‘All hands on deck’
The Newfoundland Rogues are coming back next year, but owner Tony Kenny needs some help
On the eve of the Newfoundland Rogues' first playoff home game this season, team owner Tony Kenny pledged the team would return next season.
However, that decision wasn’t an easy one.
“We still need the support,” Kenny said during a press conference at the Mary Brown’s Centre in St. John’s on Thursday. May 9. “We're not there yet, but I feel like the fan base is growing, the business community is recognizing us a bit more, but we still need help.”
Standing underneath one of the two baskets on the main court, Kenny addressed the team’s future ahead of what the Rogues are calling the most important game in franchise history.
They currently trail the Kitchener-waterloo Titans 2-0 in the best-of-five Basketball Super League (BSL) series.
The Rogues are the only professional sports franchise left in the city after the Newfoundland Growlers were removed from the ECHL by the league’s board of governors in April.
He said that while the fanbase has continued to grow in the three years the Rogues have been in existence, there needs to be more support coming from the city’s business community, St. John’s and the provincial government.
Building that fanbase alongside Kenny has been head coach Jerry Williams.
He's been the only head coach in the team's history and has made it a focus to get into the community. There's been trips to Labrador and countless schools.
"We're just goin to keep pushing and just try to keep get as many people as possible in here to support this team because we need guys to support for us to stay here," said Williams.
He did the math and figures to Rogues themselves are responsible for some 6,000-7,00 meals, 300 flights into the city and 1,100 hotel rooms.
Those numbers don’t account for the money spent by visiting teams like the Titans.
“If that goes, it goes,” said Kenny. “Again, it is a difficult decision, but we feel positive because the interest, the attendance and the support is growing but we have more room to grow.”
When asked about what he was looking for regarding support from the province or the city, Kenny said he wasn’t looking for a subsidy or a handout, but they’d be open to working with both on promotional content where “everybody wins.”
“There has to be value to a professional franchise for the province, for the city,” he said.
It remains to be seen if any of the support the Rogues are looking for comes through, but one thing is sure when it comes to the team.
“In order for the Rogues to succeed, we need all hands on deck,” said Kenny.