NHL Makes 50/50-No Salary Rollback Offer

NHL.com Gary Bettman announced a new offer to the NHLPA that allows an 82 game schedule beginning 11/2. 

Donald Fehr he needs time to review the offer. 

Both Bettman/Fehr have given video interviews.

NHL.com Transcript of Bettman's Comments

NYIFC Comments:
Obviously this is the final chance for an 82 game schedule. An offer of this measure also means the players existing long-term front-loaded contracts will be honored in full which no doubt most players will want to accept.

If Donald Fehr does not accept the offer, not even the media salesman of x market teams will be able to defend the NHLPA not accepting a 50/50 split given what the avg NHL player now makes in salary. 

The problem moving forward are issues Bettman has within his own circle of owners on salary cap, front-loading, length of contracts, and how many NTC/NMC a team can carry. A league where you have seventy million dollar teams front-loading, or hiding mistakes in the AHL is not a balanced system.

There cannot be collusion not to front-load or make long-term offers, it has to be part of a binding agreement on player contracts with the NHLPA.

Revenue sharing is an internal NHL decision to make among owners governing themselves with regard to their share of revenue. 

Rick DiPietro Signs In Germany/New York Notables

Scriesersee.de: Reports Rick DiPietro has signed in a German League and will have a press conference with their season opening on 10/14.

NYIFC Comments:
This blog has not been covering the many NHL Islander players signing in Europe/KHL. (sidebar links have been following transactions) DiPietro is a little different because no one on the current roster needs to play hockey more, and this is his chance to work off the game rust that practice does not provide.

Obviously DiPietro/agent secured the necessary insurance of his NHL contract, however any sustained injury means if a lockout were settled, the Islanders would no longer be required to pay the remainder of his contract if he were hurt playing in another league.

Of course the same holds true for all players.

What this blogger wants most is Rick DiPietro with the rust off his game, finally ready to return to the franchise goaltender/all-star he was in 2007-08.

New York Roster:
To the best of my knowledge Evgeny Nabokov, Matt Moulson, Brad Boyes, Kyle Okposo, Josh Bailey, Marty Reasoner, Eric Boulton, Matt Carkner are the current New York Islander roster players yet to sign with a team in a European/North American league not counting their unsigned departed UFA.

Bridgeport Roster:
Travis Hamonic, Nino Niederreiter, David Ullstrom, Casey Cizikas, Matt Donovan, Calvin deHaan, Aaron Ness, Ty Wishart, Anders Nilsson, Kevin Poulin are in Bridgeport.

Ryan Strome, Griffin Reinhart/draft picks are in juniors or college/europe.

NHL/NHLPA Negotiations:
Things are running as expected with Donald Fehr, threatening to repeal the salary cap which means get ready for what will likely be a season without NHL hockey.

Media Game:
 Market-based media are doing the sales job selling what suits their career/editor's interest as the selective reporting standards are frankly disappointing.

It's disingenuous some media speculate on what franchises are profitable vs which ones spend more to lose more only looking at revenue which this blog contends often is not profit or a sustainable business model.

I guess for those media if a billion dollar company can lose 20-30m a year for a sports team/trophy purchase, it's survival of the richest corporations if it's the team they cover. 

Big Market/Small Market
There are no big hockey markets in the US, unless you want to include markets with no competition from other sports.

New York is invisible in terms of hockey. 

Bridgeport Sends Ken Reiter To Fort Wayne ECHL

Sound Tigers website: Reports Ken Reiter was sent for Fort Wayne of the ECHL. 

Bridgeport finished it's preseason 1-1, off games that were only scheduled a few weeks ago. Travis Hamonic left after one period Friday with an injury being called slight/precautionary by new head coach, Scott Pellerin.

Islanders website: Has been updating Bridgeport on a daily basis.

Fort Wayne is currently affiliated with the National Hockey League's Toronto Maple Leafs and Anaheim Ducks, as well as the American Hockey League's Toronto Marlies and Norfolk Admirals

More players need to be cut before next Friday's opener. 

NYIFC Comments:
Not earth shattering news but worth an update. Bridgeport opened last season with three goaltenders. Mikko Koskinen started last year with Bridgeport before being loaned to a team in Europe, he declined the Isles qualifying offer, and signed in Europe for 2012-13, however the Isles retain his NHL rights. 

New York/Bridgeport had no ECHL affiliate last season. Ft Wayne Komets are an ECHL expansion club playing their inaugural season.

Wang vs Dolan On Cable Contract/Territorial Rights Buyout

Anyone who believes James Dolan, who took a tantrum over hockey coverage costs in 2005, fighting with another former Msg President Mike McCarthy here , who pulled the Isles pregame one year for a month, and fought them over $50,000 for the Metro Ice Challenge is simply going to pay Charles Wang well over a hundred million dollars for a cable contract that runs until 2030/territorial rights simply has not been paying attention.

Terms of the Cable Contract? 
NY Times: Going back to 1998 we know how the Dolan's reacted when they signed a new agreement until 2030 that gave the Isles eighteen percent of all Msg/Fox television revenue.  

The Garden invoked a phony competition clause and pulled Islander games.

In 1999 Charles Dolan discussed the competition clause he obviously never invoked on his own laughingstock teams but we did get the only documented terms of the updated cable deal.

Cablevision recoiled at the possibility of paying the Islanders 18 1/2 percent of total FSNY-MSG revenues. In the talks, the team got an extension through the 2030-31 season, which features yearly payments rising from $14.8 million next season and $17.5 million in 2000-1 to $36 million in the final year, and the possibility of lousy performances causing a breach disappeared from the final contract.

In November 2004, the Devils no longer with Yankee-Nets resigned with Msg until 2023-24.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but officials on both sides said the deal will give the Devils substantially more than the roughly $8 million rights fee the team was to receive this season.   In the past fans have complained when Devils games were broadcast on the Metro Channel, which is only available on Cablevision-owned systems. But Lamoriello said MSG and FSNY,  owned by Cablevision, assured him that will no longer happen.

"In this agreement we were able to look at all areas to help the franchise," Lamoriello said. "We wanted to ensure accessibility for all of our games to all our fans and we have a commitment to work that out." "What we were able to work out was the best decision for the franchise going forward," Lamoriello said. "Timing is everything in life."

Note-That is one reason why the New York Islanders received one game on Msg last season, and zero most other years while the Devils appear frequently on Msg.

To be fair as a Time Warner subscriber Metroguide was used during the Islander-Leafs 2002 playoffs, it was limited, but never a Cablevision-only channel. 

Guess that agreement did not cover playoff post-game road coverage for Lamoriello in 2012. 

How Much Is That Until 2030? 
Frankly, a full total of the cable contract has never been provided, nor have the Dolan's discussed the numbers which they will not do in a publication they now own. We can low estimate if the number remained at it's 2000-2001 level from 2012-13 at 17.5 million until 2029-30 that would come to 297 million, plus another 36 million for 2030-31.

333 million from this point forward if there has no been no increase since 2000-01, for years I listed the total around 300m so what I read in professional media could have been poorly done.

What Voids The Contract? 
That's easy, the franchise relocating out of their territorial rights area which includes Brooklyn, Queens, Suffolk, and a portion of Ct.

Territorial Rights? 
Four million when the Islanders joined the NHL in 1972, it's likely worth a great deal more today, and especially to the Dolan's if those rights were vacated.   

NY Times: In 1987 Devils owner John McMullen discussed how much he had to pay the Islanders, Flyers and Rangers in territorial rights fees so we have more background beyond 1972.

So What Does Charles Wang Do? 
Charles Wang purchased the Marriott Hotel in 2005, he bought out Scott Rechler's share in 2010, and the total cost was reportedly ninety million dollars at the time of purchase. He owns the abatement (walk of champions area) between the hotel and the Coliseum permanently.

He has no reason to ever move this team as long as he retains ownership, his actions in 2011 agreeing to a thirty year lease extension with a rent/revenue split, far worse than the deals ownership was offered in Edmonton/Phoenix (where owners get paid to manage facilities) made that very clear.

As to what he does now that's easy, he's not advertising any move/sale out of his territorial rights area because it means Dolan has no obligation to pay him anything. If he does decide to sell locally he's going to want from a potential owner his share of that future cable contract money as part of the purchase price.

Perhaps he also wants a potential owner to purchase the Marriott as part of the package to keep the club on that site?

This does not even touch Wang's ownership, management in Bridgeport until 2021 or the lease with Bridgeport to manage Webster Bank Arena which he renovated, with more city renovations planned in 2012 page 23.


What Will Dolan Do?
First off in 2001 it was reported the Knicks own territorial rights on Long Island here. 
The Dolan's needed Nets ownership approval in 1996 which is how the Nets got territorial rights in Brooklyn here.

Dolan's going to see what Wang's best offer is if he eventually decides to sell, give him a big cable/territorial rights buyout to take the team out of his television market if an out of town offer equals a local offer.

Dolan's not going to offer him anything if there are no competing offer of equal value. 

Ultimately:
Sorry folks, if  CharlesWang's final decision is to sell the New York Islanders, he has every reason to make back every penny he invested in this franchise since the day he purchased it (not even counting his share of the 20m Lighthouse Project) and protect himself/family above anything else.

Having written this, I absolutely believe there are too many financial reasons for Charles Wang  to retain the team at the Coliseum site permanently, and plenty of time based upon what's happened in Pittsburgh or Edmonton, who's lease expires a full year before the Isles. 

On May 16th 2011, this blog posted an entry titled New York Islanders Will Never Leave New York. 

On March 14th 2012, this blog posted an entry titled Total Support For Charles Wang.

I'm standing by those entries. 

New York Notables

Islander website has several updates/video on Bridgeport camp, along with new head coach, Scott Pellerin. 

The Hour: Has a four part article on Matt Moulson with his comments. 

NYIFC Comments:
This publication has been added to the prospect blog, the updates infrequent, but very high quality.

Ct Post: Has a feature on Anders Nilsson, and how he recovered from his March injuries.

Und.com: Reports Islander prospect, Anders Lee has been named captain for 2012-13 season.    

NYIFC Comments:
Quite an honor for a junior player in Lee. Head coach, Jeff Jackson is a former Islanders assistant coach.

Calgary Herald: Reports Griffin Reinhart is not the only player in the family who will be drafted in the future with Max, who is a Calgary Flames prospect.

Associated Press: Reports The operators of New York's Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum have been cited for 16 violations of workplace health and safety standards which Smg will contest bur claims have been addressed. 

NYIFC Comments:
This is not a New York Islander issue. Repairs to x dollar amount fall on Smg, major repairs fall on Nassau County. It should be noted Smg does have Jerry Goldman listed as the Coliseum's general manager.

New York Islander Fan Central wrote about the change on 3/5 along with speculation of possible change in Isles sublease status which has not been reported.

Bottom line there is if Wang/Rechler opted out of the December 2009 sublease, the only contractual issue keeping the Isles at the Coliseum would be Nassau County not allowing the club to move per terms of their original lease or what it's been for decades. 

Bridgeport's prospects are at his Marriott hotel, while the players work out at Iceworks.