Kukla's Korner Hockey

Category: NHL-Business-of-Hockey

Pay Wayne

by Paul on 11/01/09 at 08:36 AM ET
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from Larry Brooks of the NY Post,

...the NHL does seem to be offering words in support of Gretzky, even if action speaks louder. The league at this point appears to be offering talk, which obviously is much cheaper than $8.2 million.

“The decision was made this summer when the League decided to make a bid to purchase that it couldn’t assume Wayne’s contract. That was discussed with Wayne and his people before we filed our bid and they understood the rationale,” deputy commissioner Bill Daly wrote in an e-mail to Slap Shots on Friday night.

“That doesn’t mean he has to go it alone. We committed to him that we would do everything possible to get him paid outside the bankruptcy process,” Daly added. “We have suggested our willingness to pursue claims on his behalf and assist him in pursuing his own claims. And he remains able to seek recovery out of the pot of money that will be paid to the bankrupt estate.”

So the NHL claims it will assist the greatest assist man who ever has laced up a pair of skates but it will not guarantee he will get his money even after all of the untold revenue he produced for the league both directly and indirectly in the form of expansion fees from warm-weather markets made possible by Gretzky’s success in Los Angeles.

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 Tags: Wayne+Gretzky,

Paying Gretzky

by Paul on 10/30/09 at 11:16 PM ET
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from Elliotte Friedman of CBC,

Right now, the NHL’s bid provides for between $11-$12 million to three potential creditors – Gretzky, Moyes and the city of Glendale. Gretzky isn’t thrilled that there is no certainty of collecting. Apparently, he is not asking for all of the money up front or in some lump payment, but an acknowledgement that, at some point, he will collect.

One league source says that will happen.

“We recognize that a lot of us have jobs because of what he’s done for a long time. What has happened this summer has been totally unfair to him, but, because he’s Wayne Gretzky, it all ends up on him ...This is important, and we realize it is important.”

That is 100 per cent the proper philosophy. But, there is one concern.

At this time, it was not possible to get the board of governors to vote on raising the purchase price from $140 million to $148 million. And, there may be slight resistance to doing so. Some of the governors are apparently unhappy with Gretzky’s public disappointment, and could let that affect their decision.

That is a ridiculous attitude.

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 Tags: Wayne+Gretzky,

NHL Looking Strong

by Paul on 10/26/09 at 01:37 PM ET
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NEW YORK (October 26, 2009) – The National Hockey League’s® strong business momentum from last season’s record-setting year continued through the first 100 games of the 2009-10 NHL® regular season. Fans are experiencing the NHL across League platforms in impressive numbers, with the League on-pace to set records in a number of areas.

Continue Reading »

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Evening Line

by Paul on 10/10/09 at 11:52 PM ET
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I think the club needs to continue to work to improve its performance ... but they should be OK. Barring something extraordinary that nobody anticipated and I’m not suggesting that’s going to happen, they should be fine.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman of the state of the Florida Panthers.  Much more from Bettman on the Panthers and the league by Sarah Talalay of the Sun-Sentinel. 

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Moneypuck- A Look At The Phoenix Coyotes

by Paul on 10/09/09 at 10:39 PM ET
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from Corey Pronman of Puck Prospectus,

The Phoenix Coyotes books were opened to the public’s eyes, and it wasn a fairly disturbing sight. Dozens of millions of dollars had been lost annually, with last season’s Net Operating Losses totalling over $53 million dollars. Not even five million dollars worth of local TV broadcast revenue were brought in and fewer than ten thousand viewers tuned in to the Coytoes on a nightly basis. Surely, the $6.5 million allocated to Gretzky’s coaching contract didn’t help either. The southwest franchise managed to collect $14 million dollars in revenue sharing as well, and still lost a massive amount of money. To illustrate the dire situation, if Phoenix hadn’t paid their players, coaches, trainers or hockey personnel any salary whatsoever with the revenue sharing, they would’ve simply broken even. Now that is what you call a terribly run fiscal entity.

These jaw-dropping numbers show a very extreme situation in the desert, which is no wonder why Reisendorf and Ice Edge Holdings backed off so quickly when things weren’t aligned perfectly for them with the lease, creditors and the numerous other factors. It’s also why Gretzky was forced to leave when it became apparent that nobody would want to take on a record expense for a coaching staff.

read on

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Bill Daly With Many Topics

by Paul on 10/09/09 at 01:01 PM ET
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from Fan590,

The number two man at the National Hockey League joins Hockeycentral @ Noon to discuss a variety of topics including: Updating the status regarding the running of the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes franchise; the league’s relationship with three-time failed NHL owner candidate Jim Balsillie; the potential of bringing the NHL to Hamilton; and Wayne Gretzky’s future with the league.

listen here and Bill also said the NHL has tried to help both Directv and Versus settle the dispute and the NHL hopes it gets settled soon.

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The Cost Of Your NHL Ticket

by Paul on 10/07/09 at 08:07 AM ET
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from Ken Belson of SlapShot at the NY Times,

Who says you can’t get anything for a nickel anymore?

In what amounts to a break in pro sports these days, National Hockey League teams have raised prices by an average of just five cents this season.

Ticket prices inched up by 0.1 percent compared with last season, to $51.41 a game, according to the Team Marketing Report’s Fan Cost Index.

Eleven of the league’s 30 teams raised prices, led by the Toronto Maple Leafs (10.2 percent), the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins (8 percent) and the New York Rangers (7.1 percent).

continued

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12.9% Is Final Escrow Number For Last Season

by Paul on 10/05/09 at 07:51 PM ET
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via Bob McKenzie of TSN,

The final escrow number (basically the percentage of player salaries the players gave back to the NHL for league overspending) for last season has been made official and it’s 12.9 per cent.

That means whatever the face value of a contract was for 2008-09, the player actually receives 12.9 per cent less than that.

But since the amount of escrow money withheld last season was around 18 per cent, the players will be getting a cheque cut, worth about five per cent of their salary. It’s not a refund per se, since the money collected belonged to them in the first place.

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Too Many Teams In The NHL

by Paul on 10/03/09 at 08:25 AM ET
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from Robert Cribb of the Toronto Star,

According to the Arizona Republic, the Coyotes were close to a sellout for the regular-season home opener Oct. 10 thanks to cheap tickets and a “Welcome Back WhiteOut” campaign that includes a white T-shirt and pom-poms.

While that may work as a short-term emergency strategy, it simply erodes long-term revenues even further, said Powers.

“What was a difficult sell previously has become an impossible task today with the uncertainty of relocation hanging over the team. This team is finished in Phoenix – it is just a matter of time.”

Roger Noll, a professor of sports economics at Stanford University, said the league is about five teams too heavy for the economic realities of professional hockey.

“(Bettman) should have stopped five teams ago,” he said. “It isn’t going to work.”

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A Victory For Bettman

by Paul on 10/03/09 at 08:00 AM ET
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from David Shoalts of the Globe and Mail,

If either Gary Bettman or his deputy, Bill Daly, is thinking about asking for a raise, now is the time to do it.

The NHL commissioner is the toast of not only the league’s owners after U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Redfield T. Baum rejected Jim Balsillie’s bid for the Phoenix Coyotes, but he’s being hailed by other professional sports owners as well.

The NHL may be stuck with massive legal bills and the obligation to continue paying for the Coyotes’ financial hemorrhaging, but Bettman’s win – and this is very much considered a personal win for him and NHL deputy commissioner Daly – means a court affirmed the league’s right to choose who owns its franchises and, most important, where they operate.

Bettman is taking shots from angry hockey fans in Canada, who blame him for blocking a second NHL team in Southern Ontario.

But as far as the owners are concerned, it is his biggest victory since the 2004-05 lockout, when he broke the players’ union, which has since degenerated into a laughingstock.

continued

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