A Call for Effective Community Ownership

If you believe that an effective Board of Directors can lead the Bombers to a prosperous future without private ownership, then you probably agree with the following:

  • the Maroons Rd. property should have been sold years ago to help finance a stadium that would generate revenues for the club 365 days a year
  • a Board of Directors that truly represents the interests of its co-owners, the citizens of Winnipeg and Blue Bomber fans everywhere, would have resisted a hostile takeover bid by David Asper
  • the current Bomber Board of Directors should be dissolved and a new BoD assembled that acts in the best interests of OUR community owned franchise.

If this is the case, then please sign the online petition below. Once the petition reaches its goal of 1000 signatures (more signatures will be added if public demand is high), the petition will be presented to City Hall after a press release is made to ensure that Bomber Fans' voices are heard.

[url=http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/bombers-for-communityownership]http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/bomber ... yownership[/url]

Great Work TrueBlue. This may be the start of removing the current BODs. And getting rid of Asper.

So if the city sells off the land, why would the new owner want to share the revenues from it with the Bombers ?

Seems to me, that selling the land would have to be contingent on the team getting a share of the revenues because a new stadium alone won’t be enough to finance the team.

Isn’t that exactly what Asper is proposing ?

Perhaps you can provide a link to the auditors report of this new proposal so we can see that it makes financial sense for the team before we sign ?

Winnipeg Enterprise’s reward would be the millions of dollars received for the prime real estate on Maroons Rd.

Seems to me, that selling the land would have to be contingent on the team getting a share of the revenues because a new stadium alone won't be enough to finance the team.
A new sports complex would make money for the team by operating 365 days a year, not lose money. Money from the Maroons Rd. land sale + govt. $ would provide the seed money required for building the stadium. Free land, tax breaks by the city and other concessions would pave the way for a new stadium.
Isn't that exactly what Asper is proposing ?
Yes & No. Asper wants a sweet land development deal like True North got. He also wants provincial and federal money plus he wants to own and manage the team. Asper also will likely retain some of the current BoD as consideration for voting unanimously for his letter of intent to purchase instead of resisting his hostile takeover bid of OUR team like they should have. (Talk about a conflict of interest!)
Perhaps you can provide a link to the auditors report of this new proposal so we can see that it makes financial sense for the team before we sign ?
This is Management Accounting 101. You do not continue to operate an obsolete stadium that is losing money each year on a parcel of land worth millions of dollars when you can sell the land and build a state-of-the-art sports complex that will make money for the club.

A professional marketing study should be obtained by the new Board of Directors to determine what kind of stadium should be built and where. I think that’s what you meant by “auditor’s report.”

Auditors are like coroners. They only arrive after the body’s cold. This Bomber baby is still alive and kicking! There’s no reason in the world to give OUR baby away to David Asper or anybody else.

Actually, the poor mans version of Bauer's master-plan is to con-the-living into a tale of darkness.

...oh my gawd my man (trueblue08)....you typify the reason why this city goes no-where or takes ions to proceed in any positive direction....study?????we've study the bloody thing to death....and have received various proposals on same....When is it we actually start DOING SOMETHING....and your last statement.....WE ARE NOT GIVING ANYTHING AWAY....the guy is investing in a venture that will net the city a brand new facility IN THE NEAR FUTURE....not some studied to death proposal that will happen in the next decade after the franchise is gonzo...We have an opportunity NOW...which will secure the Bombers for the forseeable future and beyond....I'm tired of the ring-around-the-rosy ...study after study after study ad nauseum....IT'S TIME FOR SOME BLOODY ACTION????????good grief :roll: :roll:

Papa, you should let the people of Winnipeg decide by a vote in the next election or a plebicite. Many Bombers fans don’t share your’s or Asper’s solution to long term viability. The sky is not falling as Bauer would suggest. And by Bauer making comments eithier your with us or against us ,only creates more division amongst Winnipeg fans and residents. But he has had a good teacher in the name of Asper. Good sound Management and long term viability go hand and hand. Right now we have very poor management. Even if a new stadium is built, This will only generate X amount of dollars. Presently the Bombers are nearly selling out their games. With a 40,000 seat stadium there is no guarantee that the team could sell over 30,000 tickets per game. There is only so much entertainment capital in this city. The rest of Manitoba could care less about the Bombers. With the bad management and lack of entertainment revenues it makes no difference if a new facility is built or not. Another stumbling block is if Asper gets his new stadium who will pay the operating cost of this venue. I can tell you it won’t be Asper. The taxpayer will be left holding the bag. All this for 10 games a season and some 40 + million in taxpayers money. I know you don;t like this but more study is needed.

Like I said before, show me an actual economic forcast that concludes that this strategy will guarantee the football team will survive in the long run.

btw, that land at Polo Park, has already in principle, been sold to CanadInns for $7M, at the current market value by the City.

The real value of that land is in the development of it, not the property itself, and is a major factor why any private investor would want to cough up $60M of their own cash and dump it into a money losing venture like the Bombers.

The City, Province and Feds have already basically said they do not have money to invest in a new stadium without certain guarantees from the private sector towards investment in it.

To think that the team can go this alone is just a blind fantasy.

...you're totally right pigseye...this venture WILL NOT proceed without govt. dollars....There has been an election as far as i know....Those duly elected bodies of power carry the RIGHT TO DECIDE...We don't need any other plebicite...vote...approval or whatever.. they're decisions are binding and representative of the people...AS for the people (ex.housedog) who DON'T like the process.... sorry that's democracy ...vote them out in the next election :wink:

~'=

you're totally right pigseye...this venture WILL NOT proceed without govt. dollars....
So, judging from that standpoint if Bauer says "you're either with us or against us" means exactly the same thing from a COMMUNITY based equation?? (I suppose the PROFIT MOTIVE - is a mere illusion of the fact.) Perhaps, those of us that refuse to bow our heads in relief as victims have selective memory we should choose Bauer as you are.

Better think again.

If we need an approval from a far more generous venture, that is a perogative worth initiating against. No matter how impartial we come across, as Blue-toothed fairytales go, if Bauer tells us ‘the cow jumps over the moon,’ we’re automatically fans that wear t-shirts which read “Bomber property - we do what we’re told. . .” (on the front) “love, Lyle Bauer” (on the back.)

Let me tell you both something in ourbombers land. . . you’ve got another thing coming.

If Bauer says it, it’s okay, but if we say it. . . it’s not??

Give me a break. Get rid of Bauer first. Then we’ll break the silence barrier before walking the walk. Talking the talk is Bauer’s 2-6 laugher of a team.

^
^
More innuendo ? Did Bauer steel your lunch money or something when you guys were kids ?

Like I said, show me another economic plan that will ensure the long term viability of the football club, without a private public partnership, and maybe you have something. Because right now all I see is a bunch of unsubstantiated bs.

So unsubstantiated bs equates with taking Bauer's line of bait at the end of a Bomber reefer? Right, as for the innuendo you've all but built to dismiss my critical input to suit your own, my basis is entirely of focusing on the real subject matter. This is to speak, some come to think of it, as the community ownership model.

How about your answer for that, pigseye, in the opposite form of a negated rebuttal perhaps? Please, negate this. . .again, with misunderstading as the moral high ground we land on. But, I invite you nevertheless.

Notwithstanding of course.

It's your choice.

You are either one of Bauer's following, in the ambition to place Bomber fans into a post-partum depression (of a fragile 2-6 record) or have selective memory of the position marketing profit motive.

I would take the latter for your won over satisfaction.

Please, negate this.

^
^
Real subject matter, I'll provide you with the same history lesson sanjay got

[url=http://www.winnipegfirst.ca/article/2007/03/07/bombers_debt_free]http://www.winnipegfirst.ca/article/200 ... _debt_free[/url]

History lesson for piggy

Community ownership raises 6 million in 6 years and gets out of debt. Asper appears in 2007. Bombers go 300,000 in debt to pay lawyers for Aspers ownership bid. Do the Bombers really need private ownership ??

The team goes in debt whenever they try to field a competitive team dog, it ain’t working son.

…seems some will never see the light…The reality is this team will not’‘’'i repeat will NOT …have a secure future continuing down the same broken down ol road…We have a chance to change that…i say change it…orrrrrr accept the fact this franchise will cease to be viable…and that won’t be too far off… :expressionless:

What may we ask is 'seeing the light exactly'? To agree with drastic change in ideology does not require a socioeconomic one as well. It speaks of an indian giving style of mentality. Case in point, any kind of intervention would not meet Lyle Bauer's best interest. Community ownership should in fact represent that lack of intervention which is required.

...sometimes drastic change is for the better bigcandiano...just takes a venturous spirit and a little imagination....change for the sake of change.....i don't like.....change for positives....yeah i can get on board... :thup:

I measure things with duality, zoo. Part of me is liberally lassez faire. I'm also a traditionalist in the not so conservative department. I avoid Bauer's shot at a mini-ministry like the plague.

Is that so. What player on the team got the cheque for 300,000.