Article: McDermott Concerned about PSE Dysfunction

[Rockpile233]

I thought it was a well written piece, but I never underestimate how fiercely apologetic sports fans can be to billionaire owners.

 

Most of the anecdotal evidence I’ve heard supports the article. With that being said, they own the teams and can mismanage them as they see fit. I’m just shocked how many people get fired up to defend them despite having even less evidence than the writer.

[MJS]

4 minutes ago, SectionC3 said:

 

Well said.  Today's society gravitates to sources that reinforce what the consumer wants to hear (in politics or civics, Fox or OAN on the right, MSNBC on the left).  The trope that all reporters are biased simply is a way of dismissing a message that the consumer does not want to acknowledge.  It's kind of sad, actually, the degree of mistrust that has infected so many parts of our society. 

So in one breath you say that people gravitate to sources that reinforce what they want to hear (which means clearly that there are biased sources out there to gravitate to) and then you say that reporters aren't biased? How can that be? If there are so many biased sources for people to confirm their own opinions, the reporters behind those sources have to be biased too.

[Lurker]

5 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

So it is no longer my job FWIW. But I think this response just sums up where perceptions of the media are in society. The media themselves are not blameless in this but it is a sad state of affairs. I never once went into a story with an agenda and the vast majority of journalists do not operate that way. 

 

Its sad that people have chosen to blame "the media" if they don't confirm their already held positions.   Cognitative disonance is a b-word...

[GunnerBill]

1 minute ago, Kirby Jackson said:

They hired McDermott and Beane and gave them power. They got it right after Marrone, Rex, Whaley, etc... The Bills are in fine shape now but it isn’t because of them. If the right people are in charge things work fine. The less involved the Pegula’s are in the day-to-day the better. Hire the right people, give them the resources that they need and get out of the way.

 

Agree 100% with this and the reason this article is concerning is because a drain on the resources from these other businesses and cross pollinating the Bills' management structure with people from the Sabres to cut costs do not sound like good indicators for the future success of that model. 

 

At the moment the Bills have not been badly affected. But if it continues then at some point they may well be. That is why people should actually read the piece before just deciding Tim Graham is a hack. 

[Buffalo_Stampede]

McDermott and Beane have 2 years left on their deals. They will be looking for extensions as well after the season. 

 

 

[SectionC3]

1 minute ago, MJS said:

So in one breath you say that people gravitate to sources that reinforce what they want to hear (which means clearly that there are biased sources out there to gravitate to) and then you say that reporters aren't biased? How can that be? If there are so many biased sources for people to confirm their own opinions, the reporters behind those sources have to be biased too.

 

Lots of opinion shows on those nets, right?  Could read NYT or WaPo or even LA Times.  But they go there because they get the talk they want to here.  Not my bag, frankly, any of that stuff.  I'll stick to NYT and occasionally WaPo. 

Edited April 20, 2020 by SectionC3

[Doc Brown]

3 minutes ago, Lurker said:

 

I realize that not everyone has access to the article, but it's not just ex-employees who talked to Timmeh...

 

"The Athletic interviewed 39 current and former full-time employees by telephone, text and verified direct message...." 

 

“I used to feel proud to tell people I worked for PSE,” said a current employee. “Then there was a point I just had to force a smile when talking about my job. Now, when people ask me about openings, I tell them not to apply.”

 

“We always say winning fixes everything,” a current PSE employee said. “And I’m sure if the Sabres were successful some of these issues would be less infuriating on the surface."

 

“I remember being underwhelmed,” said a current Sabres employee.

That alone is bad reporting.  Tell us how many current employees and how many former full time employees. 

 

My cousin's husband works as a video editor for PSE and got furloughed and I talked to him over the weekend.  He's had nothing but nice things to say about management.  Particularly Kim. 

 

There's some very informative information in the article but it's not as balanced as it should be.

[apuszczalowski]

3 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

Why do people keep mentioning this?  Pegula retains some small fracking company.  He put 4.7 billion in the bank when he got out of the energy business for the most part years ago.

 

Can no one entertain that, outside of the business he created in an industry he a while ago mostly cashed out of, he isn't a very good businessman when it comes to the hospitality and entertainment business?

 

 

Did he just put the money in a chequing/Savings account?

I'm sure money like that was put into investments and may have been put into stocks in the Energy sector which could be affecting his net worth

I doubt he has all that money sitting in a 'Scrooge McDuck' type swimming pool vault where it protected (although it would be awesome if he did)

[Lurker]

6 minutes ago, MJS said:

 

So 3 of the 39 were current employees, haha.

 

Nope.  I didn't want to tax those that have made up their minds and gave just three examples...

[thenorthremembers]

I think everyone probably needs to calm down a bit.   Their company is losing money because of a frickin pandemic, I am sure things are a bit weird over there right now.   I am also not surprised a bunch of people who just lost their job don't have a lot of positive things to say about their former employers.

 

This just in, people who run companies care more about the bottom line than they do about Johnny Paycheck and Joe Sixpack is this really an epiphany to anyone?

 

On the Sabres, they just lost a month worth of revenue from the team.   On top of that they are invested in a sport that is just above the WNBA and MLS in popularity,  even if the Sabres were good they wouldn't be a huge money earner in terms of revenue when compared to other leagues.   What it costs to run a NHL team compared to how popular the sport is in the US is getting to be disproportionate.    They may be bad owners, but even the good owners in the league arent counting on their NHL team to be their main source of income.

 

 

[Doc]

1 minute ago, Kirby Jackson said:

They hired McDermott and Beane and gave them power. They got it right after Marrone, Rex, Whaley, etc... The Bills are in fine shape now but they made multiple missteps to get there. If the right people are in charge things work fine. The less involved the Pegula’s are in the day-to-day the better. Hire the right people, give them the resources that they need and get out of the way.

 

Sure they made an early misstep, retaining Whaley and hiring Rex (Marrone could pound sand for all I cared and Khan is making a mistake keeping him around).  Happens to many owners.  But things are looking good now.

 

But what's the solution for the Sabres?  Just leave it all up to Botterill and Krueger?

[apuszczalowski]

1 minute ago, thenorthremembers said:

I think everyone probably needs to calm down a bit.   Their company is losing money because of a frickin pandemic, I am sure things are a bit weird over there right now.   I am also not surprised a bunch of people who just lost their job don't have a lot of positive things to say about their former employers.

 

This just in, people who run companies care more about the bottom line than they do about Johnny Paycheck and Joe Sixpack is this really an epiphany to anyone?

 

On the Sabres, they just lost a month worth of revenue from the team.   On top of that they are invested in a sport that is just above the WNBA and MLS in popularity,  even if the Sabres were good they wouldn't be a huge money earner in terms of revenue when compared to other leagues.   What it costs to run a NHL team compared to how popular the sport is in the US is getting to be disproportionate.    They may be bad owners, but even the good owners in the league arent counting on their NHL team to be their main source of income.

 

 

Leave Joe out of this, Has anyone seen him around here recently?

 

I could also see employees being pissed off that they were let go or laid off right now because people look at the Pegulas around here like some Bottomless Pit of financial money and can do everything that they need or want. right now is not a good time for someone whos money was and could still be tied up in the energy sector, and pro sports which are taking huge hits because of this pandemic. People probably just assumed they would continue to pay employees through this even if the company isn't doing anything and hemorrhaging money. Its not like the sabres couldn't use some changes throughout the organization after the way its been run since they took over. The response has not been good for the Pegulas after how they '50th Anniversary Season' Season went down without even talking about the team on the ice.......

[MJS]

6 minutes ago, SectionC3 said:

 

Lots of opinion shows on those nets, right?  Could read NYT or WaPo or even LA Times.  But they go there because they get the talk they want to here.  Not my bag, frankly, any of that stuff.  I'll stick to NYT and occasionally WaPo. 

 

I like BBC. At least they are always professional, even if they do sometimes present biased material. I read a couple of extremely unprofessional articles posted by Washington Post a couple years ago and that really soured my view of them. New York Times is pretty good. I want facts presented in an objective and professional manner. That's what I look for in the news media.

[Malazan]

59 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

Well as a former sports journalist I am telling you this is a good piece of journalism. He has spoken to plenty of people he isn't giving his opinion he is reporting. 

 

If you want to dismiss it as a "hack" fine. But people should be taking that article seriously. It is concerning.

 

The allegations are concerning. Unfortunately, Tim's shoddy sports writing (not Journalism) means that without citing legitimate sources (anonymous sources don't count(a Journalist knows you need to cite your source as accurately as possible and make every effort to get them to attach as much identifying information as possible). That out of ~40 people, he couldn't get one to put their name or even an accurate description of their role tells me the writer was more interested in 'dirt' than accuracy. Graham's unprofessional behavior in the past makes him akin to a partisan news network. They may be reporting accurately, but unfortunately, they've lost their authority and trust so they have to prove it beyond a doubt now...except to others who have a vested interest in believing the narrative they present. 

Edited April 20, 2020 by jeremy2020

[apuszczalowski]

Just now, MJS said:

 

I like BBC. At least they are always professional, even if they do sometimes present biased material. I read a couple of extremely unprofessional articles posted by Washington Post a couple years ago and that really soured my view of them. New York Times is pretty good. I want facts presented in an objective and professional manner. That's what I look for in the news media.

Its because they are Brittish, they make everything sound classy and professional.....

[wppete]

33 minutes ago, Doc Brown said:

Here's what I got from the article...

-The Pegula's were overly ambitious and PSE expanded too quickly that an economic downturn has created an unfortunate situation where tough choices had to be made.

-Graham was looking for disgruntled ex employees and found them.

-It's highly unlikely we get a new stadium here unless the majority of the funding comes from the tax payers.

 

Well without a doubt we are not getting a New Stadium now after this Virus has destroyed and is destroying the NY economy. 

[MJS]

8 minutes ago, Lurker said:

 

Nope.  I didn't want to tax those that have made up their minds and gave just three examples...

So you would think that there would be a mix a positive things said, but that doesn't seem to be the case. That's not usually how sampling works, unless your sample is biased. Or unless you choose to only include responses from the negatives.

1 minute ago, apuszczalowski said:

Its because they are Brittish, they make everything sound classy and professional.....

It's because they actually ARE professional and objective in their delivery. Their accent helps, sure, but that's not why. They use a professional tone and professional language and their goal is to present facts without sounding biased.

[PromoTheRobot]

17 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

So you don't think the story is true? Don't think that major cutbacks and the departure of numerous employees at all levels of the PSE business has caused mistrust and damaged morale? Or you don't believe that the Pegulas are tightening their belts as a result of liquidity issues? 

 

Why can't it be both? It probably is both. But the Athletic's focus is on one side, the one that damages the reputation of the team owners the most.

 

Have you read this article? https://buffalonews.com/2020/04/19/buffalo-bills-buffalo-sabres-terry-and-kim-pegula-nfl-nhl-oil-prices/  Take a look and tell me if this looks like good journalism to you as well?

[apuszczalowski]

1 minute ago, jeremy2020 said:

 

The allegations are concerning. Unfortunately, Tim's shoddy sports writing (not Journalism) means that without citing legitimate sources (anonymous sources don't count(a Journalist knows you need to cite your source as accurately as possible and make every effort to get them to attach as much identifying information as possible). That out of ~40 people, he couldn't get one to put their name or even an accurate description of their role tells me the writer was more interested in 'dirt' than accuracy. Graham's unprofessional behavior in the past makes him akin to a partisan news network. They may be reporting accurately, but unfortunately, they've lost their authority and trust so they have to prove it beyond a doubt now...except to others who have a vested interest in believing the narrative they present. 

its true that this may be an accurate piece of writing that he put out, but when you have spent years being biased and/or unprofessional, you lose the benefit of the doubt and your work will be viewed as skeptical

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

Just now, apuszczalowski said:

its true that this may be an accurate piece of writing that he put out, but when you have spent years being biased and/or unprofessional, you lose the benefit of the doubt and your work will be viewed as skeptical

 

^^^correct^^^