Quote:
Originally Posted by corporatejay
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Frankly, I am AMAZED at how patient and foregiving Oiler fans have been towards Katz so far.
He buys the team and promises a new building, all pie in the sky stuff. He then immediately triggers a burn-it-to-the-ground rebuild so that the salary structure plummets and he can sock away huge profits for a few years in order to pay off his investment and gather the cash for (his portion of) a new arena.
He
keeps the team in the basement for years, not spending any more money than necessary, because fans are swallowing his "hope" story like lemmings and continuing to support the team financially - not only with their ticket support (which I understand as a STH myself), but also with a huge bump in merchandise sales, etc. It is interesting that the Oilers are currently one of the most profitable teams in the league!
Then he (shockingly) tells the city that they are going to have to put up more money or he might have to move the team.
But of course, all along he has built up grass roots support because the fans are all on-board the "we've put up with a crap team for years and now we're finally going to be rewarded for it" train. So he has their support to pressure the city to give him whatever he needs.
My hat is off to him - well played Mr Katz!