Top promoter keen on Saskatoon
Businessman hopes auto racing next after NHL pre-season and soccer games
Businessman John Graham, Toronto’s biggest booster of all things Saskatchewan, had a lot going on this week — some of it surprising.
Graham, who believes Saskatoon would make a great NHL market if only the league would give it a chance, was in the city to promote the September pre-season game in this city between the Edmonton Oilers and Carolina Hurricanes. It’s the 10th pre-season NHL contest he’s staged in Saskatoon.
Graham is also the point-man on next month’s soccer game in Regina pitting Valencia CF and New York Cosmos. Then on Tuesday, he cold-called Mayor Charlie Clark with a visitor, and a whole new idea: A Pirelli World Challenge auto street race for this city.
“Quite honestly,” Graham says, “if somebody from the ballooning association contacted me tomorrow and said, ‘If we bring 600 hotair balloons, can you recommend a venue?” I’d be going, ‘Yeah, we’ve got to go out to Saskatoon.’ ”
Graham made a Saskatoon franchise pitch to the NHL half a decade ago. He still believes it’s possible. The puck’s rolling slowly, and not many people think he’ll pull it off, but he figures it’s important to maintain even the tiniest bit of momentum.
“If you want to succeed in life, you’ve got to keep knocking on the door,” says Graham, who fronts On Ice Management Group.
“(The NHL) obviously knows about us, because they have to schedule officials, and I’ll bug (deputy commissioner Bill) Daly every now and then. But there’s no point pitching at the moment. What we have to do is keep being strong, building, showing success. In five years, if you’re over two million people in Saskatchewan, maybe somebody that’s in trouble will look this way. That’s no different than what Winnipeg did.”
In the meantime, Graham has a lot going on.
The Pirelli World Challenge is a North American racing series in several different classifications. President and CEO Greg Gill kicked Saskatoon’s tires this week, arriving in the city Monday and making a quick tour Tuesday.
It was, stresses Graham, very preliminary.
“It was an introduction,” he says. “You know me — I’m the guy who believes it’s an NHL town.
“It was them stopping en route to somewhere else, and me saying ‘If you’re going to look there, you might as well look here.’ ”
Graham carries deep auto-racing connections. In 2000, he drove on the first all-Canadian team to win a class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and he’s competed in everything from the infamous Paris to Dakar rally, to the NASCAR Nationwide series.
Graham has also worked as a racing promoter. In 1990, while wearing both hats at the Moosehead Grand Prix in Halifax, he stopped his own race car to pull unconscious fellow driver Ron Fellows out of his vehicle after a ball-offlames crash.
Those forged connections helped pave the way for that Tuesday visit, which may or may not turn into something. But when it comes to Saskatoon and Saskatchewan, Graham’s mind is always buzzing.
“All I was really doing was saying, ‘Come meet some people, and have a look at how cool this city is,’ ” he remarks. “The nice thing is you had the (Hockey Canada gala) banquet finishing, and the Jazz Festival setting up. It’s beautiful. But has anybody even suggested or thought yet about streets (for racing)? No. We cold-called the mayor, caught him off guard, and said hi — how are you. I don’t want anybody to suspect there’s anything more than that.”
But there’s a reason, Graham says, why he keeps coming back.
“The way this city works from a political and communications point, it’s always been a pleasure to come here,” he says. “There’s certain markets where I’ve done NHL games, and it’s a battle. It’s never been a battle here.”
The NHL pre-season game is slated for Sept. 27. The Hurricanes will arrive in Saskatoon two days early and use the city as a trainingcamp base during the time they ’re here.
Graham announced Wednesday that an early-bird peewee hockey tournament will be held for a second straight season in conjunction with the Oilers/Hurricanes contest. The Saskatchewan Red Cross will receive a share of proceeds from the game.
There’s certain markets where I’ve done NHL games, and it’s a battle. It’s never been a battle here.