The Clippers have a game plan to try to keep the hockey club in Nanaimo.
David LeNeveu, president of the junior A team, said he’s “very hopeful” that the Clippers will be able to put together a viable ownership group by an April 1 deadline.
“We’ve had a number of very good conversations now. We’re just getting people to the point where it’s time to make the commitment to move to the next step here,” LeNeveu said.
The Clippers held a press conference March 16, when current owner Ken Wagner announced that the club was facing relocation unless it could be sold to local ownership within two weeks.
LeNeveu, a minority owner, has spearheaded efforts to keep the team in town. He and general manager Mike Vandekamp have heard interest from people both in Nanaimo and out of town, and LeNeveu said it’s possible that anywhere from five to 15 individuals could become partners. That said, while the Clippers are close enough to feel encouraged, they aren’t quite where they need to be.
“So we’re still looking and we’re still actively pursuing,” said LeNeveu. “We’re very positive that the idea that we’re going to have is going to work, and we’re going to go back to ownership with a plan … we just need to go back with a very solid plan and a commitment in place.”
LeNeveu said it’s conceivable that the current ownership group could retain interest in the hockey club as long as there’s an exit strategy; however, he said that wouldn’t be the preferred solution.
He thinks an ownership group with as many as 15 people could be workable as long as it’s managed properly. He said that whether leadership is consolidated under one owner or spread out among an array of owners, there are challenges, just different ones.
“No matter what you do, you just try to have the right people in charge and have the policies and procedures in place to make it run effectively and efficiently,” the team president said.
He said he doesn’t think a new ownership group would be able to trim much from the franchise’s current budget and in fact, he thinks it could take greater investment in order to grow the hockey team’s revenues the way he hopes.
“Assuming we’re successful, we’re going to ask for the community’s support in a couple different ways, hopefully,” said LeNeveu. “We don’t know what that’s going to look like, but we’re definitely going to ask the people of Nanaimo to support this organization going forward so we can have the success that we believe we should have.”
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