EDMONTON – They tossed the keys to Wade Miller a decade ago with one straightforward mission: make the Winnipeg Blue Bombers – an organization which had fallen so dramatically on hard times – into a proud Canadian Football League franchise again.
Little did Miller (who had just turned 40) truly understand just how badly in disrepair the team and its business had become. That’s especially apparent now and in retrospect as he is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the day in August of 2013 he was first appointed acting CEO of the Blue Bombers, with the title of President and CEO made official two months later.
“I’ll be honest, when I got here, I didn’t really realize the depth of our problems on and off the field,” began Miller in a chat with bluebombers.com earlier today. “But you don’t complain about it, you roll up your sleeves and get to work.
“It wasn’t any one thing that was the priority, but first we had to fix what was going on with the team on the field. We had to adjust to a new stadium and fix the transportation issue… go down the list. It was a long list after spending just the first 24 hours in here. It was a challenge. And now it’s a different challenge.”
The Blue Bombers – both as an organization and as a professional sports team in the entertainment industry – are in an entirely different spot today than when Miller assumed command 10 years ago.
This is a franchise that has appeared in the last three Grey Cups, winning two, led the Canadian Football League in attendance last season for the first time in team history and is tracking toward that again in 2023, and has turned IG Field into the loudest building in the land.
The transportation issues that plagued the new facility when it opened in 2013 have been alleviated, the concessions have improved under team control and the franchise not only survived the lost season of 2020, but continues to thrive as corporate sponsorship dollars rise with every year.
The winning helps, too, as the Blue Bombers have posted six consecutive double-digit win seasons since 2016. Indeed, if the late 1950s/early 1960s are seen as the franchise’s Glory Days, then these current times are the sequel. And Miller’s fingerprints are all over the turnaround.
The Blue Bombers were floundering in the summer of 2013. They had just moved into their sparkling new facility in south Winnipeg, but even that transition had brought its share of problems. Worst of all, the team was an absolute mess, having missed the playoffs in 2009 and 2010, then again in 2012. It was 1-5 to start the 2013 season and had four different head coaches since 2018 in Doug Berry, Mike Kelly, Paul LaPolice and Tim Burke.
The decision to bring Miller aboard happened quickly and the club not only tapped into the business acumen of a man who had helped build Pinnacle Staffing Agency and Elite Performance and Sports Injury, but who was also a 11-year veteran on the field and member of the club’s hall of fame.
As for the sales pitch the club might have delivered to convince Miller to come aboard, it turns out that was hardly necessary.
“Did I need convincing? No, because I had already had enough watching what I did leading up to that moment,” Miller said. “That Labour Day game the year before (a 52-0 loss) was just about it for me. Seeing how the players had no chance of winning that game really pissed me off. They were done before they stepped on the field. This city and our fans deserved better. The players and coaches involved deserved better. We had moved into a brand-new stadium that was six weeks old, but there were a ton of issues off the field, too.
“(His hiring) ended up happening very quickly after the decision that changes had to be made. I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to build our franchise back up to what it should be for our fans and our community.
“Just as important was I wanted our players to experience what I didn’t in winning a Grey Cup. That was for our fans, too. I had a plan, but I knew it would take time to do it the right way. We’re seeing the results of taking the steps you need to take over time to make things sustainable. That was my focus, and it was something that needed to be the focus of the franchise at the time.”
A born-and-raised Winnipegger who played his college ball at the University of Manitoba, Miller’s to-do list when he first stepped into the role was longer than a Manitoba winter. One of his first decisions was to personally call as many season ticket members as possible to both thank them for their unwavering support and deliver a promise that things would change.
“I thought I understood what this club meant to the fans, to the city and to this province,” Miller said. “It was only when I got into this role and started making those calls that I really began to appreciate it. Then I really understood what it meant. It had to be fan-first, one at a time, every time. We’ve had that motto since the beginning.”
He put good people in place in football operations, elevating Kyle Walters to GM, who then hired Mike O’Shea as head coach in December of 2013 and then signing off on the additions of assistant GMs Danny McManus and Ted Goveia.
The results on the field weren’t instant – the team was 7-11 in 2014 and 5-13 a year later – but since then the club is a remarkable 76-36 with championships in 2019 and 2021. In short, in the decade under Miller’s leadership the Blue Bombers have gone from laughingstock to flagship franchise.
“That goes to everyone in this organization – the people that are here, the people that were here and moved on in their careers,” said Miller. “Sports and entertainment is a tough business. It’s long hours and it’s not glamourous by any stretch. There’s a ton of people who have worked through hard times and put in a lot of hours to make this happen. It’s taken us a long time to turn around the fan base and see what we’re seeing now.”
A decade in and the wins on and off the field still piling up, we then asked Miller this: what’s next and might he be tempted to move on to a different challenge?
“Look, there are enough challenges every day here for me and I love it,” he said. “I love the people I come to work with every day. I love the competition of game day. You can’t have a better role, if you ask me, than what I’m doing right now.
“What’s ahead? Win more championships. Our purpose is simple: win championships, make memories and sell tickets. That’s all our organization is focused on every day.”
