Sunday Islander/NHL Notables

New York Islander Fan Central | 8/19/2007 07:55:00 AM | | | | |
Interesting two part article out of Kansas City from a writer named Peter Grathoff that mentions expansion or relocation in the NHL so a club can move into the new Spirit Center here.

The usual subjects are covered. Owners want more expansion fees because the NHLPA does not profit from it, teams losing money, attendance issues, history of expansion, franchise value's increasing, what adding a team (or two) would mean for talent pool ect....

What I find interesting here is you always get these people claiming to be hockey experts on markets they don't go to or live in. What does Allan Maki, a hockey/sports columnist for the Toronto Globe and Mail (this article they wrote Toronto Globe and Mail) know about Kansas City beyond the fact the Scouts failed long ago and relocated? I have been following hockey for over thirty years and that's the best I could tell you about the Scouts aside from the fact they moved to Colorado then NJ.

Then you get someone named David Carter, executive director of the USC Sports Business Institute. Who provides us some background, history on expansion for the NHL but does he understand the history of the league at all and the Kansas City market? In this article he did his homework, he tried to contact Bill Daly from the league and has many comments from the league office regarding the CBA and future and he presents a lot of information, but it seems like this person has never seen a hockey game.

Maki is interesting here also because on one hand HE recently wrote about the NHL’s upturn in business recently. Today Maki's quoted as saying “I just don’t know about the business of the NHL,”

Then he writes:

“Some people are saying it’s very, very good and that’s why costs are going up, and others are saying it’s a reflection of there being only so many football, baseball and basketball franchises that can be had and if you want to get in, the NHL is both available and reasonably priced by comparison.”

When I looked at some recent Globe and Mail Articles Maki contributed to it's easy to understandy why he does not know Buying Frenzy defies logic The NHL suddenly a hot commodity.

Both gentleman feel it's inevitable KC will get another team because they seem to have the financial support from individuals or groups to make it happen and a modern facility is about to open.

As fans we all missed a full season of hockey, an unprecedented event.

Part of the lockout settlement was that both sides appointed someone to review all the clubs revenue in full. Instead of relying on a lot of estimates from Forbes that comes out every December and mostly deal with estimated franchise values, why not just post what each teams makes in revenue, what they claim to make or lose, what revenue sharing the receive or pay and the actual attendance for games, not announced sellouts?

What do the league, owners and NHLPA have to lose? Isn't the goal a better product for fans at an affordable cost that is strong enough it makes more money for the owners and players.

In other news:

Sunday's Newsday has a full page feature on the ice-girl tryouts
here
which seemed longer than most hockey updates this summer from Newsday aside from the new jersey release.

Of course the incident with Ranger goaltender Lundqvist was the lead part of the story from last season and why I'm bothering with it here. It's interesting Newsday writer, JOSEPH V. AMODIO who did the feature did not mention the problems with the Ranger City skaters that led to lawsuits here which ended the Ranger City Skaters and seemed to cost Times beat writer his column covering the club.

In today's version of Where's Waldo, Michael Peca rumors to the Blue Jackets are heating in with quotes from Peca's agent. Peca expressed interest in signing with Columbus and was quoted Saturday.

I hope he signs soon so these updates on him end, I do not care what team. Too many updates for thirteen goals the last two years in the regular season.