According to their annual report of the 30 clubs in the NHL (see www.forbes.com/nhl), the average value for a club in the league now is at $240 million, up 5% from last year, ranging as high as over a half-a-billion dollars for the Maple Leafs ($521 million) to $134 million for the beleaguered Phoenix Coyotes. Based upon totals from Forbes, total franchise value for all 30 clubs is $7.198 billion with revenues that came to $3.09 billion for the 2009-10 season.
More than half the league reportedly saw revenues over $100 million with the Maple Leafs nearing the $200 million mark ($193 million). The Rangers, now playing in a refurbished MSG, saw $41.4 million last year and are the NHL’s second-most valuable team, worth $507 million The Islanders, who continue to struggle in their efforts to construct a new arena, had the league’s lowest revenues at $63 million.
In terms of profits and losses, according to Forbes, the league saw a decline operating income, a form of profit (Operating Income is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization - EBITA). Collectively, the league saw a 21% decline in operating income from the 2008-09 season. All told, 18 of the 30 clubs are shown to be running in the red compared to 16 in the Forbes report last year. But, the 21% declined is skewed primarily by two clubs: Coyotes and Blue Jackets. The Coyotes, who continue to struggle in Phoenix and have been relocation fodder is shown to have lost $24.4 million while Columbus shows a $13.7 million loss. They are the only two clubs with losses in double-digits with the Lightening coming in a very distant third in the loss department at losses of $8.5 million.
In a matter that is sure to come to the bargaining table for a new CBA in the NHL, Forbes attributes losses to player payroll. From Ozanian and Badenhausen:
The league’s salary cap, set at 57% of revenue, is too high for some teams to be profitable . As a result, expect the National Hockey League to undergo a cantankerous labor negotiations when the owners and players union begin to hammer our a new collective bargaining agreement to replace the current six-year deal that expires in September . The NHL must move much closer to the 48% model the NFL agreed to before this season or the 50-50 revenue split National Basketball Association owners and players recently agreed to.
In terms of massive profits, the Maple Leafs (once again) top the Forbes valuations in profit. The club pulled in $81.8 million in operating income for the 2009-10 season. To place that in perspective, that’s $34.1 million more than the second ranked by operating income, the Montreal Canadians. The average for operating income for the NHL is shown at $4 million, but that’s deceptive. Clubs running at a profit averaged $21.1 million while the average for those running at a loss was -$7.1 million. The six clubs with double-digit operating income (Maple Leafs, Rangers, Canadians, Red Wings, Canucks, and Oilers) totaled $228 million.
Of deep concern has to be Devils and to a lesser extent, the Stars. While Dallas is in the throes of a bankruptcy sale, the Devils are drowning in debt. According to Forbes, New Jersey has a monstrous Debt to Value of 144%. They see a one-year valuation change of -17%. The Stars come in at 126%. The Rangers, Red Wings, and Blackhawks are the only clubs not carrying debt.
In terms of increases and decreases in value, overall the league saw a 5% increase in club value. Seven clubs see declines (Devils, Blues, Flyers, Panthers, Ducks, Blue Jackets, and Islanders), two clubs (Coyotes and Avalanche) remained flat, while the rest of the league all saw gains with the largest being the recently relocated Jets at 21% (NOTE: Forbes informs that while the rest of the valuation numbers are based off of the 2009-10 season, the valuations are based on current data. Therefore, the Jets increase in value is due in large part from the relocation from Atlanta to Winnipeg and therefore, is reflected in the large increase in one-year value increase). Coming in second is the Tampa Bay Lightening at 20%. Seven clubs saw double-digit percentage increases in their values (Jets/Thrashers, Lightening, Canucks, Penguins, Oilers, Capitals, and Predators).
Overall, the NHL continues to make inroads at the league level in terms of sponsorships and fan growth through the popular Bridgestone Winter Classic.
SELECT READ MORE TO SEE THE FORBES NHL VALUATIONS
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Welcome to another NHL edition of Bizball Radio with Seth Everett and Maury Brown!
In this edition, Seth and Maury talk about the strength of NHL's core fan base, how realignment factors in with the Thrashers relocating to Winnepeg and becoming the Jets, the state of the Coyotes, Islanders, and Devils, and what may be in store for the new CBA expected in 2012, and more
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Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey, and is a contributor to Forbes SportsMoney blog.. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).
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Welcome to the inaugural NHL edition of Bizball Radio with Seth Everett and Maury Brown!
The NHL is back, if it was ever gone at all. The game, with arguably the most rabid core fan base, is seeing growth with fringe fans.
Seth and Maury talk about popularity of the game, whether relocation to Canada is a matter of the strength of popularity or strength of the Canadian dollar; whether NHL players should play in the Olympics after 2010; whether clubs in the sunbelt can survive; how Donald Fehr impacts labor negotiations, and much more.
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Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey, and is a contributor to Forbes SportsMoney blog.. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).
Brendan Shanahan
There is a new sheriff in the National Hockey league, and his actions are clear on what direction the league is going in.
Prior to the 2011-2012 season, the NHL knew they had to take action with addressing headshots. The constant injuries and questionable hits sparked so much, that it demanded change in how to judge these types of situations. As a result, Colin Campbell stepped down as the league disciplinarian, and the NHL replaced him with vice president of safety, Brendan Shanahan.
Change was evident in the league, especially with some key incidents that occurred in the last few months of the regular season. The first incident that sparked up the conversation came in 2010, when Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matt Cooke gave a deliberate blow to Marc Savard’s head. Savard was never the same after that hit, and his career probably ended a year later when he suffered a similar hit at the hands of Colorado Avalanche defenseman Matt Hunwick. Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli announced early in the season that Savard would miss the entire 2011-2012 season due to post-concussion-like symptoms.
If Savard’s injuries weren’t enough of an indicator for improvement on player safety, then perhaps the concussion to the league’s poster boy did the trick. Sidney Crosby suffered a severe concussion during the 2011 Winter Classic, after he had an awkward collision with Washington Capitals forward David Steckel. Although the hit was not considered dirty, the hit was devastating to the Penguins captain, as he missed the remainder of the season and is still out to this day with post-concussion symptoms.
Following the injury to Crosby, his teammate, Matt Cooke, was at it again and received two different offenses. The first one was a hit from behind on Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Fedor Tyutin on February 9, which earned him a four-game suspension. The suspension was clearly not a lesson learned by Cooke, as he created another offense with an elbow to the head of New York Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh on March 21. The forward’s fifth offense (and second in less than two month span) resulted in a bigger consequence for Cooke, as he was banned 10 games and for the entire first round of the playoffs.
In just the first two months at his new position, Shanahan has really cracked the whip, issuing 11 suspensions in such a little time period. Here is the list so far:
9/22/11 Jody Shelley: 4 Preseason Games and 5 Regular Season Games= 9 Games
9/22/11 Pierre Luc Letourneau-Leblond: 4 Preseason Games and 1 Regular Season Game= 5 Games
9/25/11 Brad Boyes: 2 preseason Games= 2 Games
9/26/11 James Wisniewski: 3 Preseason Games 8 Regular Season Games= 11 Games
9/26/11 Brad Staubitz: 4 preseason Games and 3 Regular Season Games= 7 games
9/27/11 Jean Francois Jacques: 2 Preseason Games and 5 Regular Season Games= 7 Games
9/28/11 Tom Sestito: 2 Preseason Games and 2 Regular Season Games= 4 games
9/29/11 Brendan Smith: 3 Preseason Games and 5 Regular Season Games= 8 Games
9/30/11 Clarke MacArthur: 1 preseason Game and 2 Regular Season Games= 3 Games
10/9/11 Pierre Marc-Bouchard: 2 Regular Season Games= 2 games
10/18/11 Kris Letang: 2 Regular Season Games= 2 Games
At this point last season, there were just seven suspensions handed out, and three of them were for obscene gestures or unsportsman-like incidents.
While last year’s talk was for the league to crack down on illegal hits and focus on player safety, the key criticism this year has been that the league is acting too strict on the new reinforcements.
Hockey Commentator Don Cherry was one of the front runners of the debate, as he said on the Thursday edition of CBC’s Coach’s Corner segment about Darryl Boyce’s suspension: “He gives him ten games. Ten games,” said Cherry of Shanahan. “You know how many shifts Boyce missed? He only lost two shifts.”
On Saturday night, a more relaxed Cherry pointed out that Shanahan simply set the bar too high. Also Saturday, HNIC Hotstove guest Eric Francis said that one-third of the 30 NHL GMs are not happy with the length of the suspensions.
“I spoke to almost a third of the general managers today, and I was a little bit surprised to find out that there is a group of them that have gone to [NHL commissioner] Gary Bettman and [deputy commissioner] Bill Daly and made it very clear that they are very unhappy with the way that Brendan Shanahan has handled the suspensions,” Francis reiterated.
Clearly the NHL is going in a new direction, which is seeking better protection for their players. Obviously, it’ll be a long working process for the old school guys like Cherry and some of the current GMs, but you can’t help but like the message the league is sending out.
On the other side of the argument, you can say an element of the game is being removed, which could change the game drastically. The big hit that many of us enjoy seeing will be removed from the game, and the physical play from the likes of Todd Bertuzzi, Claude Lemiuex, Michael Peca, and Scott Stevens may never have a place in the game again. I’m not saying these guys would have been bad players if these policies were instituted 10 years ago, but I can confidently say that their huge hits and playing styles will never be replicated again with this new playing structure.
So what is the right thing to do? Is Brendan Shanahan going too far with his excessive discipline? Is it necessary to ensure player safety? Does it take away from the game of hockey? These are the questions that the league will have to answer in the next year.
Michael Jafari is a producer and contributor for WGR Sports Radio 550 in Buffalo, NY. He also served as the Web Content Coordinator Graduate Assistant for the Buffalo Sabres, Buffalo Bandits and the IIHF World Junior Championship. You can follow him on twitter: @mikejafari.
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For the fifth straight year, the National Hockey League took its game to Europe to showcase some of their best hockey talent in the world to unfamiliar territory.
The league has several teams that will play meaningful games overseas, which started on Friday with the Anaheim Ducks and Buffalo Sabres facing off in Helsinki, Finland, and the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings playing in Stockholm, Sweden. The Sabres and Kings will played the following day in Berlin, while the Rangers will take on the Ducks in Stockholm.
Hockey is the number one sport in Finland, and the NHL couldn’t have done a better job with some of the best Finnish players of all time returning to play in front of their home country. The most notable Finnish player on the Sabres’ roster is newly acquired forward Ville Leino, but their most prominent Finnish figure is Assistant Coach Teppo Numminen, who at one time held the record for most games played by a European player with 1,372 games.
The Ducks have three Finnish players on their roster in Toni Lydman, Saku Koivu and Teemu Selanne. The name who stands out the most from that list is Selanne, who at 41-years old is still one of the top scorers in the league and a legend of “Michael Jordan status” in his home country. To make Selanne’s homecoming even more special, the “Finnish Flash” got an opportunity to play against his former team Jokerit, which is one of the premier teams in SM Liiga, the professional hockey league in Finland. The Ducks prevailed in the exhibition, when Ryan Getzlaf netted the overtime goal to give the Ducks a 4-3 win.
The Kings and Rangers will play their first NHL regular season game in Stockholm. It’s no surprise that Sweden is a hockey-first country, as the NHL has had a long list of potential hall of fame players come from Sweden including: Mats Sundin, Peter Forsberg, Markus Naslund, Niklas Lidstrom and the Sedin twins. Sweden also won the Gold Medal in the 2006 Winter Olympics, which is the highest goal to accomplish in professional hockey world-wide. Rangers’ netminder Henrik Lundqvist, who backstopped Sweden to the Gold Medal in 2006, will get the opportunity to play on his home ice on two nights against the Kings and the Ducks.
On the next day, the Kings will meet the Sabres in Berlin, which is the first time a NHL regular season game will be played in Germany. The Kings played in Germany in an exhibition game earlier in the week against the Hamburg Freezers, where they won by a score of 5-4.
Buffalo also played in an exhibition game in Germany, where they defeated Adler Mannheim 8-3. The game was extra special for Sabres forward Jochen Hecht, as he returned to face his former club in his hometown. Although Hecht wasn’t able to suit up due to injury, Coach Lindy Ruff allowed him to participate in the pre-skate, where he was welcomed with plenty of applause from his home crowd.
The Sabres have another German native on their roster in Christian Ehrhoff, who the team acquired this past off-season. When the defenseman met with the media prior to the exhibition, he said he didn’t even know the team was going to play in his home country until after he signed with the club, which was a nice bonus after he signed on with the team for 10 years. He also said that soccer is still the number one sport in Germany, while ice hockey, handball, rugby and cycling compete to be the runner-up. One can imagine that ice hockey took a big step forward as the number two sport with the NHL’s first trip to Germany.
The NHL’s goal is to nationalize the sport, and they are doing it the right way. Since hockey is already huge in the Scandinavian countries, it makes sense for them to branch out to the other countries slowly and effectively. It is a very cool experience for the European players, who can demonstrate their skills to their home country with the best in the world.
Overall, I think it is a step in the right direction for the NHL, and I think that building their relationship with other European leagues can only improve the sport on a national level. Now all that the league needs to do is work out an agreement with the Kontinental Hockey League out of Russia. Since it is the biggest league overseas, wouldn’t it be a blast to see the champions from each league battle for the “World Championship” prior to the start of the season? Heck, I think that would be more fun than the All-Star game, what about if we replaced the break with that game? Perhaps I’m thinking a little ahead, but bringing the NHL to Europe creates limitless opportunity.
Michael Jafari is a producer and contributor for WGR Sports Radio 550 in Buffalo, NY. He also served as the Web Content Coordinator Graduate Assistant for the Buffalo Sabres, Buffalo Bandits and the IIHF World Junior Championship. You can follow him on twitter: @mikejafari.
The season hasn’t even begun yet on Long Island, and there is already goalie drama.
When the puck drops on October 8th, the New York Islanders will find themselves with three NHL-caliber goaltenders on their roster in Rick DiPietro, Evgeni Nabokov and Al Montoya. Although Montoya seems more suited for a back-up role, the team still has two starting goaltenders which could easily divide a locker room if it isn’t handled properly.
Word out of the New York Islander’s camp is that DiPietro is close to returning from a knee injury that shelved him last season. It would make sense for the Islanders to rest DiPietro as long as possible, since injuries have plagued him for the past four seasons, and for the fact that he still has 11 years remaining from his ridiculous 15-year $67.5 million contract he signed in 2006. DiPietro’s extension was the first signing under GM Garth Snow, so the financial burden means the team will do everything they can to give DiPietro starting job.
If DiPietro gets the starting nod, how will Nabokov handle accepting the number two role? Nabokov came to the island last year, after the team claimed him off waivers back in January. Prior to the waiver claim, Nabokov signed a one-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings in hopes of proving himself after a messy situation in AKA St. Petersburg of the KHL. Nabokov never got to prove his worth last year, after he refused to report to the Islanders after he was picked up. His reasons were that he wanted to play with the Red Wings and didn’t feel he could help the Islanders, who by that time were almost eliminated from playoff contention.
Nabokov’s refusal was disappointing to the team, but it was nothing personal against them or the city. Nabokov was a star goaltender in the league during his 10-year tenure with the San Jose Sharks, but the team’s constant early playoff exits were starting to irritate the organization and its fans. When Nabokov’s contract ran out, the Sharks chose not to bring the Russian netminder back in hopes of changing the team’s playoff mentality. Nabokov’s rejection from the Sharks was very heartbreaking to him, and it fueled his motivation to prove that he was a clutch goaltender in the playoffs.
When the 2010-2011 NHL season came to an end, Nabokov’s hold-out came to a halt, too, as he finally showed up to Islanders camp with the same intention he had back in January. So far, Nabokov has been the team’s best goaltender in preseason, showing the organization why they were wise to pick him up in the first place. However, the franchise’s commitment to DiPietro lingers the goalie’s future, and if their “franchise cornerstone” is healthy enough to play, then moving Nabokov sooner than later would be the best case scenario for this franchise.
Islander fans have witnessed many front office blunders, like Alexei Yashin’s ridiculous 10-year $87.5 million contract, and a goalie controversy would just put the icing on the flavorless cake. If DiPietro struggles early and often, and Nabokov’s motivation just somewhat rejuvenates his career (and the team is winning with him), how can they justify putting DiPietro back in or explain what to do with the remaining 11 years of his contract? They certainly won’t be able to trade him!
The Islanders could have several trading partners to look to like the Florida Panthers, who are going into the season with journeyman Jose Theodore between the pipes. Another reason for the Panthers’ interest is a knee injury to their backup Scott Clemmensen, who’ll be sidelined for at least the first month of the season.
Another trading partner could be the Phoenix Coyotes, who saw their Russian star Ilya Bryzgalov pack his bags for Philadelphia and have yet to fill the void. (We all know Mike Smith is going to have too big of shoes to fill).
The hockey world knows DiPietro’s contract was a mistake and if a rejuvenated Nabokov can provide a spark, then management could have another issue on their hands. The question is, will they have it in them to cut their loss with DiPietro? Or will they be forced to continue the cycle and pass on Nabokov for hopes of DiPietro meeting the expectations he has yet to reach. I guess it will be up to Nabokov to force the management to decide.
Michael Jafari is a producer and contributor for WGR Sports Radio 550 in Buffalo, NY. He also served as the Web Content Coordinator Graduate Assistant for the Buffalo Sabres, Buffalo Bandits and the IIHF World Junior Championship. You can follow him on twitter: @mikejafari.
The NHL held their board of governors meeting today to address several league issues going into the season. Perhaps the biggest topic brought on to the conversation is the re-alignment of the divisions. The meeting concluded with the owners hopeful that they can have a new realignment plan made before December of this year.
When the Atlanta Thrashers franchise jumped ship to Winnipeg over summer, it’s common sense to think that having a team so far north in the Southeast division makes little sense. However, now that the Jets are destined to move to the Western conference, what team is primed to come to the East?
Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold threw some hints on what the divisions could be earlier this year, when he visited the Paul Allen Show on KFAN in Minneapolis. In the interview, Leipold said, “Our division would include the Winnipeg Jets, us, the Blues, the Nashville Predators, the Dallas Stars, Chicago Blackhawks, and maybe the Columbus Blue Jackets… maybe not depending on if they go east or west. I am all in favor of that. I think that is a grand slam, home run, hat trick for our team.” Leipold added, that he thinks the Jets are a natural rival to the Wild, going back to the North Stars-Jets days, and thinks it would be a lot of fun to see that rivalry again.
If Leipold’s words were a preview of what could come in December, then it looks as if the NHL is doing a retro look for the divisions with two divisions in each conference. Using Leipold’s hints and with the process of elimination, this is what the conferences could look like:
Central Division: Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis and Winnipeg.
Pacific Division: Anaheim, Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose, and Vancouver.
Atlantic Division: Boston, Florida, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, and Washington.
Mid-Atlantic Division: Buffalo, Carolina, Detroit, Montreal, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, and Toronto.
It has long been rumored that the Detroit Red Wings were promised to be the next team in line to move East, as they “took one for the team” for the last realignment that saw the Toronto Maple Leafs and Atlanta Thrashers join the Eastern Conference. The purpose of keeping the Red Wings in the Western conference was to use their winning tradition to fuel rivalries with newer franchises like the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Nashville Predators.
Speaking of the Blue Jackets and Predators, it is also believed that both teams are interested in moving to the East, as both teams feel that a move could further build their fan base with much earlier road games, which would drive fan attendance up because of more convenient distances. I believe a move could do Nashville good, but I think they have a strong enough market to hold their own even with the departure of the Red Wings. (By the way, it was an amazing PR move for the Predators to get Mike Fisher. Advertising Carrie Underwood at the games will draw attendance alone in the country music state!)
In my opinion, it makes perfect sense to move Detroit to the east, but I also think Columbus should follow. The NHL has tried to build up the Columbus-Detroit rivalry in hopes of someday re-creating a Michigan vs. Ohio State feeling between the two teams. If Detroit were to move away from the Blue Jackets, it would be a disaster for the Ohio based franchise, and I think it will create uncertainty in the stability of the team.
Moving Columbus and Detroit to the Eastern Conference will create uneven conferences, but now the NHL will have room to further expand and perhaps get a better opportunity for teams to succeed in the West. My proposition for next year is:
- Central Division: Chicago, *Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis and Winnipeg.
- Pacific Division: Anaheim, Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose, and Vancouver.
- Atlantic Division: Boston, Florida, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, and Washington.
- Mid-Atlantic Division: Buffalo, Carolina, *Columbus, Detroit, Montreal, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, and Toronto.
Now there is logic behind my proposal to make lopsided conferences, as my goal here is to create much more stable franchises. Now that Colorado moves to the Central division, their fans can now take quicker drives to cities like Chicago, Dallas, St. Louis, and Minnesota, as opposed to Edmonton, San Jose and Vancouver. They can also keep a rivalry going with Minnesota, which got pretty strong in the early 2000’s.
The NHL has tinkered with a few ideas of expanding to other markets such as: Kansas City and Las Vegas. The expansion teams can plug right in and start rivalries with teams within a relatively close distance. I would like some of the league’s other struggling franchises to settle in before they expand more, but this division lay-out creates the possibility.
My guess is as good as everyone else’s, but the definite answer in the new realignment will come sometime in December. While it seems Detroit will come East, I only hope the NHL can figure out a way to do what’s best for all their teams with the new divisions.
Michael Jafari is a producer and contributor for WGR Sports Radio 550 in Buffalo, NY. He also served as the Web Content Coordinator Graduate Assistant for the Buffalo Sabres, Buffalo Bandits and the IIHF World Junior Championship. You can follow him on twitter: @mikejafari.
This is the first story by Michael E. Jafari for the Business of Sports Network. Look for his articles across our sites, especially here on BizofHockey.com and BizofFootball.com. Please welcome him - Maury Brown
The NHL has more financially struggling franchises to join the New York Islanders and the Phoenix Coyotes. The NY Post has reported that the New Jersey Devils defaulted on a $100 million loan payment that was due on September 1.The report goes on to say that the default could open the door for lenders to “push the team into bankruptcy”.
Trouble has followed the franchise ever since they moved into the brand new Prudential Center in 2007.The Devils, who were estimated to be worth $218 million in the latest Forbes evaluation of the NHL franchises, have declining attendance and unpaid loans related to the building of the team’s new home.
In addition to their arena woes, part-owner Ray Chambers has sought out to sell his 47% share of the team for the past year, after an apparent fall-out with principal owner, Jeff Vanderbeek. Fallout, or not, that appears to be the case today as The Post is reporting that Vanderbeek has agreed to buy out Chambers’ stake.
The team’s financial troubles leave many doubts within the franchise. One of those questions will be the futures of star forward Zach Parise and soon-to-be hall of fame goaltender Martin Brodeur. Parise signed a one-year $6 million deal with the team in the offseason, but their 2003 first round draft pick will be an unrestricted free agent, and now the hopes of resigning their homegrown star looks grim. Brodeur’s contract also expires with the club in the offseason, and at a cap hit of over $5 million, it seems to make the most sense for the Devils to part ways with the 39-year-old. However, the divorce won’t come easy, and it could make an impact on the franchise, since Brodeur is a four-time Vezina trophy winner and led New Jersey to its three Stanley Cup victories in 1995, 2000, and 2003.
New Jersey didn’t appear to be a team under financial scrutiny in the summer of 2010, after the team signed star forward Ilya Kovalchuk to a whopping 15-year $100 million contract.The original deal was a 17-year deal worth $102 million, but the deal was nixed by the NHL due to that fact that the league accused the Devils of circumventing the league’s salary cap.If the team were to lose the legendary Brodeur and/or the young star in Parise, how can the franchise justify Kovalchuk’s contract to their fan base?
There are ways the Devils can increase their revenue and make them an attractive franchise again.The team finished with a horrendous 38-39-5 record and missed the playoffs for the first time since the 1995-1996 seasons.Despite the record, the team made a late-season run going 26-7-3 to end the season.If they start the season the same way they ended it, then perhaps the better team can increase attendance.
Another way they could increase their revenue is to make appropriate upgrades to their uniforms. The Devils haven’t made any uniform alterations since 1992, when they dropped the green from the uniform. The team could also create an alternate jersey, which would drum up jersey and t-shirt sales.
It would be a travesty if the NHL lost a team that was essentially a dynasty in the late 90’s and captured three Stanley Cup championships. It would be an even bigger shame for the New York City area, as the epic-rivalry between the Devils and Rangers brought hockey back to life in the Big Apple.
Michael E. Jafari is a contributing writer for the Business of Sports Network. He can be reached on Twitter @mikejafari
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When it comes to sports biz, this may be one of the most unique partnerships yet in Major League sports.
The New York Islanders on Friday an agreement to designate Tattoo Lou’s as the official tattoo shop of the New York Islanders Hockey Club – this is the first time a professional sports franchise has ever designated an official tattoo shop.
The wild thing is, it isn’t a partnership from a distance. The Islanders said that as part of this strategic partnership, Tattoo Lou’s will set up a tattooing and body-piercing station on the Nassau Coliseum concourse for 10 Islanders home games during the 2011-12 season. Tattoo Lou’s will also sell Islanders-centric body jewelry and tattoo-inspired Islanders t-shirts and sweatshirts.
“This partnership with the Islanders is a great fit for us and it’s a wonderful benefit to be a part of the Islanders team,” said Lou Rubino, President of Tattoo Lou’s. “This is another victory for the tattoo industry. For a long time, tattoos were frowned upon, but now, we’ve become more and more mainstream. One of the main things I love about this partnership is the history the Islanders have. My dad opened his first shop in 1958. We’re a part of Long Island history just like the Islanders.”
“Our team is thrilled to bring another Long Island institution to the Coliseum, especially one from such a unique industry,” said Justin Johnson, Senior Vice President of Corporate Partnerships & Marketing for the Islanders. “Tattoo Lou’s is an innovative brand with a creative vision. They’re a great fit with our energetic team on the ice and our youthful fan base around Long Island.”
Can’t wait to hear what the elder set thinks of this when they roll in for an Islanders game. How long before a sports clubs has Jim Rose Circus as a presenting sponsor?
Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey, as well as a contributor to the Forbes SportsMoney blog. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).
Follow the Business of Sports Network on FacebookThe NHL has yet to officially confirm the 2012 Winter Classic which is scheduled to take place at Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park, home of MLB’s Phillies.
The holdup, at this point, is still unknown -- despite anticipation for an official announcement the last few weeks.
As noted by Chuck Gormely of the Courier-Post earlier this month, coordinating games at Citizens Bank Park for Penn State’s men’s hockey team and the AHL’s outdoor game, as well as scheduling Winter Classic activities could be factors: “Since the Wells Fargo Center will have an open date on Jan. 2, the Flyers are considering opening the building and its adjacent parking lot for a daylong festival that will kick off a week of hockey-related activities.”
Whether the issue involves tickets, seating or other activities, specifics between the League and the stadium still need to be worked out.
For now, the waiting will continue for the game scheduled on Jan. 2; but, as Puck Daddy’s Greg Wyshynski points out, a charity auction by the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation has leaked details of hockey’s regular season headliner that isn’t technically official yet:
Winter Classic Spectacular - Four (4) VIP tickets (with parking) to the 2012 Winter Classic at Citizens Bank Park on January 2, 2012. Package also includes 4 VIP tickets to the 2011 New Year's Eve Alumni Classic and the January 6, 2012 Phantoms game (both played outdoors at Citizens Bank Park). The lucky winner will also receive an autographed Winter Classic jersey from Danny Briere and 4 passes to participate in one of the public skating sessions on the Winter Classic ice.
The auction information not only reveals details of a NHL alumni game, but also the continuation of the American Hockey League’s (AHL) Outdoor Classic between the Adirondack Phantoms and Hershey Bears on Jan. 6.
The first Outdoor Classic, held in 2010 at the New York State Fairgrounds between the Syracuse Crunch and Binghamton Senators, drew over 21,000 fans. The 2011 version between the Connecticut Whale and Providence Bruins was expected to draw as many, but severe weather limited the attendance to less than 16,000.
Sloane Martin is the creator of the women's sports blog Same Size Balls. She is a sports broadcaster and freelance writer. She can be followed on Twitter.
The voter turnout was weak, but for those that did go to the polls, the message was clear: paying for a new arena for the New York Islanders is not a priority.
The $400 million construction bond measure before Nassau County voters would have built a new arena for the Islanders, and a minor league ballpark. Reports by Newsday were that with 99 percent of the precincts reporting, the measure failed 57 percent against, with 43 percent for. Nassau Co. has some of the highest taxes in the state of New York.
For Isles owner Charles Wang, it was disappointing defeat. The public referendum failing came after his Lighthouse Project – a new arena and mixed use development plan, died after Town of Hempstead resident concerns.
“Right now, I have to tell you, it’s a very emotional time and we’re not going to make any comments on any specific next steps,“ Wang told a group of employees, county officials, and media on Tuesday.
But, for Wang, the message is, and has been clear: if a new arena isn’t in the offing, relocation has to be considered.
There are options for relocation, albeit distant. Kansas City has had an arena in the Sprint Center waiting for a cornerstone tenant and the Islanders have played an exhibition game there prior, albeit sparsely attended. There is currently an NHL to Portland effort that would seek to have a team in the Rose Garden, and Seattle, still stinging after the loss of the NBA Supersonics have made noise about wanting a team. Jim Balsillie sought to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes and relocate them to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, but the Maple Leafs were always fighting behind the scenes to prevent that from happening given Hamilton’s proximity to Toronto.
If Hamilton is off-limits to relocation, then the other aforementioned locations are far west, meaning realignment for the league, should relocation be seriously considered.
You can’t blame voters for wishing to not raise taxes for sports ownership anymore than you can blame Wang for now seriously considering relocation. The Islanders ranked dead last in attendance last season averaging just 11,059 a game.
Already, the Atlanta Thrashers have relocated to Winnepeg and rechristened the Jets. The Coyotes are still a considerable question mark and are life support. With the Islanders, it’s possible that the NHL could see the relocation of not one, but three teams in a short window of time.
Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey, as well as a contributor to the Forbes SportsMoney blog. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).
The NBA and NFL lockouts might have caused sports fans to think that owners were finally putting their collective feet down when it comes to exorbitant player salaries, but the NHL and its annual "Free-Agent Frenzy" has chimed in to remind us that the trend of overpaying for mediocre talent is alive and well.
Beginning Friday at noon, free agents were allowed to sign new deals, and there was no shortage of teams willing to pay up for a variety of reasons. Philadelphia, who entered the day only $8 million under the NHL's hard salary cap ($64.3 million), aggressively stole former Penguins forwards Jaromir Jagr and Max Talbot away from Pittsburgh for about $5 million, and were rumored to be conducting negotiations into the night with Brad Richards, the prized player of this year's free-agent class. On the other end of the salary cap spectrum, the Florida Panthers, whose payroll sat around $20 million prior to last Friday's draft, went on a spending spree that saw them acquire 10 players through signings and trades over the past week in an effort to both end the team's
10-year playoff drought and reach the league's salary "floor", $48.3 million.
In between those two teams, the rest of the league's front offices did not hesitate to throw around big-money contracts, with Friday's signings amounting to $216 million for over 50 players. The NHL's CBA includes both a hard cap and a cap floor (a minimum dollar amount which each team's payroll is not allowed to go below), both intended to keep the league's 30 teams on a level playing field and, theoretically, encourage parity. However, forcing teams to commit to a minimum payroll, particularly with a free-agent class as weak as the one in 2011, has resulted in general managers vastly overpaying for talent that is largely considered so-so.
Christian Ehrhoff racked up 94 points over the past 2 seasons largely due to the fact that the Vancouver power-play he helped conduct also included stars Daniel and Henrik Sedin. But that didn't stop the Buffalo Sabres from handing Ehrhoff a 10-year, $40 million contract. Buffalo's wallet didn't close there. Newly-signed LW Ville Leino hadn't scored more than 6 goals in a season before netting 19 this past year for Philadelphia while playing alongside Scott Hartnell and Daniel Briere (who combined for 58 goals), yet Sabres GM Darcy Regier handed Leino a 6-year, $27 million contract. I don't mean to harp on Buffalo's signings, as they are indicative of a larger-scale problem. Over-compensating free agents is a league-wide epidemic, and one team's refusal to participate in the madness would simply result in another being more than willing to pick up the slack. In fact, with the cap floor in place, 17 teams entered Friday needing to increase their payroll in order to satisfy the minimum $48.3 million requirement. Friday's free-agent spending binge may have been irresponsible on the part of some teams (I'm looking at you, Columbus), but in many cases it was necessary.
Fans who are agitated by their teams signing average players for premium prices should direct their anger at the system, not the executives forced to work in it. While a cap floor prevents the type of embarrassingly low payrolls seen in Major League Baseball, it also contributes to the kind of severe inflation that lead to the Blue Jackets giving "offensive defenseman" James Wisniewski (who had never amassed more than 30 points in his 8-year career until 2010-11) a 6-year, $33 million deal. It will be interesting to see if NHL team owners are able to generate enough revenue to support the bloated contracts that they handed out Friday and in recent years past. If they're not, the cap floor and the subsequent inflation caused by it will likely be a point of contention when the current CBA expires in September of 2012.
Rob Smith is a contributing writer for the Business of Sports Network. He can be reached on Twitter @RobSmithUSF or on his personal blog, http://smithersports.blogspot.com/
]]>But, some are wondering if it was staged. Still, it’s a heck of a visual.
Rich Lam, Getty Images
See more Vancouver riot pictures here via The Province
Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey, as well as a contributor to the Forbes SportsMoney blog. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).
Return to Forever? The NHL is
returning to Winnipeg
The National Hockey League is returning to Winnipeg. It was announced today that next season the now Atlanta Thrashers will be relocated to the city marking 15 years since the Jets moved south to Phoenix.
The sale of the Thrashers to True North Sports and Entertainment is reported to be $170 million. The club will play in Winnipeg's MTS Arena. A name – Jets or otherwise – has not yet been selected.
The approval of the sale must still be approved by the NHL Board of Governors.
In terms of the relocation, no investors could be found in Atlanta, allowing for relocation back to Winnipeg.
“I think we've been clear from the outset that we don't like moving franchises”, said Commissioner Bettman. “We know how important a franchise is to a community, the emotional and financial investment that people make in NHL hockey and supporting their favorite franchise.”
Select READ MORE to see the entire transcript of today’s press conference regarding the relocation announcement with SCOTT BROWN, MARK CHIPMAN, GREG SELINGER, COMMISSIONER GARY BETTMAN, JIM LUDLOW, and DAVID THOMSON
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NESN’s coverage of Saturday night’s Bruins double overtime win over Montreal in Game #5 of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series was the third highest rated Bruins playoff game in network history earning a 13.0 household rating in the Boston DMA. The last 3 games have all set records as the top three rated non Game 7 playoff ratings in network history.
Top 6 Bruins Playoff Ratings in NESN History
5/14/09 Game #7 vs. Carolina 14.1
5/14/10 Game #7 vs. Philadelphia 13.2
4/23/11 Game #5 vs. Montreal 13.0
4/19/04 Game #7 vs. Montreal 11.2
4/21/11 Game #4 vs. Montreal 10.8
4/18/11 Game #3 vs. Montreal 10.7
Tonight (Monday, April 25), NESN will deliver an encore presentation of Game #5 in its entirety beginning at 6:30 PM.
The series continues with Game #6 on Tuesday, April 26th with NESN’s regionally exclusive coverage beginning at 6:00 PM with a one-hour edition of Hess Bruins FaceOff LIVE featuring Kathryn Tappen, Barry Pederson and Gord Kluzak. Game time is at 7:00 PM with Jack Edwards, Andy Brickley and Naoko Funayama from the Bell Centre in Montreal.
Source: NESN
Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey, as well as a contributor to the Forbes SportsMoney blog. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).
UPDATE: Full release now appears below. Deal calls for every Stanley Cup playoff game to be televised nationally as well as introduces a new national broadcast on the Friday following Thanksgiving.Reports are out, including this one from Yahoo Sports' Puck Daddy blog, that the NHL is sticking with NBC/Versus for the next ten years. With Fox and Turner sports out of the running, the deal came down to either moving back to ESPN or continuing with the league's current broadcast partners.
SBJ's John Ourand confirmed earlier reports of the duration and value of the deal on Twitter this morning. The NHL will receive $2 billion over the course of the next decade from NBC/Comcast to broadcast NHL games on both cable channel Versus and NBC affiliate stations.
This deal represents a substantial increase in revenue from the flat fee of nearly $80 million from Versus and the revenue sharing arrangement with NBC. Next on the NHL's agenda will be renegotiating Canadian TV rights.
The decision was not a free choice for the NHL. NBC and Versus had the right to match any deal that ESPN or another network could have struck with the league, limiting the NHL's options greatly. The only way another network could woo them successfully would have involved making it financially unpalatable to NBC and Versus, which would have necessitated making the NHL a loss leader with their new outlet. That's never a good way to begin a television contract.
With labor woes plaguing the NFL and threatening the NBA, the NHL acted quickly to shore up its position among the major sports entertainment properties. The move ensures revenue for the league as it struggles to continue to bounce back from their own disastrous work stoppage that cancelled the entirety of the 2004-05 season. Looming a season away is the expiration of the NHL's current CBA with its players, which could imperil the 2012-13 season.
One of the contentious issues framing those discussions is expected to be the League's shutdown every four years so NHLers can participate in the winter Olympics. Last year's thrilling USA-Canada gold medal game in the Vancouver games was a huge boost to the League's image by giving stars like Ryan Miller and Sidney Crosby a platform on the league's broadcast partner's premier winter sporting event. But 2014's games are in Sochi, Russia, and game times will not fall neatly into the USA's primetime broadcast slots.
But with the league's biggest source of revenue possessing a vested interest in the participation of the game's biggest stars, the odds of NHL participation in the 2014 Sochi games just increased markedly.
Another hurdle for the league is current NHLPA director Donald Fehr. Fehr took the helm last fall in a move that prompted the Biz of Hockey's Matthew Coller and Jeff Levine to speculate on the ramifications for the upcoming CBA talks. Fehr remains a polarizing figure from his stewardship of the MLBPA, but as Coller noted, "the average player’s salary went from $330,000 to more than $2 million. The minimum salary went from $40,000 to $200,000" during Fehr's tenure. With the league's new sources of cash, the players have the right man for the job of ensuring they get a fair cut of the action.
Read the complete release by clicking here.
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What is more entertaining to NHL fans than a raucous hockey game at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale Arizona? The answer is, quite frankly, the yet to come commentary by Coyotes tough guy and Twitter virtuoso Paul Bissonnette.
Bissonnette, a self-proclaimed “4th line duster” for the playoff-bound Phoenix Coyotes, has managed to harness Twitter to forge an identity for himself that transcends his role as a sparingly used role player. His treasure trove of one-liners has won him thousands of Twitter followers that, despite his lack of ice time, have turned him into an unlikely magnet for sponsorship dollars.
The end game for Bissonnette was never for Twitter to become a marketing tool. He initially created his Twitter account on the recommendation of former teammate Scottie Upshall and thought it would be fun to use Twitter in a way that suited his style.
“I have no filter and I like it when I get a rise out of people; that makes it fun,” explained Bissonnette in his short-lived Hockey News Blog. “I like to think outside the box and make it fun because that’s my personality.”
Although he currently spends his days as a sparingly used grinder and occasional pugilist, Bissonnette’s off the ice activities make him one of the pioneering professional athletes on Twitter. His consistently hilarious and random comments on the abbreviated social networking website have earned Bissonnette a cult following of over 67,000 followers that includes Yahoo’s Puck Daddy Blog.
“BizNasty” has also forged partnerships with Taco Bell and hockey lifestyle apparel company Sauce Hockey. These niche deals work to maximize the former Pittsburgh Penguin’s marketability, and help to set up a career for Bissonnette after his playing days are over.
Bissonnette is one of just a few professional athletes that have harnessed new media such as Twitter and invested little more than their own time to make themselves into a brand. However, no brand is as unique as the one being forged by Bissonnette.
“It’s taken off,” said Bissonnette in a recent interview with ProHockeyTalk. “I’ve kind of taken it [tweeting] to the next level and people have kind of embraced it.”
Although he seems to have stumbled on this marketing method, more athletes should take a page from Bissonnette’s playbook as a means to connect with fans and sponsors as a means to shape their brand identity. However, like any activity, tweeting does have its potential hazards.
Over the summer, Bissonnette found himself in hot water over his Twitter comments made in jest about Ilya Kovalchuk’s seventeen-year contract being rejected by the NHL. Shortly thereafter, he deleted his Twitter account. Thankfully, Bissonnette came to his senses and created a new Twitter account.
Bissonnette’s Coyotes play the Red Wings tonight in game one of what should be a long and brutal first round playoff series. This is a rematch of last year’s first round series, which saw the upstart Coyotes push the veteran laden Wings to seven games before finally being eliminated. This series will probably be just as tight.
Although Bissonnette may not be a deciding factor in the box score of tonight’s game, one can assume that his presence will be felt on the ice (perhaps a fight), but most certainly shortly thereafter in the Twitter blogosphere, as he continues to shape his brand and sets himself up for life after hockey.
You can follow Bissonnette by clicking here @BizNasty2point0.
Jeff Levine is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He is a sports attorney, and the Executive Director of One Sports and Entertainment, International.
The Florida Panthers are
leveraging possible lockouts in
the NFL and NBA in ad
campaigns
While most of the sports-watching public is awaiting the potential doomsday of both an NFL and NBA lockout in the fall, other sports leagues are looking to take advantage.
The Florida Panthers of the NHL, for example, have started using this advertising campaign on their website, which promotes the Panthers as a viable and desirable option for sports fans in normally crowded Florida market come November.
The slogan reads alongside two juxtaposed pictures of Panthers players and a football and basketball in a beach chair in an ocean setting:
In October 2011: We’re Guaranteed to Play. They’re not!
The Panthers’ campaign works under the understanding that many fans may not be willing to commit to buying tickets to Dolphins or Heat games because of the potential lockouts. In the ad, the organization also promotes its biggest matchups of the season with traditional hockey teams that Florida-transplants from the North may find enticing: Montreal, Chicago, Philadelphia, Toronto, Pittsburgh and Washington.
Since the NBA has some time before the June 30th expiration of its current collective bargaining agreement, the focus has been on the NFL’s negotiating crisis and how fans will respond to not having football every Sunday. The United Football League (UFL) is seeking to bank on the potential NFL lockout.
Even though ESPN authorities have said that they have “no current plans” to adopt UFL broadcasts if the NFL season is cut short or cancelled, the league is pushing itself as an option for professional football this fall.
“Every network is looking at content they have to fill in, and people are seeing us as a potential viable option,” UFL commissioner, Michael Huyghue told TSN.
Huyghue said the league lost $30 million in its inaugural season in 2009 and $50 million last season. But league officials are optimistic about where the league could escalate given the potential for a television contract granted there’s an NFL lockout.
“To be candid, we'd be crazy to quit now if there's going to be a lockout,” UFL Founder and Locos Owner Bill Hambrecht told KLAS-TV. “We'd be the only game in town. Almost under any circumstances, we have to see through what's going to happen with the lockout.”
Huyghue insists that the UFL’s plans are not contingent on an NFL lockout. “It's not a business strategy for us,” he said. “It's potentially an opportunity.”
The Florida Panthers and the UFL are two examples among many sports leagues and individual teams that could benefit from the elimination of competing with the NFL for viewership, attendance and attention.
While the Panthers are promoting an NFL lockout in their advertising, Huyghue and the UFL have approached the issue more cautiously.
“There's been so much anticipation for what a lockout might mean,” Huyghue told ESPN. “We're still around. Just breathing has a lot to do with the chance to succeed.”
Whether the UFL or NHL would actually benefit from an NFL lockout is yet to be seen.
Sloane Martin is the creator of the women's sports blog Same Size Balls. She is a sports broadcaster and freelance writer. She can be followed on Twitter.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has responded to Air Canada's threat that they would pull sponsorship if Boston Bruins' defenseman Zdeno Chara was not punished for a hit which took place Tuesday against Montreal Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty. The Globe and Mail reports Bettman said: “Air Canada is a great brand as is the National Hockey League and if they decide that they need to do other things with their sponsorship dollars, that’s their prerogative,” when asked if he took the threat seriously.
Bettman said people around the NHL have commended the league for the way they handled the Chara hit.
Slam Sports enitially reported that one of the NHL's largest financial corporate backers sent a letter to the NHL demanding “immediate” and “serious” action against Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara for his hit on Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty. Air Canada, who owns naming rights to Toronto's Air Canada Centre and sponsors other Canadian teams, wrote the commissioner's office after the NHL elected not to punish Chara.
"We are contacting you (Wednesday) to voice our concern over (Tuesday night's) incident involving Max Pacioretty and Zdeno Chara at the Bell Centre in Montreal," wrote Air Canada's director of communications Denis Vandal. "This is following several other incidents involving career-threatening and life-threatening headshots in the NHL recently."
"From a corporate social responsibility standpoint, it is becoming increasingly difficult to associate our brand with sports events which could lead to serious and irresponsible accidents; action must be taken by the NHL before we are encountered with a fatality.
"Unless the NHL takes immediate action with serious suspension to the players in question to curtail these life-threatening injuries, Air Canada will withdraw its sponsorship of hockey."
Air Canada reportedly sent his letter to all six Canadian NHL governors. Vandal continued: "While we support countless sports, arts and community events, we are having difficulty rationalizing our sponsorship of hockey unless the NHL takes responsibily to protect both the players and the integrity of the game."
NHL VP Mike Murphy ruled that Chara's hit had “no basis to impose supplemental discipline.”
While some have suggested Air Canada is simply looking for good publicity, the NHL still has a problem on their hands. The head office has faced criticism for the arbitrary nature of nearly every suspension or fine this season. Many players and personnel have expressed confusion about what hits warrant suspension or fine.
It is extremely unlikely Air Canada would pull sponsorship due to one ruling, but the message should be enough for the NHL office to make an effort to clarify its rulings.
Matthew Coller is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network, and is a freelance writer. He can be followed on Twitter
]]>Months ago, we pronounced this thing over. Speaking with a high-ranking Coyotes executive about how things would be different under new ownership, he seemed optimistic. The executive talked about having less financial strains on things not just player related like marketing and sales. “Whew, it’s over,” was his general sentiment.
Eggs counted, now for them to hatch…..
The Goldwater Institute has battled against deals to sell the Coyotes from the beginning. They were either right to question the Jerry Reinsdorf situation or ran him out of town. It seemed GWI was protecting the people of the City of Glendale. Lucky for the ‘Yotes, another buyer for the NHL-run franchise named Matthew Hulsizer dropped out of the sky with a cape on and offered to save the team.
The deal Hulsizer and the city agreed to sounds a little like something Henry Potter concocted. The city agrees to sell bonds as part of a $197 million plan to help Hulsizer buy the team for between $160 and $170 million. Glendale would pay $100 million to their new owner for the rights to parking revenue and pay him $97 million more to run Jobing.com arena. In turn, Hulsizer would pay off the NHL and the team’s debt to the league.
“An investment….not a gift”
While it’s a risk, if the deal doesn’t go through, ESPN.com said this week, the city will lose its team and more than $500 million. Enter: Goldwater Institute. The Phoenix Business Journal wrote Friday that Goldwater is threatening a lawsuit if Glendale tries to sell bonds. CEO Darcy Olsen, the Journal said, claims the city already owns the parking rights and should not have to buy them for $100 million. The city says that’s incorrect, but Olsen contends Hulsizer should borrow the money to buy the Coyotes, not be given it by the city.
Your move, commish
The Phoenix Coyotes were supposed to have a buyer by Jan 1. Three months later, things are log jammed due to Goldwater’s insistence that the city is getting a bad deal. Bonds cannot be sold until things are cleared up. Since Goldwater seems unrelenting, it becomes NHL commissioner Gary Bettman’s move. The commissioner has not set a timetable for Glendale to work out its deal for the Coyotes, but he may have to soon. The team loses around $20 million per year and the NHL is footing the bill – all while folks in Winnipeg patiently wait in hopes to get their team back.
While ESPN.com’s Scott Burnside questioned the motives of Goldwater. It appears the city is either guaranteed to lose millions or just likely to lose millions. Bettman has poured his soul into trying to keep this team in Phoenix, but how long can the NHL wait? Certainly not long enough to take another $20 million in debt.
What now?
ESPN's Burnside is reporting Glendale will sue Goldwater Institute alleging the firm interfered with the team's sale by reaching out to potential bond buyers warning them not to purchase the municipal bonds. The NHL hired a former Reinsdorf associate to work with Goldwater to work out the two sides' differences. However, Burnside said, the NHL has reached its breaking point and may have to move quickly if the differences are not resolved.
Matthew Coller is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network, and is a freelance writer. He can be followed on Twitter
]]>These number were filed in a lawsuit by Atlanta Spirit, who owns the team, against a city law firm. Atlanta Spirit claims faulty legal work is to blame for the sale not going through.
The suit, according to the Press, claims the owners had been trying to sell the team over the past six years but things came to a halt due to a split with co-owner Steve Belkin. The Boston-based Belkin's shares were finally bought out in December.
Remaining owners of the Thrashers' claim is that the dispute should have ended in August 2005, but didn't because the Atlanta law firm King & Spalding hadn't negotiated a “fatally flawed contract.”
King & Spalding, the suit says, were hired to negotiate Belkin's buyout and give Belkin fair value for his 30 percent stake in the team. Atlanta Spirit says they gave Belkin too much, then tried to conceal their error.
"Instead of quickly buying out their co-owner's interest for a fair price in the fall of 2005, plaintiffs were tied up in litigation for five years, operation of the Atlanta Hawks and the Atlanta Thrashers was impaired and title to the franchises was clouded," the lawsuit said.
While Canada licks its chops in hopes of the Thrashers heading North, the Thrashers sit toward the bottom of the league in attendance and the NHL can't be pleased with more ownership troubles. Atlanta Spirit originally wanted to sell the team in the same range as franchises such as the Tampa Bay Lightning who sold for $204 million, but they say it is extremely unlikely they could sell for anywhere near that price.
Matthew Coller is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network, and is a freelance writer. He can be followed on Twitter
]]>Former executive producer for ESPN's Sportscenter Mark Preisler will now take the same position at NHL Network. This makes the second major hire at NHL Network in the past few months. Charles Coplin, who was president of programming for the NFL, was hired to overhaul NHL Network in late August last year. No surprise, Coplin was quoted in the press release announcing Preisler.
“The NHL is thrilled to have Mark join our team,” said Coplin. “The NHL Network is a vitally important platform that allows our millions of our fans across North America to follow their favorite teams and players. We look forward to the broadcast experience that Mark will bring to the Network to bring our fans even closer to the action and tell the great stories of our players in greater depth.”
NHL Network's push for success doesn't end with two top executives from two wildly successful sports entities, but the league joined hands with one of Time Warner Cable's programming execs to help drive distribution, SportsBusiness Journal's John Ourand reported in December. David Proper signed on as the NHL's executive vice president of media strategies.
It isn't a new strategy, but it sure is a good one: use media to sell, the more people know, the more they care. Take the NFL for example: quality of coverage has increased at a ridiculous rate on NFL Network as well as all the networks which cover the league. It shouldn't come as a surprise that every network has set viewership records and the popularity of the NFL is at an all-time high. The NHL is merely following the blueprint of increasing the quality of coverage to see dividends.
Matthew Coller is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network, and is a freelance writer. He can be followed on Twitter
]]>Last year, the NHL ended two percent up from their mid-point attendance numbers. Some of the teams who have low numbers this year at mid-point such as the Phoenix Coyotes at 58.8 percent could see major recovery if they are again competitive. The Coyotes filled 12 percent more of their arena in the second half than they did in the first. The Atlanta Thrashers have struggled to bring fans in, but if they continue to pressure the Washington Capitals for the division lead, it’s likely they’ll see a similar recovery to Phoenix.
The Los Angeles Kings have filled nine percent more of their arena while the Carolina Hurricanes are putting seven percent more bodies in seats than at this point last year. Here are all the numbers:
Team (mid-season 09-10 % of capacity) - (mid-season 10-11) = +/- %
Blackhawks - (105.1) - (107.6) = 2.5%
Canadiens - (100%) - (100%) = 0%
Red Wings - (95.3%) - (96.1%) = 0.8%
Flyers - (99.6%) - (100.5%) = 0.9%
Maple Leafs - (102.3%) - (102.8%) = 0.5%
Flames - (100%) - (100%) = 0%
Senators - (96.2%) - (96.2%) = 0%
Canucks - (102.1%) - (100.3%) = -1.8%
Wild - (100.7%) - (96.5%) = -4.2%
Blues - (97.7%) - (100%) = 2.3%
Sabres - (98.2%) - (97.9%) = -0.3%
Rangers - (100%) - (98.9) = -1.1%
Capitals - (100%) - (100%) = 0%
Stars - (91.6%) - (78.6%) = -13.0%
Sharks - (100.3%) - (100.4%) = 0.1%
Bruins - (97.9%) - (100%) = 2.1%
Ducks - (86.5%) - (84.6%) = -1.9%
Penguins - (100.6%) - (100.7%) = 0.1%
Oilers - (100%) - (100%) = 0%
Hurricanes - (76.3%) - (83.6%) = 7.3%
Kings - (88.2%) - (97.7%) = 9.0%
Devils - (84.3%) - (82.1%) = -2.2%
Panthers - (74.6%) - (77.7%) = 3.1%
Blue Jackets - (80.7%) - (70.6%) = -10.1%
Avalanche - (76.1%) - (82.6) = 6.5%
Predators - (80.2%) - (93.4%) = 13.2%
Coyotes - (56.1%) - (58.8%) = 2.7%
Thrashers - (73.7%) - (66.3%) = -7.4%
Islanders - (75.5%) - (62.2%) = -13.3%
*Lightning - (72.9%) - (84.5%) = 11.6%
Totals (90.4%) - (90.6%) = 0.2%\
*Correction - Tampa Bay was included in final numbers, but was accidentally not transfered over to the list. The Lightning have filled 11.6 percent more of their arena than at mid-season last year. My apologies.*
Matthew Coller is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network, and is a freelance writer. He can be followed on Twitter
]]>The front office decided there was only one way to save the franchise: a mascot related publicity stunt. Atlanta Thrashers’ mascot Thrash stole a Zamboni in attempts to draw the type attention the team deserves for its hot start. Of course, stealing is wrong and Thrash was arrested. The only way Thrash will avoid jail time is if fans buy 5,000 additional tickets to remaining December home games.
Here’s the video created by Thrashers.com
It’s always fun to get the mascot involved, but it makes the team look desperate for attention. Can we imagine the Toronto Maple Leafs or Boston Bruins sending the mascot out on the freeway to sell an additional 5,000 tickets?
Matthew Coller is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network, and is a freelance writer. He can be followed on Twitter
]]>If the city approves the lease, Chicago businessman Matthew Hulsizer would be clear to purchase the team. Hulsizer, who was unanimously approved by the NHL Board of Governors this week,
The NHL, who currently owns the Coyotes, said a new lease agreement with the city was a requirement for any new owner of the team. As part of the plan, the city will purchase arena parking rights for $100 million and pay $97 million as a fee to the Hulsizer group to manage the arena.
Here’s how the payments break down:
First partial fiscal year - $10 million
Year two - $20 million
Year three - $20 million
Year four - $17 million
Year five - $15 million
Year six - $15 million
Glendale promised to pay back the $25 million in losses to the NHL if the sale did not happen. Hulsizer emerged as a buyer after deals with Chicago sports mogul Jerry Reinsdorf and Canadian group Ice Edge Holdings fell though.
Matthew Coller is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network, and is a freelance writer. He can be followed on Twitter
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