And no, that man is not Glenn Stanford.
Last week, Toronto promoter John Graham emerged as the latest contender for a National Basketball League Canada franchise for St. John’s, saying his potential ownership group had a bid before the league, but that it was contingent on reaching a deal with Mile One.
While Graham has reached out to the building’s management, he’s says they appear to have been left waiting in an outer room while Mile One focuses on another NBL Canada proposal inside the main office.
“I don’t really have an update. The last we heard from the stadium manager (Sheena McCrate) was that they were negotiating with another group and they’d get back to us, but I haven’t heard anything,” said Graham on Friday.
“My thought is there must be lots going on and that when the time is appropriate, they’ll hopefully reach out to us.”
The other group is not one spearheaded by former St. John’s IceCaps chief operating officer Glenn Stanford. That bid for an NBL Canada expansion franchise ended with failure to secure a lease deal, with Stanford saying the tipping point was Mile One wanting to retain all advertising and promotional revenue.
That leaves an ownership group headed up by St. John’s businessman Tony Kenny. Six days ago, Kenny told The Telegram’s Robin Short they had not submitted a franchise application to NBL Canada, but that they have had “ongoing” talks with Mile One.
“We’re still in the game, I suppose,” said Kenny.
“We’re in discussions. We’ve been in discussions a couple of months, back and forth, back and forth, as I assume other interested parties have been doing.”
“Who’s involved, who’s in, who’s out, and what the league is doing, is anyone’s guess. I don’t know.”
As for his group making a formal bid to NBL Canada, Kenny would not say if one had been made or whether one would be forthcoming.
“I haven’t got a comment on that,” he said, before adding, “it’s a tangled web.”
Kenny reiterated the ability to provide an investment return for himself and his backers will always be the main factor driving their efforts.
“In my opinion, the problem will not be with Mile One,” said Kenny. “That was never an issue and as you know, we haven’t negotiated in the media.
“Mile One and the City of St. John’s are not the issue, here, not in our findings, anyway.”
Graham just hopes to be able to get to the point where he can make such a determination.
“I only know that we have been sitting and waiting on a response from the building, but that they are focused on another group,” he said.
“I am a bit dismayed in the process. At the same time, I guess I’m only dismayed because it’s from our perspective.
“(Mile One) has not expressed great interest in knowing who our partners are or what our game plan is, only that they read the newspaper story (about Graham’s bid in The Telegram on Monday).
In another Telegram story later in the week, former NBL Canada commissioner David Magley said Graham was backed by “one of the wealthiest men from Atlantic Canada … ever,” and said Graham’s plan involved — as had Stanford’s and Kenny’s — for the eventual acquisition of a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League franchise, but that it also included the potential for a minor professional soccer team in St. John’s.
Magley stepped down as the NBL Canada commissioner a week ago and has since been announced as president and chief operating officer of the North American Premier Basketball League, a new Chicago-based minor pro hoops circuit set to begin play in January.
While Magley is no longer with NBL Canada, he told The Telegram he has remained unofficially involved in talks to put a team in St. John’s and that he was “absolutely going to make certain this thing goes through.”
