Jean Football, Davies the good news; Canucks fumble the exit of Linden
BULLS OF THE WEEK
Johnny Football became Jean Football when the Hamilton TigerCats traded him to the Montreal Alouettes this week.
It was a CFL trade that produced three winners: The Tabbies for parlaying their negotiation rights to the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner into two solid CFL assets and a first-round pick, the Als for doing something — anything! — to shake up and turn around yet another poor start, and the CFL for benefiting from the interest that Johnny Manziel generates (and has generated so far without taking a regular-season snap in his three-down career).
Yet there is nothing more bullish this week than the buzz around 17-year-old Alphonso Davies, the hottest youngster in Canadian soccer. The dynamic forward will report to Bayern Munich of the German Bundesliga at the transfer window in January after completing the Major League Soccer season with the Vancouver Whitecaps.
The move means one of the finest developmental environments in European soccer for Davies, up to US$22 million to the Whitecaps and a record transfer fee for an MLS player asset (easily dwarfing the US$10 million that Villarreal paid to the New York Red Bulls for the rights to American striker Jozy Altidore in 2008).
It’s also a big week for everyone who shares in Davies’ upside, from the Edmonton-based Free Footie program for disadvantaged children and St. Nicholas Catholic School in the Alberta capital, to the Whitecaps’ residency program and Canada Soccer, where the former Ghanain refugee projects to be one of the best players to wear the Maple Leaf.
Record transfer fee aside, Davies is on track with Bayern to earn many multiples of the modest US$72,500 he is being paid this season by the Whitecaps.
BEARS OF THE WEEK
The Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators are both riding what look like slow trains to nowhere but this week it was the Vancouver Canucks who took centre stage among the under-performing soap operas in the NHL.
News that the president of hockey operations Trevor Linden was leaving the franchise hit the West Coast hard Wednesday afternoon. It may lead to a positive clearing for the Aquilini family ownership, the team’s front office and Canucks’ fans who, over the past four years, have stomached the fewest wins and fewest goals scored in the NHL, but on first glance the way the departure went down and was handled was without question bearish for the Canucks’ brand.
Here you had the Canucks suggesting they had “amicably parted ways” with arguably the most popular player in franchise history, a former captain whose No. 16 is in the rafters at Rogers Arena.
It took almost 24 hours before the Canucks finally summoned general manager Jim Benning and head coach Travis Green for a news conference that under similar circumstances would have almost certainly had the owner on hand in every other market in the country.
Yet managing partner Francesco Aquilini did not attend, resorting to a 12-tweet thread to give his take on Linden’s departure. In the process, it only muddied what’s next for Canucks Sports & Entertainment, including whether or not ownership will even feel compelled to replace Linden’s role.
Either way, the Canucks did not look like the US$730-million franchise that Forbes has them pegged at. The Sport Market on TSN 1040 AM rates and debates the bulls and bears of sport business. Join Tom Mayenknecht Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. for a behind-the-scenes look at the sport-business stories that matter most to fans.
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