Defiant to the end, Growlers owner says 'chaos' with City of St. John's was a fatal blow

Dean MacDonald has lobbed plenty of grenades at the City of St. John's over his tenure as owner of the Newfoundland Growlers, and he had a few more on the way out the door on Wednesday.

The St. John's businessman says his professional hockey team failed largely because of his inability to work with city officials on an agreement for the Mary Brown's Centre in St. John's. 

MacDonald said that drama — along with the financial blow from the COVID-19 pandemic — was too much to take. 

"From the league's perspective, we've been the black sheep every year," he told reporters during a virtual news conference. "Its work with the Growlers, whether we're thrown out of the arena, or they can't do a schedule because we don't have a lease in place."

From the jump in 2018, MacDonald's group — Deacon Sports and Entertainment — wanted control of the Mary Brown's Centre so it could generate revenue from events aside from hockey games. The group had plans for major concerts, and at one point tried to run a professional basketball franchise out of the arena. 

MacDonald said the city-owned St. John's Sports and Entertainment reneged on promises to allow them more access to the facility and later walked away from negotiations on a 10-year lease agreement in 2021.

That was a critical blow, MacDonald said, leaving the Growlers without an arena just ahead of the 2021-22 season. The team ended up opening its season at a smaller arena in nearby Conception Bay South before both sides signed a three-year lease agreement, which was set to end this year. 

"The ongoing chaos of operating in this environment is difficult," MacDonald said Wednesday.

What happened?

It was a hectic few weeks for Deacon Sports and Entertainment, which also owns the Trois-Rivieres Lions franchise in Quebec. 

Reports surfaced last week that the Lions are in financial trouble, and the problems might extend to the Growlers.

Behind the scenes, MacDonald — who has been dealing with health issues for two years — was trying to sell his teams. He was successful in offloading the Iowa Heartlanders in 2023 and found a buyer interested in the Lions and Growlers this season.

MacDonald said the buyer ran into problems with his partner and told him two weeks ago that he couldn't get the deal across the finish line before the league's deadline. MacDonald said that left them scrambling to find other options. In the end, they found an interested buyer for the Lions, but the league had the option to squash the Growlers. 

The Growlers had only six games left in the season and had a shot at making the playoffs.

"I actually have some sympathy for the league because the process has been long and it's unfortunate, as I said, but there was an option on the table that could have allowed the team to continue," he said. "We were certainly hoping to finish out the season if nothing else, but that's it. This is where we are."

St. John's has seen four professional hockey franchises come and go, leaving fans to wonder whether they'll ever see another team again.

MacDonald said any team that enters the market would have to control the arena in order to make enough money to survive. It will also require an owner willing to take risks.

"Hopefully there's somebody as dumb as me that comes along," he said.

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