Could it be? We’ve heard this song before, but this time the City of Glendale might not be crying wolf, or rather Coyote. The Associated Press reported Friday that The Glendale City Council has scheduled a vote for Tuesday on a new 30-year lease for the Phoenix Coyotes. The City would take on up to $197 million in obligations over the next six years.
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
The Associated Press reported Wednesday that Buffalo Sabres' owner Tom Golisano is "seriously considering" selling the team to Pennsylvania billionaire Terry Pegula. Sabres' minority owner Larry Quinn declined comment.
Tuesday, more reports surfaced that Pegula signed a letter of intent to purchase the Sabres for $150 million and that the sale of the team could happen sometime in late December or early January.
Forbes ranked the Sabres as the 23rd most valuable NHL franchise, worth $170 million. Golisano bought the team in 2003 for $92 million.
Matthew Coller is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network, and is a freelance writer. He can be followed on Twitter
Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe reported Sunday that the Buffalo Sabres’ owner Tom Golisano may be searching for a potential buyer for the team. Dupont wrote:
“Getting vibes once again that Sabres owner Tom Golisano is poking around for a prospective buyer for his Lake Erie stick carriers. Over the summer, Golisano had the locals all aflutter when he noted on local talk radio, “Nothing is written in concrete, but at this point I would say I’m probably going to be the owner of the Buffalo Sabres in five years, maybe 10 years.’’ The name that comes up in all NHL club sales talk is RIMM guru/hockey lover Jim Balsillie, who made himself no friends among NHL owners when he tried to pirate the Phoenix Coyotes away to Toronto’s outer suburbs. But the key name to keep in mind if this heats up: Terry Pegula. He’s the guy who forked over the $88 million gift for Penn State to build a rink and fund scholarships for Division 1 hockey. Pegula’s wife, Kim, is from suburban Buffalo, a good sign for the locals. No one ever wants to leave the Buff.”
News of the team being up for sale has resurfaced before. In 2008, several outlets including ESPN reported that Golisano, who has owned the team since 2003, was considering a sale to Basillie. Sabres minority owner Larry Quinn denied reports at the time as did Basille via his lawyer.
More talk of a sale surfaced in July 2010 when Golisano said he’d “probably be the owner of the Buffalo Sabres in five years.”
Basillie has shown interest in becoming an NHL owner before. He made attempts to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes and move the team to Hamilton earlier this year.
Matthew Coller is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network, and is a freelance writer. He can be followed on Twitter
The NHL's No Words and History Will Be Made ad campaigns won awards at the inaugural PromaxBDA Sports Media Marketing Awards. More than 25 awards were presented to honor outstanding sports marketing and promotion work from cable and broadcast to video games, leagues and teams. Selecting winners was a panel of recognizable names including Turner Broadcasting Systems President of Sales David Levy, Owner of HDNet and the Dallas Mavericks Mark Cuban, Founder and Creative Chairman of Droga5 David Droga, Advertising Age columnist and on-air host of NPR Bob Garfield, President of HBO Sports Ross Greenburg, CMO of Fox Sports Media Group Eric Markgraf, Senior writer and columnist for ESPN.com Bill Simmons, and other industry influencers.
According to the press release, the NHL beat out other finalists including MLB, ESPN and Fox Sports. In accepting the awards, Brian Jennings, NHL executive vice president of marketing said, “We are so proud to be honored for these prestigious awards among some of the most influential players in the industry. It’s been rewarding to see how the fans have reacted to these campaigns and how they continue to inspire our future projects.”
The NHL had it's best season since the lockout last season, and while compelling play was probably the biggest draw, we've seen how the NBA's popularity can be boosted by a successful marketing campaign, 2009-10 for the NHL was no different. Following the NBA's marketing lead, the NHL will have to continue where it left off, especially in the last year of the league's current TV deal with Versus/NBC. Marketing campaigns' success such as the No Words and History Will Be Made are the type that the NHL is likely hoping catch more than just the fans' eyes, but also those of sports monsters ESPN and FOX.
Here is the rest of the press release:
"No Words debuted during the 2010 Stanley Cup Final and was created to showcase the raw emotions players feel upon winning the Stanley Cup –hockey’s ultimate prize and the most prestigious trophy in all of sports. No words can express how the winner is feeling in that moment. The League tapped into its decades of footage and created a spot that struck a chord in the heart of not only hockey fans, but sports fans everywhere. The significant distribution of “No Words” through TV and Internet delivered in just about every measurable metric: Game 6 on NBC was the highest-rated NHL game in the U.S. in 36 years. Four of the series’ six games on NBC averaged 6.1 million viewers, the best on network TV in 13 years. Game 3 on VERSUS was the highest-rated telecast ever in network history. The Stanley Cup ranked as the number one trending topic worldwide on Twitter throughout the Stanley Cup Final and was the most watched series ever.
During the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs the History Will Be Made campaign debuted TV spots featuring prominent playoff moments made by NHL greats, including Bobby Orr. History Will Be Made “Orr” featured Bobby Orr and his iconic, Cup-winning, overtime goal in 1970. Inspired fans created their own versions of a History Will Be Made commercial and posting on YouTube, which generated more than 2,400 spots — something no one could’ve predicted. The NHL and fan generated spots resulted in over 8 million views and an incremental media value of $4.08 million. Compelling content combined with significant distribution through traditional and new media, it became one of the most successful campaigns in NHL history driving over 302 million TV viewers for the 2009-10 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the most watched in 36 years.
Additional League recognitions included the Toronto Maple Leafs, who took home the gold for their 2010 season ticket package in the Best Team Promotion (Print, Poster, Outdoor and Out of Home) category.
Matthew Coller is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network, and is a freelance writer. He can be followed on Twitter
Campbell insists he's done nothing for us to question his integrity, wasn't biased on calls concerning his son and that we've all taken everything out of context. What do you think?
This week in the NHL was dominated over talk of e-mails sent by NHL head disciplinarian Colin Campbell that revealed apparent conflicts of interest including judgments made on players including his son Gregory. The e-mails, which were discovered by www.mc79hockey.com 's Tyler Dellow, included Campbell calling for a referee to be fired after a call against his son, and calling Bruins' forward Marc Savard a “little fake artist.”
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said via NHL.com that he gives Campbell his support and sees no wrongdoing. He said:
"I want to talk about the matter of Colie Campbell and the e-mails and the assertion by some people on the Internet and in the media that some internal e-mails that he wrote three years ago somehow suggest his decisions on supplemental discipline have been in some way biased. "There are a variety of unfortunate aspects to these assertions, and perhaps the most unfortunate of all is that the people making them have not had the opportunity to observe Colie's professionalism and integrity. He brings that to every one of his many duties with the NHL day in and day out, year after year. He takes his job extremely seriously, and it is a very difficult job. He takes his service to the game, the teams and the players as seriously as any human being can and he is somebody of the utmost integrity, and that's the way people around the League view him."
I know that we owe it to our fans and our fans should expect that there is going to be integrity in our game in everything we do, and we believe we do that. People will disagree with decisions -- reasonable people can always differ, especially when you deal with supplemental discipline. Obviously when you're dealing with supplemental discipline, no two acts are the same, the context is different, the situation's different, the players' histories are different. I've said it repeatedly -- supplemental disciplines are like snowflakes, no two are the same. And to do it, and to do it well, that is administer supplemental discipline, you must know the game, you must know all aspects of the game, you must be able to distinguish between an intentional act and an accident resulting from a hockey play. "Colie can do that. He has 40 years in this game, he's levied 363 regular-season suspensions, including two today, and people have disagreed with him -- but our clubs have never challenged his integrity or fairness. As a fan, I hope you take comfort in the fact the teams you root for would never accept anything less than fair, unbiased treatment -- in short, integrity. The support for Colie from our clubs, unsolicited, has been overwhelming, and I think everybody can take comfort in that fact because our clubs and the people who are involved in this process intimately and see what's going on and know what's going on and are the recipients of the treatment under this, all believe in Colie and the job that he does. And so he has our full support, as do all the members of our Hockey Operations Department."
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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