Bulls and Bears make money – Pigs get slaughtered”
Old Wall Street Saying
A scathing guest blog indeed; from from a long time Spurs supporter and part time HH reader Grant Kovich, who divides his business time between London and New York.
The U.S. sporting giants who turnover billions of dollars as apposed to millions of pounds and have both the financial and political muscle that can transform the future of any club in the blink of eye, see Tottenham Hotspur differently to we might see ourselves.
To them they are the big fish and we are the little fish.
So when the opportunity presents itself to make a good impression and do business comes a knocking – you don’t waste it.
Unfortunately, nobody seemed to mention this to Daniel Levy and now his new found status of persona non grata has seen him completely ostracised from the top table which has left many of my friends in the U.S. wondering what is next for his club.
He personally is being shunned here, not Tottenham and not because he stood too long feeding at the trough – but because he attempted to bite down hard on the hand that was trying to feed him.
This kind of behaviour is simply considered to be inappropriate at this level of corporate affairs– low brow, the domain of street corner tire kickers, rogues and common hustlers who believe that they are holding all the aces.
The word out here is that Levy was too narcissistic to see the big picture being painted for him and he didn’t understand the people he was talking to.
He rolled in like an amateur trying to prove that he had the balls big enough to call the shots and negotiate and renegotiate the deal until he got everything his own way.
In short, he simply talked his hand up to the point where ‘the mark’ saw straight through him and walked away.
He didn’t stay classy. This was there for the taking – believe me – all he needed to do was not fork it up.
At this level of the game, those investing in your business want to put their money on a future winner as well as a known commodity for the present that will deliver. And Daniel is just not their man. If he was someone that they could believe in then they would have bent, and this deal would be done on the scale it was hoped to be rolled out on.
The big fish did not see him as someone who can deliver the kind of glory that has made their own brands among the most recognisable on the planet.
He is an accountant who over reached and got reckless with his demands, slightly before being shown the door. And there is no immediate sign of him being invited back.
Sure a 10 year deal was signed, but the announcement lacked any substantive content. For a deal of this supposed magnitude, where is the money figure? Where is the naming rights deal? There is nothing commercially sensitive once a negotiation goes this far. Unless of course, someone somewhere has got cold feet.
I noticed the stadium images released had the “Your branding here” airbrushed out.
So does this mean the deal is done, if so, why no reveal?
If the deal isn’t done, then could it be that this is another negotiation that was soured and Levy is now back in London hoping for the phone to ring?
As groundbreaking corporate announcements go, by any established standards, his was pretty muted, pretty half hearted.
Nike have disappeared into the ether and with them joint sponsorship, naming rights etc., in a deal potentially worth anything north of $500m.
No one knows when AEG last took one of his calls.
A two game minimum? This contract stinks so much of hesitancy that it has been asked in some circles if there isn’t even a penalty free ‘walk away’ clause for the Americans.
This trinket awarded to him by the NFL – and it is just a ‘trinket’ – is no pat on the back for a deal well worked through by both sides.
It is a beacon to keep the ‘next’ buyer interested. Assuming that he can still find one.
