04/26/24
October 30, 2007
Confidential files reveal fortunes of Leaf Empire: ... and then there's the story about about the water from melted ice shavings scraped up by an ice-resurfacing machine between periods during the last home game at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1999. The water was cleaned, purified, and poured into 2500 acrylic pucks, which were then sold for $50 each. The Empire made $125,000.
posted by tommytrump to culture at 05:49 PM - 9 comments
I like the story in the sidebar: Why It's Your Fault the Leafs Stink. That means you, grum.
posted by Amateur at 07:51 PM on October 30, 2007
That means you, grum. But I yell at the TV as loudly as I can! They just don't listen to me! *pout*
posted by grum@work at 08:42 PM on October 30, 2007
Amateur, That is a great article. It could also be written about the KC Royals. Hopefully that is changing though.
posted by brainofdtrain at 09:06 PM on October 30, 2007
This sounds like the "NEW RED SOX NATION"
posted by thatch at 09:49 PM on October 30, 2007
Except that it's in Toronto, and it's hockey, and it doesn't have a friggin' thing to do with the Red Sox. Other than that, though, you're spot on; it's totally just like the "NEW RED SOX NATION!" Whatever the hell that's supposed to mean.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 06:25 AM on October 31, 2007
Oh Leafs... Why have you cursed me with fandom? Rich pensionfunds do not a winner make. Um - for the record - returns of $80+ million on $370million in revenue is re-fucking-diculous. That's 22% ROI. I would imagine this would put the price tag on this hockey team (cue "haw-key?" jokes) at over a billion. And that's in Canadian money! Not that peso in 'Merica. The rest of the league should honour the Leafs with a holiday. We help prop the league up without even competing. It's a damn charity drive for the NHL.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 08:26 AM on October 31, 2007
We help prop the league up without even competing. But the non-competing is part of it. You provide dollars for the revenue sharing pool, and wins for needy teams. Atlanta and Washington thank you!
posted by DrJohnEvans at 09:38 AM on October 31, 2007
TBH -- I think thatch's comment about this being the NEW RED SOX NATION has to do with commercializing every part of the fan experience and wringing every last dollar out of the team to the greatest extent possible. In that regard, it sounds like a valid comparison. The melted ice was cleaned and purified, and poured into about 2,500 acrylic pucks. Within days, the entire lot had been sold for $50 apiece for a net profit of roughly $125,000. Wow! The acrylic pucks must have been free and the cleaning, purifying, packaging, promotion and distribution must have been costless! Someone needs to help out the author with the difference between revenues and net profits. On the overall story, sounds unsurprisingly like the Chicago Cubs of recent vintage, which may change once Tribune Co. sells them. A healthy bottom line win or lose creates very little incentive to invest in a winning team or the scouting, player development, etc. that would lead to a winning team.
posted by holden at 10:04 AM on October 31, 2007
I'm not sure what is wrong with what the Leafs did. If there is a market for cheesy sports memorabilia, and they know people are going to pay big bucks for it, why is it such a bad thing to feed that need? Please name me a business that would deliberately turn away a profitable venture that doesn't harm anyone else or themselves? If this article highlighted examples of the Maple Leafs making a profit due to cost-cutting procedures (instead of revenue-generating ones), then I think there would be something to complain about. It's one thing to make a profit on a sports franchise by deliberately refusing to spend money (or cutting away from the existing payroll). It's another thing entirely when they make a profit through inventive marketing. I fully support the Leafs in their endeavour to make a profit without harming the franchise.