Making me LOL
Greetings from the great Northwest. It's rainy and dreary here in Portland, although my brother says it's a fallacy that it ALWAYS rains out here. But it's also in the mid 40s right now, and there's no snow, so I can't complain.
Anyway, I know this is a little late, but I just got caught up with my reading, and I have to address the column in Dec. 10's D&C about Steve Donner written by Eric Bourgeois, a member of the paper's Board of Contributors.
The column featured the headline, "Donner knows what fans want," which is somewhat humorous to begin with. If Donner really knew what Amerks fans want -- at least a lot of the fans -- then he'd remove himself from the picture.
But the jist of the column was that Tom Golisano and the Sabres want to stock the Amerks with developmental players, while Amerks fans want veterans like Scott Metcalfe and Dan Frawley. Bourgeois asserts that that's want Donner wants as well, but the Sabres won't let him sign any veterans.
"Buffalo has made it clear they aren't willing to sign a player like this or support Donner doing so," he writes.
But, if Sabres GM Larry Quinn is to be believed, the Sabres gave the Amerks such a great player affiliation deal that the Amerks should have lots of money left over to sign veterans on their own.
Bourgeois also writes that "the local media support sending local money to support the Sabres ..." I'm not sure where he got that idea, and I'm not being sarcastic. The local media have generally been fairly objective about the whole situation, especially Kevin Oklobzija and the D&C. Kevin has done a pretty darn good job keeping up with the situation, and his coverage has been balanced. I'm sure Kevin has his own opinions about what's going on, but they don't show up in his coverage.
(I should note that I don't watch TV news, so maybe their coverage has been slanted. I wouldn't know.)
Then, with this statement, Bourgeois had me almost LOL: "The financial woes aren't because Donner can't manage. He doesn't get concession money under the obsolete lease agreement ..."
But as has been pointed out many times before, that's Donner's own fault -- he signed the current lease in the first place.
"With new investors, a better lease deal and a better parent club," Bourgeois then writes, "we can again have the type of team Rochester deserves."
Yeah, that, or we can have a complete change in management. You know, either one.
Anyway, I know this is a little late, but I just got caught up with my reading, and I have to address the column in Dec. 10's D&C about Steve Donner written by Eric Bourgeois, a member of the paper's Board of Contributors.
The column featured the headline, "Donner knows what fans want," which is somewhat humorous to begin with. If Donner really knew what Amerks fans want -- at least a lot of the fans -- then he'd remove himself from the picture.
But the jist of the column was that Tom Golisano and the Sabres want to stock the Amerks with developmental players, while Amerks fans want veterans like Scott Metcalfe and Dan Frawley. Bourgeois asserts that that's want Donner wants as well, but the Sabres won't let him sign any veterans.
"Buffalo has made it clear they aren't willing to sign a player like this or support Donner doing so," he writes.
But, if Sabres GM Larry Quinn is to be believed, the Sabres gave the Amerks such a great player affiliation deal that the Amerks should have lots of money left over to sign veterans on their own.
Bourgeois also writes that "the local media support sending local money to support the Sabres ..." I'm not sure where he got that idea, and I'm not being sarcastic. The local media have generally been fairly objective about the whole situation, especially Kevin Oklobzija and the D&C. Kevin has done a pretty darn good job keeping up with the situation, and his coverage has been balanced. I'm sure Kevin has his own opinions about what's going on, but they don't show up in his coverage.
(I should note that I don't watch TV news, so maybe their coverage has been slanted. I wouldn't know.)
Then, with this statement, Bourgeois had me almost LOL: "The financial woes aren't because Donner can't manage. He doesn't get concession money under the obsolete lease agreement ..."
But as has been pointed out many times before, that's Donner's own fault -- he signed the current lease in the first place.
"With new investors, a better lease deal and a better parent club," Bourgeois then writes, "we can again have the type of team Rochester deserves."
Yeah, that, or we can have a complete change in management. You know, either one.
posted by Ryan Whirty at
8:59 AM
5 Comments:
the lease that Mr. Donner signed allows for the Amerks office space rent free,with no costs for heat, light, power or AC. The game expenses payable per game are only $3000.00 for hockey, far below actual cost.
By
Anonymous, at 11:49 AM
Wow, that's amazing! Does anyone know how I can get my hands on a copy of that lease? I'm not sure it would be public record because it's technically with SMG, a private company.
By
Ryan Whirty, at 12:48 PM
The lease was published a while back in the D&C
By
Anonymous, at 5:35 AM
That would be great -- it would (hopefully) mean that Jeff Calkins wouldn't have an excuse not to give me a copy.
The only thing about the lease the media focuses on is how the Amerks don't get concessions revenue, but they don't really talk about the other parts of the lease -- free rent, no utility bills, etc.
By
Ryan Whirty, at 6:19 PM
HINT: File a FOI request with the City of Rochester.
By
Anonymous, at 7:35 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home