Cornwall Ontario – In a very long interview with former Cornwall Nationals Hockey team owner Will Beauvais he shared quite frankly that he was bewildered when CFN dropped the team as we were their largest marketing partner.
He then stated via telephone that it was team manager Rodney Rivette that told him to not communicate with CFN about the issue.
The team’s attendance plummeted this season without the support and they never finished what was looking to be a promising year.
Beauvais stated that he lost over $200K and that there was possible pending litigation against Rodney Rivette to try and collect monies he felt he’s owed.
CFN had essentially near donated advertising the first year of the Nationals with Rivette actually not fulfilling even basic terms like a numbered jersey for editor Jamie Gilcig. After further promises of “Making up for it” for this season which clearly became unfulfilled this newspaper dropped its support for the team.
Essentially if the team had been able to maintain attendance at levels from the year that it had CFN’s support it still might be alive. Rivette, reportedly living in his Councilor Father’s basement is now apparently working part time on weekends at NAV CAN, the home for the politically connected locally. He has stated that he will not be running for council in 2018.
Marketing and advertising is a challenge in this age when there are so many options, but the long term success of CFN from Lift Off to cover band events selling out at Aultsville is something we’re really proud of.
Sadly, because of a conspiratorial boycott led by City Hall, some events have perished from over priced and less effective advertising which in the end hurts the community, and promoters themselves.
We will have more installments from the Beauvais interview coming up.
What do you think dear CFN viewers? You can post your comments below.