OTF Classic

There's some interesting commentary from the Puck Daddy this morning about Toronto, which is fretting over the future of the Maple Leafs fan base. Apparently changing demographics and youth hockey participation trends don't bode well for Toronto's long-term outlook. As for my $0.02 on the issue, I think the best thing for both the Toronto market and the NHL at large would be to get another team in that city. They could easily support it, and since the Maple Leafs are such a ridiculously tough ticket to get currently, that serves to isolate them somewhat from casual fans. A new, upstart franchise might help to shake things up in that regard. Look at the Mets and Yankees in New York to see how this could work. If the Big Apple can support multiple hockey teams, Toronto absolutely would. Whether by expansion or by relocation (properly done, not a Balsillie-style hijacking), helping hockey grow even in the Great White North starts with making it accessible to the broades...

Three interesting stories came across my screen today, all of which provide a glimpse into how NHL teams are run; since we've still got two more weeks until training camp opens, they're well worth a read: 1. Courtesy of Kukla's Korner , Carolina's News & Observer digs into the NHL's contract insurance policy, and how it impacts the negotiations for big-time players. There's nothing specific to Nashville in here, but I couldn't help but think of Steve Sullivan's situation while reading it. 2. This link's a bit old, but the Bleacher Report featured an interview with Jason Bukala, one of the Predators' amateur scouts. 3. Lastly, the Preds website has an interview with Barry Trotz as he looks ahead to training camp, and extols the virtues of rookies he looks forward to seeing there. Here's the pre-camp spin on one such hopeful: "He reminds me a lot of a Joe Mullen-type of a player. He’s very effective. He gets open. Off the rush...

Adam Proteau over at the Hockey News has excerpts from an interesting interview with NHLPA head Paul Kelly posted today, and it's well worth harkening to the man who's lent credibility to an organization that was faltering in the wake of the Great Lockout. While Kelly's professionalism is welcome, his ideas still need to be vetted: "...under the collective bargaining agreement, the players have no voice and no role, in a technical manner, as it pertains to relocation or expansion. And we don’t derive any financial benefit from that, which I think is a mistake." That's a pretty odd misstatement on Kelly's part. If the NHL expands, the NHLPA instantly grows by ~25 members for each team. No, they don't get a cut of the expansion fee, but the NHLPA definitely benefits. In the event of relocation, there's no windfall either, but if a team moves to a more attractive market, hockey-related revenues will increase, of which the majority goes to the pl...

It looks like a new Cold War is getting ready to escalate, based on a couple stories featured this morning over at Kukla's Korner . First, we have Alexander Radulov sounding off in the Russian press against the supposed looting of his country by the insidious forces of the NHL: Insisting he's broken no rules, Radulov has already played three exhibition games with his new club. The rising star painted himself as a patriot returning home, signalling a return to prominence for Russian hockey in a question-and-answer session this week with Russian reporters. "The NHL for 15 years has brought young players from Europe, first and foremost from Russia," according to a translation in Russianprospects.com. "I think that it is time to end this. Simply put: (It's) time to stop robbing us." Hmm... it looks like somebody has really drunk the Kool-Aid when it comes to Russian patriotism. Of course, a new multi-million dollar contract combined with a complete tax exe...

So now we can add words like "brazen" to help describe the fallen financial entrepreneur "Boots" Del Biaggio, whose precipitous plummet into bankruptcy has launched multiple lawsuits and investigations, and caused many outsiders to question the stability of the Nashville Predators ownership group. Today's Tennessean includes a report on how Del Biaggio was making his pitch to bring other investors into his Forecheck Holdings Investments firm (obviously no relation to this blog, or I wouldn't be running ads!), which actually holds the ownership interest in the Predators. It's a rare glimpse into the machinations that go on behind the scenes among the owners, and included with the online version of the Tennessean's report are a number of PDF files that outline Del Biaggio's pitch, and a draft version of the Predators ownership's internal operating agreement. Needless to say, this is juicy stuff. The biggest whammy is on Page 10 of the ...

I'll get to a full eulogy for the Predators 2007-8 season shortly, but in the meantime, a few shots from Ken Campbell of the Hockey News caught my eye over the last few days: First, Campbell slipped this beauty into his Hockey News column : there’s little reason to believe this year’s [Predators] playoff run will have any more of a long-term impact on this franchise than any other. Come next October, you’ll probably see the same sparse crowds, the same general ambivalence toward the on-ice product and the same stunning lack of enthusiasm from the corporate community. What outsiders like Mr. Campbell can't see is that there is a difference heading into this off-season; a locally-dominated ownership group that is actually putting the work in to sell the game and build partnerships around Nashville. In the four months since the Freeman group took charge, I've seen more advertising and outreach from the Predators than in the last 2 years combined. The early part of the NHL s...

Now here's a terrifying thought for hockey fans. In light of the continuing difficulty in generating significant national TV revenue in the US, will the NHL succumb to pressure and permit advertising on uniforms? Before reacting with a quick "never!", consider that there was a time when we didn't have ads plastered around the boards or painted under the ice, either. Your new Florida Panthers jersey, perhaps? Photo from The Post-Pessimist Association The article below discusses the debut of jersey-based advertisement in the US in Major League Soccer, particularly in light of the debut of some Beckham character. I wouldn't expect we'd see such a development anytime soon in the NHL, but these kinds of slopes tend to be pretty slippery...

Edmonton Oiler fans haven't had much to celebrate this July, having missed out on the major unrestricted free agents (especially that painful Michael Nylander episode ), and it would appear that GM Kevin Lowe's ship is foundering . What's painful for Edmonton might turn into something exciting for fans around the league, however. The SS Lowe Perhaps partially in response to his dire situation, Lowe pitched a resounding 7-year, $50 million offer sheet to Buffalo Sabres restricted free agent Tomas Vanek, who was then retained by Buffalo which had the option of matching the contract. While Sabres GM Darcy Regier predictably whined about Lowe's offer, calling it "an exercise in futility," the fact is that it achieved two legitimate goals on Lowe's part. First, he had the chance to land a promising young winger in case the Sabres were bluffing and not prepared to dole out that $50 million. Secondly, he's forced Buffalo to pay more than they would have o...

Word is coming this morning that Nashville Predators owner Craig Leipold is calling off his deal with Jim Balsillie, and is instead prepared to sell the team to "Boots" DelBiaggio, who has a contract in place to run an NHL team in Kansas City. As I wrote back in March , however, I still don't understand why Kansas City is such an attractive market for the NHL. Yes, they have a new arena that's waiting for a full-time permanent tenant, and the city is willing to bend over backwards to lure a team. But that market is already saturated with two major-league teams (the NFL Chiefs and MLB Royals), as pointed out by bizjournals.com last year. The Chiefs are well supported but the Royals are nothing more than a AAA feeder team for the rest of Major League Baseball, due to their minimal payroll and tepid fan support. In that analysis, KC ranked as the 5th-most overextended sports market, and was the most overextended market that doesn't already have an NHL team (th...

In light of the recent news that a local group is mobilizing to form a bid for the Nashville Predators in the event that Jim Balsillie's attempt fails (the letter of intent has a current expiration date of June 30), I was reminded of the scene just a few short months ago, when current owner Craig Leipold made an effort to sell minority ownership in the team to local business interests. When that didn't pan out, Leipold came out in May with the announcement that was selling the whole thing to Balsillie, and was clearly frustrated at not being able to make things work here in Music City. Is it too late to close the door on that possibility, however? I think not. Things have changed dramatically over the last few weeks, and I wonder if the stage might be set for just such a transaction now. If the local group is indeed able to muster around $100 million, perhaps a way forward would be to have that group work with Leipold on a shared ownership proposal, that would let Leipold ...

One of the frustrating aspects of this whole scenario with Jim Balsillie buying the Nashville Predators is that fundamentally this is a business story, and when sports columnists get involved, they quickly wade out of their depth and start spinning nonsense as if it were informed analysis. Perhaps the most egregious example of that is the oft-repeated saying that by offering a purchase price far in excess of what Forbes magazine stated for the value of the team ( $134 million almost a year ago ), Balsillie must have some super-savvy motivation for doing so, specifically that by overspending for the Preds he somehow instantly inflates the franchise valuation for all the other owners in the league. Having majored in Economics at Michigan, there is a specific term we scholars use for that line of reasoning: Bu!!$hit NHL franchises aren't commodities that can be freely substituted for one another. Each is a unique business, subject to local market conditions, an arena lease, a co...

Once again, the NHL seems to be pushing ahead in the business of digital media much more boldly than its professional peers. This morning's LA Times has an opinion piece heaping praise on the NHL's new partnership with Sling Media , the folks behind the Slingbox you hear hyped so much by Jim Rome . The basic idea is that you'll be able to have NHL games sent from your TV to your internet connection (say while you're travling, or *gasp* at work), and be able to select clips for upload and distribution to friends through Sling Media's website. I could definitely see doing this while visiting the in-laws in Indiana, and certainly anyone who travels much would be able to catch their team's games while on the road. Understand, the savvy part about moves like this isn't so much about buckets of money that are going to pile up in the NHL coffers. The fact of the matter is that with enough effort, the young tech-savvy generation can do much of this stuff already....

Following Mirtle's lead once again, bizjournals.com came out last month with a comparison of which US sports markets were overextended, based on total personal income compared to the requirements of current professional sports teams located there. For example, the Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater, Florida area was judged to be the most overextended, since the combined personal income of $75.6 billion supports an NFL, NHL, and MLB team. Compare that to a city like Seattle, which has three teams as well (NFL, MLB, and NBA), but boasts a total personal income of $156.6 billion*. The neat part is that bizjournals posted a spreadsheet with some of the details. So let's tour some of the numbers, remembering that this refers only to income levels vs. the requirements to support a local team, based on ticket prices and other factors. The income levels to support various teams were as follows: Major League Baseball, $89.2 billion National Basketball Association, $38.4 billion National ...