Accountability to ticket buyers from professional sports teams is important, to a point. There are some issues and private discussions that need to remain in house to prevent competition from gaining an advantage.
Edmonton Oilers CEO Bob Nicholson divulged some information to season ticket holders on Thursday that not only should have remained in house, but could have easily caused a huge disruption in the Oilers dressing room. When speaking about fourth-line forward Tobias Rieder, Nicholson said “Toby Rieder hasn’t scored a goal. Toby Rieder has missed so many breakaways. If Toby Rieder would have scored 10 or 12 goals, we’d probably be in the playoffs.”
This has become a huge story, and the Oilers are now forced to go in to damage control mode.
Rieder’s agent has said Nicholson has crossed a line, and he’s right.
Teams should try be as transparent as possible. However, confidentiality is part of life, business and sport. Nicholson’s thoughts on Rieder should have never gone public.