The Tuesday Memo

News and Notes around the Business World of Hockey...

- Players are expected to forefit around 13% of their salaries (through escrow funds) in order to cover revenue shortfalls this season (Globe and Mail). However, because of the raise from 13.5% to 22.5% for the second half of the season, the players will recieve money back plus interest over the off-season:

"If the union and league projections prove to be correct, the players will keep just 87 per cent of this year's salaries. That would be after they receive a refund of about 5 per cent of their salaries plus interest, Kelly said in an e-mail message."

My question would be, how short are we talking here, and which teams are in the most trouble? I was really expecting the league to stay flat in terms of Hockey Related Revenue this season, but with so much money being taken out of the escrow funds, it doesn't look so anymore.

- Tonight at Jobing.com arena the Coyotes take on the Canucks at 7 PM PST, and it is 1980's night. Paul Kukla thinks the Coyotes should have Gretzky play to make it more realistic (KK Hockey).

- A fanpost at James Mirtle's From The Rink dives into European Attendance figures, which are "up" this season:

"In a press release last week, IIHF president René Fasel trumpeted a "substantial increase" in attendance at European club hockey games. What Fasel didn't say and a closer look at the attendance figures reveals is that attendance actually declined for 37 of the 64 teams for which year over year comparisons are possible.

...

A fairer statement about European hockey attendance would go something like this:Attendance at European club hockey has plateaued at slightly over 70% of arena capacity and is at risk of trending downward."

Oh, and hockey is more popular in North America than Europe:

"The NHL reports attendance of about 21 million for 1230 games involving 30 teams in metro areas with a population of about 117 million. The six major European leagues report combined attendance of about 13.7 million for 2512 games involving 92 teams in metro areas with an estimated population of about 96 million.

And for those who like really big numbers, try this: North American hockey attendance at 11 leagues (including the three major junior leagues) with 201 teams is approximately 44 million per year. European (including Russia and Great Britain) attendance for the 301 teams listed at Hockeyarenas.net is about 18 million."

- Finally, the NHL was once the "coolest game on earth" with coy ads such as this one:



More later.