Gillett interview in the Globe and mail

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Gillett interview in the Globe and mail

Message par kurosawa »

Gillett hopes to follow Toronto's lead for once
Article Comments (3) ROBERT MACLEOD

From Friday's Globe and Mail

October 16, 2008 at 10:03 PM EDT

Given the long and passionate rivalry that exists between the two Canadian hockey hotbeds, it was unexpected to hear the owner of the Montreal Canadiens lavish praise on the City of Toronto.

But fear not, Habs fans, George Gillett was speaking in the context of soccer, not hockey, when he spoke in glowing terms yesterday of how Toronto's successful Major League Soccer team could help jump-start his bid to land a franchise for Montreal.

"In many ways we're thankful to Toronto for their efforts on our behalf," Gillett said of Toronto FC, already a huge business success in just its second year of play in MLS. "We always like to have Toronto lead the way. It's great for us and I think it's great for Canada."

Gillett was in Toronto yesterday for the Sports Media Canada annual sports award luncheon where he was honoured as sports executive of the year.

Gillett bought the Montreal Canadiens and the Bell Centre in 2001 and this year the franchise is celebrating its 100th season of existence.

He is also the owner of the NASCAR team, Gillett Evernham Motorsports, and has a 50-per-cent share of Liverpool Football Club in the English Premier League.

And now Gillett would like to add an MLS franchise in Montreal to his stable of sports enterprises.

Gillett, in conjunction with the Saputo family — the billionaire owners of food company Saputo Inc. — are one of seven groups vying for two MLS expansion franchises slated to begin play in 2011.

Groups from Vancouver and Ottawa have also submitted formal bids.

"The league has accepted [our] application," Gillett said. "The Saputo and the Gillett family have made an application and we're all sitting anxiously. I understand that we're probably a month or six weeks away from hearing.

"We really don't know much about the process."

It is felt the success of the winning bids could depend on the ability of those new teams to come across with lucrative broadcasting deals, something Gillett said could be a natural if you have teams in both Montreal and Toronto.

"The sport is such a great sport and there is so much background with soccer, or football, here in Canada that I would think that it would be very popular, particularly if you could have two or three teams in Canada," he said. "I think you could create some real rivalry.

"But I think I'd leave those kinds of decisions to the professionals."


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Re: Gillett interview in the Globe and mail

Message par Sabre »

The way he speaks it's as if there's no rivalry already.
Gillett, in conjunction with the Saputo family — the billionaire owners of food company Saputo Inc. — are one of seven groups vying for two MLS expansion franchises slated to begin play in 2011.
No mention of the National Champions....


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