Peter Guelli the new COO of the Bills and Sabres

[Mango]

4 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

One of the problems that people have when they look at sports business executives, is that they try to associate their success with on field / court success. I’m not saying that you are doing that here but others are in the thread. 
 

I know a good bit about the Charlotte NBA situation. The Hornets left on TERRIBLE terms with lawsuits between the owners. They were an AMAZING franchise until the late ‘90’s. The Bobcats situation was pretty much a disaster. Jordan coming in was not really the savior that people thought. He was not a very good owner on the court or on the business side. That’s hard for me to say because he’s my favorite athlete ever. The franchise turned up under Guelli’s leadership and by engaging NBA best practices. As stated earlier, the NBA has always been the best at the business of sports.

 

When he was with the Bulls they were like middle of the league in sponsor revenue I think. That’s impossible with an old stadium and garbage teams. That’s a credit to the creativity and staff that he had built. This is a very good hire for the Bills & Sabres. His experience dwarfs that of the last few people “running the show.”

 

I have some familiarity with the whole Charlotte situation. But certainly not to your level. I know they left on terrible terms and Johnson was a disaster. However I don't look at those Johnson years as Jordan since he was only a minority owner. Just like the current era isn't a Jordan era, or that I don't have anything pointed at Serena Williams and the business side of the Dolphins. Worth noting that PG was hired a year before Jordan took majority ownership. 

What I mean about Jordan is that just by existing he has the ability to brand an NBA team in his home state that is absolutely crazy about basketball and it isn't exactly an uphill climb. Selling a majority owned Jordan/Charlotte NBA team that previously dorked the city down twice (by leaving and then by Johnson) was basically like selling water in a drought. 

I don't discount his the work with the Bills. 

Ultimately fans don't care about sponsorships. The Sabres are trash. The Hornets are trash. I mean to be more harsh on Terry here than I am on PG. To release a statement that anybody has turned either franchise around in the last 10 years is silly and deserves to be laughed at. Imagine the Hornets hired somebody from the Sabres and Plotkin/Schnall released a statement that they "turned the Sabres around'. Even if we were still a top team attendance wise it would be a super silly statement to make to the fanbase. 

[Kirby Jackson]

14 minutes ago, Mango said:

 

I have some familiarity with the whole Charlotte situation. But certainly not to your level. I know they left on terrible terms and Johnson was a disaster. However I don't look at those Johnson years as Jordan since he was only a minority owner. Just like the current era isn't a Jordan era, or that I don't have anything pointed at Serena Williams and the business side of the Dolphins. Worth noting that PG was hired a year before Jordan took majority ownership. 

What I mean about Jordan is that just by existing he has the ability to brand an NBA team in his home state that is absolutely crazy about basketball and it isn't exactly an uphill climb. Selling a majority owned Jordan/Charlotte NBA team that previously dorked the city down twice (by leaving and then by Johnson) was basically like selling water in a drought. 

I don't discount his the work with the Bills. 

Ultimately fans don't care about sponsorships. The Sabres are trash. The Hornets are trash. I mean to be more harsh on Terry here than I am on PG. To release a statement that anybody has turned either franchise around in the last 10 years is silly and deserves to be laughed at. Imagine the Hornets hired somebody from the Sabres and Plotkin/Schnall released a statement that they "turned the Sabres around'. Even if we were still a top team attendance wise it would be a super silly statement to make to the fanbase. 

I hear you. I’m simply suggesting that we are reading into situations without all of the context. The Sabres have largely been poorly run. The Bills haven’t been particularly well run on the business side either. Wins cure all in terms of perception. We need to dissociate the W/L record and how good they are at running the business. Those two things don’t intersect. If you’re dependent on good teams to sell, you don’t belong in that business. It’s easy to sell when winning. The talent rises when the situation is tougher. Those are situations that he’s proven effective in. 
 

As an aside, the Lakers were the most auto-pilot franchise in the league. They weren’t innovative, creative or progressive. It didn’t matter because they were the Shaq/Kobe Lakers. From the outside people probably thought, “look how great they are?” The reality is, if the Suns staff and Lakers staff traded places, the Suns people would have run circles around them. Guelli is a guy that has succeeded in less than ideal situations. That’s what you should be looking for. You don’t need to hire the Lakers staff.

[RiotAct]

he looks like the guy from the movie “Margin Call” who gets fired in the opening scene then gives some secret research on a USB thumb drive to the young new hire.

[Fleezoid]

23 hours ago, Mango said:

I don't know. This feels like a boardroom hire that doesn't make much of a difference for any products on the field/ice. 

 

This was a very weird quote: 
 

 

He was there 10 years and only 3 winning years. My teenage niece could market Michael Jordan to basketball fans in his home state of North Carolina. He is one of if not the only player in the American big 4 sports to ever be bigger than the league itself.
 

 

I dunno.....In the NFL world, Taylor Swift is bigger than the NFL. 

[Nextmanup]

Dude kind of looks like a serial killer.

 

Anyway, the Sabres can't be worse managed than they are, so there's that.

 

 

[ControllerOfPlanetX]

He’s the Guelli keeping these teams together..

[PromoTheRobot]

4 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:

One of the problems that people have when they look at sports business executives, is that they try to associate their success with on field / court success. I’m not saying that you are doing that here but others are in the thread. 
 

I know a good bit about the Charlotte NBA situation. The Hornets left on TERRIBLE terms with lawsuits between the owners. They were an AMAZING franchise until the late ‘90’s. The Bobcats situation was pretty much a disaster. Jordan coming in was not really the savior that people thought. He was not a very good owner on the court or on the business side. That’s hard for me to say because he’s my favorite athlete ever. The franchise turned up under Guelli’s leadership and by engaging NBA best practices. As stated earlier, the NBA has always been the best at the business of sports.

 

When he was with the Bills they were like middle of the league in sponsor revenue I think. That’s impossible with an old stadium and garbage teams. That’s a credit to the creativity and staff that he had built. This is a very good hire for the Bills & Sabres. His experience dwarfs that of the last few people “running the show.”

 

People would rather come up with their own twisted takes.