The Sport Market Pitch, presented by Chambers Plan employee benefits: April 4

0:00We're throwing you the Sport Market Pitch! Tom Mann X Sport Business Proposal of the Week, presented by Chambers Plan, Canada's number one plan for employee benefits. Check it out at ChamberPlan.ca Toronto Maple Leafs fans and media have been talking about it. Vancouver Connects fans have been talking about it as well, and it is where the buck stops in terms of hockey operations decision-making. Over time, we've evolved a couple of times as jobs have changed in the National Hockey League. It's hard to fathom now when you look back on it that the late great Irishman Pat Quinn was president, head coach, and general manager of the Vancouver Connects in the 1990s. You've got a situation in Vancouver currently where Jim Rutherford is president of hockey

1:03operations, Patrick Elvine is general manager. And Keith Pelley has said he'll make a decision, and he's open to going back to what the Leafs were using beforehand, and that is a president of hockey operations and a general manager. My pitch is to do what makes sense to your fans. Find up a structure, whether it's president and general manager in two different people, or a combined president and general manager ship, supported by assistant general managers, make fans easily understand where the decision-making buck stops, because that's where you need ultimate buy-in from your season ticket holders. And if you have a clean and clear structure that shows you, here's ultimately where the decision-making rests, it makes everybody happier, especially the season ticket holders

2:03that are paying the bill for the rebuild going forward, paying the bill for the product going forward, obviously supported by the investment of ownership. It is a combined president and general manager supported by a prominent assistant general manager, or it's a president and a general manager in two different bodies. The real key is how you use it to communicate to your fans. Obviously, you want to communicate consistently as part of your strategic plan, your brand plan, your winning plan. Fans deserve that, and fans are served that way with that kind of structure. You're going to get some real quick thoughts from Aziz Rajwani and John Festinger. John, you first, your former executive vice president, business operations for Connect, sports, and entertainment, how important is structure? It's really important, but I just want to highlight one thing that comes out of what you

3:07said. You brought up Pat Quinn, among the many gifts that Pat Quinn bestowed on Vancouver and Vancouver Canucks was a tradition that got passed to Brian Burke and to Dave Knowness. His impact had decades of great management, great structure, great governance. That's what the Canucks should be looking for. The next Pat Quinn, for many reasons that you outlined, including the traditions that having greatness, creates, and the successorship it creates. This is Aziz Rajwani, your response to the sport market pitch. Well, Pat Quinn, you know, it was Quinn Hughes that actually hired Adam Foote, but we won't go there. What I will say, however, is that yes, you do need, you do need the president of hockey operations, a general manager, et cetera. And the Canucks actually did that for everyone who accuses the accolades of not spending

4:09money. They did Emily Kastange, Granado, et cetera. They did all the signings that hired all the people and things were going well until they blew up, but you do need more people. The more people you have in the front office, especially away from the owner, it also involves someone who can keep the owners at bay and make sure and explain things to them while the other one focuses on building the team, hockey ops, et cetera. Justin Moore said, well, we talked last hour about the Maple Leafs, of course, and swinging the pendulum from the uncle's direction back to the nephews. And at least look, I said there was a wasted three years letting Kyle Dubas go. If the next candidate that you want is a Kyle Dubas clone, at least they recognized the waste of time and ended it at three years because we have not had a progressive GM or president here in Vancouver going on, I don't know, 13 years when was Mike Gillis let go. It's been a long time. We have suffered through a confederacy of uncles.

5:11And all I am asking is that whoever takes the reins next, be a nephew. Thank you. That is this week's sport market pitch. The sport market pitch is brought to you by Chambers plan, Canada's number one plan for employee benefits. It's more than just health and dental. Think of it as a complete toolkit for your business. Get started today at chamberplan.ca.