Ownership rumors

[KBF]

From the Daily News June 20 06

TOP STORY

Gaglardi looks to buy Blazers
by Gregg Drinnan

Tom Gaglardi, a Vancouver-based businessman who attempted to purchase a piece of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks two years ago, is interested in buying the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers.

“Sure there’s interest,” Gaglardi said Monday from his office in Vancouver, “and we’re looking at it.”

Gaglardi, who remained close-mouthed on any potential offer, is heading a group that is thought to include as many as four former Blazers players. However, the group doesn’t include Ryan Beedie, another Lower Mainland businessman.

Gaglardi, 38, is a grandson of the late Phil Gaglardi, who was a prominent politician in the Kamloops area. Tom is the CEO of Northland Properties Corp., which owns Sandman Hotels, Inns and Suites, along with various Moxie’s and Denny’s restaurants and other properties.

Beedie, 37, is president of The Beedie Group, which is based in Burnaby and is involved in real estate development, industrial building and construction.

In 2003 and early 2004, Gaglardi and Beedie partnered with Francesco Aquilini in an attempt to purchase 50 per cent of the Canucks from Seattle billionaire John McCaw. At one point, various media outlets reported that the deal was done, to the tune of $250 million, with Gaglardi and Beedie in for $125 million.

However, Aquilini ended up cutting a deal himself; Gaglardi and Beedie filed a statement of claim in B.C. Supreme Court in January 2005 accusing Aquilini of acting in bad faith. That claim is still before the courts.

The Blazers are a non-profit society. The franchise is owned by a group of shareholders, numbering 194, and controlled by a nine-man board of directors.

Off the ice, the board has been working to help the franchise recover from what it has said is an embezzlement, uncovered in September 2003, that resulted in the loss of more than $1 million. On the ice, the team didn’t make the playoffs in 2005-06, something that interrupted a run of six consecutive first-round playoff eliminations.

As a result of all the uncertainty, the franchise has found itself surrounded by rumours pertaining to a potential sale. For sometime now, there has been talk that a group including a handful of former Blazers players has had thoughts of making an offer.

Originally, Gaglardi made contact with the Blazers through Dennis Coates, a lawyer with Mair Jensen Blair and a member of the Blazers’ board.

“They kept saying to me that they would be interested,” said Coates, who has done legal work for Northland Properties. “I said, ‘Nobody said it’s for sale’ … although I guess the theory is that anything is for sale.”

When Gaglardi expressed some degree of seriousness, Coates said he referred Gaglardi to another lawyer.

“I told (Gaglardi) I was on the board and can’t be involved …,” Coates said. “I have to stay neutral and out of the loop … I just pass on to the board any time I hear this, that it may happen. I don’t think the board has seen anything come back.”

During the Blazers’ 2005 annual meeting, Coates, who is the board’s treasurer, estimated the franchise’s value to be between $4.5 million and $6 million. It is one of five community-owned franchises in the WHL, the others being the Lethbridge Hurricanes, Moose Jaw Warriors, Prince Albert Raiders and Swift Current Broncos.

The NHL’s Edmonton Oilers, who purchased the last expansion franchise to be sold by the WHL, are believed to have paid $4 million.

Coates said he also heard “some months ago” from Troy Gamble, a former WHL and pro goaltender, who appeared to be fronting a group out of Calgary. However, Coates said he only heard from Gamble once and that “he never did get back to me.”

[scamperdog]

According to NL radio some of the Blazers involved in this are Mark Recci, Shane Doan, and Darryl Sydor, I think it would be great to see something come of this.

[scamperdog]

Gaglardi makes offer for Blazers www.kamloopsnews.ca
by Gregg Drinnan

Tom Gaglardi began making his pitch to purchase the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers on Wednesday.

The Daily News has learned that an offer to purchase was delivered to the Kamloops Blazers Sports Society’s board of directors Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.

The board oversees the operation of the WHL franchise on behalf of 194 shareholders.

The offer is from a group headed by Gaglardi and including former Blazers players Shane Doan, Mark Recchi and Darryl Sydor.

Gaglardi, reached at his office in Vancouver, declined comment.

However, The Daily News has learned that the offer is for about $6 million.

The offer, although not including a hard deadline, includes a time frame in which, if accepted, everything would be wrapped up in early August. That would allow all necessary paperwork and anything else that should arise to be concluded before the Blazers open training camp on Aug. 24.

The offer also outlines a transition period and indicates that all staff would be retained.

As well, The Daily News has learned, a clause in the offer would give the society a right of first refusal at a discount should Gaglardi decide at some point to sell the franchise.

The 38-year-old Gaglardi, who plays recreational hockey once or twice a week, is the CEO of Vancouver-based Northland Properties Corp., which owns Sandman Hotels, Inns and Suites. It also owns various Moxie’s and Denny’s restaurants and other properties.

The Gaglardi name is well-known in the Kamloops area, thanks primarily to the late Phil Gaglardi, Tom’s grandfather, who was a prominent politician in these parts.

Doan, 29, is a native of Halkirk, Alta., who is the captain of the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes. He played three seasons (1992-95) with the Blazers and lives here in the offseason.

Recchi, a Kamloops native, won the Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday night. Recchi, 38, played two seasons with the Blazers (1986-88) and has family in the city. Although his offseason home is in Pittsburgh, he often returns to visit in the summer and, with Doan, is host of a charity golf tournament.

Sydor, 34, is from Edmonton. A defenceman with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Sydor has an offseason home in the Shuswap. He spent four seasons with the Blazers (1988-92).

Gaglardi first made contact with the Blazers through Dennis Coates, a lawyer with the Kamloops firm Mair Jensen Blair and a member of the Blazers’ board. Coates has done legal work for Gaglardi and Northland Properties.

At the Blazers’ annual meeting on Sept. 13, Coates, the board’s treasurer, estimated the value of the franchise at between $4.5 million and $6 million. In March, the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers purchased an expansion franchise from the WHL for $4 million.

Most, if not all, of the Blazers directors were contacted by Gaglardi on Tuesday night or Wednesday. Gaglardi also planned on talking with Dean Clark, the Blazers’ general manager and head coach, last night. Clark, along with Coates, represented the Blazers at the WHL annual general meeting in Calgary yesterday.

The Blazers’ board now will schedule a meeting at which it will start to go over the offer and begin to explore the options available to it through the offer and through the B.C. Society Act under which it operates as a non-profit organization.

When it is comfortable, the board will schedule a meeting at which it will inform the Blazers’ shareholders — including the directors, there are 194 of them — of the particulars.

Ultimately, it will be up to the shareholders to accept or reject Gaglardi’s offer.

Should the offer be accepted, each shareholder would get back their money — at $1,000 per share. The remainder would be turned over to the Kamloops Blazers Sports Foundation, where it would be invested and made available to local organizations through grants.

The Blazers are one of five community-owned WHL teams, along with the Lethbridge Hurricanes, Moose Jaw Warriors, Prince Albert Raiders and Swift Current Broncos.

Community-owned teams rarely are privatized. In fact, it hasn’t happened in the WHL since Bob Cornell, Stuart Craig and David Lang purchased the Brandon Wheat Kings from a community group in the mid-1980s. They, in turn, leased the team to the Keystone Centre. Cornell later bought out Craig and Lang. Cornell has since sold the Wheat Kings to Kelly McCrimmon.

WHL office is ready to get involved
by Gregg Drinnan

The WHL office is well aware of an offer that was made Wednesday to purchase the Kamloops Blazers.

WHL commissioner Ron Robison said last night that he spoke briefly with Dennis Coates, who serves as treasurer on the Blazers’ board of directors, at the league’s annual general meeting in Calgary on Wednesday.

Robison added that his office is ready to get involved but that he will wait until he hears officially from the Blazers’ board of directors.

Tom Gaglardi, a Vancouver-based businessman, and three former Blazers — Shane Doan, Mark Recchi and Darryl Sydor — made an offer to purchase the Blazers yesterday afternoon.

“I expect to be advised of the offer in the next few days,” said Robison, “once the board has had a chance to review it.

“If it gets to when there is a purchase agreement, a formal agreement, it will be forwarded to the league and the league will commence with its due diligence.”

Robison did point out that a sale of this nature — from community ownership to a private party — is different than those that normally take place.

“The process is more challenging than a private-to-private sale,” he said. “(The Blazers) franchise is basically held in trust by a group of directors on behalf of the community.”

Robison, whose contract as commissioner was extended by three years yesterday, seemed particularly impressed by the involvement of Doan, Recchi and Sydor.

“I think it’s a very positive sign any time we can attract alumni who have had success in their junior and professional careers,” Robison said. “You really couldn’t ask for a better collection of formers Blazers to be involved.”

Former players are no strangers to the WHL at the ownership level. Bruce Hamilton (Kelowna Rockets) played for the Saskatoon Blades. Kelly McCrimmon (Brandon Wheat Kings) played for the Wheat Kings and Brent Sutter (Red Deer Rebels) played for the Lethbridge Broncos. The Niedermayer brothers, Scott, who played with the Blazers, and Rob, a product of the Medicine Hat Tigers, own a piece of the Kootenay Ice. And, last summer, Stu Barnes and Olaf Kolzig, both of whom played for the New Westminster Bruins/Tri-City Americans, put enough money into the Americans to keep the franchise in Kennewick, Wash.

It is believed that Gaglardi’s offer is for about $6 million.

Asked if a $6-million price tag on the Blazers seems right, one team owner told The Daily News: “Yeah, probably. It’s in the range.”

“Yes, that is a fair price,” another owner said. “If they don’t accept it, get (Gaglardi) to phone me

[scamperdog]

Well once again the Blazer board of directors has screwed the fans, some how they figure it better to keep this team under there control instead of selling to real hockey people, it really is to bad for the first time in a very long time people were talking positive about the team, about going to games again, the team finally heading in a positive direction, but NO that just wouldnt be right, lets keep heading down the path of distruction, lets see how low this team can go, HELL lets just run it into the ground. CONGRATULATIONS Board of directors you are one srcrewed up bunch, but at least now you can go back to your senior citizen homes with a smile on your face, yep you screwed the fans again!!!!

[KBF]

Well once again the Blazer board of directors has screwed the fans, some how they figure it better to keep this team under there control instead of selling to real hockey people, it really is to bad for the first time in a very long time people were talking positive about the team, about going to games again, the team finally heading in a positive direction, but NO that just wouldnt be right, lets keep heading down the path of distruction, lets see how low this team can go, HELL lets just run it into the ground. CONGRATULATIONS Board of directors you are one srcrewed up bunch, but at least now you can go back to your senior citizen homes with a smile on your face, yep you screwed the fans again!!!!

Totally agreed. Where does the board get off not discussing this with the shareholders? Who the **** do they think they are? Write in your angry emails to Drinnan and he will publish them in the opinion section. This is a disgrace, from the sounds of it the shareholders had some serious interest in it, but instead that withered up old crones decied to make the decision for them.


This has just shown what a selfish, egomanical group that runs this team. They have zero intentions of rebuilding this organization up as they care more about their own egos than the actual future of this once great franchise.


All a bunch of jokers, atta way to alienate the fans even more Ponderosa gang.

[bobb]

Well once again the Blazer board of directors has screwed the fans, some how they figure it better to keep this team under there control instead of selling to real hockey people, it really is to bad for the first time in a very long time people were talking positive about the team, about going to games again, the team finally heading in a positive direction, but NO that just wouldnt be right, lets keep heading down the path of distruction, lets see how low this team can go, HELL lets just run it into the ground. CONGRATULATIONS Board of directors you are one srcrewed up bunch, but at least now you can go back to your senior citizen homes with a smile on your face, yep you screwed the fans again!!!!

That's a damned shame. Would've been nice to get those guys as the owners.

[scamperdog]

Blazers sale: It ain’t over till it’s over
by Gregg Drinnan www.kamloopsnews.ca

The board of directors of the Kamloops Blazers Sports Society rejected the sale of the WHL franchise following a meeting on Tuesday.

Or did it?

Gary Cooper, the vice-president of the board, admitted Wednesday that “it’s not over . . . it’s not really over.”

When the board received an unsolicited offer from Vancouver businessman Tom Gaglardi and ex-Blazers players Shane Doan, Mark Recchi and Darryl Sydor on June 21, a process began, the first part of which was Tuesday’s meeting.

At that meeting, the board members — only president Case van Diemen, who is on vacation, was missing — met with Barry Carter, the Mair Jensen Blair lawyer who is the Blazers’ counsel.

“After listening to our lawyer,” Cooper said, “we have as a board the authority by which to say the asset is not for sale because we certainly haven’t been told by the members of the society that the asset is for sale.”

At the same time, the board, which represents 185 other shareholders, called a membership meeting for July 11 at the Interior Savings Centre.

“This is an informational meeting . . . we will explain to them how we arrived at that and then we will also go into some of the details of the offer,” Cooper said. “And we are recommending that the asset not be sold.”

However, if even one shareholder expresses a different view at that meeting, it could keep alive the potential sale of the franchise.

Cooper explained that if one person at that meeting asks for a vote of the membership, the meeting would come to an immediate end.

“We are fine with (calling for a vote),” Cooper said, “but it can’t happen at that (July 11) meeting.”

If a vote is called for, another meeting will be called. The board would have to give 14 days notice of that meeting at which, Cooper said, “the members will vote on whether or not the asset of the society is for sale or not for sale.”

If it comes to such a vote, Cooper said, “A simple majority wins the day.”

And should the membership vote to sell the franchise, a whole new process would begin. For starters, a professional would be brought in to determine the market value of the franchise. That, Cooper said, likely would take two to three months.

After that, the board would hire an agent “and we would give that individual the direction to go to the marketplace to get the best price possible,” Cooper said.

At that point, Gaglardi, who has refused to comment on the latest developments, and his partners would be given the option of re-submitting their offer. That offer was for $6 million but Cooper was adamant that “we really don’t know what the value of the franchise is.”

As well, the board, if it was to sell the franchise, is concerned about getting caught up in a capital gains situation.“If we were to sell the asset, you’re winding up a non-profit society,” Cooper said. “This is a group that has been tax-exempt since its inception. Now the government will look at that and suggest that in winding it up you are no longer functioning as a non-profit society. They will look at this sale to see if there is any way in which they could tap into that.

“Initially, we thought if the asset was sold and we were sitting with a shoebox full of money that we could just move it across to the (Kamloops Blazers Sports Foundation). We shouldn’t be so quick as to think that will happen without the government taking a look at it. So the question of capital gains lingers there in the background.”

The bottom line, Cooper stated, is that the board wants to hear from the membership.

“Whatever the membership wants,” he said, “then we will do their bidding. We are here only to serve them.

“This is not an old boys’ club that is clinging (to the franchise) because we feel a desperate need to have the hockey club under the control of the society and the board. No.

“If the members in their wisdom say, ‘No. Let’s sell the asset,’ then we will do that.”

In the words of Yogi Berra, then, this thing ain’t over, till it’s over.

[scamperdog]

By GREGG DRINNAN whl-list@yahoogroups.com
Daily News Sports Editor
There will be a vote on whether the WHL¹s Kamloops Blazers are for sale.
Don Larsen, the team¹s former marketing director who is a shareholder, said
Thursday that he will call for a vote at a July 11 meeting that has been
called by the board of directors.
The board has recommended that shareholders not accept an offer to purchase
the club for $6 million that was made by Vancouver businessman Tom Gaglardi
and former Blazers players Shane Doan, Mark Recchi and Darryl Sydor.
Larsen said that a simple recommendation isn¹t enough.
³The board was elected to run the hockey club but that didn¹t mean to make
decisions of this magnitude without approaching the shareholders,² said
Larsen, who was fired by the Blazers on April 5, 2004, a move made,
according to president Case van Diemen, as part of ³our reorganization
strategy.²
Larsen, who worked for the Blazers for 12 years, added: ³My beef isn¹t that
there is an offer out there . . . it¹s with their decision to reject this
offer. I want to see the offer presented to the shareholders and I want to
see a free vote.²
The board decided at a Tuesday meeting to recommend rejecting the Gaglardi
group¹s offer. And, in fact, a two-sentence letter of rejection was sent via
fax to Gaglardi.
³On behalf of the board of directors of the Kamloops Blazers Sports
Society,² read the letter, which was signed by Cooper, ³I advise that the
assets of the society are not for sale. Thank you for showing interest in
the Kamloops Blazers.²
The board then called a shareholders¹ meeting for July 11. Vice-president
Gary Cooper, who is handling this matter in the absence of a vacationing van
Diemen, has said that this meeting will be an information session. But,
Cooper said, if one person at that meeting calls for a vote, another meeting
will have to be held. And it is at that second meeting that a vote on
whether the franchise is for sale would be held.
³I¹ll be that person,² Larsen said. ³I¹m going to request a vote.²
Larsen said he simply wants the shareholders to be presented with the offer.
³Then, if we shouldn¹t accept the offer, that¹s fine . . .,² said Larsen, a
shareholder since 1984.
He added that he has talked to ³lots of shareholders² in the last few days
and none of them ³are against the offer.²
³My phone has been ringing off the hook. They all are saying the same thing
as I am,² Larsen said. ³We would like the opportunity as a group of
shareholders to vote.
³If (the shareholders) say no, then we have to live with that.²
Larsen said ³the shareholders aren¹t very happy with the way the team is
being run.²
³(The board) has gotten rid of all the hockey people,² Larsen added. ³The
shareholders want to see their team being run by hockey people and it¹s not
right now.
³The Blazers listened to the season-ticket holders when the seats were full.
They¹re not listening now.²



__._,_.___

[Kamfan]

Why would these guys (without outside pressure) sell for any price? They would lose the prestige of being on the Blazers board, to brag to friends and family, give insider tidbits to buddies, and in reality make all the major decisions of one of the most storied major junior franchises in the country. Basically be the envy of everyone. And what do they have to gain? Nothing personally. Great for the city and local charities, but there isn't much to gain for the board members. Whether they sell for $6 million, $6.5 million, $2 million or $20 million, it's all the same to them.

Only thing that actually gets this thing done is pressure from city council, citizens, but most of all the shareholders of the society. The original shareholders started the society with the intention of benefitting the community (otherwise they would've formed a corporation rather than a non-profit society). Hopefully they still realize this and recognize how good this is for the community.

[MJCO5]

by Gregg Drinnan

The meeting of shareholders called for Tuesday by the Kamloops Blazers Sports Society may be more than an information session.

According to a letter dated June 29 that was sent to shareholders, the meeting will be held “to consider the question — Is the Kamloops Blazers Hockey Club for sale?”

The letter, which is signed by board member Tom Mangan, adds that “voting by proxy is not permitted” and that the meeting is for “members only.”

This will be the first meeting of shareholders that hasn’t been open to the media since this board, under president Case van Diemen, took office in the fall of 2003.

River City Hockey, Inc., a group headed by Vancouver businessman Tom Gaglardi, made a $6-million offer to purchase the WHL franchise on June 21. The society’s board met on June 27 and voted to recommend rejection of the offer.

After that meeting, vice-president Gary Cooper said the board had scheduled a July 11 meeting at which it would explain to shareholders its reasons for making the recommendation. Cooper also said that of one shareholder were to make a motion at that meeting, asking for a vote on whether the franchise is for sale or should be for sale, another meeting would have to be scheduled. And, Cooper said, it would be at that second meeting that a vote would be held.

Cooper, secretary Dennis Coates, treasurer Bob Smillie and Mangan could not be reached for comment last night.

“I have been told that they are preparing ballots and they are going to have a vote at this meeting,” one shareholder, who requested anonymity, told The Daily News yesterday. “They are going to vote on whether the assets are for sale.

“People who have read The Daily News are thinking, ‘There’s no vote so I don’t have to go to this (meeting). Let someone raise the issue and I’ll attend the next meeting.’

“The shareholders don’t even know what the offer is . . . what’s in it. The shareholders need to have that (info) and have time to look at it and make an educated decision.”

WHL commissioner Ron Robison said last night that he hasn’t heard from the board.

“They haven’t had any contact with my office,” Robison said, “presumably because they aren’t prepared to entertain an offer.”

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