Tag Archives: Florida Panthers

Sitting In the Middle of a Full House in St. Paul is A Lot Different than Sitting in Florida, Tampa or Phoenix — Or Even Denver.

Posted on November 7, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

ST. PAUL, Minn. — It’s a gorgeous night in the Twin Towns and the “Team of 18,000″ is getting ready to sing State of Hockey here at the Xcel Energy Centre. It’s the Minnesota Wild, a day before Shane Hnidy’s 34th birthday, against the Dallas Stars, with Minnesota’s beloved Mike Modano, not only in the lineup but starting the game and playing on the No. 1 line, at age 39.

It’s been a shaky start to the 2009-2010 season for the Wild. Minnesota’s team heads into tonight’s game at 5-10-0 (1-7-0 on the road) and while the record hasn’t negatively affected the team’s attendance this season, it has been a grind on the staff.

“It’s tough,” said the Wild’s VP of communications Bill Robertson earlier tonight. “It’s a tough economy, it’s tough to sell tickets. We still sell every seat, but we’re not overflowing with standing room like we usually are and it’s tougher to sell corporate suites than it used to be.

“On the upside, merchandise sales are way up because of fans have really taken to our third jersey.”

It’s hard to listen to a guy — even a great guy like Billy Rob — worry about the fans in Minnesota after you’ve already seen games in Florida, Tampa and Nashville this season and have interviewed Doug Moss, the president of the Phoenix Coyotes (check out www.hotdoghockey.com for that interview). Those are markets with big trouble. There is no trouble at all in St. Paul.

However, no one ever would have believed that there could be trouble in Denver, the home of the Colorado Avalanche, and it appears now that there is.

Wednesday night, for a game against Phoenix, the Avalanche drew a franchise-low 11,012 (remember, that’s the announced crowd) ticket buyers. This season, the Avs have averaged just 14,759 through its first five home games and that once again means, “Who cares if MTS Centre has only 15,001 seats?” Not even the red-hot Colorado Avalanche average 15,000 per game these days.

(Oops, Cal Clutterbuck just scored a shorthanded goal from our pal Shane Hnidy.)

With an average of 14,759 per game, the Avalanche stand 25th in the NHL in per-game attendance ahead of only Florida, Tampa Bay, Nashville, the New York Islanders and Phoenix.

Meanwhile, after watching the Atlanta Thrashers play on TV this week,  in front of a crowd that appeared to include the players’ parents and no one else, it’s hard to imagine the Thrashers have the nerve to say they average more per game than the Avs or even the Winnipeg South Blues.

Meanwhile, there will soon be an ownership change in South Florida. According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Alan Cohen’s days as majority owner of the Panthers are coming to an end, as two partners in his ownership group are expected to take control of the team.

Two Boca Raton businessmen, Panthers Vice-Chairman Cliff Viner and Managing Director Stu Siegel, will buy most of Cohen’s 43 per cent of the team and become co-managing partners.

According to the Sun-Sentinel, “Panthers fans are desperate for change. The team has not made the playoffs since 2000, the longest playoff drought in the NHL, and has undergone numerous coaching and general manager changes and traded away some of its best players, including Roberto Luongo, Olli Jokinen and Jay Bouwmeester.”

But here’s the kicker, the paper added: “The ownership change is not expected to resolve the team’s financial struggles. The team’s parent company, Sunrise Sports & Entertainment, is seeking Broward County’s help to restructure its debt on the county-owned BankAtlantic Center.”

It’s a mess on Long Island, Phoenix is a disaster (only 5,585 this past Monday at jobing.com Arena), Tampa Bay and Nashville are hurting, the Columbus Chamber of Commerce has conceded that the Blue Jackets don’t have much life left and now Florida needs government help from a government that isn’t flush.

We all know Gary Bettman doesn’t want to admit it, but the NHL is in big, big trouble.

* * *

KELLY SAYS “BULL-CACA.” THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA DOESN’T RESPOND IN ANGER. WONDER WHY?

Friday morning, during an interview with Tom McGouran, Kathy Kennedy and The Coach, on 92-CITI-FM, Blue Bombers coach Mike Kelly poked the local mainstream media with a stick. Again.

Kelly, laughing all the way, said, “You guys have the only media outlet that isn’t bull-caca.”

He then added, “I don’t think I can be fined $2,000 by the league for saying ‘bull-caca.” Can I? ”

He was assured by McGouran that it was unlikely he’d be fined. In fact, McGouran agreed with him.

“Can’t be fined for telling the truth,” McGouran laughed.

That’s true to an extent. Kelly could still be fined because he told the truth the first time and was fined.

Then again, he had no bone to pick with CITI, a spot on the dial where the interviewers ask good, solid questions without being rude and obnoxious.

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Hey Winnipeg: How About Rick Nash as a Jet?

Posted on November 5, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

The following is from today’s Columbus Dispatch:

The Columbus Blue Jackets could leave central Ohio if the team can’t fix an economic model that is causing losses of $12 million a year, according to a report issued today by the Columbus Chamber (of Commerce). But a deal to keep the hockey team here and the Arena District alive — the team and the district generated $30 million in taxes last year — probably will include asking for public dollars, and soon.

“We believe there is a sense of urgency here,” said Ty D. Marsh, chamber president and CEO. “We’re looking for a solution or progress by the end of the year.”

We’ve heard the rumours (mostly fabricated) about how David Thomson, he of the Thomson-Reuters Thomsons, wants to buy the Atlanta Thrashers and move them to Winnipeg. It’s a nice thought, but the move of the Thrashers, if there is ever a move of the Thrashers (and if you’ve seen the empty seats in Phillips Arena, there might be), is probably behind the moves of the Phoenix Coyotes, Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators and Columbus Blue Jackets. Maybe even the Tampa Bay Lightning.

It’s very unlikely the Blue Jackets have made any money in Columbus since the creation of the salary cap — and floor. For most owners, the cap is way too high because the revenues — especially corporate — in the non-traditional or smaller U.S. markets will never touch the traditional big U.S. markets or the six Canadian markets. The Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers can handle a $57 million cap and $45 million floor, the Predators, Panthers, Coyotes and Blue Jackets can’t.

No matter how well the Blue Jackets play — and they are pretty good — it will be virtually impossible to sell enough tickets to match the shortfall. In other words, even if the Blue Jackets sell out, they still won’t make enough money to turn a profit.

If there is a team that becomes available soon, it will be Columbus. Commissioner Bettman still believes the Coyotes can make it in Phoenix and he’ll go to the poor house to see that it happens. Columbus, however, is a college town and Triple A market that will never be a profitable major sports centre.

If any team moves, any time soon, it will be the Columbus Blue Jackets.

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The Phoney Coyotes Have Lost $389 Million Since 2004

Posted on September 30, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

I love to say I told you so. It’s fun.

People used to look at me funny when I suggested that the Phoenix Coyotes had lost far more than $500 million since the Winnipeg Jets were moved to the desert in 1996.

They won’t look at me funny anymore.

Yesterday, when Phoenix bankruptcy Judge Redfield T. Baum rejected both bids to purchase the Coyotes — although the NHL will be allowed to amend its bid and try again — he also opened up the books to the public. Here are the numbers:

The Phoenix Coyotes Hockey Club lost the following amounts of money:

2004 — $75 million

2005 — $50 million

2006 — $75 million

2007 — $117 million

2008 — $72 million

That’s $389 million in five seasons. $389 million!!!!!!!

Baum said: “Financial statements raise substantial doubt as to the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.”

Well, no shit Sherlock.

The Phoenix Coyotes are a disaster. And it’s very likely the Florida Panthers, Anaheim Ducks, Atlanta Thrashers, Nashville Predators, Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Islanders are closing in on disaster territory, as well.

The imagination runs wild thinking of how much money that Phoenix franchise will lose this year. And ol’ Judge Redfield T. Baum, on the eve of the 2009-2010 NHL season, thinks it will be a good idea if that dreadful hockey club stays right there  in Glendale, Ariz., for the next seven months.

The people who run the NHL, who had their “membership selection right and control over home team location rights” protected by a bankruptcy judge who has decided to drive a joke of a franchise deeper into the financial abyss, should be counting their lucky stars tonight. Anybody else who looked at those numbers would have yelled “Shut that thing down, right now!”

No wonder the U.S. in a recession/depression. This is a wonderful example of how money is frittered away in the United States. There wasn’t one person in this entire exercise who demonstrated any fiduciary ability whatsover. I wonder how many people have been stiffed by this “business?”

Sadly, throughout this entire procedure, there has not been one single person who has provided even the slightest hint that he could run a one-car funeral. I fear for the future of capitalism.

This week’s question: How much money WILL the Phoenix Coyotes lose this year? The over-under line is at $200 million.

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If Heatley says “No”, it’s Bad for Hockey and the NHL Needs to Intervene.

Posted on July 1, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Free Agent Frenzy, Day 1…

Granted, there is a chance Dany Heatley could still end up as a member of the Edmonton Oilers, but let’s get something straight here: When you ask for a trade and then decide not to waive your no-trade clause (Who’s the idiot GM who puts that crap in a contract anyway?), you have a problem.

Sure, Heatley told his agent J.P. Barry, the “he wanted to sleep on it,” and that’s fine, but only a tremendously selfish prick with no consideration for three other hockey players, two franchises, the league and the game would pull a stunt like that.

Here’s the deal: Heatley was going to get what he wanted. He asked for a trade out of Ottawa and even though he went public with his demands and put the Senators in a bind, forcing them to go begging to teams to take the alleged superstar off their hands, Bryan Murray did the best he could to get the trade arranged.

For the Senators, the best deal was with Edmonton. The Oilers were going to send 22-year-old forward Andrew Cogliano, 26-year-old forward Dustin Penner and 23-year-old defenceman Ladislav Smid to Ottawa in exchange for the disgruntled 28-year-old Heatley. It was a good deal all around. The Oilers would get the sniper they need while the Sens would get three young players with plenty of upside.

But then Heatley decided NOT to waive his no-trade clause. He could still change his mind and some believe he will, right after the Senators (not the Oilers) pay him his $4 million bonus. But that’s even more selfish, more greedy and more childish.

If Heatley doesn’t come to his senses and go to Edmonton, the league has to take action. This was a trade  made in good faith and the players involved all knew they were moving. We’re dealing with people’s lives here, but then again rich, selfish jock pricks don’t care about other people. The League, in order to save the credibility of its franchises, has to tell Heatley’s people that he’s going to Edmonton and then if he doesn’t like it, he can go ahead and ask for a trade there.

Heatley, who should know better, has just told the world that Edmonton is a dump. “I’m not going to play there.” It’s wrong. It’s wrong because you don’t ask for a trade and then not accept the trade after it’s done.

In order to save its own credibility — that is, if Heatley insists he’s not going — the league must force this trade.

In the meantime:

1) Great news for old friend Colton Orr. Four years, $4 million from the Leafs. Orr’s rise to the NHL is a great story and this is a great opportunity for a hardworking 27-year-old player.

2) Mattias Ohlund, 32, gets seven years in Tampa. Seven? Wow.

3) The Sedin Twins go back to Vancouver and Ohlund heads south. That’s a debatable decision by the Canucks. Wouldn’t you rather have Ohlund and, say, Marian Gaborik, than the Sedins?

4) Three goalie moves: Dwayne Roloson goes from Edmonton to the Islanders, Ty Conklin goes from Detroit to St. Louis and Craig Anderson goes from Florida to Colorado. Zzzzzzzzzz.

5) Marian Hossa, 30, goes to Chicago for 12 years, $62 million. He was awful in the Stanley Cup final. He’ll be just a peach when he’s 42.

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Pronger to Philly, Bouwmeester to Calgary. Somebody had a Good Weekend.

Posted on June 27, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

For the most part, what we expected to happen, happened, at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft in Montreal.

We expected the New York Islanders to take Swedish defenceman Victor Hedman, if the Isles wanted a guy who could play (well) right now, and John Tavares if they wanted a Canadian junior sniper they could market like Steven Stamkos.

The Isles took Tavares with the No. 1 pick and will now be more sizzle than steak for another year. That’s not to say Tavares won’t eventually lead the Islanders out of the wilderness — a wilderness created by Mike Milbury’s failures — but it won’t happen in 2009-2010 and not like the year after, either.

There were plenty of interesting trades. Chris Pronger, along with forward Ryan Dingle, went from Anaheim to Philadelphia , in exchange for defenceman Luca Sbisa, forward Joffrey Lupul, two first-round picks and a conditional third-round pick in 2010 or 2011. Pronger is 34 and on the downside of a great career.

The Calgary Flames had a great day on Saturday. The Flames acquired the rights to 25-year-old Florida Panthers defenceman Jay Bouwmeester in exchange for defenceman Jordan Leopold and the 67th overall pick that Florida used to select Josh Birkholz. Bouwmeester is still an Olympic-calibre defenceman and he will make Calgary a force in the West.

Later on Saturday, the Flames sent six-year veteran defenceman Jim Vandermeer, 29, who played 45 games in Calgary last year, to Phoenix in exchange for a former Flames draft pick, 25-year-old Brandon Prust. Nice to see the Coyotes getting older and slower.

The made-up trade rumour that had the Boston Bruins sending Phil Kessel and a draft pick to the Leafs for Tomas Kaberle turned out to be aprochryphal. Who makes this crap up?

Sadly, there will be more ridiculous rumours this week with the free agent deadline on Wednesday. Wonder who will be the first to report, ohh I don’t know, Sidney Crosby to Washington for Alex Ovechkin? Please, somebody make that one up.

In the meantime, Teemu Selanne, a 10-time all-star and former Winnipeg Jets rookie of the year, told the Anaheim Ducks that he would be back next season. The 38-year-old Selanne will play his 18th NHL season this coming year. He had 27 goals and 27 assists in 65 games last season. Why is it that the NHL is just better with Teemu Selanne in it?

Finally, congratulations to Winnipeg’s Scott Glennie (eighth overall to Dallas), Winnipeg’s Carter Ashton (No. 29 overall to Tampa), Winnipeg’s Cody Eakin (third round, 85th overall to Washington) and Winkler’s Byron Froese (fourth round, 119th to Chicago), the Manitobans taken in this weekend’s draft.

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Could the Dominoes Start Falling?

Posted on June 6, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

There is a fear among North America’s major sports leagues. It’s a fear we’ve discussed before at rivercitysportsblog.com. If Gary Battman and the National Hockey League lose in court this month and if the Phoenix Coyotes are allowed to re-locate to Hamilton, Ont., the dominoes will start to fall.

And every other major sports league knows it.

For if the Coyotes’ owner, Jerry Moyes, is allowed to sell his team to the highest bidder in order for that bidder to move the franchise without the permission of the league, struggling franchises all over pro sports will just get in line.

In hockey, that could mean the Islanders, Florida, Tampa, Atlanta, Nashville, Columbus or even Dallas.

And that’s why the NBA, Major League Baseball and the NFL filed a joint court document on Friday warning that by allowing Moyes to do what’s right — get the most money possible for his asset in order to pay off the debts on a failed business — “it has the potential to undermine the business of professional hockey and other major league sports.”

Officially, the three other leagues joined in an “amici curiae” brief in U.S. Bankruptcy Court supporting, “the NHL’s right to determine where a team is located and who owns it.” But if Moyes has his ownership stripped, his ability to do with his business what he feels he must and to receive a $212.5 million offer instead of an alleged $130 million offer from a very reluctant suitor (there is still no reason to believe that the NHL has an actual buyer), then anyone who would enter into an agreement with the NHL’s cartel, is always in a position whereby he could lose every penny he’s ever had.

Just ask one of the men who purchased the Winnipeg Jets, Steven Gluckstern. Gluckstern is said to have lost half his personal fortune on ownership gambles with Phoenix and the Islanders. Hockey is a pretty questionable investment.

The judge in this case, Mr. Redfield Baum, set a deadline of midnight last night for the filing of all briefs in the distpute between the NHL and Moyes. Moyes wants to sell his team to RIM CEO and boring Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie (Did you hear that speech in Winnipeg? ZZZZZZZZ!), who wants to buy the bankrupt Coyotes (although the NHL says they aren’t bankrupt) for US$212.5 million and move them to Hamilton.

Now, according to tsn.ca, the NHL has blamed the Coyotes’ financial problems on a lack of success on the ice and believes that with a new lease agreement and solid management a franchise in Arizona still could be successful. If that’s true, why would ANYONE want to be involved with the NHL?

The National Hockey League has said — legally and on the record, no less — that one of it’s most popular spokespersons, Wayne Gretzky, is an incompetent boob who has driven one of its precious franchises into bankruptcy. It’s also claimed that President Doug Moss and a handful of GMs are idiots who couldn’t run a one-car funeral.

And into all of that, Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz told our Shaw Channel 9 TV audience, between innings of a Winnipeg Goldeyes-Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks game on Friday night, that it would be possible to have the NHL return to Winnipeg in “two-to-five years.”

“It’s possible,” Katz said, “but I believe it isn’t imminent, it’s down the road.”

When asked, “How far down the road?” Katz repsonded, “I believe it’s possible that it could happen in between two and five years.

“It would take an available team (and there will be available teams if Phoenix is allowed to move), and an owner who wants to risk the losses to bring a team here, plus the involvement of Mark Chipman and the people who own the MTS Centre. It’s complicated and it will be a difficult negotiation, but it’s possible.”

If Winnipeg gets a team, I wonder who would want to run it? If he’s working for Gary Bettman and the current cartel, he’d better have a thick skin. After all, these guys aren’t afraid to blame Wayne Gretzky for their problems — and then publicly call the Great One an idiot.

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The Hockey World Gets Crazier Every Day

Posted on June 1, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

When it comes to the NHL, it’s hard to imagine that things could be crazier. From making up rules as they go along to their futile attempts to hide the coming financial disaster from the public, every NHL day is a wild and crazy day.

So without further adieu, let’s dig deeper into the mess that IS Gary Bettman’s National Hockey League:

1) It has been said by lawyers who are more attuned to the issue than me, that if Bettman loses his case against the re-location of the Phoenix Coyotes, then the dominoes will begin to fall.

In fact, Bettman speaks the truth when he says he really has nothing personal against Jim Balsillie, the man trying to move the Coyotes to Hamilton. Bettman’s real beef is with anybody who would force the league to move one of its shaky franchises (and believe me, there are many), thus allowing other franchises to do the same.

Case in point: The Columbus Blue Jackets.

We often use Nashville, Atlanta, Florida, Tampa and the Islanders as examples of teams that would love to re-locate if only the league would allow them to move. 

Friday, however, a major story on the front page of the Columbus Dispatch made it very clear that the Blue Jackets have serious financial problems.

Who knew? In fact, because the Jackets regularly announce crowds between 14,000 and 17,000 per night at Nationwide Arena, no one assumed that the team was drowning in red ink. In 2008-09, the Blue Jackets averaged 15,543 fans per game (think about this: it would be at least 500 more tickets sold per game than can actually be purchased to attend hockey games at Winnipeg’s MTS Centre). With tickets priced between $18 and $150 per game, not including suites or loge box seating, the team will lose more than $10 million on operations this year.

Blue Jackets president Mike Priest issued this written statement on the team’s website late last week: 

“The Columbus Blue Jackets are in the process of seeking a solution for a structural problem in the economic model that was created over a decade ago to ensure the construction of Nationwide Arena and the procurement of a NHL team for Columbus. This is an issue for us because we manage and operate the team as well as the building. Because the building was financed and constructed privately, there are certain revenue streams typically available to teams that are not available to the Blue Jackets.

“As an organization, we have incurred substantial losses over the past several years, of which a significant portion is related to arena operations under the current structure. It is a building financial problem that has become a team financial problem. If we fix the building problem, we fix the team problem.”

Sound familiar? That could have been Barry Shenkarow talking about the Winnipeg Jets relationship with Winnipeg Enterprises Corporation in 1982.

Over the last seven seasons, the Blue Jackets have lost upwards of $80 million. This year, despite reaching the playoffs, the Jackets lost more than $10 million.

If a team like the Blue Jackets is losing money, a team that makes the playoffs, draws well and is closer to the salary cap floor than the ceiling, I can’t imagine what the numbers are like in Atlanta, Nashville, Florida and Tampa. However, I do the Islanders have lost $283 million of Charles Wang’s money since 2001, so those losses would be significant.

No wonder teams are looking seriously at that court case in Phoenix.

2) It’s great to be a star in the NHL. Had Dan Cleary or Maxime Talbot received an instigator penalty with 19 seconds to play in a Stanley Cup final game, you can bet they’d be suspended for the next game.

But not Evgeni Malkin. The league found a slick rationalization for keeping Malkin in the lineup Tuesday night.

From the NHL’s own website: 

National Hockey League Executive Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell issued the following statement regarding the instigator penalty assessed to Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin at 19:41 of the third period of tonight’s Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final:

Rule 47.22 states: “A player who is deemed to be the instigator of an altercation in the final five minutes or at any time in overtime shall be suspended for one game, pending a review of the incident.  The director of hockey operations will review every such incident and may rescind the suspension based on a number of criteria. The criteria for the review shall include, but not be limited to, the score, previous incidents, etc…”  

Following that review, Campbell said: “None of the criteria in this rule applied in this situation. Suspensions are applied under this rule when a team attempts to send a message in the last five minutes by having a player instigate a fight.  A suspension could also be applied when a player seeks retribution for a prior incident.  Neither was the case here and therefore the one game suspension is rescinded.”

NHL Hockey Operations also determined that Malkin should have been assessed a game misconduct for not having his jersey tied down.

Whatever. It just pays to be a big name.

3) Sobering news for the Pittsburgh Penguins:

History tells us that the winner of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final, wins the Cup 78.6 per cent of the time. When it’s the home team that wins Game 1, as Detroit did on Saturday night, the winning percentage increases to 87.9 per cent. When the home team wins Games 1 and 2, it wins the Cup 94.9 per cent of the time.

We’re merely heading into Game 3 in Pittsburgh and even though the Penguins have yet to lose at home, they still need a miracle.

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Even Bettman is starting to admit the truth about the NHL’s place in the Recession

Posted on December 6, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

It’s taken a while, but even NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has reached the point where he’ll now hint that the NHL could have some financial problems if the current recessions deepens.

 

As much as Bettman loves to say (and he did on his XM Radio Program on Thursday) “the NHL is not being impacted as deeply as the other major professional sports leagues in America are,” the fact is, the league is being hammered by this recession. It’s just that nobody inside the league really wants to talk all that much about it.

 

However, hockey people must face facts. The NHL has no significant U.S. television contract and it has teams in non-traditional markets that have been money-losers since they opened the doors. Now the league is faced with a falling Canadian dollar that, according to Minnesota Wild assistant general manager Tom Thompson, will “substantially impact the ability of the Canadian teams to turn profits,” and it’s been the Canadian teams’ revenues that have driven up the salary cap and put more money in the league’s bank accounts.

When Bettman claims the other major sports leagues will be “impacted” on a larger scale, he’s probably right, simply because the other leagues have more to lose. You can already see the sections of empty seats at NBA games on TV and the NFL has stopped selling out all their stadiums, all the time.

But those close to the business of professional sport seem to agree that the NFL will emerge from the downturn relatively unscathed. It’s just too big and too popular to take a long-lasting hit. Of course, it doesn’t hurt hat the NFL’s TV deal with four major networks is worth $2.2 billion (all figures U.S.). The NHL, on the other hand, is dependent of gate receipts and those receipts can vary wildly as the economy moves up and down. According to Forbes Magazine, the NFL generates an estimated $6.5 billion in annual revenue, Major League Baseball is next $6 billion, the NBA is third at $3.6 billion and the NHL at fourth at $2.5 billion.

However, more than one third of that $2.5 billion is generated by the six Canadian-based franchises. But now that the dollar is hovering around 70 cents US, that number could fall by as much as 30 per cent. If Canadian teams start to struggle, the teams in lousy U.S. hockey markets (not lousy sports markets, but lousy hockey markets) – Phoenix, Tampa, Nashville, Atlanta, South Florida, Carolina, Long Island and Washington, D.C. — could start to shutter or consider moving their operations. Right now, most U.S. owners are deeply in debt — one is already in bankruptcy protection — and all of them desperately need a strong credit industry, an industry now under siege, to survive.

Since 1999, 20 NHL teams have either changed owners or significantly altered their ownership structure, It’s no secret that some franchises have changed ownership two or three times (Islanders, Coyotes, Predators, Lightning). And what’s going to happen in Detroit if the Big 3 automakers go under? The Red Wings, one of the two or three best teams in the NHL and a team that is already in a tremendous hockey market, are already selling some tickets for $9 a game.

According to the Toronto Star, “The Florida Panthers have laid off staff, the Tampa Bay Lightning are said to be a financial basket case, the Phoenix Coyotes are believed to be hanging on by a thread.” Meanwhile, the Atlanta Thrashers owners are in a court battle, the New York Islanders desperately need a new arena that might not be built and the Nashville Predators are still trying to do something with co-owner Bootsie Del Biaggio’s 24 per cent stake.

It is becoming clear that with this recession, hockey is on its death bed in Gary Bettman’s “southern footprint.” He’s the man who took hockey away from Canada and gave it to non-traditional markets and while those non-traditional markets have always struggled, they are now in need of a financial I.V.

Of course, there is a problem. With such a lousy Canadian dollar, why would anyone want to move another franchise to Canada? 

That’s why Winnipeg is caught between a rock and a hard place. We have a small arena, only 700,000 citizens, a team that already folded up shop and moved south and a fading Canadian dollar. As much as I believe an NHL team in Winnipeg would draw large numbers of fans, I wonder if that’s enough anymore. 

 

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Some things to think about…

Posted on September 29, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

Three things to think about as the U.S. economy craters:

 

(1) This could be the biggest “no surprise there” announcement in the NHL this season. Monday, the Chicago Blackhawks put former Winnipeg Jets goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin on waivers.

Khabibulin is entering the final season of a four-year $27-million contract, but this past off-season, the Blackhawks signed free agent goalie Cristobal Huet to a four-year $22.5-million contract, giving the Hawks two No. 1 goaltenders. One had to go and yesterday it was Khabby.

He was a great goaltender for a long time, but in the end, his success priced him out of the market.

 

(2) At the start of this season, the St. Louis Rams were convinced a once-successful NFL assistant coach named Scott Linehan would make a great head coach. Sadly, Linehan wasn’t the answer to the Rams’ problems.

 

So on Monday, Rams ownership admitted its mistake and fired Linehan after four consecutive lopsided losses to open the season. Now, if someone can just convince the Minnesota Vikings that Brad Childress should go…

 

(3) And Canadian Jim Balsillie, founder of Reasearch in Motion, the inventor of the Blackberry (no, it wasn’t John McCain) is apparently once again close to finalizing a deal to purchase the NHL’s Nashville Predators.

 

Last year, the NHL would be dead set against a Canadian billionaire buying a U.S.-based franchise if there was even any thought that the wealthy Canuck might move the team to Canada. 

 

Now, with the U.S. economy in deep, deep trouble, there is a good chance that the NHL brass will allow teams to return to a country with a less-volatile, more stable economic future. 

 

Frankly, if I owned Nashville, Phoenix (a failed franchise that returned to Winnipeg for a pre-season game in order to guarantee a better gate), Atlanta, Florida, the Islanders or Washington, I’d give serious thought to moving to a country that actually likes hockey enough to pay the NHL’s grossly inflated ticket prices.

 

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Report: Canadian NHL Teams create 31 per cent of league’s ticket revenue.

Posted on May 30, 2008 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

A secret NHL report made public by Rick Westhead at the Toronto Star show that 31 per cent of the National Hockey League’s $1.1 billion (U.S.) in league ticket revenue, has come from the six teams based in Canada. 

According to the report that has not been made public by the NHL (as of Friday morning, May 30), “the league has seen its ticket revenue rise almost 10 per cent, but 11 of the 24 U.S.-based clubs were either revenue-flat or lost ticket income.”

Not surprisingly, the Toronto Maple Leafs finished first on the list at $1.9 million in ticket revenue per game. The Montreal Canadiens were second. Based on 41 home games, the Leafs collected $77.9 million in ticket revenue last year and that doesn’t count the revenue from pre-season games. 

Now, to be fair, Westhead suggested the increase in the value of the Canadian dollar may be responsible for as much as half of the league’s revenue gains since the NHL went through the lockout of 2004-05, but that doesn’t explain why six little Canadian-based teams create more than 30 per cent of the revenue.

What that suggests is that Gary Bettman’s foray into South Florida, Tampa, Nashville, Atlanta and Phoenix (not to mention the existing messes in Chicago, Long Island and Washington) has been an unmitigated financial disaster.

“This really makes the case for another team in Canada, whether it’s Hamilton, Winnipeg or Quebec City,” former Vancouver Canucks owner Arthur Griffiths told Westhead.

The most interesting item in the league’s report concerns the embarrassing Phoenix Coyotes. The Coyotes, who have been a financial and, yes, popular disaster in the U.S. desert since they moved from Winnipeg in 1996, were last in ticket revenue at $450,000. That’s a disgrace to the sport and suggests that commissioner Gary Bettman’s decision to allow the Jets to move to the American desert was a massive error in judgment. In the Jets final lame-duck year in 1996, the team earned about $330,000 per game in ticket revenues. That was the lowest in the final five years of the team’s existence. Twelve years later, Phoenix is only $120,000 a game higher. My good gawd…

The Coyotes are now, officially, losing more than $30 million a season (according to the Arizona Republic) and have lost as much as $600 million since leaving Winnipeg. 

According to the report, obtained by rivercitysportsblog.com on Friday morning, in 2007-08, eight U.S. teams – the Coyotes, the Atlanta Thrashers, the Florida Panthers, the New York Islanders, the Chicago Blackhawks, the Washington Capitals, the Nashville Predators and the St. Louis Blues – generated less than half the amount of ticket revenue of the Edmonton Oilers and Ottawa Senators. At $1.2 million in ticket revenue per game, the Oilers and Senators earned the least amount of ticket money among the six Canadian franchises.

This report obviously opens up the debate about bringing an NHL team back to Winnipeg.

Granted, Winnipeg has a population of only 700,000. Granted, Winnipeg lags behind other cities in weekly earnings. Granted, our corporate financial marketing base is very small. And granted, our downtown arena is tiny, with no parking revenue, many uncomfortable seats and too few luxury suites. 

However, there is little question that after 12 years, fans are dying to have the NHL return. The mere fact that my book, “The Winnipeg Jets: A Celebration of Professional Hockey in Winnipeg,” sold out 7,000 copies in Manitoba alone, is a clear indication that the Jets mattered, still do and that their return would still draw large crowds. Hey, if I were Bettman, I’d put a team in Central Ontario tomorrow. Then I’d look at Winnipeg and Quebec City.

It has been suggested that the money is already in place in order for Winnipeg to acquire a franchise. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I do know this: No matter what happens in terms of the future of the NHL, Winnipeg will ALWAYS be a better market for big-time hockey than the southern United States.

Period. End of discussion.

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