Confirmed with Link: Vanderbeek Sole Devils Owner

[Cowbell232]

Team Statement:

DEVILS ANNOUNCE SUCCESSFUL REFINANCING
The Devils organization is pleased to announce that it has completed a refinancing of its credit facilities with CIT Group acting as lead arranger. The organization believes that its successful refinancing during a work stoppage demonstrates the strength of the Devils franchise and the Prudential Center, enabling it to continue to execute on its business plan. In addition, in connection with the refinancing, Jeff Vanderbeek and his affiliated entities purchased the stakes of his co-owners, Brick City Hockey and its related entities.

Statement from Jeff Vanderbeek:

“Today’s announcement is good news for Devils fans though I fully recognize fans' frustration with the work stoppage. Our future is now secure and we can be confident of continued on-ice success. Our team has gone to the Stanley Cup Final 5 times in the last 17 years and following the most recent run to the Stanley Cup Final last year, we are excited about our future -- for Jersey's team and Prudential Center, home to the 2013 NHL Draft.
I am grateful to Mike Gilfillan and Brick City Hockey for our former partnership. Together we shared a passion that led to the building of the Prudential Center – truly a shining jewel of a facility and in my view one of the best arenas in the entire world. The Rock is a great legacy for which we will always be proud.â€

Sincerely,
The New Jersey Devils


http://www.nj.com/devils/index.ssf/2013/01/devils_owner_jeff_vanderbeek_s.html#incart_flyout_sports

 

[Devils731]

NY Post reports VBK immediately forced into bankruptcy upon finishing his signature. NHL moving the team to Long Island in 2015.

 

[CerebralGenesis]

Can we be the Houston Devils instead?

 

[theking72]

Well if VBK can buy the Devils then I can buy whatever I want

 

[Colin226]

This says it all:

In a news release obtained by The Record, the team states, “The organization believes that its successful refinancing during a work stoppage demonstrates the strength of the Devils franchise and the Prudential Center, enabling it to continue to execute on its business plan.â€

 

[NJDevs26]

Should I be happy or wary? I guess if he has enough money to buy the whole team now, good for everyone. I still wonder what loans he had to take out...or am I just being paranoid?

 

[CerebralGenesis]

I don't think you can ever be too paranoid in this kind of situation.

 

[Devils731]

Should I be happy or wary? I guess if he has enough money to buy the whole team now, good for everyone. I still wonder what loans he had to take out...or am I just being paranoid?

According to TG he actually is on the hook for less on loans now

http://blogs.northjersey.com/blogs/...of_devils_refinancing_of_team_debt_completed/

With the team’s long run to the Stanley Cup Finals last June. the success of Prudential Center in booking big act concerts such as The Who and The Rollng Stones, in combination with record-low interest rates, the Devils have already been able to pay down a significant portion of their debt.

The debt is also solely on the arena now, which is something the creditors are probably happy about, since that's a hard asset compared to the more variable asset of the team.

So in my guesstimate, if TG is correct, the Devils will pay a lot less in interest next season as they've paid down their loans to a smaller size and the overall interest rate should be lower as well.

 

[Wingman77]

This says it all:

In a news release obtained by The Record, the team states, “The organization believes that its successful refinancing during a work stoppage demonstrates the strength of the Devils franchise and the Prudential Center, enabling it to continue to execute on its business plan.â€

I mean that is kind of obvious, considering they didn't have to pay any player salaries for 3 months

Then like TG mentioned, some of the big name concerts that were there along with other shows have helped out a ton

 

[Scott04]

Well, it still is somewhat impressive to be able to pull it off when the team/building have fewer events in the building over the last 3-4 months than they would normally have (or at least I would assume). Hard to say whether or not the building was more profitable in this time, as there were probably some higher profit events that filled in some of the lost dates, but the quantity was obviously down, especially without the Nets filling some dates like last year. But when the core, or at least most stable date-filler has been out of action for the last 3-4 months, and they were still able to settle some financial issues, I look at it as being somewhat impressive, even if not as much as the statements want to imply.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Should I be happy or wary? I guess if he has enough money to buy the whole team now, good for everyone. I still wonder what loans he had to take out...or am I just being paranoid?

You cant be too happy or too wary either way, as there's really very little information here.

Financial details of the ownership transfer were not available due to a confidentiality agreement.

I'd say it's at least an incremental positive that it's moving forward and a reassessment of the debt has definitely taken place. But we literally know virtually zero details here. Without that, financially speaking, you basically have.........underpants.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Well, it still is somewhat impressive to be able to pull it off when the team/building have fewer events in the building over the last 3-4 months than they would normally have (or at least I would assume). Hard to say whether or not the building was more profitable in this time, as there were probably some higher profit events that filled in some of the lost dates, but the quantity was obviously down, especially without the Nets filling some dates like last year. But when the core, or at least most stable date-filler has been out of action for the last 3-4 months, and they were still able to settle some financial issues, I look at it as being somewhat impressive, even if not as much as the statements want to imply.

I dont.

You have to remember, the Devils net operating income is fairly close to breakeven. In that respect, in current dollars, the lack of a few months of an NHL season is pretty much a nonevent. In fact, if for some reason concerts were not able to be held over the last 3-4 months that would have a far more negative financial effect than no NHL.

 

[Wingman77]

Well, it still is somewhat impressive to be able to pull it off when the team/building have fewer events in the building over the last 3-4 months than they would normally have (or at least I would assume). Hard to say whether or not the building was more profitable in this time, as there were probably some higher profit events that filled in some of the lost dates, but the quantity was obviously down, especially without the Nets filling some dates like last year. But when the core, or at least most stable date-filler has been out of action for the last 3-4 months, and they were still able to settle some financial issues, I look at it as being somewhat impressive, even if not as much as the statements want to imply.

Were the nets even bringing in any money to the arena though?

With the Devils having games comes the operating expenses along with player contracts that get subtracted from how much the Devils bring in at the gate, so depending on that, it may not be as much money brought in as thought

 

[CerebralGenesis]

You cant be too happy or too wary either way, as there's really very little information here.



I'd say it's at least an incremental positive that it's moving forward and a reassessment of the debt has definitely taken place. But we literally know virtually zero details here. Without that, financially speaking, you basically have.........underpants.

I agree. I was wondering where the details were when I was reading this and whether I should be happy with it or not. But perhaps no details is good at this stage of this? Not really experienced with this kind of thing.

 

[ILikeItVeryMuch*]

Thank Gahhd

 

[BenedictGomez]

The best thing to come from this news is that trolls who dont understand this situation wont be saying dumb negative things like "the Devils are as good as gone from New Jersey man".

Of course, now they will likely be replaced by homers who dont understand this situation saying dumb positive things like, "the Devils are on sound financial ground man".

I agree. I was wondering where the details were when I was reading this and whether I should be happy with it or not. But perhaps no details is good at this stage of this? Not really experienced with this kind of thing.

I've never been excessively positive or excessively negative throughout this entire nonsense. As I've stated many times before, the only thing that would make me paranoid is if the Devils were contractually unwound from The Rock, and as far as we know, that never happened. And unless that were to happen, it would be virtually impossible to move the team from New Jersey.

 

[Scott04]

I dont.

You have to remember, the Devils net operating income is fairly close to breakeven. In that respect, in current dollars, the lack of a few months of an NHL season is pretty much a nonevent. In fact, if for some reason concerts were not able to be held over the last 3-4 months that would have a far more negative financial effect than no NHL.

Oh I know the Devils are roughly a break-even operation, possibly even a small negative depending on some specifics or specific points of the year. I'm referring to the fact dates were held during the course of the lockout and not opened up in time to fully replace them with other shows. In some cases, there was enough time to pull it off, but in others they suffered. The arena itself was probably less profitable given the circumstances than it could have been in that time frame were dates vacated sooner. The building probably saw a hit to its operating income. Not saying it went from a positive to a negative, but if we were going to look at it as compared to previous quarters, I bet it was one of its worst in the last year or two just for the likely dip in events held.

Were the nets even bringing in any money to the arena though?

With the Devils having games comes the operating expenses along with player contracts that get subtracted from how much the Devils bring in at the gate, so depending on that, it may not be as much money brought in as thought

I assume the Nets brought in money for the Prudential Center. They were paying rent for the venue and I'm pretty confident they were paying the staffing costs for all of those evenings (or at least a chunk). The small crowds probably hurt things like concessions revenue, but ultimately I think the Devils/Prudential Center were going to make money off of each night just from the rent revenue and the fact the expenses were probably on the Nets. May not have been a big ticket event, but I can't imagine it was anything but a profit for the Devils. Otherwise why would they have ever agreed to it in the first place?

 

[Wingman77]

I assume the Nets brought in money for the Prudential Center. They were paying rent for the venue and I'm pretty confident they were paying the staffing costs for all of those evenings (or at least a chunk). The small crowds probably hurt things like concessions revenue, but ultimately I think the Devils/Prudential Center were going to make money off of each night just from the rent revenue and the fact the expenses were probably on the Nets. May not have been a big ticket event, but I can't imagine it was anything but a profit for the Devils. Otherwise why would they have ever agreed to it in the first place?

I do tend to agree with this and my assumption also would be the Devils could have made some more money off the bat coming off of a cup finals appearance along with all of the new STH and partial plan holders that jumped on after the season, but realistically it is more of those 'lets wait and see it before we believe it' things

Regardless though, finally a lot of this **** is now behind the team and they can move forward

 

[Colin226]

You cant be too happy or too wary either way, as there's really very little information here.



I'd say it's at least an incremental positive that it's moving forward and a reassessment of the debt has definitely taken place. But we literally know virtually zero details here. Without that, financially speaking, you basically have.........underpants.

Well we know that Jeff was able to pay off a lot of the team debt, he was able to combine the team and arena debt, and he got a great interest rate.

It's not unusual for a business to operate with large loans that they constantly roll over every 5 years. With the new CBA, the Devils should be pretty profitable and the Arena seems to be doing well for itself too so the loan should get chipped away slowly while being constantly rolled over.

In general, I feel it's just great to be keeping Jeff as the owner moving forward. We are so lucky to have an owner who really loves this team and the state. He's also done some great things for growing the fan base. Not too many other options if you want a Devils fan owner

 

[MartyOwns]

ugh. i dunno about that. remember when we learned jeff pulled all the strings for the kovy signing? yikes. not our best move. especially now that parise bolted.

 

[Colin226]

ugh. i dunno about that. remember when we learned jeff pulled all the strings for the kovy signing? yikes. not our best move. especially now that parise bolted.

Kovy was our best player in the playoffs, even while injured.. Zach left for a ton of money in upfront signing bonuses and a chance to touch Suter's jock strap on a daily basis.. I would still take Kovy over Zach even though I did love Parise.. But I don't see how the 2 are related

 

[CerebralGenesis]

You don't see how signing Kovalchuk to that deal is related to Parise signing his deal?

 

[onefatsurfer]

at least we have kovalchuk. Parise was always going to leave.

 

[MartyOwns]

Kovy was our best player in the playoffs, even while injured.. Zach left for a ton of money in upfront signing bonuses and a chance to touch Suter's jock strap on a daily basis.. I would still take Kovy over Zach even though I did love Parise.. But I don't see how the 2 are related

fair enough. IMO, jeff pulled the strings to sign him to get ***** in the seats. and we had the worst start in team history (i think). he is a trapazoid peg in a rhombus hole. we somehow got away from the '5 20 goals scorers' mentality, the lunchpail mentality, that got us 3 cups. for what?

(last season was an irrelevant fluke)

fact is, lou didnt want to sign him. he didnt even want to trade for him. he doesnt even lift! it was all jeff, and i dont like the new direction this club is taking...now with jeff solely at the helm? god help us all

 

[Bleedred]

Kovy was our best player in the playoffs, even while injured.. Zach left for a ton of money in upfront signing bonuses and a chance to touch Suter's jock strap on a daily basis.. I would still take Kovy over Zach even though I did love Parise.. But I don't see how the 2 are related

I would take Kovy over Parise any day. Love how Kovy has the 5th or 6th most votes in the ''Top 10 points leaders in a shortened season'' thread on the main board, and Parise isn't even an option, nor did many people pick him as a write in.

It pissed me off all last season long to see people say ''Our best player'' when referring to Parise. It also pissed me off when somebody said ''Enjoy missing the playoffs again'' when someone spoke of Kovy being captain of this team.

All in all I think MartyOwns was just doing another one of his jimitations!