Ding-a-ling Center. Therrien fits right in.
Feb 27, 2002 9:04:46 GMT -5
Post by Cranky on Feb 27, 2002 9:04:46 GMT -5
An article about the Bell Center. My comments are in red.
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Habs' rink to become Bell Centre
Communications giant to pay Canadiens $60-million as Molson yields name rights
By DAVID NAYLOR
<br> <br>Wednesday, February 27, 2002 – Page S3
MONTREAL -- Molson Inc. has relinquished the naming rights to the home of the Montreal Canadiens in a deal will give the National Hockey League club $3-million a year for the next 20 years. What does this mean in ten years? Rookies will be making 1.5/2 easily.
As reported last month in The Globe and Mail, Canadiens owner George Gillett Jr. has sold the naming rights for the seven-year-old Molson Centre to Bell Canada.
The arena will be renamed the Bell Centre in September.Phone Booth, Ding-a-ling center, and the Hab's ask the operator for help? Dial 911? Phone in a performance? Does this mean that they will ring the posts more often? Buzz around the crease? Should I stop now?
The deal is a somewhat of a coup for Gillett, who purchased the Molson Centre and 80.1 per cent of the Canadiens from Molson for $275-million last winter.
When Gillett bought the club and arena, Molson committed to spend $150-million over 20 years for sponsorship that included naming rights to the Molson Centre. Under terms of yesterday's announcement, Molson maintains its financial commitment to the Canadiens, but will exchange naming rights for more visibility within the arena.
That allowed Gillett to strike his deal with Bell, through which its sponsorship commitment with the Canadiens increases to $100-million from $40-million over the next two decades.
While Molson was under no obligation to give up its naming rights if another title sponsor could be found, Gillett and Molson president Dan O'Neill discussed that possibility when negotiations on the sale of the team began 18 months ago.
"When the possibility of this coming up was ready to be discussed, it was a very difficult situation to have because the Molson family has given so much to this team for so many years," Gillett said. "It was with great trepidation that I went to Dan to re-energize that thought." "great trepidation" now that is funny.
Molson had decided to divest itself from the hockey business mainly because the Canadiens had racked up significant losses in recent years. Yesterday, O'Neill said his company gave up its naming rights because it recognizes how difficult it is to operate a competitive NHL team in Canada these days.Bull, you make the club pay high rent, viola, losses. My account can show losses in Microsoft if he had to. Creative Accounting 101.
"It was about how to grow revenues for this organization," O'Neill said. "We talked about the difficulty of managing the team profitably. I don't think you can manage it profitably with the current situation. It's almost impossible.
"We asked what are other areas to move towards profitability? It was a conversation George and I had a year and a half ago."
Gillett said that while the arena management and entertainment sides of his business are stable, the hockey club continues to lose money. However, he characterized those losses as "not hemorrhaging." DoubleSpeak, he is not losing money.
"The exchange rate is a difficult one for us, with revenues in Canadian dollars and expenses in American dollars," Gillett said. "I don't think we would have made have made the acquisition if we didn't feel was a significant opportunity. We approached it as a business venture and Molson approached it as a business venture. Our goal is to make [the club] as stable as possible, and this adds to our stability."DoubleSpeak, "stability"= profit. .
Gillett said he looks forward to more stability when the collective labour agreement between the NHL and its players comes up for renewal in a couple of years.
While Bell will spend an additional $60-million on the Canadiens over the next 20 years, it will receive an increase in business from both the Canadiens and Molson as part of the deal.
Over the next eight years, Bell will have close to $40-million in revenue from the hockey club and Molson for business that might have gone to Bell's competitors.
"It's a hell of a deal," said Jean Monty, the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Bell Canada.
Monty wants the Bell Centre to be an example of his company's convergent communication technologies.
"We already put a lot of technology in here -- satellite TV, Internet kiosks and wireless capabilities," he said.
"We also have broadcast capabilities and, hopefully, those will go directly to living rooms on our facilities, but we're not there yet. All of that will converge to make us the communications entity behind the institution this centre represents as well as the hockey team."
<><><><><><><><>
Habs' rink to become Bell Centre
Communications giant to pay Canadiens $60-million as Molson yields name rights
By DAVID NAYLOR
<br> <br>Wednesday, February 27, 2002 – Page S3
MONTREAL -- Molson Inc. has relinquished the naming rights to the home of the Montreal Canadiens in a deal will give the National Hockey League club $3-million a year for the next 20 years. What does this mean in ten years? Rookies will be making 1.5/2 easily.
As reported last month in The Globe and Mail, Canadiens owner George Gillett Jr. has sold the naming rights for the seven-year-old Molson Centre to Bell Canada.
The arena will be renamed the Bell Centre in September.Phone Booth, Ding-a-ling center, and the Hab's ask the operator for help? Dial 911? Phone in a performance? Does this mean that they will ring the posts more often? Buzz around the crease? Should I stop now?
The deal is a somewhat of a coup for Gillett, who purchased the Molson Centre and 80.1 per cent of the Canadiens from Molson for $275-million last winter.
When Gillett bought the club and arena, Molson committed to spend $150-million over 20 years for sponsorship that included naming rights to the Molson Centre. Under terms of yesterday's announcement, Molson maintains its financial commitment to the Canadiens, but will exchange naming rights for more visibility within the arena.
That allowed Gillett to strike his deal with Bell, through which its sponsorship commitment with the Canadiens increases to $100-million from $40-million over the next two decades.
While Molson was under no obligation to give up its naming rights if another title sponsor could be found, Gillett and Molson president Dan O'Neill discussed that possibility when negotiations on the sale of the team began 18 months ago.
"When the possibility of this coming up was ready to be discussed, it was a very difficult situation to have because the Molson family has given so much to this team for so many years," Gillett said. "It was with great trepidation that I went to Dan to re-energize that thought." "great trepidation" now that is funny.
Molson had decided to divest itself from the hockey business mainly because the Canadiens had racked up significant losses in recent years. Yesterday, O'Neill said his company gave up its naming rights because it recognizes how difficult it is to operate a competitive NHL team in Canada these days.Bull, you make the club pay high rent, viola, losses. My account can show losses in Microsoft if he had to. Creative Accounting 101.
"It was about how to grow revenues for this organization," O'Neill said. "We talked about the difficulty of managing the team profitably. I don't think you can manage it profitably with the current situation. It's almost impossible.
"We asked what are other areas to move towards profitability? It was a conversation George and I had a year and a half ago."
Gillett said that while the arena management and entertainment sides of his business are stable, the hockey club continues to lose money. However, he characterized those losses as "not hemorrhaging." DoubleSpeak, he is not losing money.
"The exchange rate is a difficult one for us, with revenues in Canadian dollars and expenses in American dollars," Gillett said. "I don't think we would have made have made the acquisition if we didn't feel was a significant opportunity. We approached it as a business venture and Molson approached it as a business venture. Our goal is to make [the club] as stable as possible, and this adds to our stability."DoubleSpeak, "stability"= profit. .
Gillett said he looks forward to more stability when the collective labour agreement between the NHL and its players comes up for renewal in a couple of years.
While Bell will spend an additional $60-million on the Canadiens over the next 20 years, it will receive an increase in business from both the Canadiens and Molson as part of the deal.
Over the next eight years, Bell will have close to $40-million in revenue from the hockey club and Molson for business that might have gone to Bell's competitors.
"It's a hell of a deal," said Jean Monty, the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Bell Canada.
Monty wants the Bell Centre to be an example of his company's convergent communication technologies.
"We already put a lot of technology in here -- satellite TV, Internet kiosks and wireless capabilities," he said.
"We also have broadcast capabilities and, hopefully, those will go directly to living rooms on our facilities, but we're not there yet. All of that will converge to make us the communications entity behind the institution this centre represents as well as the hockey team."
