Braley Wants to Sell Lions

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VictoriaFan
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maxlion wrote:
Sat Oct 19, 2019 1:18 pm
David wrote:
Sat Oct 19, 2019 11:03 am

Mentioned a $5 coupon on the back of cereal boxes when he was Commish, that you could take to games and get your discount. Does anyone remember this?
How quaint. I'm sure that would get the young generation engaged. Maybe have a promo where you mail in your ticket stubs and get free x-ray glasses or a "secrets of ventriloquism" booklet. Kids love that stuff.
or sea monkeys!
TheLionKing
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David wrote:
Sat Oct 19, 2019 11:03 am
Ironically, he thinks the league should be putting a bigger emphasis (presumably resources) on marketing the game to the fans. I never took him for a big marketing proponent, at least not for his own club. :hmm:
Maybe Braley should set an example with his club.
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Hambone
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I've still never been given a good example of this magic marketing pixie dust that is often talked about other than suggestions to slash ticket prices......which IMO is not a marketing strategy.
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David
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An update this morning from Farhan Lalji. :bang:
Farhan Lalji
My understanding is the sale of #BCLions is moving very slowly, with no new offers to this point. So expect Braley to be making decisions as if he will still own the team into next season. Decisions on coaching staff & front office should come soon after Nov 2 @CFLonTSN
@TSN1040

DH :cool:
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JohnnyMusso
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Usually decisions happen after Grey Cup. So either Braley has already made up his mind meaning an extension for Ed Hervey will be announced after Nov 2 or he will be fired. My feeling is no big news will come until after the Grey Cup.

No surprise on Lions unlikely to be sold. Braley wants too much money.
TheLionKing
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JohnnyMusso wrote:
Wed Oct 23, 2019 4:15 pm

No surprise on Lions unlikely to be sold. Braley wants too much money.
In the meantime, Braley is losing money with the declining fan base and the on field performance .
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BC 1988
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TheLionKing wrote:
Wed Oct 23, 2019 5:46 pm
JohnnyMusso wrote:
Wed Oct 23, 2019 4:15 pm

No surprise on Lions unlikely to be sold. Braley wants too much money.
In the meantime, Braley is losing money with the declining fan base and the on field performance .
Right. I've no doubt Braley is genuinely dismayed about the dreadful season. He's likely clinging to the notion that the Lions can turn things around on the field and thus increase the franchise value (and maybe hanging around to hope for another Grey Cup hosting). Honestly, he sounded so chipper coming back from illness, he's back in "hold on to the investment" mode again.
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Hambone
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JohnnyMusso wrote:
Wed Oct 23, 2019 4:15 pm
Usually decisions happen after Grey Cup. So either Braley has already made up his mind meaning an extension for Ed Hervey will be announced after Nov 2 or he will be fired. My feeling is no big news will come until after the Grey Cup.
New hires typically happen after Grey Cup because there are likely highly regarded candidates on the payrolls of the Grey Cup teams. However there's plenty of instances of coaches and GMs getting dusted within days of their teams cleaning out their locker rooms. Last year Marc Trestman got first dibs on the garbage bags before most of the players arrived to clean out their lockers. The Argos played their final game on the Friday night. He was fired the following morning several hours before the Lions closed out the 2018 CFL regular season. The guy who hired him, Jim Popp, was fired by Montreal the day after the 2016 regular season ended. In 2013 the Bombers gave Tim Burke a bit more time. They waited for 11 days after the Bomber season to do the deed. The Grey Cup was played 11 days later. In 2014 BC played in the ESF on Nov 16th. Benevides was let go 4 days later, before divisional finals were played.

The only reason for an organization to wait until after Grey Cup to fire or otherwise not retain a GM or HC is because they haven't yet made such decisions. It serves no purpose to play a charade of keeping the guy around, sending him to Grey Cup on behalf of the team etc if he's dead man walking. Besides that it's impossible in these days of social media for such a thing to be kept a secret. If they have made up their minds then it should be announced as soon as possible. For sure if the news turns out to mean the Leos are displaying the "Help Wanted" sign then by all means they should announce it right away. The sooner prospective candidates know there will be vacancies the better it is for the club.
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Belize City Lion
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I think if Hervey gets canned I think the announcement will come within days after the last regular season game.
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DanoT
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Belize City Lion wrote:
Thu Oct 24, 2019 9:55 am
I think if Hervey gets canned I think the announcement will come within days after the last regular season game.

My take on Braley is that he looks at the big picture, long term and thus is unlikely to give a GM only 2 seasons to produce results so I expect Hervey to be back in 2020.
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Belize City Lion
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DanoT wrote:
Thu Oct 24, 2019 10:15 am
Belize City Lion wrote:
Thu Oct 24, 2019 9:55 am
I think if Hervey gets canned I think the announcement will come within days after the last regular season game.

My take on Braley is that he looks at the big picture, long term and thus is unlikely to give a GM only 2 seasons to produce results so I expect Hervey to be back in 2020.
Well, when Hervey was hired he only got a 2 year contract.

Ed WIlles speculated in the Province at the beginning of September that Hervey's contract had been extended, but there has been no mention of that from either the team or Hervey. Of course if Willes is correct the radio silence was likely due to the expected fan reaction to extending contract of a GM leading a 1-10 team.
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B.C.FAN
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According to Ed Willes, the Aquilini family may be back in the running to buy the Lions from David Braley. Willes says representatives of the Aquilinis have had informal talks with the Lions, which is about as much as anyone is saying.
The family, according to sources, aren’t ardent pursuers of the Lions but their interest seems to be rising as the price tag deflates. They like the synergies the Lions would create with their other sports brands — including the Canucks, the NLL’s Warriors and the Titans of the Overwatch League.

The Aquilinis have seen this arrangement work well with the Calgary Flames and Calgary Stampeders — less so with the Argos and the Leafs in Toronto. They’ve also been in an acquisitive way lately, adding a franchise in the eSports Call of Duty league to their holdings. I knew if I lived long enough I’d get to type that sentence.

As to what kind of owners they’d be, well, they’re local, they’d pay the bills and they’d invest more in promoting the team than Braley, which wouldn’t be hard.

So is their interest a real thing? At the risk of repeating ourselves that’s difficult to know. They wouldn’t be Braley’s first choice to take over his baby — and make no mistake Braley is emotionally invested in the Lions. With a contract extension for GM Ed Hervey and the decision to fire head coach DeVone Claybrooks, he’s also acting like he might be around for a while.
Ed Willes: Lions still for sale, but owners won't break bank to buy Braley's baby
cms22
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great comments throughout this thread.

yes, this needs to be marketed very hard, but i think the right people would be able to do it moderately successfully...... things like a BBQ/practice with the players are great. they don't cost much money and fans really love it. can't really do that in NFL i'm guessing......... or something like season-long black jack tournament or a miniature night market (just brain-storming)

i lived in winnipeg for a long time. and have lived in ottawa/toronto/vancouver too... i definitely see the big challenges in toronto and vancouver.. ethnicities that didn't grow up with football and people often live so far from the stadium. going to a game in winnipeg is simple.

i was at a huskies game in seattle recently and my seatmate and i both said we'd rather sit up high than low...... am i alone in this?. i think opening parts of the top and maybe closing parts of the bottom would be quite successful
TheLionKing
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Will he or won't he sell ? This is an ongoing soap opera. Please wake me up when and if the sale finally goes through.
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SammyGreene
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B.C.FAN wrote:
Sat Nov 16, 2019 4:33 pm
According to Ed Willes, the Aquilini family may be back in the running to buy the Lions from David Braley. Willes says representatives of the Aquilinis have had informal talks with the Lions, which is about as much as anyone is saying.
The Hamilton-based industrialist has lost a significant sum over the last couple of years — $7 million is the number floating around the ether — and the Lions might lose another $3 million this season. In a purrfect world Braley would like to recoup those losses in the team’s sale and stuff a little extra in his wallet.
Wow. That's the first time I've ever seen dollar figures thrown around on potential losses. It's also why Mark Woodall-Moray Keith group's bid that could include as many as 20 investors is not the most ideal to absorb those kind of losses.
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