Ottawa to file for bankruptcy

[Ebenezer]

Wayne Carl of the Hockey business news was on WGR this morning...it appears the Sens will file for bankruptcy as early as this week...

Also, he reported there were almost no reporters from the United States at the latest World Junior Championships...a poor reflection of hockey interest in the United States.

He further stated that hockey will probably shut down in 2004 until there are "cost certainties" a.k.a. a salary cap put in place.

More:
1. Too many teams change too many owners too often.
2. After 2004 it will be impossible to get a new national TV deal.
3. If there is a salary cap it might be about $45 million dollars.


IMO, hockey is going to be in really tough straights after 2004...

[clumping platelets]

Not unless they can get the cost certainties assc. w/ a "hard cap". Just no amortizable signing bonuses or NLTBE or LTBE

[Earthquake Enyart]

Unless revenues are shared, a cap won't work.

If your revenues are $40 mil, what's the point of a $45 mil cap?

This is the same mess baseball is in.

[Dozerdog]

Originally posted by Ebenezer
Also, he reported there were almost no reporters from the United States at the latest World Junior Championships...a poor reflection of hockey interest in the United States.

No wonder. If they held it in a place like Toronto, Vancouver, or Montreal, maybe even Quebec- they might attract some folks. Holding it in Halifax, or St John, or some barren unforsaken rock in Nova Scotia isn't going to attract anybody- especially over the holidays.

That's what teletype machines are for.

[Buffarama]

I must assume that currently, whatever little money comes in from national TV money is split between all the teams equally.
If thats the case, then revenue sharing would only come from local generated money. Meaning that large markets like NY would be financing the league with local money.
Doesn't the NFL share ticket revenue with the visiting teams? And doesn't the NFL also force some local revenues to be shared? I recall Jerry Jones suing about this.

[SABURZFAN]

i saw that they were 2nd in points and 25th highest in payroll.is their attendance THAT bad?

[Earthquake Enyart]

The NFL shares a huge TV contract. Local ticket sales are roughly the same. That's why Buffalo and Green Bay can compete with NY. Hell, the NFL could even have a team in Elmira.

In baseball and hockey, the percentage each franchise gets from national deals (as compared to local revenue) is not as large. NY makes a helluva lot more money than KC. That's why the same teams are in the baseball playoffs every year, and many teams don't have a chance from the get go.

Unless the cap is lower than the lowest teams revenues, it won't help at all.

[Ebenezer]

Originally posted by Earthquake Enyart
Unless the cap is lower than the lowest teams revenues, it won't help at all.

I completely agree!! But can you imagine if the Salary Cap in hockey was about $25 million...be a lot of players out of work or take significant paycuts...

[lordofgun]

AAAHAHAHA...stupid Ottawa...DOH!

[Buffarama]

That's what I'm saying, the NFL gets all their money from the TV contracts. The NHL doesn't. What revenue is there to share in the NHL?
I think the only alternative is like what Eb said, hard cap at $25 or so million, so all teams can afford it and compete equally.
If the NHL can subsequentally get a TV deal once they get their act together, then they can share the TV money and raise the cap.
This means the players will never go for it. It means an entire season lost, and possibly a restocking of NHL talent until the current players come back to reality.

[Ebenezer]

to get a hard cap of any sort is going to take a full year off...to get one of less than $40 mil will take a long nuclear winter...vicious cycle, eh?

if they do not do something then they are going to end up with a two tiered league like English Soccer...8 teams who are constantly there and 4 teams that play in everyear..or something like that...i don't know that much about english soccer.

[Buffarama]

I think Bettman should start lining up the scrubs, and ticket prices across the league be slashed by 50%. Lock out the players by August if they don't relent, and go with the AHL, IHL, whatever players if they have to.
Then you'll see full houses and happy drunk hockey fans again
Within time most of the regular players will return.

[Earthquake Enyart]

Originally posted by Ebenezer

if they do not do something then they are going to end up with a two tiered league like English Soccer...8 teams who are constantly there and 4 teams that play in everyear..or something like that...

i don't know that much about english soccer.

Then how do you know it would be like it??

Boy, you're pretty fiesty today.

[Ð]

Originally posted by Dozerdog


No wonder. If they held it in a place like Toronto, Vancouver, or Montreal, maybe even Quebec- they might attract some folks. Holding it in Halifax, or St John, or some barren unforsaken rock in Nova Scotia isn't going to attract anybody- especially over the holidays.

That's what teletype machines are for.

Actually Dozer, Halifax broke all records for attendance for the Junior Championship. They had well over 230,000 attend the games over the last week. Hell, tickets for the final were going for $500/pair. Not bad for a "barren, unforsken rock."

I think the point the writer is trying to make is that there is no serious attention paid to grass-roots/developmental hockey by sports journalists in the US. Why? Because there's nothing really to report on - yet.

In Canada, NHL teams are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of total attendance. The US is beginning to catch on with 7 US-based teams in the Canadian (WHL & OHL) major junior leagues, because those cities understand that if you want to compete with the big boys, you need to step up & play where the competition is. The reality is that most of the players, even on the US-based major junior teams are Canadian. The even bigger joke is NCAA hockey, which is just a free ride for Canadian hockey players to get scholarships. In the NCAA, there are probably 3-4 truly competitive teams that could contend at the major junior level in Canada. Don't get me wrong, US hockey is making strides and will probably be on a level with Canada within the next 10 years.

[Ebenezer]

Originally posted by Earthquake Enyart


Then how do you know it would be like it??

Boy, you're pretty fiesty today.

just today???

I just know there is a system where teams who fail to make the playoffs one season are demoted to a lower league and have to play in to the major league the next year.

[Sabre Ally]

So, what does this mean for Ottawa in the short-term?

[Buffarama]

I heard the teams across the league (minus the Sabres) are going to be asked to donate $750,000 each to bail them out. That's what I believe I heard anways.

[Sabre Ally]

Wouldn't it be nice if we could just split the Rangers' budget into three parts and share it between the Rangers, the Sens, and the Sabres?