McHockey Model
"We use a McDonalds analogy all the time. You have a league that owns the head office and owns the brand and you franchise out the teams [which] are independently owned. Rather than say 'Here's a market, go at it', find an owner, you go at it by saying how do we make this business successful, how do we sell our inventory. How do we run this as a business?"
Most hockey leagues spring from the passion for the sport. The desire to put the product out there by former players and multi-millionaires who fancy demonstrating their wealth by buying into a more modest minor league franchise often are done without much thinking about the financial side of the sport.
"We get into the sports business, and hockey in particular, and all of a sudden we think it's hockey so its different, it's a game, when it's not. It's a business. If you don't put together a plan of how we're going to achieve success, you're not going to achieve success."
Hockey's Mixed Record
Treliving's research also showed him that inconsistency was the other hobgoblin hobbling the hockey biz.
"The biggest downfall that our industry had was that you had some successful and very very bright people involved in ownership and management of particular teams, but we weren't, collectively as an industry, applying the same business philosophies to this business as people have applied to other businesses to make them successful."
So Kozuback and Treliving built what Brad calls a "cookbook" with a recipe for success that all franchise owners could apply to their operations. A How-To manual for everything from securing a lease on a building, to selling tickets, to doing PR.
They formed the Western Professional Hockey League (WPHL) in 1995, developing a league in the bald patch between the Central Hockey League and the West Coast Hockey League (WCHL).
Doing Homework
Many hockey leagues start as an idea one day, and are putting together teams the next. The WHA-2, ACHL, and many other ill-fated leagues were created by rushing to the ice. The WPHL began very methodically, with solid research, investment, and time to execute a business plan well.
They chose the markets because most didn't have strong winter sports choices, and had facilities that could accommodate hockey that were being under-used.
Wisely, they also looked at the geographical rivalries between towns that came up from either sports, at any level, or from any other source.
"You could leverage those by adding teams to those markets," reasoned Treliving. "We could just piggyback on those with the hockey teams."
Dad Jim and his partner brought aboard to the WPHL league ownership Darcy Rota, a former NHL player with a BC Junior Hockey club, Kevin Lowe, from the Oilers, Barry Johnson, a Vancouver businessman, Ron Thom the Vancouver businessman tied to Speedy Auto Glass, Daryl Carter, Nigel King, Ron Mulhern, Doug Wooten, and Vancouver attorney John Rogers.
"We told them it's a fact-finding mission. We may come back in six months and say there isn't an opportunity here."
The league started as a six-month long fact-finding trip, with Kozuback and Treliving hitting the Southwest Airlines route corridors and driving between points to scout locations and drum up interest with potential local market franchisees.
They developed a map with not only short term plans but expansion plans for growth in future years.
One of the biggest problems in bringing hockey to these new markets was ice: Many towns might have a venue that would be ideal for hockey, at least in the short term, but they didn't have ice to skate on. To get ice down in these buildings, there had to be some development of the sport with the arena managers and usually the city or county government.
"You had to do a significant capital improvement project to put ice in these venues," recalls Treliving.
The Big Meeting
After the road tour ended, the boys came back to report their market findings to the new board of directors, with demographics, and a complete inventory of the resources and interest of each town. Kozuback and Treliving also gave the board their assessments of which markets should make up the first round of development, not only from their individual strengths, but how they complimented each other in terms of rivalries, travel, and league strength.
The meeting went well.
"They said 'Let's go forward. Let's get into business." recalls Treliving.
Back | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Next
