The sale of the Trois-Rivières Lions should take place on Monday, according to the city’s general manager and the potential buyer would guarantee all debts of the current owner to the city.
According to François Vaillancourt, Jeff Dickerson would buy the team from Deacon Sports & Entertainment (DSE). He is co-owner of Spire Motorsports and co-founder of Spire Sports + Entertainment.
The city’s general manager was about to take a plane Sunday afternoon to meet him in North Carolina.
Jeff Dickerson’s company already has two American teams playing in the ECHL: the Rapid City Rush and the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, we can read on the Spire Sports + Entertainment website.
Additionally, Spire Motorsports owns three Nascar circuit cars. His company is also well known in the world of Trois-Rivières car racing.
Jeff Dickerson, originally from Indianapolis, could also be in Trois-Rivières on Wednesday for a visit to the Colisée Vidéotron, but nothing has yet been confirmed.
Unpaid bills
The current owner of the Lions, a company based in Newfoundland and Labrador, still owes around half a million dollars to the City of Trois-Rivières. These amounts should be reimbursed by the new owner, according to Mr. Vaillancourt. The City had recently recovered a little more than half of the $1.1 million in debt DSE owed it.
Other bills are still unpaid. The owner of UKA Productions, Alexandre Demers, was responsible for the entertainment during the opening match of the season, in October 2023, and he did not receive his money. He says the Lions tell him the payment is coming and it’s a matter of time.
A few weeks ago, Alexandre Demers undertook to put the organization on notice to get his money back. The Lions have still not reacted even though the deadline has now expired, he says. He understands the difficult context in which the team is immersed, but he remains exasperated.
It’s quite an uncomfortable situation, because I had still hired, apart from myself, eight other artists on this contract; These are people who do this with their lives and who need this money to pay for their apartment, to eat, he says. It has impacts on humans, it’s definitely not easy to manage.
The Lions organization did not wish to comment on the matter.
A last minute reprieve
On April 2, when the fate of the team was more uncertain than ever, Spire Sports + Entertainment approached the governors of the hockey league, which allowed the Trois-Rivières team to obtain a reprieve.
Governors must approve the transaction before it can go through.
However, DSE’s other hockey team, the Newfoundland and Labrador Growlers, will cease operations.
2024-04-08 16:25:32
#sale #Lions #official
