Blazers sale could be approved Wednesday

From The Daily News of Wednesday, Octd. 10, 2007 . . .

And the first full-time president in the history of the Kamloops Blazers is
. . .
Actually, there isn’t one. At least, not yet.
But with the sale of the WHL franchise expected to be made official today,
River City Hockey Inc., the new owner, will be able to begin moving forward
and hiring a president is high on its agenda.
“That’s the loose plan . . . that’s part of the plan,” Vancouver businessman
Tom Gaglardi, who holds 50 per cent of RCH and will serve as governor, said
Tuesday. “I sat down with the league and discussed how the club should be
run and that is the advice they have given us — get someone to run the
business on a day-to-day basis.
“We’d be looking at someone to run the business.”
It is felt that the most-efficient business model for major junior hockey
these days is the one in which the hockey and business operations operate
separate of each other.
“I always have agreed with that,” Gaglardi said. “I’ve always felt (the
other way) was an odd way to go.”
For now, however, Gaglardi said the focus of his group — ex-Blazers players
Shane Doan, Jarome Iginla, Mark Recchi and Darryl Sydor also are involved —
is on getting WHL approval for the purchase of the franchise.
That should happen today as the Blazers’ lengthy run as a non-profit society
comes to an end.
The sale, from the Kamloops Blazers Sports Society to RCH, is expected to be
voted on by the WHL’s board of governors. That vote will be held after the
board has heard from Gaglardi.
Gaglardi will present RCH’s long-term business plan and then take questions.
If, as expected, the sale goes to a vote, a two-thirds majority — or 14
votes — will be needed for approval.
The society’s members voted overwhelmingly (151-43) on Aug. 23 to sell the
franchise to RCH for about $7 million.
“I’m cautiously optimistic,” Gaglardi said Tuesday. “I’m taking it
seriously. I’ve talked to a lot of owners . . .”
Gaglardi plans on making about a 12-minute presentation that will include
slides and a handout.
As well, it is expected that society president Murray Owen and Bob Smillie,
a former society director who has been overseeing the transition, will speak
to the board.
“Murray and Bob called and asked if they could speak favourably at the
meeting,” Gaglardi said. “I said. ‘I’d love you to.’ That’s really
positive.”
Recchi, who will be playing against the Montreal Canadiens tonight, told
Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that RCH doesn’t have any plans
to replace anyone on the hockey side of the business.
Recchi said that Gaglardi and the franchise’s president will oversee the
operation, with Doan, Iginla, Recchi and Sydor having minimal involvement,
at least for now.
"We won't be involved in the day-to-day (operations)," Recchi told Molinari.
"We'll be ownership. But obviously, we're going to hire people, or keep
people, whatever the case is.
"They're going to have direction from us, how we want it run. Ultimately, if
they don't do it the way we want, that's when we're going to have decisions
to make.”
The Blazers’ WHL franchise actually began life as the Estevan Bruins,
spending five seasons in the Saskatchewan city before moving to New
Westminster for 1971-72 and becoming the Bruins. In time, Peter Pocklington,
who owned the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers, purchased the franchise from Nelson
Skalbania and it was moved to Kamloops where, as the Junior Oilers, it began
the 1981-82 season.
At the time, a local group came up with $110,000 and purchased one-third of
the franchise.
Over the summer of 1984, that local group — including the likes of Ken
Almond, Andy Clovechok, Gary Cooper, Dennis Coates, Colin Day, Loy Hoffbeck
and Harvey Roy — led a push to sell shares at $1,000 apiece. The group
raised $180,000 and wsa able to purchase the remaining two-thirds of the
franchise from the Oilers.
Ultimately, the group formed the Kamloops Blazers Sports Society and it has
remained a non-profit organization.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca