Should next Lions owner(s) consider a minor celebrity stake?

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David
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While hardly a ground breaking concept, I've thought about the potential for the next ownership group to bring a celebrity on board, just for a minority share and to act as a brand ambassador. Other local clubs have done it - Michael Buble shills for the Vancouver Giants and Steve Nash has some kind of stake in the Whitecaps. The list of celebrity majority/minority owners is actually quite broad examples here.

This move would potentially give the Lions more visibility - and perhaps even credibility - in the community at large and especially with the important 18-35 year old demographic that they covet. Remember, David Sidoo and his wife owned two high profile side-by-side restaurants on Vancouver's west side - Lumiere and db Bistro Moderne and brought in Frenchman and NY celebrity chef Daniel Boulud to run them, so something like this is not unprecedented for him if Mr. Sidoo becomes part of the next ownership group.

Not sure who would be a good fit (Pamela Anderson seems inexorably linked to this team as her face on the Jumbotron was the spring board for her career), but whoever they could get on board might be a smart, strategic partnership. Just spit-balling an idea in the dead month of March. :popcorn:


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B.C.FAN
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Supplemental to David's question: If the Aquilini family buys the Lions, would you want them to bring in a current or former hockey player as a celebrity owner or team executive?

I'm leery of the prospect of the Lions being a secondary property of the Canucks ownership group, and having a hockey player as the public face of Lions ownership would just reinforce my fear of the Lions becoming a toy like Francesco's wine collection.

As for Pamela Anderson, she attracted some good publicity when she served as grand marshal of the Grey Cup parade but I don't want her involved in high-level team decision-making. And I especially don't want to see an all-vegan menu at B.C. Place concession stands. :)
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B.C.FAN wrote:As for Pamela Anderson, she attracted some good publicity when she served as grand marshal of the Grey Cup parade but I don't want her involved in high-level team decision-making. And I especially don't want to see an all-vegan menu at B.C. Place concession stands. :)
Considering her ties to PETA, would the CFL have to stop using footballs made from cowhide if she got involved? :tease:
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David
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B.C.FAN wrote:I'm leery of the prospect of the Lions being a secondary property of the Canucks ownership group, and having a hockey player as the public face of Lions ownership would just reinforce my fear of the Lions becoming a toy like Francesco's wine collection.
Hmmm, I am a bit confused by what you mean here. Why would Francesco put a hockey player (current or former) as the face of the Lions franchise?
B.C.FAN wrote:As for Pamela Anderson, she attracted some good publicity when she served as grand marshal of the Grey Cup parade but I don't want her involved in high-level team decision-making.
Regardless of who's brought in as a minority owner, I really don't think they would have much (if any) input on decisions that affect the team. In fact, with some of these celebrity alliances like a Steve Nash with the 'Caps or a Gordie Howe with the Giants, I am really not sure that they have much skin in the game. I almost think they're trading their name for maybe a cut of the profits or some type of fee.

And I don't think Pam would be a good fit with the Leos anymore either. I was thinking more of someone like Ryan Reynolds. He's a Vancouverite....not sure if he was a Leos fan growing up or not. But he's the type of personality that could appear at the odd game, or Tweet something nice about the club once in a while and get some of the locals to stand up and take notice.


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B.C.FAN
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David wrote:
B.C.FAN wrote:I'm leery of the prospect of the Lions being a secondary property of the Canucks ownership group, and having a hockey player as the public face of Lions ownership would just reinforce my fear of the Lions becoming a toy like Francesco's wine collection.
Hmmm, I am a bit confused by what you mean here. Why would Francesco put a hockey player (current or former) as the face of the Lions franchise?
I was thinking of a Steve Nash-type situation where a prominent local athlete from another sport got involved in the Whitecaps. Would a former Canuck or NHL player from B.C. want to come aboard as part of a new Lions ownership group? I don't have any names in mind, but I was just throwing out a possible scenario.
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How about some famous former Lions to consider? According to the internet, Doug Flute is worth $10 million (USD) and Carl Weathers is worth $8 million.

Then there's Cam Wake. In 2017, Wake will earn a base salary of $6,875,000, a signing bonus of $1,000,000 and a workout bonus of $125,000. Maybe he'd like to invest some of those funds in a football team to prepare for his retirement years! :roar:
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B.C.FAN wrote:
David wrote:
B.C.FAN wrote:I'm leery of the prospect of the Lions being a secondary property of the Canucks ownership group, and having a hockey player as the public face of Lions ownership would just reinforce my fear of the Lions becoming a toy like Francesco's wine collection.
Hmmm, I am a bit confused by what you mean here. Why would Francesco put a hockey player (current or former) as the face of the Lions franchise?
I was thinking of a Steve Nash-type situation where a prominent local athlete from another sport got involved in the Whitecaps. Would a former Canuck or NHL player from B.C. want to come aboard as part of a new Lions ownership group? I don't have any names in mind, but I was just throwing out a possible scenario.
In Nash's case getting involved with Whitecaps ownership is a natural. His association and affection for the sport of soccer is well documented. It's in his DNA. His parents are from the Tottenham area of London. They are devoted Hotspurs' fans as is he. His brother played for the Whitecaps. His sister played collegiately. He played at a high level and believed he could've pursued a pro soccer career but got to that crossroad where he had to make a decision to concentrate on one sport. He opted for basketball over soccer. Turned out to be a good choice. Despite his success in basketball his first love in sport might be soccer. Similarly Wayne Gretzky has often said that baseball was his favourite sport to play growing up. He eventually chose hockey because in his own words "Oh yeah, I played a lot of baseball. Every time I see Paul Beeston, he says he could have made my life a lot better and lot easier if I’d signed with the Blue Jays when I was 17. I love the game, I used to love and admire the game as much or more than even hockey when I was a kid. Unfortunately I wasn’t quite as good in baseball as I was in hockey."

I think where pro athletes get involved in sports ownership it's usually in the sport they had success in. It's rare to be involved in a different sport as Nash is. In the case of Willie Mitchell he's a fishing nut and bought into a fishing lodge in Tofino. As for NHL types there are instances of NHL players being involved in junior hockey often with the junior team they played for . The Prince George Cougars ownership group includes former Cougars Dan Hamhuis and Eric Brewer. Shane Doan, Jarome Iginla, Mark Recchi and Daryl Sydor are part of the Kamloops Blazers ownership group.
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Two candidates are: the "Rock" who recently tweeted some favourable comments about the CFL and Wally Buono...and Jon Bon Jovi who was part owner of an Arena team and the front-man for Toronto's Buffalo Bills bid (with T. Rogers and L. Tannenbaum).
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KnowItAll
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how about m. j. fox
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CardiacKid
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I don't know.....my immediate reaction is to think of the Bruce McNall-era Argonauts with Wayne Gretzky and John Candy. The intervening years have left me thinking that brought immediate dividends but an overall bad taste and negative press for the team.

Personally I would be more receptive to a celebrity or someone similar shilling for the team who consistently made appearances in the stands and could speak to being a fan from their younger years. Not someone who has Vancouver roots but has to be parachuted into media opportunities on rare occasions. I guess my preferred someone would be more a grassroots kinda guy or gal and has a squeaky clean reputation.
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CardiacKid wrote: I guess my preferred someone would be more a grassroots kinda guy or gal and has a squeaky clean reputation.
In these days of social media blitzes, good luck finding that....
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JohnHenry wrote:Two candidates are: the "Rock" who recently tweeted some favourable comments about the CFL and Wally Buono...and Jon Bon Jovi who was part owner of an Arena team and the front-man for Toronto's Buffalo Bills bid (with T. Rogers and L. Tannenbaum).
I don't know about purchasing a stake in the team, but the Lions would be very smart to try to get the Rock out to one of the games and do something with the team.
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QB Club 63 wrote:
B.C.FAN wrote:As for Pamela Anderson, she attracted some good publicity when she served as grand marshal of the Grey Cup parade but I don't want her involved in high-level team decision-making. And I especially don't want to see an all-vegan menu at B.C. Place concession stands. :)
Considering her ties to PETA, would the CFL have to stop using footballs made from cowhide if she got involved? :tease:
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David
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JohnHenry wrote:Two candidates are: the "Rock" who recently tweeted some favourable comments about the CFL and Wally Buono...and Jon Bon Jovi who was part owner of an Arena team and the front-man for Toronto's Buffalo Bills bid (with T. Rogers and L. Tannenbaum).
Dwayne Johnson (aka "The Rock") seems to be the logical short-term choice while Wally is still part of the club. He briefly played for Wally and has indeed tweeted a couple of favourable comments about him. He's not likely to be offered a piece of the team under Braley's ownership of course (not sure if he'd even want it - being the highest paid actor in Hollywood right now and all), but he could create some decent buzz by coming out to practice this summer and making an appearance at a game (Cam Wake could too on a smaller scale).

Not sure about JBJ - he attempted to front a group to bring the NFL to Toronto. I'm uncertain if he'd want to align with the CFL or what the optics would look like if did, but he does have an interest in sports ownership.


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KnowItAll
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to copy the Mcnall/Gretsky/Candy group

I propose Aquilini/Cliff Ronning/Jason Priestly
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