By Jim Owczarski Sports Editor Published Jun 03, 2014 at 1:04 PM

The Milwaukee Admirals are having organizational meetings this week to begin prepping for the 2014-15 season, just weeks after the team wrapped up another playoff season. It's a special season in Admirals history however, as Harris Turer will celebrate his 10th as its owner.

OnMilwaukee.com caught up with Turer to talk hockey, extending his club's partnership with the Nashville Predators (and why they're not affiliated with teams in Minnesota and Chicago0, and just how seriously the Downtown arena issue and the potential of the Milwaukee Bucks leaving town would affect the franchise.

OnMilwaukee.com: The Admirals are coming off their 12th straight American Hockey League playoff appearance, but haven’t been to a Calder Cup final since 2006. Championships are the goal in sports, but that’s hard to really build for in the minor leagues when it’s about developing players for another team isn’t it?

Harris Turer: There are variables. If you look at some of the teams that are in our league, their NHL parent will be in the playoffs. So they have all these guys there (in the NHL). If they lose, they’ll send the guys who are still eligible to play in our league back down, and all of a sudden a team that looks pretty good looks really good. Actually, the first year I owned the team, that’s what happened to us. We played the first round of the playoffs, we were up 3-1, then all of a sudden we lost the next two and come Game 7 we were really bare, but we found a way to win the game, and after that Nashville lost in the playoffs and they sent down some guy named Pekka Rinne.

They set a guy named Shea Weber. So you have one of the best defensemen in the NHL, one of the best goalies in the NHL. They sent down Scottie Upshall who at the time was a top, really good, young forward. All of a sudden we looked a lot better. We were a much better team and we coasted to the finals and we looked great. So, that’s the difference.

The other thing that goes on in our league that people do not pay attention to – and I wouldn’t expect them to – there are payrolls in our league. We don’t manage that. That’s all run by Nashville, or the NHL parents of these teams. Like the team we played (this year in the playoffs), Toronto, has a payroll that’s more than twice ours. Which means they a couple things: they have some guys – how can I compare it – hey, you’re down at Nashville right now, but if we need a reserve player you’re one of the first guys we’ll call up. If things don’t work out we can bring you up and you can be OK for us.

Well, these teams sign players if they ever need somebody to call up. Some teams are willing to pay a lot of money for them. Nashville relies on the minor leagues to develop their prospects and that’s the most important thing. They do sign some veteran guys, but this is a developmental team for them. And if the stars align properly, fine, then we will contend.

OMC: Since Nashville prefers your organization to be a developmental one, how has that worked for the Admirals considering these guys are so young, and do move in and out fairly often?

HT: The players really do two things for us, I’d say. Number one is on the ice. Nashville’s provided a really nice product for us since I bought the team. We’ve made the playoffs every year. That’s great. It’s a nice story to tell and people know, in general, in the community, that the Admirals have been a successful team. How successful? Most people probably don’t know.

But off the ice, these guy s do a tremendous amount for us. That’s that reaching out to the community, whether it be going on school visits, going to Children’s Hospital, after the game we have autograph signings. We have so much we ask of the players and since I’ve been here, literally, we’ve had one guy who we really had a lot of problems with and within a short amount of time Nashville said goodbye to him. Every guy who has come through here has been unbelievable to work with. Helpful. Willing to do things in the community. Reaching out and spreading the Admirals name and our brand.

I can’t thank our players enough for all that they’ve done for our brand since I bought the team. They’ve been incredibly helpful in helping us grow the Admirals name and brand.

OMC: You just extended your partnership with Nashville for another three years. How has that relationship grown?

HT: The interesting part is the Brewers Triple A affiliate are the Nashville Sounds and the Nashville Predators, their Triple A affiliate is the Milwaukee Admirals. So there’s that interesting connection. But, as far as a business relationship, I think since I bought the team that relationship has continued to improve, get better and better from both sides. When I bought the team there was like, five regular employees here and there was hardly any connection with Nashville.

I think the connection has gotten much better. We have built a facility in that locker room there (at the BMO Harris Bradley Center) – they’ve asked for various things, and we’ve provided them, so that their athletes have better exercise facilities, they have better equipment, they have a top notch area where they deal with the training staff. We completely re-did the locker room to make it better for the players so they have more of a big time feel. Our players have told us, hey, this is a great locker room, great facilities. We make sure we keep them up to date, clean, nice. So, they have this feeling like hey, this is a great place to play.

For Nashville, they know that their players are going to a place that they can develop and be in a good spot.

OMC: That said, the casual fan might wonder why the Admirals aren’t affiliated with one of the neighboring NHL franchises. Can you explain why it’s not that easy.

HT: Like someone would say, why aren’t you with the (Chicago) Blackhawks. Well, the Blackhawks already own a team in our league. That’s out. There’s Minnesota. They own their affiliate, and they actually used to be all the way down in Houston and they moved them up to Des Moines last year. Detroit owns their team in Grand Rapids. So what’s the next one? I guess St. Louis, but St. Louis owned their own team for a long time in Peoria (Illinois) and that changed – so now they’re in Chicago (the Wolves). So, really, the next team that is basically closest is Nashville. And we acquired that affiliation when I bought the team and we have been the only affiliate of the Predators since they came on line with the league.

OMC: For as strong as the relationship with Nashville has been though, you’ve wanted to keep the Admirals a unique brand, though.

HT: We talked a little bit, maybe in the future a game where we wear their jerseys, but we’re still our own name and we try to keep it that way because while we’ve loved the relationship and it’s been that way, not since I owned the team, but before that, you never know. So, we’ve kept our own identity and that identity to me is really important, that we’re just the Milwaukee Admirals. There are some teams that are so closely tied in but most of those are NHL (owned).

We’ve tried to create a real minor league feel to this organization. You’re in a town with all these major league teams, its like, how do you differentiate yourself? I don’t think people come to the Admirals games because hey, they’re winners! They’re great this year – did you see they’re 27-12? Most people have no clue. So we have to sell some promotion.

OMC: After nine years of ownership, do you still get a kick out of that?

HT: It is fun. How do you convince people to buy your product? And that’s a challenge all the time, because the market changes. Tastes change. The hottest thing now and in five years, who cares about that? There is that challenge. My challenge to everyone is hey, we’ve got to stay fresh, we’ve got to stay current. If we’re doing something we did eight years ago, it was big then, but c’mon, you can’t keep doing the same things. Some things like concerts are timeless, music is music, but if it’s some type of contest or some type of giveaway, you can’t do the same thing.

We always hope that if you came to our game, you saw a good game, you had fun that night, you saw a great concert, and hey, the Admirals are a great value, I had a great time, it didn’t cost me an arm and a leg and I’d do it again – that’s always your hope.

OMC: The business of sports is year round – and you’re moving on to the 2014-15 season – how do you feel about your organization as the calendar flips, so to speak?

HT: I was pleased this year that we were able to grow our attendance, grow some of our revenues in most areas. I would say that I’m certainly not satisfied with where we’re at. I think we have room to grow. We have some areas that I think are weak, and we need to strengthen those areas. But my sense is that over the next couple years we’re going to be in a position that I’d always hoped we would be when I first bought the team.

"It’s an incredible learning experience. Year after year you learn a little bit about yourself and the organization and where it’s at in the community and what people like and what people don’t like. You try things and you hope that it takes off. Then you find, oh God no one liked it. Why not? When we do certain ideas, even if it fails, I don’t think it’s been a bad idea. It’s, oh, it didn’t work. But you’ve got to try to find out.

I think our staff is incredibly creative and incredibly hard working. I know people who don’t even come to games who tell me you’re marketing, your advertising is great. We’re out there, but we’ve got to continue to convince people to come to our games, convince businesses to invest in this, that this is a good place to put some money in and get a return on their investment. We also have to continue to brand ourselves and continue to get merchandise, and see people in Admirals gear. We had our best year ever with merchandise. I was really happy with that, but we want to continue to do better and better.

OMC: What is the position you feel the organization can get to in a couple of years?

HT: My goal was to get people to view this as a true minor league team the way a lot of people view certain minor league baseball teams. I think we have really come close with that. We’ve done some great things, and I want the community to recognize that. And, where we’d like to see our attendance and where we’d like to see some other things, but we’re close. We’re real close.

And even when we get to that point, that doesn’t mean we stop, because I think someone who gets into this is never completely satisfied. You’re pleased. And you’re happy with the people and the work that you’re doing, but you realize you can’t rest on your laurels because once you do you’re going to become stagnant.

I’ll say this though – it’s the best decision that I’ve ever made professionally as far as what I do on an everyday basis. I love owning the Admirals. It’s a lot of fun. I think that we have a place in this community and just hope that we continue to provide great family entertainment here for many years to come.

OMC: This upcoming season will be your 10th as owner – are you doing to do a special promotion with you on the ice?

HT: No, no, no! I don’t really like having the attention on me, just for the sake of the attention. I mean, I think it’s important that I have a presence and people see the owner. I sit in the front row, right on the glass at games. I walk around. I go to the concession stands. People see me. If they want to talk to me, I’m always willing to talk and hear ideas and get people’s opinions. I’m very accessible. My jersey has my name. I get that and I don’t mind. I think it’s important to be a part of your fan base so they know you care. I don’t sit in a suite and leave the building so no one sees me. Because I’m a fan anyway.

OMC: Speaking of wanting to the Admirals to provide family entertainment for years to come, where do you fall in the discussion about replacing the BMO Harris Bradley Center with a new facility?

HT: I really hope things come together. When you have, already, $200 million, 40 percent at least, at least, the cost of a new facility, taken care of, you gotta believe there’s a way to make this happen.

OMC: Along with that, you hear talk of local, minority investors – sort of in the model that Mark Attanasio took with buying the Milwaukee Brewers and of which you’re a stakeholder, too. Is that a good model for Milwaukee?

HT: I think it adds some credibility, and how it’s worked out (for the Brewers) in keeping that local investment group as well as adding to it when he bought the team, I think that strengthened the Brewers in the community’s mind. The people see the people in their community are investing in the Milwaukee Brewers and the I think the same thing goes for the Bucks – they want to see local people care about the product, about the community and you’ve made an investment in it. I think it’s great. I’m happy they’ve reached out to the community, to local people. I don’t know who for sure it is, but I think that is a smart move and as you go along and they’re trying to get a new arena I think those local people adds some credibility to this whole thing.

Time will tell on the arena. It’s going to, unfortunately, get real ugly. It’s too bad. I don’t think it has to be so ugly. I was around during the Miller Park debate and it was real ugly. In my opinion it’s been a huge success. If you look at what Miller Park is and how many people come. Going to ballgames now is so different than it was at County Stadium. You hear on a Wednesday night, 27,000 people go to the game. Wednesday night’s at County Stadium, back in April and May? That was like six, seven, eight thousand people. Think about where it’s come. What that has done for our community, financially even, has been tremendous. Imagine if they were gone. Imagine if there’s no Miller Park and that’s an empty lot right now.

OMC: If the new arena issue isn’t resolved, and the Bucks leave, could there be serious repercussions for the Admirals?

HT: Absolutely. Our world will change dramatically if this falls apart, there is no new facility and the Bucks leave. There will be huge ramifications to us, to Marquette. What happens, I can’t really even say, but I know it’ll be very significant. People have asked me, what are you going to do? I don’t know until I get there, but when I get there I’ll look at it and we’ll have to examine all of our options. Is it playing here, playing there, building? I have no idea.

Or moving? I could tell you I don’t want to be a part of moving a team. My goal is to keep the team here. I’m a Milwaukee guy. I love owning the Milwaukee Admirals. It’s fun, it’s something I enjoy doing that I don’t want to see anything happen. But we need viable facilities to allow us to play. I have no idea if we could even paly at the Cell. I really don’t. Attendance, yeah, it’s big enough. That’s not the issue. I don’t know if the cooling part underneath is really even viable anymore. I couldn’t even tell you. I have no idea. I don’t know what will happen with the Bradley Center. Marquette does need a place to play, but I don’t know what they would do. I couldn’t tell you.

Jim Owczarski is an award-winning sports journalist and comes to Milwaukee by way of the Chicago Sun-Times Media Network.

A three-year Wisconsin resident who has considered Milwaukee a second home for the better part of seven years, he brings to the market experience covering nearly all major and college sports.

To this point in his career, he has been awarded six national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, breaking news and projects. He is also a four-time nominee for the prestigious Peter J. Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism, presented by the Chicago Headline Club, and is a two-time winner for Best Sports Story. He has also won numerous other Illinois Press Association, Illinois Associated Press and Northern Illinois Newspaper Association awards.

Jim's career started in earnest as a North Central College (Naperville, Ill.) senior in 2002 when he received a Richter Fellowship to cover the Chicago White Sox in spring training. He was hired by the Naperville Sun in 2003 and moved on to the Aurora Beacon News in 2007 before joining OnMilwaukee.com.

In that time, he has covered the events, news and personalities that make up the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, NCAA football, baseball and men's and women's basketball as well as boxing, mixed martial arts and various U.S. Olympic teams.

Golf aficionados who venture into Illinois have also read Jim in GOLF Chicago Magazine as well as the Chicago District Golfer and Illinois Golfer magazines.