Irwin Simon makes no bones about it. He wants to bring a championship to St. John’s, but the Edge basketball owner has also left the door open to ownership opportunities down the road in his native Cape Breton, N.S.
A report in the Cape Breton Post last week paints a picture of a National Basketball League of Canada franchise in dire straits.
Cape Breton Highlanders team president and general manager Tyrone Levingston told the Post he couldn’t provide a definite “yes or no” answer when asked if the club would return to the National Basketball League of Canada for the 2019-20 season.
“We’re desperate for support,” said Levingston. “If we don’t get the proper support that we need, I don’t see the Highlanders being back next season.”
There has been speculation in Sydney, N.S. that has tied Simon to purchasing the Highlanders franchise, however Levingston has denied those rumours.
Simon hails from Glace Bay, N.S., and brought the Edge to St. John’s last season.
Initially, the plan was to bring hockey to the St. John’s market and a vacant Mile One Centre, but that fell through when no Quebec Major Junior Hockey League was available, and Dean MacDonald and Glenn Stanford had first dibs on an ECHL franchise.
So Simon got a basketball franchise instead, and since their arrival, the Edge have proven to be a popular draw.
“First and foremost, it’s about winning a championship in St. John’s,” said Simon. “That’s the only place I’m focused right now.”
Simon landed his hockey team, the QMJHL’s Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, last November when he purchased majority ownership.
“We made it to the second round (of the playoffs), and my interest there is to win a championship in hockey,” Simon said.
“If there’s other stuff I can do and help in Cape Breton, we’ll see, but my only focus today is the Edge winning the championship.”
That’s today. But what about next season?
“I want to win. That’s it,” he said. “Once we win a championship, we’ll come back and look at the St. John’s Edge, the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles … you know, other opportunities.
“I love sports, I love sports team, love the support of where I came from, love to create something where it’s great for the citizens, great for spectators, great for the city.
“Think about it. Two years ago, that building (Mile One Centre) was dark most nights. If there’s an opportunity that I can do it right in Cape Breton, we’ll see.”
Simon wasn’t certain if he could own two teams in the same league, but did reference David Braley, who once owned both the Canadian Football League’s British Columbia Lions and Toronto Argonauts at the same time starting in 2010.
"...my only focus today is the Edge winning the championship.” — Irwin Simon
“So I’m sure there would be some type of Chinese law between (NBL Canada) teams,” he said. “But I’m not sure yet because I haven’t gone down that path.”
Meantime, Simon didn’t have a lot to say about a pending lawsuit his Atlantic Sports Enterprises Ltd., the company which owns the Edge, MacDonald’s Deacon Sports and Entertainment Ltd., owners of the ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers, and the City of St. John’s is facing.
E.C. Boone is suing the three groups for what it says is money owed following the installation of an LED advertising ring inside Mile One.
Court documents were filed last week, and the story was first reported by CBC over the weekend.
E.C. Boone billed Atlantic Sports and Deacon S&E $939,050 for the LED ring, and it was supposed to be split evenly between the two groups.
Deacon paid its share of the $469,525 for the ring. According to court documents, E.C. Boone received only $178,250 from Atlantic Sports.
Sources have told The Telegram there are other organizations and individuals who are owed money from the Edge organization.
Many others have had to wait for long periods of time before getting paid. Nobody was willing to speak on the record.
“I take that very serious,” Simon said of the lawsuit. “The ring somehow came in way over. But they did put the ring in, and I would want to figure out a way that this thing gets worked out.
“If work is done, you should be paid for it. It’s just sometimes there’s a disagreement. Is it worth X or Y? That’s what the difference is.”
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