Quote:
|
Originally Posted by WEEB
Sure, I'm the one who is uninformed. The guy went bankrupt twice in his life, and he took a huge dept load in order to purchase the Habs as he had very little liquid assets to pay for it. I'm not saying that he is a poor man, just that he isn't in the "billionaires who spend money on sports team for team success rather than profits" category. He needs the most money possible out of the Habs, and you can't really get any more revenues than what he got this year. Why spend more then?
But sure, I'm the one who is uninformed.
|
Two of his major investments ran into troubles not due to his management but rather external factors which diminished Gillett's net worth significantly. The "mad-cow" scare put a serious dent in his meat processing venture while a couple of bad snow seasons seriously reduced profits at his ski-hill operations. Not only has the meat issue been resolved but last ski season saw Gillett rake in more money than he could count because of more than cooperative weather. Just like any businessman, Gillett went through some ups and downs but the bottom line is that he's a very wealthy man and the potential player budget increase (5-8 million) is a relatively small piece of a bigger pie. Gillett is genuinely interested in the on-ice performance of the team and he wants his name on the cup. If he didn't, why would he of purchased a franchise in turmoil while his own financial dealings were unstable to say the least?