Official Francesco Aquilini Thread

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Yup. Gillis had the same directions from the owner and he built a winner. New management appears to be more like Gillis in their adds.
I do have more confidence in JR/Allvin, but the fact of the matter is, they are likely not doing what is optimal for the club, they are executing the direction charted by an outsider.

Lets say an uber driver need to get to SFU from Rogers (DT), the smart move from a GM with full autonomy would be to take Hastings or 1st. Well... what if your passenger kept telling you to go south? a nice GM with cache may go along with it to a point, say take Broadway then, then pull back up from Gaglardi way. The passanger pays a lot more (in buyouts and bad signings) and it gets him to SFU a lot later. A bad GM who only executes will keep going south and take Kingsway, until hes in New West and he sees his name flying high above the skies telling him he sucks, turn back and to let someone drive instead. We may not know, but maybe the passenger had a gun to his head and told him to drive south, who knows?
 
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So Aquilini is concerned that if the Canucks were to do a full tear-down and rebuild; fans wouldn't come to the arena for at least two seasons. Seriously?

Earth to Francesco, your team has been in the lottery for four out of the last five seasons. And the fans have kept on coming, even as hope has all but been crushed.
If Aqualini lost EP and QH..Two flagship players for the team (both have said that they're not onboard for a rebuild)...Yes, fans would stop coming, these players have a huge following...They legit like watching these guys play (along with Kuz).
I agree, but I think the idea is that the casuals see that on paper the team looks like it has hope to make the playoffs and so buy into that, and by the time it's clear to casuals that the playoffs are out of the picture the bulk of the season is over.

If we were to do a tear down and rebuild then going into the season knowing there's little hope of winning and no hope of playoffs then there could be a huge collapse of attendance. I don't think it would be that bad and if it were, I'd think it worth it, but I can guess that's what FAQ is thinking and fearing.
Everyone knows this team is out of the playoffs, but they enjoy the team..I hate that term "the casuals' (used a lot here by posters trying to sound superior and pompous..not your intent in this post..but just in general).

Again, I think that a lot of fans that go to the games this season, are fans of the individual players..fan faves..Aqualini has a sellable product.
 
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With the Canucks once again missing the playoff, and the Stars looking like a solid bet to have a deep run (after a surprise final appearance not too long ago), I bet Gaglardi is glad his deal to purchase the Canucks fell through. He made more money with that acquisition that FAQ did for the Canucks, I think.

I wonder if his "rivalry" with Gaglardi is a reason for FAQ refusing to do the obvious over the years (ie: fire Benning, rebuild, etc)
 
With the Canucks once again missing the playoff, and the Stars looking like a solid bet to have a deep run (after a surprise final appearance not too long ago), I bet Gaglardi is glad his deal to purchase the Canucks fell through. He made more money with that acquisition that FAQ did for the Canucks, I think.

I wonder if his "rivalry" with Gaglardi is a reason for FAQ refusing to do the obvious over the years (ie: fire Benning, rebuild, etc)

Or to think of it another way, if Gaglardi was able to take over the Canucks instead of FAQ, would we have been a better managed team?

If there were public calls saying we wished we had Gaglardi instead I'd imagine that would eat at FAQ like nothing else, lol.
 
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I know we like to speculate about who could buy the Canucks if the Aquilinis were ever to sell… I think Gagliardi would actually be a top candidate.

There’s precedent for owners selling one team and then buying another. Craig Leipold sold the Predators before he bought the Wild.

Could the beef between Aquilini and Gagliardi prevent a deal? Maybe, but when you are that rich, lawsuits like that are just part of the everyday flow of business.
 
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I know we like to speculate about who could buy the Canucks if the Aquilinis were ever to sell… I think Gagliardi would actually be a top candidate.

There’s precedent for owners selling one team and then buying another. Craig Leipold sold the Predators before he bought the Wild.

Could the beef between Aquilini and Gagliardi may prevent a deal? Maybe, but when you are that rich, lawsuits like that are just part of the everyday flow of business.
Look at the rumoured numbers for the Sens. Plus you add in the cost of the arena unless someone has a plan to build another one elsewhere downtown near a skytrain stop. Looking an $900 odd mill for the team plus $400 mill for the arena and land in usd? Only issue with Rogers is how narrow the concourse is due to the viaducts.
 
Look at the rumoured numbers for the Sens. Plus you add in the cost of the arena unless someone has a plan to build another one elsewhere downtown near a skytrain stop. Looking an $900 odd mill for the team plus $400 mill for the arena and land in usd? Only issue with Rogers is how narrow the concourse is due to the viaducts.
He’d have money to spend.

Consider that Gagliardi “only” spent $240m to buy the team in Dallas and half of American Airlines Arena. If he were to sell the Stars now, he’d probably make a +200-400% return on the original purchase price. The team is not the distressed bankruptcy-bound asset that it once was.
 
Everyone keeps talking about him selling the team. he cannot sell the team. he does not own it

the team is owned by the Aquillini Investment Group. he is just the managing director. they are not going to sell the team as there is the real estate around the arena and they make tons of cash off the arena bookings

sorry not going to happen. he may be gone but there are other generations of Aquilinis ready to take over
 
Everyone keeps talking about him selling the team. he cannot sell the team. he does not own it

the team is owned by the Aquillini Investment Group. he is just the managing director. they are not going to sell the team as there is the real estate around the arena and they make tons of cash of the arena bookings

sorry not going to happen. he may be gone but there are other generations of Aquilinis ready to take over
It takes money to build on those properties. Most developers are asset rich and cash poor. They are used to borrowing cash when they need to execute large projects. With interests rates up—the cost to borrow that cash is way more expensive than it was before.

I’m not suggesting that the Aquilini Group is looking to sell. But it is one cost efficient avenue that they could take if they need to raise cash instead of borrowing at an expensive rate. They’d be making a hell of a return over the original purchase price.
 
i wouldn't be surprised if the aquilini's sell the team but there's no way they sell the building. that land is some of the most valuable in vancouver particularly after the viaducts come down. without the building the canucks aren't nearly as attractive an asset as i doubt anywhere in the region has the appetite to shell out for a new building when rogers is still reasonably fine (it's not -- it's not nearly up to the standards around the nhl -- but it's not a crumbling ruin like the saddledome or sitting in a suburban wasteland like the canadian tire centre). maybe surrey would do it i guess
 
Or to think of it another way, if Gaglardi was able to take over the Canucks instead of FAQ, would we have been a better managed team?

If there were public calls saying we wished we had Gaglardi instead I'd imagine that would eat at FAQ like nothing else, lol.
Maybe the fans can chip in for another banner to be flown over Vancouver :sarcasm:
 
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Everyone keeps talking about him selling the team. he cannot sell the team. he does not own it

the team is owned by the Aquillini Investment Group. he is just the managing director. they are not going to sell the team as there is the real estate around the arena and they make tons of cash off the arena bookings

sorry not going to happen. he may be gone but there are other generations of Aquilinis ready to take over
Luigi just has to give Francesco another toy to break.
 
i wouldn't be surprised if the aquilini's sell the team but there's no way they sell the building. that land is some of the most valuable in vancouver particularly after the viaducts come down. without the building the canucks aren't nearly as attractive an asset as i doubt anywhere in the region has the appetite to shell out for a new building when rogers is still reasonably fine (it's not -- it's not nearly up to the standards around the nhl -- but it's not a crumbling ruin like the saddledome or sitting in a suburban wasteland like the canadian tire centre). maybe surrey would do it i guess
How viable is the Canucks without the management agreement rights to the arena?
No chance they build an arena in Surrey.

If the new owner does manage to build a new arena (say at waterfront) where the whitecaps wanted for example, what happens to Rogers arena? What good does it do the aquilinis to have it without a primary tenant? And then competing with an arena that is 30 odd years newer?
 
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My impressions of the Gaglardi's is that they're the type of owners who hire experienced people, and then give them the latitude to get the job done. It's probably the reason Jim Nill has been the GM forever, and the Stars a virtual playoff lock year after year.

With the Canucks, you've got a meddlesome owner, who'd rather keep guys like Benning and Weisbrod around because they're proverbial 'yes men'.

The results over the last decade speak for themselves.
 
How viable is the Canucks without the management agreement rights to the arena?
No chance they build an arena in Surrey.

If the new owner does manage to build a new arena (say at waterfront) where the whitecaps wanted for example, what happens to Rogers arena? What good does it do the aquilinis to have it without a primary tenant? And then competing with an arena that is 30 odd years newer?

viable? depends on what the plan is for a replacement building. i don't think there's any way it happens anytime soon but if a new ownership group can put together an arena deal then the canucks could be sold. no municipality (again apart from *maybe* surrey) is going to kick in money though, not right now

as for rogers, it probably gets torn down. once the viaducts are down that whole area is prime real estate for condos and retail. the only thing really keeping it up is the canucks and the cities inability to actually put the viaduct removal process into action
 
viable? depends on what the plan is for a replacement building. i don't think there's any way it happens anytime soon but if a new ownership group can put together an arena deal then the canucks could be sold. no municipality (again apart from *maybe* surrey) is going to kick in money though, not right now

as for rogers, it probably gets torn down. once the viaducts are down that whole area is prime real estate for condos and retail. the only thing really keeping it up is the canucks and the cities inability to actually put the viaduct removal process into action
There is no way a new owner is just a tenant in Rogers. Not many options near skytrain in Vancouver. Is nearby international village a large enough footprint for an arena?

Anyone buying the team would need to have a plan for an arena.
 
There is no way a new owner is just a tenant in Rogers. Not many options near skytrain in Vancouver. Is nearby international village a large enough footprint for an arena?

Anyone buying the team would need to have a plan for an arena.

you're absolutely right. i think at best the new owners would get a short lease agreement to give them time to build a new venue
 
Best way to make it happen would be if Rogers Arena was included in the sale. Definitely true that the building and land are uber-valuable, in any hypothetical sale that would be factored into the sale price so we'd be looking well north of $1b.
 
Best way to make it happen would be if Rogers Arena was included in the sale. Definitely true that the building and land are uber-valuable, in any hypothetical sale that would be factored into the sale price so we'd be looking well north of $1b.
Sens with their need for a new building is talking $900 mill USD. Pitt and Nas were sold recently for just under that ask. Canucks would be there as well just for the team. Nevermind the land and arena. Land was $50 mill CAD back in the early 90's. Figure, it's $250 mill CAD give or take today just for the land. Remember that Chevron gas station on W. Georgia just before Stanley park went for over $70 million several years ago in the expensive Coal Harbour area.
Again, issue with the arena is the narrow concourse which can't be changed given the footprint of the arena. You're pushing upwards of $1.6 billion USD or more for Canucks and arena (if you build a new one).

What are legit other options? Is the square footage of the under used International Village enough for a better concourse arena? Don't think anywhere off Granville or Burrard station is viable. The Waterfront land that Kerfoot bought for the proposed Whitecaps Stadium?
 

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