POWDR loses in court, Vail will take over PCMR lease

[rogman]

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_2 ... esort-over
Well, I suppose POWDR will appeal...
Think this will get even uglier?

[Big Bob]

Park City Record article:

http://www.parkrecord.com/ci_25808763/j ... al-rulings" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

PCMR lawyer says they will appeal and operate as normal for 2014/2015 season!

They sunk $100 million into the place and it went FWWWT.

Do you think Killington will get any assets from PCMR? My guess is the judge will say leave your stuff behind.

[Spyderman]

I agree that the judge will prevent POWDR from removing lifts and Vail will prevail and legally be able to operate Park City Ski Resort because as hard as it is to believe, senior management forgot to renew an incredibly low lease on time.

Holy cow, what ever happened to strategic annual plans, critical path plans noted on plan a month calendars, monthly priorities, yellow post it not reminders on bulletin boards, and a simple 31 day pendaflex suspense file system that gets checked weekly/ daily? Hmmmm.

Maybe too much technology has gotten in the way of time tested fail safe management and administrative planning and execution. What a shame!

[freeski]

Sometimes something is so important you don't have to worry about it. You know you'll remember... no worries. Imagine the meeting after they found out the lease was not renewed. If the decision stands it's what a $150M to $300M mistake or more in the long run.

[skibikeclimbguy]

If you like your ski resort, you can keep your ski resort.

[GSKI]

Like the Denver Post reporter said I have felt that this case represents the biggest mistake in the history of the ski industry. I think their CFO left and somebody forgot to check his "to do" list HOWEVER you would think every top manager at Powder would have that lease expiration date marked in red ink on his/her calendar. Total incompetence and contract law simply does not allow you to say you forgot to do as the contract required and you want a do over. Powder will lose the appeal but probably settle for a buy out by then. My bet is Powder walks away with some decent cash looking like total fools. The emperor has no clothes.

[Bubba]

Incompetence is as incompetence does. Senior management at Powdr continues to prove it regularly. Jeez...they can't even spell Powder.

[skibikeclimbguy]

So now will they pump $100mm into Killington? Can we at least have the lifts?

[Mister Moose]

It's a quick business calculation to compare the cost of litigating the appeal vs the expected revenue from one more operating season. (If they can get it) After that it's what they can do with a Woodward type operation (as stated by Cumming) vs a sale price to Vail.

There will be community pressure brought to keep the base area a ski resort.

Vail needs to figure out a move that allows Cumming to sell the base area and still save face and back off the Never in a million years stance.

[shortski]

Karma.....it's a bitch. Wonder if there are any lifetime leases....... I mean passes involved.

I guess someone moved the cheese on them.... Yeah that's the Ticket... Moved the cheese that's why they missed the fileing deadline.

[liv4ski]

The time honored "split the baby" approach:
- Powdr retains PC and pays Vail full market value of lease plus share of revenues. So long as Powdr is able to earn more than it would with just Woodward, it is a win for Powdr.
- Vail connects Canyons to PC and keeps 100% of the ticket revenue sold from the Canyons side.
- Vail gets development rights on Powdr's land at the base of PC.

[steamboat1]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxbIBeQNuZI

[Geoff]

What's the big deal? Daddy just bought Snowbird from Dick Bass as his incompetent son's new plaything.

I wonder how long it will take Vail to interconnect the top part of Park City with Canyons? I suspect that could be completed before the string of appeals completes.

[VermontGranola]

Unfortunately, this does not bode well for the future of Killington and Pico. The longer John Cumming remains defiant and continues to drag this through the courts, the further downhill the rest of the Powdr resorts will slide. At this rate, don't expect to see anything upgraded, improved or replaced at any of the resorts. However, I wouldn't be surprised to see Killington, Pico and some of the other Powdr properties up for sale real soon.

[rogman]

In the unlikely event that Cumming actually follows through on his threats and effectively shutters the bottom half of PCMR, he will significantly damage the economy of Park City. While people may not like Vail, there are far worse operators out there. His behavior will rapidly make him a pariah in the Utah area. Purely from a public relations standpoint if he plans to continue operating in the area, he needs to change his tone now, and negotiate a sale/settlement that avoids additional legal action (and the uncertainty that goes with it) as rapidly as possible. Someone needs to tell him to man up, take his lickin', learn from it, put it behind him, and move on. Anything else is ego, and not smart business.