NHL and You

This should have been submitted to Darren Rovell over at CNBC. He was accepting articles on sports business to run on his widely popular blog. Unfortunately, I only have opinion and not facts to back up my arguments so it stays here, at the Sandwich Shoppe, where we can argue to about my theories.

Although the Montreal Canadiens are the on-ice story of the playoffs, it is the Phoenix Coyotes, who were eliminated in the first round that are still making noise off the ice.

For the past year, the Phoenix franchise has been in limbo. Their owner, tired of losing money (almost $300 million in) decided to sell the franchise, he had a buyer with lots of money in the bank, but this owner had one condition – he wanted to move the Coyotes to Hamilton. Jim Balsille of Research in Motion (blackberry) fame wanted to make it seven NHL franchises in Canada, but the way he operated did not sit well with the NHL and its board of governers. His bid to buy the franchise was turned down. This led to an off-season of legal battles as he continued to pursue his dream of owning an NHL team and one that would play in Canada.

With the NHL in charge of Coyotes they produced a season for the ages, but ran into a brick wall in the playoffs and were eliminated in the first round. This was the start of their off-season and apparently another filled with trying to find a new owner. First to put their hat in the ring was Ice Edge Holdings. A group of hockey loving Yale graduates who have a dream of owning a hockey team. They had agreed to keep the franchise in Phoenix, but unfortunately for them, they didn’t have the cash flow. Their plan was to get bank loans and gain other support once the deal for the team was in place. This was a difficult situation for the NHL as they couldn’t be certain what type of ownership they were actually partnering with.

Also, would this group of young businessman be willing to lose the $300 million someone like Balsille would? Probably not. Next was Jerry Reinsdorf. Reinsdorf is also the owner of the Chicago White Sox and apparently the best negotiator on the face of the earth. He made a sweat heart deal with the city of Glendale that if he purchased the team that he would not be on the hook for any losses the team had, and we aren’t talking about losses on the ice.

Unfortunately for Reisendorf the City of Glendale came to its senses and decided there are other things more important than funding professional ice hockey. Back in the picture came Ice Edge holdings and a new group – CanWest, who wanted to purchase the team and relocate them to Winnipeg. This would make the Coyotes come full circle as they started as the Jets in Winnipeg. After a tense evening of negotiations on Monday, it looks like the City of Glendale has decided that it likes its hockey too much and have bailed out the team. They will support it financially so that it becomes a viable business in the desert. Is this in the best interest of the NHL? We’ll have to wait and find out next off season perhaps.

What could the NHL do instead of playing all these games with different potential owners? Here is my radical plan to inject new life and new money into the NHL…
- Fold Phoenix and Tampa
- Charge new owners $350 million expansion fee for these two teams
- Jim Balsille and the CanWest group would step to the plate immediately
- Allow Balsille to put the team in Toronto and the CanWest group to put the team in Winnipeg
- The Phoenix and Tampa teams move as a whole to Toronto and Winnipeg. An elaborate coin toss ceremony is organized and televised to see which city gets which players.

Although, this scenario is not likely, it would infuse lots of dollars into the league, put a second team in the biggest hockey market, add two Canadian teams and bring in two owners with deep pockets. This sounds like the perfect moves and that is why it won’t happen.

Even though I suggested the above, this is what I would really like the NHL to do. A lot of this is based on watching Olympic hockey this past February. It was the best players playing all the time and made it really fun to watch (this from a non-hockey fan).
- NHL goes to 24 teams
- 12 Canadian teams and 12 American based teams
- 4 divisions of 6 teams each, just as an example we’ll use direction.
o East and West would be Canadian division
o North and South would be US division
o The East/North and West/South would match up in the playoffs so you could have the possibility of 2 American or 2 Canadian teams in the finals (or one of each)
This would give each team a deeper roster, the quality of minor hockey (AHL, ECHL) would grow as players try to break into the NHL and it would definitely bring the excitement that the original 6 had way back when.

Tell me you wouldn’t want to see that? What do you think of these radical proposals?

Zzzzzzzzzzzz

Most sport fans are aware that baseball isn't the most exciting game, but there is a difference between me having a nap on a Sunday afternoon during the Jays game and what happened over the weekend.

Future Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. has been struggling this season to say the least, so his at bats are becoming further and further apart. According to reports, with the Mariners struggling and looking to make changes Griffey might be the victim. There is a good chance in the next couple of weeks he will be off the 25 man roster and what reportedly happened won't help his case. Apparently, Griffey was unavailable to pinch hit in a recent game because he was asleep in the locker room. Although it is not unusual to see a player disappear into the dugout they usually come out after the inning, not Griffey apparently. He has disappeared and not returned because he was watching the games on the television. Well, at least he knows when his career his over.

The other sleeping baseball star is Keith Hernandez. The former Mets first baseman known for his mustache and his work on Seinfeld had "the snooze" episode of his own over the weekend.



Like I said, there is a difference between me having a nap on the couch and a ballplayer doing it. Although we both get the tap on the shoulder to go back to work.

Happy Mother's Day

To all the moms out there, young and old alike, this post of "Snack of the Day" is dedicated to you.

CHOCOLATE CAKE



Women in general love chocolate, but for some reason tell themselves they shouldn't eat it. Today, have your cake and eat it too...

Happy Mother's Day. Now let me watch, F1, NBA Playoffs, Golf, NHL Playoffs and Soccer.

The Growth of MLS

Major League Soccer made the announcement on Friday that the Montreal Impact were chosen as the next expansion team (in 2012) for the ever growing MLS. The Impact will be the 19th team, and third Canadian squad joining Toronto FC and the expansion (2011) Vancouver Whitecaps.

This is exciting for the league, but we may be reaching the tipping point. Like many other professional leagues in North America, they are expanding quickly, and the talent is having trouble keeping up. When watching games recently I would count the number of passes that teams could string together - the number didn't get above 3 for about 25 minutes and this is the league that is adding 3 new teams in the next two years. Where are they going to get players?

The MLS has big decisions to make, like how big do they want to get and do they want to follow the European model of promotion and relegation.

The how many teams question is an easy one...they can probably expand once more, to make for a total of 20 teams. This would match the English Premiership and is a nice round number and there aren't many other cities clamoring for a team.

The bigger question is the idea of promotion and relegation working in North America. It is a idea that most fans on this side of the Atlantic are not familiar with. It provides motivation for teams and a reason for fans to cheer, it is also a great way of making sure small and big market teams play against the proper competition.

There are leagues and teams out there to make this happen. The USL currently has 12 teams (three of those are Vancouver, Portland and Montreal who are getting "promoted" to the MLS) and a second division with six teams that would provide the perfect feeder system to the MLS. It all makes too much sense for it to actually happen. The other benefit of having all these teams as part of one bigger league, you could run a tournament similar to the FA Cup, where all the teams of the MLS, USL and the Premier Development League (which has about 50 teams). It would be entertaining and with the love the Champions League is getting it would be a great scenario to have a tournament on home soil.

The one thing I wouldn't bring up is the MLS getting rid of their championship game and crowning a champion like the Premiership (the best team at the end of the season wins the championship). That is too much for North Americans to handle.

The MLS has done a lot correct in the last few seasons. Bringing in promotion and relegation by joining with the USL and Premier Development League would be the next great step in growing the game.

Enjoyable / Aggrevating Travel Note of the Week

With a tip of the cap to Peter King over at Sports Illustrated, I have a quick story about how frustrating air travel can be.

Last Friday, I flew to Montreal, going through check in and security was not an issue in Toronto. Even though I forgot my passport, and panicked momentarily until recalling that you don't need your passport to fly within Canada.

The aggravation came on the way home. Upon going through security in Montreal, the metal detector went off even though I had emptied my pockets, removed my belt and my watch is plastic! So, now I had the choice to stand in the full body giant x-ray machine or get patted down. The story of Indian actor Shar Rukh Khan signing print outs of his naked outline went through my head. So I elected for the pat down. After, security was confident I wasn't carrying concealed weapons, I was told that my carry on bag needed to be searched. Thank goodness they found the hand cream that I stole from the hotel and forgot to put in a plastic bag and my hair gel that was 100ml too big so it was confiscated (not in Toronto, just in Montreal).

When I finally got on the plane for the hour flight, I turned on the TV but no movies are only an hour in length so I got through 50 minutes of Sherlock Holmes - does anyone know how it ends? Does he solve the crime?

Super Saver x Under Armour

Although hats are all the rage during the Kentucky Derby weekend, most of the popular ones are not of the fitted variety. That changed this past weekend when a horse named Super Saver won the “race for the roses”. WinStar Farm owners and the horse’s trainer sported the hat bearing the name of their colt in interviews leading up to the race on Saturday afternoon and then of course in the winner’s circle which made them a popular souvenir.

The hats were produced by Under Armour and according to CNBC sports business reporter Darren Rovell, had sold out on the WinStar Farm website as of yesterday.

The Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown happens on May 15 in Baltimore. One would assume that Under Armour would be ready to ship more hats should Super Saver come up with another victory.

More Twitter Talk: Bosh Asks The Fans

Over the weekend, the worst nightmare (or in some cases, dream) of Toronto Raptors fans came true.

Chris Bosh took to his twitter page to ask fans where he should sign in the off season. Now, to most outsiders this would look like he is definitely moving on from the only franchise he has ever known, but this question to fans also gave those in Toronto the chance to show their appreciation for Bosh and to convince him to stay north of the border.

Bosh obviously craves media attention. His most attention grabbing stunts, like the video to gain all-star votes, his war of words with Shaq and now this are what he wants and he just doesn't get enough coverage in Canada. TSN is more concerned with hockey and The Score and Cabbie are too in love with Kobe and the Lakers.

So where does Bosh end up, where the media is the biggest and brightest - NYC. A sign and trade for David Lee and some other minor parts sounds like a possible scenario. Lee will become a fan favorite on a .500 team. Another possibility would be the LA Lakers. Not shy to spend money, having Bosh would almost guaruantee a championship and the return to Toronto would probably be Andrew Bynum which might be a good fit in Toronto.

Management in Toronto have tried there best to accommodate their superstar. This season in particular with the signing of Hedo Turkoglu and bringing in 7 other new players. All those new players weren't what Bosh and the Raptors really needed every year. They have never had a take charge point guard since Damon left or a serious scoring threat at shooting guard or a true centre. With none of those factors ever being addressed, I can't blame Bosh for wanting to explore his options.

Now we wait until July 1 to see the outcome.