big shot

[nj_cup]

Anyone catch the 30 for 30 about the islanders owner in the 90s?


Amazing! I can't believe that happened

 

[Cobiemonster]

I didn't watch it but I read a few tweets about it - it's amazing how that went down

 

[irishwhip03]

Those 30 for 30's are awesome..I havent seen em all but the ones I have seen have been amazingly done. Really the only thing that ESPN is good for these days.

It is hard to believe that it happened in 1996. I can understand something like that going on in the 70s or even the 80s but 4 years away from the millennium?!?!? Thats insane. The best part was when he was supposed to bring 17 million to the closing and showed up with 1700!

That and the fact that Fleet let him borrow 80 mil for the down payment with only a lawyer's confirmation that he had the money to cover it. Unreal.

 

[nj_cup]

Those 30 for 30's are awesome..I havent seen em all but the ones I have seen have been amazingly done. Really the only thing that ESPN is good for these days.

It is hard to believe that it happened in 1996. I can understand something like that going on in the 70s or even the 80s but 4 years away from the millennium?!?!? Thats insane. The best part was when he was supposed to bring 17 million to the closing and showed up with 1700!

That and the fact that Fleet let him borrow 80 mil for the down payment with only a lawyer's confirmation that he had the money to cover it. Unreal.

it really is amazing but like he said everything back then was done with faxes. no internet to instantly check anyone up and the banks? what did they care back then like the guy from the fed said everyone was making money.


the few strange parts of this is

the only check the nhl did was a phone call to the guys lawyer asking if he was good for the money?
this happens in the metro nyc area? not some small back water town

the strangest of all comments from the 1 reporter that he is the 3rd best owner in the teams history for extending the cable deal which keeps the islanders in long island. wow that is a slap in the face because its true lol


btw

what was this guys end game? even if he came up with the first 17 million what was he going to do in year 2 when another 17 million was due? its not like hockey teams make money esp the islanders double esp in the late 90s

 

[irishwhip03]

I think he was really banking on the development deal for a new arena on Long Island..break ground on that , get a couple of investors (like the head of the Garden City hotel) and con your way to the top.

You would think the NHL would've done a little more background checking also considering his deal to buy half of the Dallas Stars didnt go through either. That should've been the first red flag.

I gotta give the guy credit though. He did what no one else even thought was possible. To con that many people richer , more powerful and higher up on the corporate ladder is impressive.

Even though he paid a big price. Literally.

 

[nj_cup]

your completely right i give him tons of credit too. yeah it was illegal what he did. like he states in the story i'm sure there are plenty of other 1%ers out there that did the same exact thing and got away with it.


as for the background checks? its the first scam of its kind so like everyone was saying "who would try to pull this off if they didn't have the money to do it".


the owner of the stars came across as a prick. he says he had all these worries about this guy? was shocked the nhl didn't ask him about his meetings? ok fine then why not call up betman and say hey this guy doesn't have the money?

 

[irishwhip03]

Hard to get a real grip on what the guy from Dallas actually knew.

Were things kept that quiet back then that other owners didnt know what was going on around the league? The guy from the Stars made it seem like the first he heard of it was when he read it in the paper the day after the sale..and he thought it was a different John Spano then the one he dealt with.

Just a wild situation..I was young in 96 but Im surprised I never heard of this in all my years of following hockey. I guess its not something the NHL likes to bring up too often lol.

 

[Cobiemonster]

I think he was really banking on the development deal for a new arena on Long Island..break ground on that , get a couple of investors (like the head of the Garden City hotel) and con your way to the top.

You would think the NHL would've done a little more background checking also considering his deal to buy half of the Dallas Stars didnt go through either. That should've been the first red flag.

I gotta give the guy credit though. He did what no one else even thought was possible. To con that many people richer , more powerful and higher up on the corporate ladder is impressive.

Even though he paid a big price. Literally.

Agreed - the fact he was able to get that far is pretty impressive

And the NHL was dumb for not doing more background checks to make sure he wasn't a scam

 

[nj_cup]

totally agree it was just a perfect storm there is noway that this happens now with the internet.


i was young also for the time and i never heard of this either. when i saw that betman was in this movie though i was even more shocked! thought he would've liked to stay low key

 

[nj_cup]

Agreed - the fact he was able to get that far is pretty impressive

And the NHL was dumb for not doing more background checks to make sure he wasn't a scam

in the nhl defense i think if he tried this in any of the leagues he would've got the same distance

 

[DevilishWon]

Still Spano didn't do as much damage to the Isles as Mike Milbury