Would a salary cap/revenue sharing work?

[Don Cherry]

Unlike the other leagues, Hockey has unique economic hurdles to overcome.

But by borrowing a bit from the other leagues, this league can survive and possibly thrive if players, owners, and even some goverments all help out.

1) The NBA caps player salaries by experience. $13.5 million or so for the veterans is now the going rate. Tht's why some guys in the league like Ray Allen are now negotiating their own contracts and pocketing the agent's %.

The Players all bought into it because they were tired of 19-20 year olds like Garnett breaking the bank on $100 million contracts. Unfortunatly, the side effect is players leave college and even high school now to join the draft- mainly to get their service time in while they are still "young"

The NHL does not have this problem... they draft as early as 18 years old anyways.

2) Install a minimum and maximum cap for each team, but make it a "flexible " cap. The minimum should be set high enough to discourage a Montreal Expo like team- no salary overhead costs. The maximum should be tied to a % of the league revenue, like the NFL. If the league does well, the players do well. If the league is hurting, the players don't have as much cap space to earn off of.

3) Teams like the Rangers who spend $9 Million on guys like Bobby Holik should get a "luxury tax" put on them for spending the league into poverty and driving up other player's salaries. These Luxury taxes should be distributed to the bottom 10 teams.

But these teams need to qualify for the money, we don't want hockey welfare, either. Maybe sell 75% of your tickets at a minimum, or spend "X" amount on player salaries. At least give the illusion your club is trying to improve.

4) Governments might need to look into easing the tax burdens on Canadian clubs. I know this has been tried before but the Canadian taxpayers went nuts.
In recent years, other NHL teams, including the Ottawa Senators, Edmonton Oilers, and Calgary Flames, have faced financial troubles.

Currency exchange rates are part of the problem: Teams here earn revenue in Canadian dollars but must pay many of their expenses, including salaries, in greenbacks. To offset that financial burden, Rod Bryden, owner of the Ottawa Senators has called for tax relief for sports teams.

In Canada, property taxes on stadiums are hefty. Even after the municipal authorities in Montreal agreed to cut taxes on the Molson Centre, at US$5 million a year, the tax is still several times what teams in the US pay.

There have been a few calls for political action to help teams, but without much effect. In 1999, John Manley, then Ottawa's industry minister, offered a plan for tax abatements for teams, but withdrew it almost immediately after a roar of public criticism.

http://csmweb2.emcweb.com/durable/20...text/p7s1.html



If a salary cap will make a team like the Rangers or Flyers immensly profitable, maybe the league can tax those profits and pool the money to aid in easing the tax burdens of some of the Canadian clubs. If the Govts also kick in some tax releif, it may just save NHL hockey in Canada. And Teams like the Rangers won't be immensly prifitable for long if half the league folds.

It would be pretty ironic if the "AMERICAN" Hockey League was ther predominant pro hockey league in Canada, now would it?


Owners , Players, and communities all have to chip in if they don't want the NHL to become another "Original 6" with the 6 clubs being in cities like Dallas.