up in the 90K range for the fans at games and pay more per ticket which the Lions will need to make their revenue targets.

Skulsky on the sidelines didn't injure Travis Lulay (might be a jinx as he and Wally are "wired" so he's playing the hand he's dealt and he's not a marketing guy and certainly not a strategic communicator - he's just a guy who ran a newspaper or two and can read the financial statements and build a network of contacts.

Closing the upper bowl does these things nicely:

1. Allows the Lions to keep raising prices as soon as they re-emerge into the Winners column as a winning team can sell out that lower bowl producing ticket scarcity.

2. Gives them a known cost structure with less risk AND closer revenue structure to hit revenue targets.

____

Bottom Line: My sense is that they might think like the Whitecaps and IIRC they say they won't open the upper deck during the regular season regardless of who they play. That is exactly where the Lions are headed.

The more they win the more fans will pay for it as they only need to look next door to see the Canuck ticket prices and the Lions have a small fraction of home dates to fill and need to get the revenues up per seat to make this profitable.

No doubt Skulsky wants to buy the franchise based on what he has said at other times and I'm not suggesting he's doing the dirty and running the franchise into the ground but in a management buyout it might not be a bad tactic to do just what they are doing now.

Its like 3G Capital and the Kraft - Heinz merger. 3G are great at lowering the base cost structure but this comes at the expense of any market share or market growth as they do this by eliminating costs like jobs. I see this morning the shoe is dropping and job cuts were announced. Why Buffett got into bed with 3G astounds me.

[dupsdell1]

David Braley and Wally Buono are the best things to ever happen to the Lions. It was great when they had Bob Ackles too but his record as a GM and president was mixed. A lot of the financial problems that the Lions endured in the late 1980s and 1990s were the result of Ackles overpaying for talent during the lucrative Carling O'Keefe TV contract and the honeymoon era of B.C. Place in the 1980s. The money dried up fast in the late '80s and the club collapsed on and off the field. Things didn't begin to recover until Braley bought the Lions at the end of 1997. The Lions haven't missed the playoffs since and probably haven't missed a bill payment either. When new coach Jeff Tedford asked this year for expanded meeting space at the team's practice facility, a new electronic practice clock and iPads for all the players, Braley opened his chequebook and made it happen. The next owner will have big shoes to fill.

Yes David is good for writing chqs but that is it , we need ownership that is for more family price oriented packages , this has been a very stale situation for the lions ever since bob ackles died.

You were like many fans dupsdell - playing right into the Lions hands when you wanted a WC type full lower bowl with the top all draped off.

The Lions' President knew four things (only 3 of which were clear to all with the 4th where fans would need to connect some dots and think a bit more strategically and discover themselves):

1. TSN and HD wasn't going to help their gate as they were going to get local blackouts bringing 2500-3000 more out to games.

2. Fans wanted that wonderful Lower Bowl filled up, stadium draped off or whatever , feeling of intimacy on game day just like Whitecaps.

3. Lulay was hurt and given no other QB unlike in the Dickenson,Printers, Pierce, Jackson days was showing he could step up, Wins might be harder to get and fan numbers were going to be down. Things like women's World Cup and two Thursday games for TSN weren't going to help either.

4. The goal is to move the revenue per ticket up given the lower number of seats available and it can be done based on the Lions data.

The Lions fan survey showed IIRC incomes up in the 90K range for the fans at games and pay more per ticket which the Lions will need to make their revenue targets.

Skulsky on the sidelines didn't injure Travis Lulay (might be a jinx as he and Wally are "wired" so he's playing the hand he's dealt and he's not a marketing guy and certainly not a strategic communicator - he's just a guy who ran a newspaper or two and can read the financial statements and build a network of contacts.

Closing the upper bowl does these things nicely:

1. Allows the Lions to keep raising prices as soon as they re-emerge into the Winners column as a winning team can sell out that lower bowl producing ticket scarcity.

2. Gives them a known cost structure with less risk AND closer revenue structure to hit revenue targets.

____

Bottom Line: My sense is that they might think like the Whitecaps and IIRC they say they won't open the upper deck during the regular season regardless of who they play. That is exactly where the Lions are headed.

The more they win the more fans will pay for it as they only need to look next door to see the Canuck ticket prices and the Lions have a small fraction of home dates to fill and need to get the revenues up per seat to make this profitable.

No doubt Skulsky wants to buy the franchise based on what he has said at other times and I'm not suggesting he's doing the dirty and running the franchise into the ground but in a management buyout it might not be a bad tactic to do just what they are doing now.

Its like 3G Capital and the Kraft - Heinz merger. 3G are great at lowering the base cost structure but this comes at the expense of any market share or market growth as they do this by eliminating costs like jobs. I see this morning the shoe is dropping and job cuts were announced. Why Buffett got into bed with 3G astounds me.

I agree with everything you are saying , if Dennis becomes one of the new owners I do like that , I think he would be a excellent owner as long as he steps down his president role .

Dennis would be a excellent owner ( or one of them ) Because ?

1. his dedication and love for the team
2. he would actually hire the right President this time
3. He would have good ticket family packages ( as I know is hands are tied with that know as David makes those decisions as we have heard lots of times that they want to set some sort of family ticket price for the whole year )

[DanoT]

I'm guessing that if Skulsky heads up an ownership group that he will be the Managing Partner, aka the Team President, Wally will retire and Skulsky will hire a new GM.

[Toppy Vann]

I'm guessing that if Skulsky heads up an ownership group that he will be the Managing Partner, aka the Team President, Wally will retire and Skulsky will hire a new GM.

Unless there is a deep pocketed ownership group where he's just a minor partner and deep pocket(s) wants someone else to be Managing Partner or whatever title they use, DS would be the guy. He's still wanting to work I suspect and he's not like Braley with other business interests to actually run or provide governance for.

But who knows what relationships are really like inside an organization. Like in Entourage when Ari Gold buys his former firm and goes in and fires with the paint guns everyone he hated - that happens more civilized ways in real life.

My sense is that the understanding currently is that when Wally goes his advice will be hire Jeff T as GM and HC or whatever.

This could change as could Wally's plan on retiring (if is plan is yet clear) with a losing season. Wally is not the problem here but scheme and players are.

[SammyGreene]

Great summary and breakdown sj-roc Was in Ucluelet for the past week and it might as well have been Siberia based on my cell phone connection. You better have Telus if you are going to that neck of the woods. Also excellent post in summarizing the current climate with Whitecaps and Lions. You summed it up perfectly. Perception is everything.

Like David, growing really tired with the Lions attendance being front and centre week after week it seems. Also seeing so much crap on social media from Whitecaps and Seahawks fans dissing the Lions and the CFL. Apparently Vancouver sports fans should be choosing one team over an other rather than support all.
So much to learn from a city like Seattle that is Seahawks crazy yet leads the MLS in attendance by a country mile, averages over 30,000 per game for 82 baseball home dates and well over 60,000 for its university football team that hasn't contended for a Pac 12 title in years and perhaps sees maybe 10 percent of its entire roster play professionally. Don't know how the "elitist" Vancouver sports fan could handle that last fact.

Doesn't help when Iain McIntrye's ONLY tweet from the last Lions home game was how the crowd was smaller than the Whitecaps game the night before.

There has been a buzz for the past year or so the CFL will be hooking up with NIKE in 2016. Perhaps that's one of the main reasons the 3rds have been moth balled and I'm sure Skulsky is going to be tight lipped about it. Don't think I will be buying anymore Lions Reebok merchandise this season.

[Lions4ever]

Maybe that is true but it is the GM's responsibility to hand pick the talent, his track record at the draft is abysmal, let's face it he could have drawn names from a hat he would done a better job. Also, Lulay was done last year, yet he has failed to bring in an elite quarterback in anticipation of this. I do not blame Tedford for any of this.....falls on Wally's lap.

[DanoT]

Maybe that is true but it is the GM's responsibility to hand pick the talent, his track record at the draft is abysmal, let's face it he could have drawn names from a hat he would done a better job. Also, Lulay was done last year, yet he has failed to bring in an elite quarterback in anticipation of this. I do not blame Tedford for any of this.....falls on Wally's lap.

Bring in an elite QB? You mean there are unemployed elite QBs just waiting by the phone?

The Lions did bring in a couple of young prospects who need time to develop.

[Toppy Vann]

Maybe that is true but it is the GM's responsibility to hand pick the talent, his track record at the draft is abysmal, let's face it he could have drawn names from a hat he would done a better job. Also, Lulay was done last year, yet he has failed to bring in an elite quarterback in anticipation of this. I do not blame Tedford for any of this.....falls on Wally's lap.

Bring in an elite QB? You mean there are unemployed elite QBs just waiting by the phone?

The Lions did bring in a couple of young prospects who need time to develop.

This would be an excellent week for another Skulsky Hail Mary - man up Skully and announce a guaranteed win.

[David]

....his track record at the draft is abysmal, let's face it he could have drawn names from a hat he would done a better job.

LOL, I may just try this method next year. Put a bunch of draft-eligible names in a hat and pick them round-by-round just as the Lions announce their picks. Then track their progress against....1st rounders (who were really 2nd or 3rds), NFL bounders, and training camp fodders.


DH

[DanoT]

I was going to mention in Wally's defense that the Lions got a top rated guy who didn't make it in the NFL in Bo Lokumbo using a low draft pick because of his NFL interest. And then I remembered, It was Kelly Bates who was in charge of that draft, not Wally. Bates as draft coordinator is also responsible for Norman, Player, Steward and I think Ianuzzi and Gore. Very good drafting with Bates. Another mistake to let Bates go.