Update on ownership: debt free, and happy with less management.
That's a fantastic group of articles. Really shines light on the psyche of ownership.
We should feel pretty lucky overall as an fanbase, but the lack of a CEO philosophy is a tough one for me to buy into. Oh well, results speak and the results are pretty good.
Not sure if I read it correctly, but are they losing millions of dollars as a whole, or is it only the hockey operations that is not profitable? I remember someone saying a while back that Sharks are part of SVSE, but SVSE is still profitable in other areas.
I have a hard time believing that owners are willing to lose millions of dollars a year, and if it is the case, I do feel lucky as a sharks fan to have ownership that WANTS to be in the hockey business.
Not sure if I read it correctly, but are they losing millions of dollars as a whole, or is it only the hockey operations that is not profitable? I remember someone saying a while back that Sharks are part of SVSE, but SVSE is still profitable in other areas.
I have a hard time believing that owners are willing to lose millions of dollars a year, and if it is the case, I do feel lucky as a sharks fan to have ownership that WANTS to be in the hockey business.
I'm not sure if anyone knows how the breakdown works, but I find it hard to believe that the Sharks aren't profitable. Ticket sales alone would bring in something like $65M/year, let alone merchandise/tv/other licensing agreements.
Compton and Sclavos seem to be interested in winning and would seemingly be willing to take a hit to get a better product (for now). An interesting point mentioned in the article is that a franchise is an investment as a whole: the purchase price for the Sharks was much less than the valuation is today. Therefore, they can operate at a loss knowing that the value is "built in" if they were to sell the keys to the shop.
Oh, and SVSE is no more. To show their commitment to the Sharks, SVSE became Sharks Sports and Entertainment. Just my opinion, but I think we can read into that branding pretty deeply when seeing where owners set their priorities.
Per articles and follow up tweets, Sharks are losing $15mm (before depreciation and other "tax" expenses). And the income from other SSE (there is no SVSE) do NOT cover the Sharks losses. (But when you have a guy worth $7.2B as one of your owners, cash calls may not be as painful.)
Remember that any losses incurred by the Sharks flow through to ownership's tax returns. Combined, these guys are easily making over $15mm a year, so owning a sports team is just a tax break for these ultra rich folks. Not a bad deal for them at all. I also believe that there are far more lucrative opportunities out there for these guys if their main objective is making $$$. You don't buy a sports team for the money. You buy it because you're a sports fan and you want a really expensive toy.
Per articles and follow up tweets, Sharks are losing $15mm (before depreciation and other "tax" expenses). And the income from other SSE (there is no SVSE) do NOT cover the Sharks losses. (But when you have a guy worth $7.2B as one of your owners, cash calls may not be as painful.)
It also helps that the franchise value has gone up significantly since their purchase of the team.
Kurz seems to think the org is going to try Pavs on the third line in order to go with three scoring lines. He also said that they expect Wingles and Galiardi to play top 9 roles next season. Also, that the org will try and add one more winger, possibly Samsonov, maybe someone else.
