The owner of the Canes on starting the 2023-23 season

The owner, the governor of the Carolina Hurricanes, Mr. Tom Dundon, joins us on the Adam Gold Show. You've been here a lot over the last several weeks and months. This has to be a particularly exciting for you.

The team you have on the ice and the feeling in the stands and in the parking lots. Do you get jazzed by that? How you doing, Adam?

No hello? No, I get nervous. I just get nervous. I wish I was excited.

I would be better. What are you nervous about? I hate the idea of losing or anybody getting hurt. Even the possibility makes me scared. See, I think that's more excitement. I don't think that's nerves.

We don't want anything bad to happen. I think that's more excitement. Yes, and I'm excited for sure. Very excited.

Real quick, because I have a bunch of things I want to get to. I want to talk about the deal that you struck with the Centennial Authority and all that goes into it. We would love to have a sports book up and running today. We can't legally do that until after the first of the year.

We hope to have that maybe by February, hopefully by March and the March Madness and all of that and the Stanley Cup. But what do you make of the fact that you're the betting favorites? Oh, to win the Cup? Yeah. What do you make of that? I mean, I think it's better than not having a good team, but I don't know how much, you know, obviously, even when you're favorites in hockey, it's 10, 15 percent, which I don't think any of us love.

When you're out there 10, 15 percent, that seems hard. But yeah, I mean, the fact that we're one of the better teams or you think we're one of the better teams is that's the plan, right? Right. And I thought we were one of the better teams last year and didn't go so good. So we'll have to see.

Let me get to the got to the Final Four, could have won any one of those four games, could have easily won the first one. And who knows what the series is like after that? Tom Dundon, the owner, is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show, Canes and the Ottawa Senators tonight. So now to the nuts and bolts of what your what your plans are for the area. I know the sports you want to get that sports book up and running, but for the development of that area, what is the first thing that you want to see? You know, right now, we're trying to make sure we have a good plan for the ingress and egress and the parking and the tailgating and just thinking about the program.

Right. Like, how do we make sure that it's easier to get in and out of here the more stuff we put and, you know, working with the state and figuring out where the roads go? And because I don't think we want to build anything unless we think it gets easier, not harder to get here. So that's most of what you're thinking about today. But then if, you know, assuming you can solve the parking and the traffic, which looks really good.

I'm very optimistic on that part. You know, then it's making sure whatever the first the first phase is, is enough enough density where you've got enough restaurants and things to do that whatever you put in to start is enough. You know, you only do too much. You don't want to do not enough.

So that's that's the sort of hard part about it. Do you have a model? Do you have something that you are modeling in your brain based on you have gone to different arenas or stadiums and the way they do it around their facilities?

Do you have a model? Yeah, I mean, look, the Braves did a good job. There's a bunch of people that have done a good job and then there's a few that it took longer to get going. So you just don't you don't want to go through that adjustment period. I think, like in L.A., it took a while for people to get used to going and they had to tweak something. So, yeah, it's it's hard because every market's different, right? And every every consumer is different. And, you know, we're not the same as other places.

And so you can learn things. But, you know, something that works one place doesn't work in another place. You know, it's probably not too different than restaurants, right? There'll be a restaurant was so popular in one city and another city doesn't make it.

So there's a little there's a little more art probably than science, unfortunately, for this. Tom Dundon is joining us here on the Adam Gold show. All right. Now to the to this team. But I want to go bigger picture than just the construction of this team for now. And and I'm not meaning to put anybody else down here, but you and David Tepper essentially became majority owners of these two, your franchise and the Panthers at about the same time.

It has not gone well for him. You are hands on. Nobody will deny that. And you I don't think you'll deny that you are involved in day to day decisions.

Maybe not to the degree that some people think, but you're a hands on owner. Why has it worked here? And the and you talk about why the Panthers are struggling. Why has it been successful for you here?

Because every year has been better. Look, I mean, I think we talked about it, right? We were very fortunate that Rod was here and and. He won't see it this way, but he talked me into hiring him and I and everybody told me that was a good idea.

How can I really know? And so that was pretty fortunate that he was here and we got that deal done. And I think that's probably. You know, that on top of, look, you have all who's here and slavery was here and then you get Fetch and Pesci and you had you had. Young, good people here, and then, you know, I think Tolski is really smart and Don does a good job. And when you put together that whole package, we're able to make a lot of good decisions and avoid the bad decisions. And I think it's more about avoiding all the bad decisions, which allows you the opportunity to make good decisions when they come up. But, you know, having said that, you know, Tepper's very smart and and it's way more complicated what they're trying to do. And, you know, one or two things change. And it's a different narrative for, you know, for both both franchises. And, you know, I think part of it is some good fortune, too.

And my guess is they'll figure it out. Right. No, no. I mean, there is good luck involved.

Right. I mean, when Tepper took over, Cam Newton was well, it wasn't healthy. I guess he was healthy because he was healthy in 2018. And then he wasn't. And then when you have a player as good and as dynamic as that and he gets hurt. We saw what happened when Andrei Svechnikov got hurt last year. It definitely maybe didn't impact the team right away. But there were moments, big moments when obviously having 37 on the ice would have been a bigger deal. Here's the way I look at it.

I want you to address this. I think you had a plan and you stuck to it. You had the self-discipline to stick to a plan. There wasn't there weren't changes all the time.

There were changes to the roster, but not changes to your long term plan. And you and I have disagreed on. Well, you should have done this. You should have added this. You should have added that.

But you've always looked down the road as much as looking at today. Right. Hey, Carolina Panthers fans, Chris Lee and Dennis Cox here. We're excited to offer you all the inside information on your team with the newest member of the Capital Broadcasting Podcast Network Panthers Playbook twice a week. We'll keep you updated on your Carolina Panthers. We're talking about locker room insight, exclusive interviews, and of course, in-depth looks at all of the Panthers wins. Touchdown, Carolina Panthers Playbook.

Download and subscribe today at WRL sports fan.com or wherever you discover your favorite podcasts. That's so clearly you dot com. So take two to crevice. It is a prescription treatment for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis who may benefit from systemic therapy or photo therapy. Don't take if you're allergic to. So take two serious reactions can occur before treatment. Get checked for infections, including tuberculosis. So take two can lower your ability to fight infections. Don't start if you have one serious infections, cancers, including lymphoma, muscle problems and changes in certain labs have occurred.

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It's unknown if so. Take two has the same risks as Jack inhibitors. Call one eight eight eight SOTYK TU to learn more. Yeah, look, we're fortunate because, you know, the coach. Always wants a certain thing, and Rod's no different and he wants a certain thing and he wants it now because you got to win that game today. And then we all have to look at make sure we don't trade one win today for two tomorrow. And that's just about the relationship and the communication. And we're very fortunate. They say we haven't made that big mistake that we had to start chasing and then paying for it.

And then next thing you know, no one knows how you got there. And yeah, I'm I'm willing to do the harder thing or the less popular thing to make sure that every year we're having a conversation like this about we've got a really good chance. And some people don't agree with that. You know, some people think you should you should mortgage the future for today. And, you know, you know, talk to this.

I didn't start with any money, so I've been saving money. You're trying to, you know, accumulate good things. You know, that's just in my DNA. And I look at this I look at this the same as I know I'm going to want to win next year and five years from now.

And we're trying to make sure that that's the plan. But it's hard sometimes, right? Sometimes you get emotional and you want to do something different. And I'm I'm better at I'm better at not doing that than most, I think. Tom Dundon, that to me, that's the biggest difference is that I'm not talking about the two people here, not talking about you versus David Tepper. But but I think because of the structure that you guys have built, the foundation you've built, you have been able to remain self in the self-discipline, you guys have shown has been tremendous.

And again, you and I have disagreed. I thought you should the the crazy pandemic central. I thought you guys should have added, you know, another piece or two the following year. I thought you should have added somebody more than Max Domi last year.

I thought there was always something more that you could do, but this is where we are. I guess who's right and who's wrong. Tom Dundon is joining us here. What have before I ask that question, you don't even know a question I was going to ask you. When does the head coach's contract get done? Can we get that done today?

Sure. Whenever he wants. It's up to him. Is it? I keep telling you, is it really up to you? Come on. It's not up to him.

Yes, it is. It's all up to him. Don't let him fool you. I'm smart enough to know that. Give me that.

We might we might disagree on some self smart enough to know that. Yeah, well, that's not a problem. Not a problem at all.

Not a problem. I mean, maybe I don't know right as well as I think. Is he demanding? Is he is?

Is he asking for for the moon? Rod is Rod wants to be treated fair and I'm going to treat him fair. And, you know, if I didn't, Rod doesn't need the job, as you know. Right.

So but no, that's I don't think it's it's of all the things I'm worried about in the world that is not on the list. So fair to me as the best coach in the league, albeit without a Stanley Cup. So we knock it down a little bit as one of the top five coaches in the league. That's that's where Rod goes. So we just we just hammered that out. We'll look for the announcement of Rod Brind'Amour's contract extension going forward. Tom Dundon, the owner, governor of the Carolina Hurricanes. What have you learned about being an owner, about running a professional team over the last five or so years? Good question.

I don't know. I mean, it's just such a different environment now, right? When you first got here, you were trying to change the brand and make people care and, you know, create something we could all be proud of. And now I think hopefully everybody's proud of what we have. And now you're just managing the expectations, less disappointments because there's, you know, one outcome. There's only one outcome that there's no kind of we're growing, we're building sort of in it.

So I think that's the hardest part is dealing with is dealing with how do you it's hard to get much better as we've talked about. So it's like, how do you maintain it when there's a salary cap and and players get older? Right. So your players get older and potentially more expensive, but their production as they're getting more expensive actually usually declines. So that's the big balance. Right. To stay as good as you are in a salary cap environment with players that are really good, but potentially get older. And how do you either replace them or keep them at a price where they're still valuable to helping you achieve your goal? And it's way harder now.

When I got here, they had twenty five million cap space. Now it's everything's everything's everything's complicated and it's fun, but it's also a little harder, much harder. Are the games fun for you? We're going to have to end it here, but are the games fun for you? Because I know I know you have all this, all these nerves and you're scared, but are the games fun? The ones we win are fun. Oh, man. So I have never been a fun one that we didn't win.

So I don't know how to answer that. The good thing is we went a lot. You certainly have one hundred and thirteen points last year, three shy of the franchise record set the year before. Tom Dundon, owner of the Carolina Hurricanes, appreciate your time. I have a lot more questions that we'll we'll have to set set aside for another time, but I appreciate it. And I'll see you at the arena later. All right. Thanks, Adam. You got it.

Tom Dundon here on the Adam Gold show. We're going to get the Rod Brind'Amour contract done. He agrees. It's all up to Rod. I will. I'll tell that to Rod.

Yes, I'm excited for it. I'll tell that to Rod because he will be able to appreciate that I have done all the heavy lifting for him. You might think running is simple and self-explanatory, but improper form can cause injury and make it more difficult for you to achieve your fitness goals. Learn to Run will teach you how to run like a pro. The Learn to Run Club allows you access to exclusive fundamentals courses and test strength and mobility exercises, race training plans and so much more. All provided by a board certified doctor of physical therapy. Learn more at L2R101.com and get started today.