The Puck Stops Here
Next entry: Flyers Quest For Salary Cap Room
Previous entry: Hello World
How Much Power Does The Anschutz Group Have In The NHL?
by PuckStopsHere on 09/18/08 at 01:45 AM ET
Comments (3)
It is well known that some NHL owners are in Gary Bettman’s inner circle and weild significant power on the NHL’s decisions, while others (such as the New York Rangers) are on the outs with the commissioner of the NHL. Probably the owner who weilds the most power in the league right now is the Anschutz Group, headed by Philip Anschutz, who owns the Los Angeles Kings.
The Anschutz Group own many arenas worldwide. Many of the international games played by the NHL, such as last year’s two games in London, England played between the Anaheim Ducks and LA Kings, are played in Anschutz owned arenas. This year, they have ties to the arenas in Prague, Czech Republic (they do not own this arena, but it shares common sponsorship with Anschutz arenas in London and Berlin) where the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning will open the season and Stockholm, Sweden where the Pittsburgh Penguins and Ottawa Senators will open their season.
When the NHL discusses expansion, it is usually Anschutz owned arenas that will house teams. The two leading candidates for North American expansion appear to be Kansas City, where Anschutz owns the arena and Las Vegas, where Anschutz is building an arena. Anschutz owns several arenas in Europe. Should European expansion occur, it will fill Anschutz arenas as well.
Philip Anschutz is in a position to help set NHL policy. The policy he sets will benefit his holdings and that may be very different from benefitting the NHL or hockey in general. As a case in point, He has been involved in some shady NHL-related dealings. William “Boots” Del Biaggio was effectively an Anschutz employee who was trying to bring NHL hockey to Kansas City. Eventually, it was decided that the best way to relocate a team to Kansas City was for Del Biaggio to buy into the Nashville Predators, with intent to move the team in the future if local ownership could not keep the team in Nashville. Anschutz secretly loaned Del Biaggio some of the money that he used to buy his share of the Predators. This scheme was exposed when Del Biaggio declared bankruptcy, as he had many other shady and fraudulent dealings. Clearly, Anschutz is willing to do things that are not in the NHL’s best interests (such as having financial influence in more than one NHL franchise) if it is in his business interests. To date, there has been no punishment to Philip Anschutz for this deal.
The NHL should be looking out for its interests and the interests of hockey in general. This isn’t happening if it allows Phillip Anschutz to exert his influence on its direction. Anschutz will look out for himself and not worry about the overall health of the NHL or hockey in general. His past record shows this. The influence of Philip Anschutz on the NHL’s direction is a bad thing. No one owner should get too powerful. No one owner should put his own financial interests above the NHL’s interests. The office of the commissioner should exist to see that the NHL does what is best for itself and for hockey. It should not be driven by a handful of powerful owners.
NOTE: This is a reprint of a final post on the puckstoposhere.blogspot.com blog.
Filed in: | The Puck Stops Here | Permalink
Tags: Kansas+City, Las+Vegas, Los+Angeles+Kings, Nashville+Predators, Philip+Anschutz,
Comments
Kings fans have known for years what a bum Anschutz is. Seems as if the rest of the world will soon find that out as well. Will Bettman grow a backbone before then? Doubtful.
Posted by sandy from los angeles on 09/18/08 at 12:41 PM ET
I’m pretty sure that if Anschutz is willing to throw all that money into the NHL and NHL teams etc., wouldn’t he ultimately do what’s in the best interest of the NHL as a whole. Wouldn’t that just make sense?
Don’t get me wrong I understand what you’re trying to say and yes it isn’t OK for any one owner to have so much “power,” but really if he is investing this much into a league, I believe he’d want to league to prosper so he can too.
Posted by Duracell from Earth on 09/19/08 at 01:36 PM ET
Add a Comment
Please limit embedded image or media size to 575 pixels wide.
Add your own avatar by joining Kukla's Korner, or logging in and uploading one in your member control panel.
Captchas bug you? Join KK or log in and you won't have to bother.
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.
Most Recent Blog Posts
Missing Other League All Star Games
Top Defenceman So Far This Season
Karlsson Top Offensive Defenceman
About The Puck Stops Here
The Puck Stops Here was founded during the 2004/05 lockout as a place to rant about hockey. The original site contains over 1000 posts, some of which were also published on FoxSports.com.
Who am I?
A diehard hockey fan.
Why am I blogging?
I want to.
Why are you reading it?
???
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
When learning from experts it’s best to learn personally from them, or from their blog. We can provide that with poker lessons blog, your home to learn poker personally.
Do you get shocked from the luck in the game of poker? Stop getting shocked and start being a Poker Shoker
Donate to Kukla’s Korner
This reminds me of an article by Mike Brophy of Sportsnet.ca - NHL Driven by Greed
(Can’t remember now if Paul posted the above link previous but if he did, “Thanks for the link, Sir!)
Unbelievable…a pushover for a commish.
Posted by SYF from a "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" on 09/18/08 at 09:25 AM ET