BC Lions have a new owner: Amar Doman
Amar Doman, owner of asset management and investment firm Futura Corporation, will take control of the late David Braley's CFL team. He is also a lumber and building materials magnate.
J.J. Adams
https://www.thepost.on.ca August 19, 2021
There have been kooks, there have been crooks and there have been saviours.
Time will tell what kind of owner Amar Doman will be for the B.C. Lions, but after nearly two years of doom-and-gloom reporting on the Mark Twain-esque health of the CFL, he is assuredly already in the latter category.
The Victoria-born Doman was introduced as the Lions’ new owner Wednesday at the team’s practice facility, after the official announcement that he had bought the team from the estate of the late David Braley.
Doman’s family’s roots run deep in B.C., after they emigrated here from India in 1906. His pockets run just as deep, as the owner of the investment and asset management firm Futura Corporation — one of B.C.’s largest-run privately owned companies — and as the son of Ted Doman, who founded the empiric forestry company Doman Industries in 1953 with his two brothers.
Braley had owned the Lions since 1997 but had the team on and off the market since 2006, never bringing himself to part with the club.
Doman had long been interested in buying the team, and remained close as a club sponsor, having numerous discussions with Braley about buying the organization, even as recently as the months before he died.
Grant Panchyson, Braley’s stepson and executor of his estate, said his father-in-law would be happy with how things worked out.
“David always looked very highly upon people who understood the value of hard work, and had built something themselves. I think he saw something of himself in Amar,” he said. “There’s a lot of entrepreneurship there, there’s a lot of business acumen, there’s a lot of diligence and just flat-out hard work. Whatever else you want to say someone brings to the table, you’ve just got to be prepared to bring that. And if you don’t, you’re going to have a hard go of it. I think Amar brings that and David recognized it right off the start.”
The estate had been bankrolling the team, and was prepared to continue to do so, but Doman ticked all the boxes in what Braley had hoped for in his successor. He’s local, well-connected, stable and is passionate about getting the team reconnected with the community.
“He just wasn’t ready to let the team go,” said Doman. “I’ve been interested in it for a long time. I like to rebuild things; I think this (team) needs a rebuild, the community touch, and the CFL, I believe, needs a bit of a rebuild. I think I’m the guy to do it.
“I see kids today running around in NFL uniforms here in Vancouver and I just … I don’t understand why. I think we can help change that and get a lot more orange-and-black here, get more of a feeling of the ‘B.C. Lions are back.’ ”
In 1997, Braley rescued the Lions from receivership after Nelson Skalbania — the Vancouver-born businessman and convicted felon who had multiple bankruptcies, and bought and folded the Montreal Alouettes — ran the team into the ground. Skalbania had bought the team from Brick owner Bill Comrie, who had succeeded Murray Pezim, who also rode the team into receivership.
While Doman said he’ll be attending tomorrow’s game, and possibly put on a foam finger for the contest, he’s a businessman who trusts his management. So Rick LeLacheur will continue to be the face of the team, while Doman will concentrate on drumming up financial and community support through his vast network of businesses and contacts.
While terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, the last offer on the table for the club — from the consortium bid of Mark Woodall and Moray Keith — was in the $12-million range. The club had little revenue with the 2020 CFL season cancelled, and its worrisome finances have been well-documented over the last two years.
But that didn’t dissuade Doman.
“I think the CFL is on a renaissance after COVID. We’ve seen the numbers come way up,” said Doman, who has been in talks with league commissioner Randy Ambrosie and the CFL board of governors, and has seen their strategic plan for the next few years.
“Having a local owner like myself that will be active and involved in the community, I think it’s gonna make a big difference. David did a great job with the league and has for 25 years. To step into his shoes, they’re big. But I’m prepared for the challenge here.”
He’s also seen some of the plans the Lions’ executive were forced to mothball after Braley’s death, and intends to reactivate and “re-energize” those plans. He also said he was more than willing to sink his own money into the team. The idea of a new stadium closer to the team’s fan base isn’t out of the realm of possibility, but that is a long-term vision.
“It’s going to be a bit of both,” he said, when asked if this was a labour of love or a business investment. “Anything can be turned around, for sure. The turn has already started, but to me, this isn’t about one season — this is about the next 25 to 30 years in rebuilding the brand.
“It won’t happen overnight, but we’ve got a good start. You’re not in it to try and drive a big, big return. If return comes, I think that’s great. I think the No. 1 thing to do with that return is to reinvest in the organization, the community.
“No. 2, I’m prepared to put dollars into this team, and as most owners are right now in the CFL. There’s a lot of ideas on the table and … we’re not going to be afraid to invest in the club to get that out there. It’s not going to happen without investment and I’m the guy.”
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