Said it before and will say it again: When a NHL team based in the Sun Belt actually pays to have people park at their arena, it's really, really tough to have a viable business.
The Phoenix Coyotes are probably OK. Look at it this way: The NHL and Commissioner Chip Diller are used to dealing with teams that are flat broke. This is old hat.
The New York Jets' Shaun Ellis should not have been fined for throwing a snowball at fans last weekend. They threw at him first, plus, if he had any kind of arm, the Jets would have made him the quarterback by now.
The charges against two Michigan State football players stemming from a fight with hockey players are ridiculous. People should be glad to see that football players from Michigan can actually beat somebody.
(Editor's note: You made a joke about a felony assault charge. Stay classy, Sagert.)
Two days later, The Daily Norseman can speak for this Minnesota Vikings fan, except for the part about Disney: "Yes, after two or three showers and a seemingly endless series of Disney movies, I feel that I've finally cleansed myself of the fact that I wasted three hours of my life last night hoping that a team completely devoid of talent, coaching, heart, guts, or pride could give us a hand by knocking off the Chicago Bears."
The Two-Line Pass has a look at the 10 stupidest hockey stories of 2008. Sean Avery only has a lock on two spots.
More great headlines that cannot be written: "Destruction, on the eve of." (Demolition on the Ottawa Congress Centre has begun.)
This post is worth nothing, but this is worth noting
- Take a moment today to think of the family and friends of Brennan Jarrett, the 19-year-old University of Saskatchewan basketball guard who died yesterday, 13 months after being diagnosed with cancer. There's a post up over at The CIS Blog.
The Huskies are slated to play the Ottawa Gee-Gees on Sunday at the Wesmen Classic in Winnipeg. - Loose Pucks is noted that the Mississauga-St. Michael's Majors got sniper Kaspar Daugavins back from the AHL, while the Niagara IceDogs owners want to keep all-everything D-man Alex Pietrangelo. These are the teams the Kingston Frontenacs are supposedly trying to catch in the OHL playoff race.
- Last but not least, some wise words from Muhummad Ali's biographer, Thomas Hauser:
"One hundred years ago (on December 26, 1908), Jack Johnson won the heavyweight championship of the world by knocking out Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia. Papa Jacks victory led to a “crisis” in boxing and controversy that was never fully resolved.
That is from a pretty good column on Smokin' Joe Frazier, if anyone is interested.
"Times change. Now the United States has an African-American president-elect." - Attendance is down 5,000 per game for the first five NCAA football bowl games, this year compared to last.
Type rest of the post here
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4 comments:
The Coyotes are clearly heading for bankruptcy. Once they are there, a guy like Bruckheimer will probably be able to scoop them up for a fraction of their official value, much like Melnyk did here. I don't think any of the NHL's Sun Belt teams are in danger of imminent relocation, but once a few of them get sold in bankruptcy the "official" value of many other NHL franchises are going to be savaged. One of the reasons why the owners love Bettman so much is that the value of their franchises have kept rising throughout his tenure. If teams like the Coyotes and Predators get sold for $40 million, that party will have come to a crashing halt.
I am not sure how safe these southern teams are.If its a proven hockey market yes i can see a group this may be a good idea.But in a place like arizona or florida i am not sure how many would jump at the chance.
Pro sports teams, though, are still attractive as vanity projects for the wealthy, and rich guys LOVE buying up distressed properties. At $150 million or even $100 million, no one touches the Coyotes. At $40 million or less? There would definitely be some interest, especially with Gretzky still there.
NHL = Ponzi Scheme. And don't get me wrong, most leagues have been. A few teams make money, but they need teams to play against, and exhorbinant franchise fees are like a band-aid to the bleeding financial statements. But all Ponzi's come to an end. Solution is not more teams (or relocation to) Canada. The NHL has always been a mostly US league, the economics (bad as they are) work better there, there are plenty of fans in all cities, AT A REALISTIC TICKET PRICE. The game is good entertainment, people seem to like it. It means drastically lower salaries, period. It's a gate-driven butts-in-seats league.
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