Still rocking the hockey hairAll things considered, Phil Falcone would prefer playing a professional sport that no one watches anymore to being a billionaire. So he’s done the next stupidest thing: He bought a hockey team.
Some of a hockey team, anyway. He’s got a 40% chunk in the Minnesota Wild, the team that replaced his hometown team after they moved to that great hockey city, Dallas.
A due-diligence specialist once told me that what he called jock-sniffer syndrome was one of his key red flags. But Falcone, who seems to have a thing for dying industries, bought his stake in the Wild for an altogether more pathetic reason.
“I think the dream come true would be to be out there playing,” he says. “But things work out in different ways.”
I guess he’ll just have to go cry in his $2 billion. Or hang out in his conference room, which he’s named for the Chicago Blackhawks.
As with many of his fellow jocks-turned-hedge-fund-managers, Falcone likes to hire other former athletes, so they can talk about the good old days and all the pussy that the members of the Harvard hockey team got back in the day. And rationalizing hiring one another.
“I think [team sports] give you a lot of insight into competition and learning how to work with a team,” says Falcone. “Hockey has been a very critical part of getting me to where I am today.”
It also looks to play a critical role in losing him millions and millions of dollars.
Hockey’s Billionaires [Forbes]
Oh now you’ve done it you dumb son of a bitch – you went and made fun of hockey. It’s gonna suck to be you Shazzhole.
This is an illiquid and wild investment that will freeze up funds…I think he’s skating on thin ice.
…on another note, I’d like to pull the goalie and play in his wife’s crease.
The conference room is kinda cool – very Star Trek Enterprise.
All jokes aside, this is a very uncharacteristically angry post coming from you, Jon. Cheer up big guy, it’s almost Christmas.
I beat da shit outta Bob Probert, ya know.
-cg
So Jon, you think buying a hockey team in Minnesota that has had over 200 straight sellouts while being a mediocre team is a bad investment?
Use some independent thought please.
“Still rocking the hockey hair” would have been a DB classic if it were written by the more popular DB writer/editor.
Bob Probert is a bad man
@6,
I’m pretty sure every game in Wild history has been a sellout, which would include the last 200. The risk to the investment is that the NHL sucks and actually fails as a league. The Wild are one of the few profitable franchises in the NHL. Given that the NHL will probably consolidate before it fails, this is probably a damn good investment. The owners sold because of a liquidity need, not because this franchise sucks.
Yes, I am a complete homer from MN. Doesn’t mean what I’m saying is 100% accurate
Sound like someone got shoved into a few lockers in high school and still hasn’t gotten over getting picked last in gym class
@ 7 doesn’t matter if they sellout every game in history and sell nachos for $20 to every fan. Hockey teams are not good investments. Best case scenario you lose 10 million a year for 10 years and sell it for more than you paid.
Do some research please.
-not Jon
Probert the worst thug in NHL history? Maybe, but fucking fun to watch…
Sound like someone got shoved into a few lockers in high school and still hasn’t gotten over getting picked last in gym class
I’d take an MLS team, even D-League hoops, over any NHL squad.
I am a due-diligence specialist. What is hockey?
@11,
except the wild are currently, and have been for every season, profitable.
Thanks for playing.
NERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRD!
I think buying an NHL team right now is buying low. There’s a lot of upside–people will realize hockey on HD TV is actually watchable (the biggest problem historically has been that you couldn’t see the puck, making it an awful television sport)
Also, if they contract a few teams in the southern US, it will be accretive to the talent pool, strengthen the owners’ position in negotions with labor, and increase interest in the league among the core fanbases up north.
Also, Phil might just think it would be fun and it’s his damn money to spend as he pleases.
Where is everyone today?
Show me one guy who can skate that doesn’t watch and love hockey…
Shazanus saying no one watches hockey is like virgins saying no one is getting laid.
Hockey doesn’t need a bunch of toothless rednecks as casual fans …being a hockey fan is like being a heroin addict – its not something that you indulge in every once in a while…
The NHL will soon move money losing teams back North and prosper – once they get rid of that dwarf Bettman and scrap his unrealistic dream of a national US TV contract
I’d invest in a women’s field hockey league.
@16
Too bad the NHL has revenue sharing.
Better luck next season.
-11
Coincidence??
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/34485817/ns/sports-nhl/
Jon,
I guess Research Edge/Ice Edge are also idiots. You probably think NASCAR is a money-losing proposition too, huh? You probably only invest in index funds, I imagine.
Hey man it gets cold in Dallas…..sometimes