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Peter Luukko has been called the heir-apparent to Ed Snider. Who is he and is he up to the job of rebuilding the Philadelphia Flyers and Philadelphia 76ers?
I was going to write another diatribe against Flyers President Ed Snider but the Philadelphia Inquirer kind of did that last Sunday. Mister Snider is so distaught over the plight of the Flyers that he has retreated to his nice, warm mansion in southern California. Wait a minute, he spends most of his time there anyway, especially during the winter when it's cold in Philadelphia.
Well regardless, I thought that I would do a positive story on the Flyers when I heard a sports-talk radio host mention that Peter Luukko is considered by many to be the heir-apparent to Ed Snider. Mister Luukko is the President / Chief Operating Officer of Comcast-Spectacor, which owns the Flyers and the Sixers. "Great" I thought, "maybe Mister Snider is on his way out and this guy knows what he's doing." Unfortuanately after listening to Peter Luukko answer questions on the radio for almost an hour and reading his bio, he does not seem to be the answer to the problems of the Flyers. Which is just as well, since I don't think Mister Snider is going anywhere any time soon.
Mister Luukko's background is mainly in facility management, event organization and hospitality services. Now, what Comcast-Spectacor needs is someone (Snider, Luukko?) to be able to select executives with hockey and basketball experience to run the teams. I doubt Mister Luukko has enough experience with the sports to do this. During his radio interview he gave very vague answers and didn't sound like he really knew what was happening with the Flyers and Sixers.
I really do not have much confidence that he would be able to put the right people in place to run the Flyers and Sixers. I get the impression that Mister Luukka is just another Snider loyalist and that Mister Snider has instructed Mister Luukka to be more vissible with the media.
Finally, Mister Luukko said that Flyers Head Coach John Stevens will be back next season but that General Manager Paul Holmgren may not continue in that capacity. Confidence in Sixer's President Billy King was also asserted. Mister Luukko also insisted that Larry Brown will not be coaching the Sixers, that he's with the team just as an advisor.
Web Link
Peter Lukko's bio at the Comcast-Spectacor web site.
