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Fox 29 Philadelphia Confirm Devils sold to Josh Harris


trailblazer

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Very happy about this. Just seems to have worked out really well. And I think it will work out for Harris/Blitzer--the attendance/popularity and arena area are on the up, and they've got a brand new arena. Vanderbeek is happy, the new owners are happy, and fans can be happy we won't have to worry about any more debt reports in the NY Post.

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I couldn't be more thrilled by this. This was the best-case scenario. A billionaire owner, debt taken care of, a clean slate. And as an added bonus to all of this, a cherry on top of the sundae, the city of Philadelphia is ready to riot about it. I rest a happy man tonight.

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I couldn't be more thrilled by this. This was the best-case scenario. A billionaire owner, debt taken care of, a clean slate. And as an added bonus to all of this, a cherry on top of the sundae, the city of Philadelphia is ready to riot about it. I rest a happy man tonight.

bingo...and add in a owner with Newark roots.

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I couldn't be more thrilled by this. This was the best-case scenario. A billionaire owner, debt taken care of, a clean slate. And as an added bonus to all of this, a cherry on top of the sundae, the city of Philadelphia is ready to riot about it. I rest a happy man tonight.

bingo...and add in a owner with Newark roots.

Not to mention David Blitzer is from Scotch Plains. Awesome stuff all around.
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I couldn't be more thrilled by this. This was the best-case scenario. A billionaire owner, debt taken care of, a clean slate. And as an added bonus to all of this, a cherry on top of the sundae, the city of Philadelphia is ready to riot about it. I rest a happy man tonight.

 

There's a part of me that's looking for some negative, just because I guess I don't want to be blindsided by anything (all of this almost seems too good to be true...the Post must be hating this), but I really don't think there is one.  Sure, on some level it seems weird that this guy owns a team in Philly and one in NJ, but so what...easy to forget that John McMullen owned the Devils and the Houston Astros for a while.  Not like the Sixers and Devils are rivals anyway.  All in all, pretty hard not to be happy about this.   

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I agree - should be a great day for the Devils. My only fear is these guys are investment bankers, one being an MD at Blackstone, and are in this to just make money. The name of the game in private equity is to buy an undervalued asset, revamp it, make profitable, and later sell it. This isnt necessarily a bad thing; however, I hope they are in it for the long haul and truly care about the Devils.

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I agree - should be a great day for the Devils. My only fear is these guys are investment bankers, one being an MD at Blackstone, and are in this to just make money. The name of the game in private equity is to buy an undervalued asset, revamp it, make profitable, and later sell it. This isnt necessarily a bad thing; however, I hope they are in it for the long haul and truly care about the Devils.

 

They will keep the arena and the entertainment business and sell off the Devils for relocation if the Devils don't cut it,

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This is so great for the Devils.. Finally a wealthy owner who can cover the debt, market and fund the team well, and most importantly ice a cap team. Really looking forward to what Harris brings to the organization! 

 

 

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:gd:

 

Overall, I think (and hope) this will be a good thing.  But, to be honest, the Devils have always had wealthy owners.  McMullen was the owner of a major shipping conglomerate and had a net worth in the high hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars.  YankeeNets was a compilation of owners including George Steinbrenner, Ray Chambers, and Peter Simon (of Simon Malls), each worth hundreds of millions by themselves.  JVB was worth hundreds of millions before the Lehman collapse, and undoubtedly took a big hit in lost stock that he was forced to retain when they went bankrupt.  That, combined with opening the Rock at the time his financial fortunate took a major hit, is likely what led to the financial state this team currently finds itself in. 

 

I have no idea what to expect from Harris as our new owner.  Hopefully, he will follow through and continue to develop the area around the Rock and will work to bring more/better events to the arena.  As for the Devils, I hope he bankrolls the team well, but stays out of the decisions regarding the on ice product which reports are he has vowed to do.  Regardless, it will be nice to stay out of the ridiculous Kosman/Forbes articles every week though. 

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They will keep the arena and the entertainment business and sell off the Devils for relocation if the Devils don't cut it,

 

The Devils have sold-out 30 of their last 39, and have averaged 17,000 over the last 50 home games.

..remind me again why I should believe this team “won’t cut it” ?? :noclue: 

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They will keep the arena and the entertainment business and sell off the Devils for relocation if the Devils don't cut it,

 

You sound incredibly similar to NC107 on HFBoards....

 

 

I think today, JVB, the finances are intertwined between the Devils hockey team and the arena and entertainment business. I suspect the new owners will split the two and make the Devils one business standing on its own and the arena and entertainment business the other entity. That way the new owners if dissatisfied with the Devils operation can sell off for "relocation" the hockey business and they can still make money with the arena and the entertainment business.

 

Fact of the matter is that the Devils are at least break-even and the arena pretty much needs an anchor tenant. We draw top 10 in the US for average TV viewers per game and our attendance is increasing as the fan base comes of age. So I'm not sure why this is even really much of a thought right now. Technically the same situation applies to practically every sports team that owns their building as well

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Essentially, you have two men, JvdB and Harris, who see the goldmine that Prudential Center is for the long-run. One man couldn't cut it with the limited funds and timeline he had (Jeff), so the other is taking over. The Devils' financial problems were owner-centric and had almost nothing to do with the value of the arena or the franchise, which remains high throughout all of this. Harris and JvdB see all the writing on the walls that we see (about the fanbase growing up, more season ticketholders, etc.) and at the end of the day, they're businessmen; this is what an investment is all about.

 

After all is said and done, I'm glad JvdB is getting a decent deal out of this. He was a good man, and above all, a New Jersey Devils fan that wanted the best for the franchise. I'm glad he could be fairly compensated and relieved of the headache.

Edited by DJ Eco
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The Devils aren't moving, end of story.  You could buy a team much cheaper and move them if you wanted.  Now maybe at the end of the lease, whoever's owning the team tries to cow Newark into giving him more or he'll go somewhere else, but usually cities give in on those sorts of battles.

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Essentially, you have two men, JvdB and Harris, who see the goldmine that Prudential Center is for the long-run. One man couldn't cut it with the limited funds and timeline he had (James), so the other is taking over. The Devils' financial problems were owner-centric and had almost nothing to do with the value of the arena or the franchise, which remains high throughout all of this. Harris and JvdB see all the writing on the walls that we see (about the fanbase growing up, more season ticketholders, etc.) and at the end of the day, they're businessmen; this is what an investment is all about.

 

After all is said and done, I'm glad JvdB is getting a decent deal out of this. He was a good man, and above all, a New Jersey Devils fan that wanted the best for the franchise. I'm glad he could be fairly compensated and relieved of the headache.

 

dawson_crying.jpg

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