So after writing the first Blog of the hockey season, a lot of people were saying how can those be your top 10 things to watch for in the coming season and not include the Phoenix Coyotes and their ownership situation. The reason I didn't have it in my top 10 due to the reason it is not a true hockey item to watch, it is a political battle between the NHL, and the City of Phoenix and anyone whose name is Jim Balsillie.
So we all know the situation, Balsillie overbids for an NHL team and then promptly decides he's going to move it to Hamilton to bring a second NHL team to the GTA/Southern Ontario Market. Here's my thoughts on the entire situation, from start to finish!!!
SEND THE TEAM TO SOUTHERN ONTARIO!!!
The facts are the facts...a second NHL team in the Southern Ontario Market, will not only generate interest from business owners in those areas, but it will put pressure on the Toronto Maple Leafs to put on a better product! Further more, from a business standpoint and I know @_bigkev_ can relate...a breaking even as opposed to a $35 million dollar loss in profit is a much better profit sharing technique that the other richer owners (cue New York, Philadelphia, Montreal, Toronto, LA, Chicago, Detroit) will be happier with.
See here is the issue, with the CBA the players and owners signed, the teams that require assistance receive them from the Richer teams. The players have to put a certain percentage of their money into an escrow fund, which may or may not be paid back to them; depending on the profits of the league in total. So by increasing the profit now by say, $35 million dollars the players are happier because now they don't have to put more into the escrow account!!!
Gary Bettman you little munchkin, are you hearing this...Happy Rich Owners and Happy Rich Hockey players! Both people are happy, and both are delivering an excellent product on and off the ice.
Lets face it, I wrote a blog in January about how the 'expansion down south' worked well for the NHL as there are American born hockey players who are now playing for high level Junior programs, either at the National Junior Program USA Hockey, in the CHL up here, or going to be playing high level College hockey in the NCAA. However, lets put our ducks in a row and call it a day. The NHL couldn't have thought that Phoenix would ever succeed. It was a disaster waiting to happen, the moment they changed the name from the Jets.
Here's the scariest part, the NHL makes a profit, but have about 8 or 9 teams bringing the profit down. Teams like Atlanta, Nashville, Dallas, Florida, Tampa are severely bringing down the profits of the NHL. I've never understood how an owner can stand by and watch as his money goes down the toilet. I mean if he wanted to do that, he could just give it to me and I'll figure out what to do with it!!! If the NHL moved even three of these teams (Dallas and Tampa you can stay) then it would be a much more profitable league.
I will give credit where credit is due. Since the NHL went to these markets, they did have to get a little bit creative, and well they were able to bring us these lovely ladies all the time!!! So Atlanta, Carolina, Dallas, Florida, Tampa and Nashville, thank you for your southern hospitality!!!
Now I'm not saying move the team to Saskatchewan, or to Prince Edward Island; I don't think PEI has enough people on the island to fill an NHL rink...although the Charlottetown Potatoes has a good ring to it...(they can even have Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head as the mascot). But moving the teams to hockey markets that the league knows can be a success (Hamilton, Winnipeg, Quebec City) would be a step in the right direction.
One of the conspiracies that was being floated around when Balsillie was looking to owning the Phoenix Coyotes was that the NHL could not make any money on that sale because the Coyotes sale was private and only the owners of the team would profit from it. Well now, the NHL has full control over the Coyotes, and can now determine a place to put the team all on its own, and can profit from moving it to Southern Ontario as well.
In an odd twist of fate, I'm remembering when the city of Toronto was awarded a franchise by the NBA and one of the bidders was Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. Well they ended up losing the franchise bid to the Bitove Group...however a couple of years later, Maple Leaf Sports comes back and makes the purchase of the Toronto Raptors and the Air Canada Centre (hadn't been built yet but the plans and design) and have profited large from that acquisition. If the NHL doesn't play its cards right, and in fact decides to move the Coyotes to Hamilton wouldn't it be funny if Jim Balsille comes in two years later to buy the team off the guy the NHL sold the team to? Then what would Munchkin Gary say?!?!?!?!?!
Its great to see the NHL show interest to come back to Canada...lets hope they will actually fulfill it and not cop out like they have in the past!!!
Just so everyone knows, even as a Leafs fan, I'm all in favour of Hamilton getting an NHL team! I think it would be a great opportunity for both teams to truly make a rivalry out of this great game of ours!!!
If the Coyotes move to Winnipeg, it would be a great story...the son runs away with the pretty girl from the Southern United States...realizes his mistake, and then comes back home again...leaving the girl in the Phoenix with a baby and no child support (in the hockey case it would be an empty arena and 0 revenue)...Justice would in fact be served...LAW AND ORDER STYLE!!!
follow me on twitter at @jollybenjabi
follow us on twitter at @brokeanklesblog
No comments:
Post a Comment