"The Insider" Jon Rosen no longer with the Kings

[KINGS17]

At least we still have Lee Hacksaw Hamilton.

From Poway to Escondido, from Carlsbad to Chula Vista, from National City to Santee, I want to talk sports with you...

 

[The Tikkanen]

This is crappy news. I liked Rosen. Still a lot of people at home, working from home, etc. if I were LA I would be spreading the news and pimping the draft etc. Try to reach out to people during some possible down time. It’s not like it’s up here in Canada where I just have to turn the channel to hear something about the Leafs, Oilers or Canadians in the middle of summer. It’s very rare we hear LA news and I found it nice to be able to logon and check out what Rosen had to say. Hope he lands in his feet.

This is what the Kings are good at. Once the season ends they disappear until 730PM opening night. With the extended off season, the team re-building and season ticket sale have to be at an all time low with zero hype around this team the Kings will need an army of PR people just to fill Staples next opening night whenever that is.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Nick Nickson used to provide updates on the Kings Hotline during the offseason, which was updated about once a month. That's how I used to stay on top of Kings news during the offseason back in the 90s. Given how the LA Kings Audio Network operates, looks like we'll be going back to these old methods. Maybe catch some updates on the local sports news, which is how most fans learned about the Gretzky trade.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

This is crappy news. I liked Rosen. Still a lot of people at home, working from home, etc. if I were LA I would be spreading the news and pimping the draft etc. Try to reach out to people during some possible down time. It’s not like it’s up here in Canada where I just have to turn the channel to hear something about the Leafs, Oilers or Canadians in the middle of summer. It’s very rare we hear LA news and I found it nice to be able to logon and check out what Rosen had to say. Hope he lands in his feet.

I'm sure he will. I'm positive he's built enough goodwill and clout around the league that someone will snag him.

 

[Faterson]

"difficult decisions"
"painful choices"

Disgusting corporate speak.

It always seemed to me Jon was a bit too outspoken. COVID may be a good excuse to get rid of him.

 

[DoktorJeep]

Tough to see a SoCal native who has a long history with hockey and the Kings fan community be shown the door.

From the in game presentation to the replacement for Bob Miller, Luc Robitaille has done nothing but run this franchise into the ditch.

Going to the games is no longer fun outside of Dieter’s music. Using cheerleaders to clear the ice and run around the stands to generate crowd reactions is pandering to the lowest common denominator. Sponsoring every break in play is treating your fans in the building like a piece of meat that goes through the turnstile. There is no more community of Kings fans at our own home arena. Instead we are all just there to be marketed to as if we are all the same type of fan.

The guy who calls the games on TV is a superficial fan of the team and sport. He may be easy on the eyes and well spoken, but he’s shown no reason for Kings fans to believe he has something important to tell us about our team on any given game night. The guy is just there punching a clock till he gets a national broadcasting gig.

And I hate to say it, because I’m a real fan of the ATKM podcast, but that has also gone downhill. We used to hear actual Kings fans talking about the team. Now we get the marketing girl and cheerleader turned TV interviewer giving us bland, facile opinions about the team. I get the team is bad, so that makes it a challenge to come up with interesting content regularly. But what used to be something that I looked forward to every new episode is becoming just another front for PR/spin from management.

 

[KINGS17]

Tough to see a SoCal native who has a long history with hockey and the Kings fan community be shown the door.

From the in game presentation to the replacement for Bob Miller, Luc Robitaille has done nothing but run this franchise into the ditch.

Going to the games is no longer fun outside of Dieter’s music. Using cheerleaders to clear the ice and run around the stands to generate crowd reactions is pandering to the lowest common denominator. Sponsoring every break in play is treating your fans in the building like a piece of meat that goes through the turnstile. There is no more community of Kings fans at our own home arena. Instead we are all just there to be marketed to as if we are all the same type of fan.

The guy who calls the games on TV is a superficial fan of the team and sport. He may be easy on the eyes and well spoken, but he’s shown no reason for Kings fans to believe he has something important to tell us about our team on any given game night. The guy is just there punching a clock till he gets a national broadcasting gig.

And I hate to say it, because I’m a real fan of the ATKM podcast, but that has also gone downhill. We used to hear actual Kings fans talking about the team. Now we get the marketing girl and cheerleader turned TV interviewer giving us bland, facile opinions about the team. I get the team is bad, so that makes it a challenge to come up with interesting content regularly. But what used to be something that I looked forward to every new episode is becoming just another front for PR/spin from management.

This is the kind of stuff Luc thinks is great.

 

[Bandit]

You have to wonder how hard is AEG pushing for staples to be used as a site for the playoffs. I know they're one of the final destination the nhl is considering.

Yeah but what’s that worth really? Gotta maintain the ice, support staff for the rink, cleaning crews etc. All for what? Some hotel and restaurant revenue? It doesn’t seem that lucrative to me.

 

[johnjm22]

Not surprising. AEG is getting killed financially right now. Their business is live events which has been dead for months. I wonder how much longer they could go like this before being bankrupt. Thankfully thing are starting to slowly open back up.

 

[ibleedkings]

Yeah but what’s that worth really? Gotta maintain the ice, support staff for the rink, cleaning crews etc. All for what? Some hotel and restaurant revenue? It doesn’t seem that lucrative to me.

Pretty sure the NHL and the teams would have to pony up to use staples imo.

 

[ElessarKopitar]

Given what was written in the last paragraph of that release, it probably doesn't bode well for most of the media types, as we just witnessed with The Athletic letting go of a slew of writers as well.

I didn't hear about the Athletic letting people go...when did this happen and where can I find this info?

 

[KINGS17]

I didn't hear about the Athletic letting people go...when did this happen and where can I find this info?

The Athletic lays off 46 people, almost eight percent of its staff

 

[Bandit]

Pretty sure the NHL and the teams would have to pony up to use staples imo.

The NHL maybe, i'd be surprised if the teams had to pay anything. Still can't imagine it would be worth it, but who knows.

 

[Lt Dan]

Try under 80k

No way. It had to be 6 figures

 

[regulate]

AEG has 30,000 full and part-time employees world wide. They have has zero revenue for 3 1/2 months per CEO Dan Beckerman since the COVID shut them down, and are likely the last type of business worldwide that will be allowed to reopen with paying customers. Beckerman doesn't expect that until 2021. No concerts, sports, graduations or award ceremonies allowed at any of their venue's. No business that doesn't print their own money can survive for long with that many employees without massive layoffs, no matter how deep their pockets are. AEG is much much more than Staples, the Kings, and the partial ownership of the Lakers. Its very unfortunate the Jon was cut, and more employees of the Kings will be on that list. But Jon is much more public figure than the rest, so it puts the sting in the reality. I hope that some will be able to come back at a later time when things stabilize in the world with this issue.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

AEG has 30,000 full and part-time employees world wide. They have has zero revenue for 3 1/2 months per CEO Dan Beckerman since the COVID shut them down, and are likely the last type of business worldwide that will be allowed to reopen with paying customers. Beckerman doesn't expect that until 2021. No concerts, sports, graduations or award ceremonies allowed at any of their venue's. No business that doesn't print their own money can survive for long with that many employees without massive layoffs, no matter how deep their pockets are. AEG is much much more than Staples, the Kings, and the partial ownership of the Lakers. Its very unfortunate the Jon was cut, and more employees of the Kings will be on that list. But Jon is much more public figure than the rest, so it puts the sting in the reality. I hope that some will be able to come back at a later time when things stabilize in the world with this issue.

But it's all Luc's fault! I'm sure he's responsible for all of that, as well as the cancellations of AEG owned events like Coachella.

 

[Bandit]

But is it AEG or is it The Kings? Seems we're having a bit of a split brain argument on the matter. As it stands the Kings lost out on 12 games worth of revenue (7 home, 5 away). Now I'm sure that's a healthy chunk of change, but is it really THAT much to justify layoffs? Maybe, but it feels like no. If shit goes into next season then you re-evaluate, sure.

My company laid off about 10% last month to boost the stock price 25 cents. Was it a good business decision? No doubt. Was it shitty to send a bunch of people to the unemployment line during a pandemic over a few cents worth of stock? You bet.

 

[driller1]

But is it AEG or is it The Kings? Seems we're having a bit of a split brain argument on the matter. As it stands the Kings lost out on 12 games worth of revenue (7 home, 5 away). Now I'm sure that's a healthy chunk of change, but is it really THAT much to justify layoffs? Maybe, but it feels like no. If shit goes into next season then you re-evaluate, sure.

I don't think AEG is looking at 7 home games of lost revenue in a vacuum to determine the cuts. Based on current information, I'm positive they are running analysis with zero revenue and significant overhead until 2021. If that's the case, then I'm sure they are taking their cash on hand and subtracting a "burn rate" per month and determining where their cash will be 2021 while sensitizing for 25% capacity allowance, 50%, 75%, etc. If the economic analysis shows you need to cut staff now to extend your runway, then you need to do it in this environment. Waiting to do it later could be the difference between a less desirable outcome (such as restructuring or bankruptcy) and squeaking by.

 

[Bandit]

I don't think AEG is looking at 7 home games of lost revenue in a vacuum to determine the cuts. Based on current information, I'm positive they are running analysis with zero revenue and significant overhead until 2021. If that's the case, then I'm sure they are taking their cash on hand and subtracting a "burn rate" per month and determining where their cash will be 2021 while sensitizing for 25% capacity allowance, 50%, 75%, etc. If the economic analysis shows you need to cut staff now to extend your runway, then you need to do it in this environment. Waiting to do it later could be the difference between a less desirable outcome (such as restructuring or bankruptcy) and squeaking by.

Sure, but the only difference between this year and a regular year where people are getting paid in the off season is the cancelled games.

Anyway, it's too bad there's no real data out there on how much it costs a team for a night on the road, travel, home rink expenses, etc. Would be interesting to know.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Totally an aside but tangentially related to the above talk of shared costs across AEG entities and such...even if the actual cap is unaffected much, I wonder how many ownership groups are going to be running tight internal budgets and how that will affect the contract market for the next couple of years

 

[Bandit]

Totally an aside but tangentially related to the above talk of shared costs across AEG entities and such...even if the actual cap is unaffected much, I wonder how many ownership groups are going to be running tight internal budgets and how that will affect the contract market for the next couple of years

I wonder who's gonna tell Darren Granger he's now also the janitor?

 

[BigKing]

Let's face it: there hasn't been shit to talk about regarding the Kings during the lock down and there isn't going to be shit to talk about--outside of lottery night--until the unknown date of the draft in a few months. They don't need Jon to post a prospect profile of the 5-6 dudes they might draft at 7OA. That is a long time to pay someone for very little content. AEG is looking at every single portion of its empire to see where they can make cuts.

The die hard fans aren't going anywhere so they can do this even though it irritates us. The newer young fans have the Twitter and the YouTube channel that pumps out content in the format they prefer. That is where this is all heading anyways: print is dead. Even with Jon, he could tweet the lines at the morning skate before he put an article up about it and the thoughts on that night's upcoming game.

I don't like it but I get it. Loyalty is often abused. The Kings generally have our money or, at a minimum, our attention. While this upsets a lot of people, Rosen isn't the hill that any Kings fan is going to die on when it comes to deciding to not be a fan anymore. AEG knows it so here we are.

I am still concerned about what this means for spending on the roster moving forward. The longer live events are a no-no, the longer they are going to take it in the pants.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I wonder who's gonna tell Darren Granger he's now also the janitor?

Equipment manager...for all the equipment at Staples!

 

[DoktorJeep]

But is it AEG or is it The Kings? Seems we're having a bit of a split brain argument on the matter. As it stands the Kings lost out on 12 games worth of revenue (7 home, 5 away). Now I'm sure that's a healthy chunk of change, but is it really THAT much to justify layoffs? Maybe, but it feels like no. If shit goes into next season then you re-evaluate, sure.

My company laid off about 10% last month to boost the stock price 25 cents. Was it a good business decision? No doubt. Was it shitty to send a bunch of people to the unemployment line during a pandemic over a few cents worth of stock? You bet.

AEG is certainly where the cuts were ordered from. And it makes sense given the business climate at large and especially for a live entertainment conglomerate. It’s good to see AEG take the multi faceted approach to cost cutting through a combination of layoffs, furloughs and pay reductions. I just feel bad that JR wasn’t given the furlough option.

Because as things stand now, management has taken away a popular personality to save what must be a small percentage of the overall operating budget. Afaik AEG is a subsidiary of a privately held corporation, so stock price isn’t a public issue.

In terms of who gets held accountable for the decision, I think it’s fair to call out Robitaille since the buck stops with him as Kings President.

 

[BigKing]

AEG is certainly where the cuts were ordered from. And it makes sense given the business climate at large and especially for a live entertainment conglomerate. It’s good to see AEG take the multi faceted approach to cost cutting through a combination of layoffs, furloughs and pay reductions. I just feel bad that JR wasn’t given the furlough option.

Because as things stand now, management has taken away a popular personality to save what must be a small percentage of the overall operating budget. Afaik AEG is a subsidiary of a privately held corporation, so stock price isn’t a public issue.

In terms of who gets held accountable for the decision, I think it’s fair to call out Robitaille since the buck stops with him as Kings President.

I wondered if he got the furlough option and declined it due to the uncertainty of how long that furlough could go on for. Without being a labor law expert, I assume a furlough can turn in to a firing eventually as well. Maybe he's got something up his sleeve.