Luey insists league followed rules, McLeod questions Musial’s motives
Jeff Teat, Brampton Excelsiors (Photo: Dave Fryer)
This week, the Owen Sound Sun Times published an in-depth piece on the ongoing struggle between Major Series Lacrosse and the Ontario Lacrosse Association surrounding the location of the Excelsiors Lacrosse Club, as well as $15,000 in missed or late player development payments owed to Junior clubs in the province.
A semi-speedy review for those that need a recap of how we’ve arrived here:
A 2018 team transfer of the Brampton Excelsiors Lacrosse Club to the owner of the Bug Juice brand children’s drink company, Joe Norton, has yet to be approved by the OLA Board of Directors, who last August communicated to the league that they had concerns over the transaction. Based on advice from their legal counsel, the OLA requested sale-specific documentation to validate the legitimacy of the transfer. Apparently, they have yet to receive those documents.
In October of 2020, MSL approved Norton’s request to move the Excelsiors from Brampton to Owen Sound due to an apparent lack of support in Brampton. Not only has the OLA not approved the sale or relocation of the club, they’ve demanded the league revert the team back to Brampton.
And finally, as first reported by The Lax Mag, the OLA has deemed 49 players as free agents due to missed or late player development fees owed to various Junior clubs in Ontario. The OLA has requested those payments, or at the very least a reasonable repayment plan, to be submitted ASAP.
MSL had until the end of the month to rectify these alleged wrongs, or face significant discipline, including the OLA no longer recognizing the MSL executive. Earlier this week, MSL officially filed an appeal.
MSL Commissioner Doug Luey, who is facing a five-year suspension if requirements regarding both issues aren’t met, had answers in the Sun Times piece:
“It’s ludicrous. It’s a power struggle going on at the OLA that’s making the game suffer. They’re hurting the game. They’re not following their own bylaws, rules and regulations and we’ve followed them to the T during this entire thing…
We’ve never asked for approval of the sale, that’s not our problem, all we’ve asked for is the relocation. Crickets for a few weeks until we get this last e-mail threatening to suspend me for five years and directing us to put a team in Brampton…there were no reasons given for their decision.”
In a letter sent to Luey, as well as others, by the OLA on August 19, 2021, the association informed the league that they are unable to approve the sale between the BELC and Norton due to those previously mentioned 2018 transfer concerns. The letter, which can be found below in full, quotes Rule 25.03 and 25.04 from the OLA Constitution. Those rules read:
R25.03
The franchise of a member team may be sold, assigned or otherwise transferred if the club is to continue to operate in the same city, town, police village or rural district, subject to the approval of a majority of the group council and the Board of Directors. If, however the purchaser of the franchise or the present holder desires to move the club from its location to another city, town, policy village or rural district, approval of a majority of the members of the group and the Board of Directors shall be required.
R25.04
Application for approval of a franchise transfer must be made by the franchise holder, signed by the owner(s) or their agent(s) and submitted to the Executive Director in writing prior to January 1st. In case of emergency this date may be waived by the Board of Directors.
OLA letter shared on Twitter by Excelsiors Lacrosse Legacy Association (@ExcelsLegacy):
MSL did approach the OLA Board of Governors to approve the move from Brampton to Owen Sound in March of last year. Although given the green light by the governors, the decision was quickly flipped by the Board of Directors, who as stated above, are the body with the authority to approve here.
Regarding the $15,000 in missed or late player development payments, the Sun Times says, “Luey said fees to those players’ junior teams weren’t paid in some cases because the 2020 and 2021 seasons were cancelled amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and therefore the players were never signed.”
The issue of these payments being late or never made is one that has been going on for many years. Of the 49 players listed, a third were from the 2019 season.
As reported by The Lax Mag earlier this week, Luey did appeal to the OLA during their most recent Annual General Meeting to do away with the player development payments altogether. The motion was defeated, as was another that aimed to break free of most OLA governance.
Another area thoroughly reviewed in the Sun Times report was the apparent confusion as to what the BELC board was voting on when the topic of sale negotiation was tabled on February 26, 2018. What actual authority BELC President Ziggy Musial was granted as part of the negotiations is also a cause for concern by some.
In a letter shared on Twitter on November 27, 2020, now former BELC board member Derek Blasutti explained what he felt happened during that now very meaningful meeting, saying, “The board voted on and agreed to authorize two members, along with our lawyers to negotiate the transfer of the team. From that day on that was always my belief that we voted to authorize them to make the deal that they felt was best.”
Former BELC board member Trevor Small agrees, telling the Sun Times:
Everybody that was in that vote and in that meeting understood what was going to be happening. In that meeting, we knew we were divesting ourselves of that property. Of that team. We felt we would be, and we were stronger by doing that, by transferring the team to Joe we could concentrate on our junior A, junior B, men and women’s field and masters programs.
I can’t say based on our constitution we did anything wrong. Could we have done things better? Quite possibly, yes. But everybody at that meeting knew exactly what was going to happen.
Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Famer and OLA & Excelsiors lifetime member Dean McLeod, who was also present for the 2018 meeting, doesn’t share the same story. “As far as we knew, the team was staying in Brampton forever,” McLeod told the Sun Times. “On my life. On my word. We would have taken the same position back then as we’re taking right now…We weren’t allowed to see the contract.”
McLeod isn’t the only board member who questions the dealings on that day. Ron Evans, also on that BELC board back in 2018, has stated several times that not only did the board never have an opportunity to vote on the finalized agreement, he was denied from seeing the Musial-signed contract for well over two years without explanation.
Regarding both the BELC board meeting on February 26, 2018 and Musial’s motives, McLeod tells the Sun Times:
I wanted to hear what these guys had to say, so I seconded it. But I said I will never ever vote for this team to be sold unless I see the contract and I see a clause in that contract that states bluntly the team cannot be moved out of the city of Brampton.
I’d love to get Musial in front of me, look him in the eye and say Ziggy, why did you sign that contract? He has gone silent. He’s nowhere to be found…it’s inconceivable to me a lifelong Brampton Excelsior could sell out the organization like this.
Based on his statement in a BELC press release soon after he finalized the transfer agreement, like many, Musial too must have been shocked to have learned of Norton’s intentions of moving the team 92 miles north of Brampton after just two seasons of trying to make things work.
In the release, essentially a letter written by Musial, he states:
The Brampton Excelsior Lacrosse Club has almost 150 years of history in the Brampton community. We partner with the Brampton Minor Lacrosse Association to provide the opportunity to play from 3 years old to Masters. We strive to reach for excellence on the floor and our fiscal goal is to ensure that all teams are self-sustaining. It is for this reason, we are pleased to announce that the Brampton Excelsior Lacrosse Club has transferred ownership of the Major Excelsior Team to Joe Norton, owner of Bug Juice Company.
Bug Juice has grown into the largest children’s drink company in the United States and are now selling in Canada. Joe is a graduate from the University of Michigan with a master’s degree in business administration. He is married with two children and lives and operates his business in the Detroit area. Joe fell in love with the game watching his kids play, learn basic skills, team work and how to be competitive.
With his experience in marketing, his vision is to build on the success of our history and to rebuild the Major Excelsiors into a competitive, championship team again, both on and off the floor.
The Brampton Excelsiors Lacrosse Club will continue to maintain control and operations of the Junior A & B teams, along with Women & Men’s Field, and Masters.
We welcome Joe to the Excelsior family!!! Together we will promote and grow the game of lacrosse within the Brampton community.
Ziggy Musial, President
Brampton Excelsior Lacrosse Club
To be continued, clearly.
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