Gillett has cash registers ringing in his ears -
Time to drop the bucks
Playoffs mean payoffs; "Even a single series is reportedly worth on the order of $15 million."
By JACK TODDApril 13, 2009 3:02 AM
Gentlemen, start your cash registers. What you will witness over the coming fortnight is not about hockey, or winning a Stanley Cup, or the Sainted Flannel, whether you have flannel CH PJs or not.
No, it's all about money. George Gillett's money. Not yours, not mine. Our hockey team, perhaps. His dough.
A playoff series, even a single series, is reportedly worth on the order of $15 million to Gillett. Chicken feed in terms of Gillett's overall financial situation and his need to milk the Habs to finance his Liverpool purchase, serious cash if you're a guy working two jobs to keep up the mortgage on your bungalow.
You'd think they would at least give you Novocaine before the extraction begins, which will be as soon as they drop the first puck in Boston. (It will go on until the Canadiens are eliminated - approximately six games later. In the meantime, if you experience any discomfort, take two Aspirin and call someone else.)
This gigantic money-sucking enterprise will involve such unsubtle techniques as showing fans on the big screen at the Bell Centre only if they are suitably attired in ruinously expensive Canadiens apparel and it will include making unsuitable demands of anyone seeking to purchase a playoff ticket.
Why? Ladies and gentlemen, in case you are unclear on the concept, M. Gillett is about three things:
1. Money.
2. Money.
3. Money. Not necessarily in that order.
Which does not mean that he has been a bad owner. If nothing else, Gillett and team president Pierre Boivin have combined to show that the CH logo, in combination with the Bell Centre, can be used as a gigantic money-extracting machine. Unlike fumbling Molson and bumbling Ronald Corey, they have shown what sharp-eyed and somewhat ruthless marketing can do when applied to the most legendary brand in the sport.
Nostalgia (who knew?) is worth something.
By such simple acts as paying homage to worthy legends of the past by retiring their numbers (something Corey refused to do), Gillett and Boivin have turned our memories into cash. By merchandising old jerseys, no matter how ugly, in this centennial year, they have proven that people will cheerfully pay hundreds of dollars to go around dressed as a barber pole - if only the pole has some version of the Canadiens logo hidden among the stripes. Now, apparently, we are to be left to the likes of Jim Balsillie, who afflicted the world with the dreaded BlackBerry, or René Angélil, who proved it is possible to live extremely well on the earnings of a much younger woman. Neither of the above-mentioned should be allowed to come within a Sheldon Souray slapshot of owning the Habs. Balsillie has already blotted his copybook, within the NHL and the stock exchange, and I remember Angélil most from the days when he used to hang around the Canadiens dressing room wearing a knee-length fur coat. When I described Angélil's attire to the most quick-witted member of the family, he said it was because Mr. Céline Dion wanted to save money. "Huh?" says I. "Simple," says he. "He saves on his dry-cleaning bill. When his fur coat has to be cleaned, he sends it to the vet." Ah, yes. Please, save us from BlackBerries and falling Angélils. Beyond that, we have two potentially excellent investors, neither of whom is named Guy Laliberté. One is Joey Saputo, who has shown he knows how to run a sports franchise without spending extravagant amounts of money. Saputo is smart, pleasant, down-to-earth and, from what I have witnessed, he might be the best father in this city. I have never seen an adult handle two pre-teen boys with as deft a mixture of calm, quiet words and firmness. (If you think that's easy, try it some time.) And Saputo has money and a family with deep roots in this city. What more could you want? Then there is Serge Savard. Certified Canadiens legend (Gillett and Boivin chose to send his No. 18 to the rafters, remember?) and GM of the last two teams to win Stanley Cups, in 1986 and 1993. As long as Savard promises never again to hire Jean Perron for any job that does not involve pushing a broom, we would be delighted to see him take over this franchise. As for what appears to be the end of the Gillett era, it has been rather sad. The firing of Guy Carbonneau, when you come right down to it, yielded almost nothing. The Canadiens were able to put together a modest win streak, fed mostly by mediocre opposition and home crowds, to squeak into the playoffs. But with an opportunity to avoid Boston and face Washington and a frequently shaky José Theodore instead, they let Pittsburgh fire 41 shots at Carey Price Saturday night. Price, who for a time seemed to be playing his best game in months, surrendered two shorthanded goals on a single power play and that was the game. With Andrei Markov on the shelf, even the courageous return of Mathieu Schneider will not be enough. This 100th anniversary season has been maimed by a combination of injuries, illness, wild rumours and Gillett's financial troubles, and it is unlikely to recover soon. As for Gillett, don't underestimate what he accomplished here. Running a franchise well is no easy task, even if your sole purpose is to extract every last penny you can pump out of a team. Molson and Corey couldn't do it, Gillett and Boivin have done it very well. The product is slicker, the game production is better, the entire hockey operation is more solid and the scoreboard (around which all the marketing revolves) is now HD. What more could you want? A Stanley Cup? Get real. Not this decade. Maybe not this lifetime. But at least you have your barber-pole jerseys. Long after this centennial team has faded into history, you can walk around town telling folks that you paid $400 to look like a place where people get five-buck haircuts. Now that's marketing.
jacktodd46@yahoo.com
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Sports/Time+drop+bucks/1490366/story.html