The day after the team agreed to loan terms Feb. 24 with the NHL, it paid Glendale nearly $351,000 in overdue arena rent payments that dated to late summer 2008. The money also likely was used to meet player payroll.Good and bad. Bad obviously because the league and other successful franchises are supporting the Coyotes in this horrid economy. Good because now this gives the NHL leverage to find a new owner or (preferably) move the Yotes out of Arizona.
The loan, for an unknown amount, gives the NHL more control over the future of the Coyotes - including the possible relocation of the team. The Coyotes have never made money since owner Jerry Moyes became an investor in 2001, and annual financial losses have exceeded $20 million during his tenure.
And exactly how deep were the Coyotes in before this loan?To get money from the league, the team pledged all of its assets, including its management agreement of Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, as collateral, according to financial records filed with Maricopa County Recorder's Office. Glendale officials had no comment.
The league's investment ultimately could give the NHL leverage to move the team, according to one sports business expert.
Public records do not indicate how much money the NHL loaned the Coyotes. The team already had borrowed at least $57.5 million since December 2003 from affiliates of MSD Capital, records show.My emotions as I write this consist of rolling my eyes and just having my face in my palms. The NHL needs to figure this out in the long term ASAP, and I don't think keeping the Coyotes in Phoenix is a viable option.
The square peg into a round hole analysis is a perfect way to put it. I've never been a big fan of the southern movement to being with, but I'm all for sticking with the ones that have worked relatively well so far."With a handful of Sun Belt teams struggling to sell hockey, NHLPA director of player affairs Glenn Healy believes the timing could not be better for the NHL to seriously look at transferring a second team to the Toronto area.
He also stated that, in addition to Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie and a group that wants to bring a team to Vaughn, Ont., there are at least two other factions interested in landing another NHL team for Southwestern Ontario.
"They have been trying to fit a square peg into a round hole for a lot of years," Healy said yesterday, in reference to the failure of the Sun Belt teams in the NHL. "They have tried everything in the world to sell the game, market the game, put fans in the seats and it doesn't work for a lot of reasons."
As a franchise, the Panthers have struggled from poor on-ice performance, but the BankAtlantic Center books over 200 events per year, which most likely means a nice profit in general. The merger would probably help a lot with any Panther debt that is lying around."The Florida Panthers are in negotiations to merge the team, its arena management company and rights to the real estate surrounding BankAtlantic Center with Sports Properties Acquisition Corp., a public-stock company formed last year, sources said.
The potential deal values the assets at $230 million, including debt, with the plum in the talks a planned mixed-use development around the south Florida arena, the sources said. The negotiations have been taking place over the last several weeks, the sources said."
"The leaguewide increase at the gate carried over to television, where average ratings were up at each of the league’s national broadcast partners. In the U.S., average viewership on Versus increased 14 percent to 310,000 viewers and a 0.3 cable rating, and NBC’s ratings rose from a 1.0 to a 1.1 household rating through nine telecasts. In Canada, viewership was up on CBC by 5 percent to an average of 1 million viewers, TSN by 12 percent to an average of 451,000 viewers and RDS by 7 percent to an average of 650,000 viewers."- The KHL is obviously in a financial mess, so with their recent re-draft, some salaries were cut up to 50% in light of the economy (From The Rink).
"The unidentified group met with NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly in downtown Toronto last week, according to sources. The group proposes to build an arena at the intersection of Highways 427 and 7 in Vaughan, Ont., on land north of Pearson International Airport that's owned by businessman Victor De Zen."James Mirtle has his take, and a very wise one at that:
"I likely wouldn't have said this prior to moving to Toronto, but after having lived here for six or seven years, it's very clear that a second team in – or close to – the city would be a huge success...He also mentions that it would obviously be a financially sound club, which is what I definitely would look forward to. I would say all systems go, but its still in a very primitive stage at the moment.
For Canadian hockey fans, however, the new team would be a huge boon. There are a lot of transplants in Toronto, like myself, who are hockey fans but not Leafs fans, and I could see many taking up the new franchise as their own (especially if tickets are more widely available). For Leafs fans, it would mean another regional rival and some heated intercity competition; for fans in other NHL cities in this country, it'd be another Toronto team to cheer against."
"Among the study’s findings are:
• More than $850 million in spending in Central Ohio has been directly attributable to the Blue Jackets, Nationwide Arena and Columbus Destroyers, the city’s
" width="13" height="13">Arena Football League franchise.You can watch up to ten companies at a time.
• An estimated $160 million in indirect spending at hotels and restaurants can be attributed to out-of-town visitors attending Blue Jackets games and other events at the arena.
• Approximately $4 million in local income tax revenue has been generated by the Jackets and Destroyers since fiscal year 2002.
And more..."
Can the Thrashers boast this? At least they have a "green" arena...
- What the Lighthouse on Long Island project and Kellogg's Nutra-Grain bars have in common (Let There Be Light (house)).
- Game 3 of Caps/Rangers was the highest New York area rated game in 12 years; watched by 2.72% of NY area homes (Puck The Media). God I feel bad for everyone that wasted their time, I wish I had my three hours back of that game.
- Finally, Versus has put out some sick ads this year for the playoffs:
Come on back tomorrow, should have more than just headlines.
"Q: Will making the playoffs make the team profitable this season?- The NHL's credit is going up to just under $200 million in an effort to help the Coyotes (Globe and Mail). It is anticipated the club will lose around $35 million this season. The credit crisis is likely to get worse, and the league is taking more of it? Ugh...A: We’ll clearly operate at a loss. I’m not in a position to get into the details, but there are a number of factors that go into it. A franchise such as ours, we have to be above average in ticket sales and above average in our corporate support compared to larger markets because we don’t benefit from the media (revenue)."
"DiPofi said the Sabres sold 765,229 tickets this season.I've got the Sabres at 26 sellouts, which means the 15 non sellouts is the accurate number. I also have that the total number of fans at all regular season home games for the Sabres comes in at 759,787 spectators. This is below what the Sabres are saying they are sold, but above the articles statement. I'll keep tabs on this and I am beginning to work on a paid attendance tracking chart.Based on media information distributed by the team, however, it appears the ticket count was 741,547. The Sabres had 15 games at HSBC Arena that did not sell out, including two that drew fewer than 18,000 people to the 18,690-seat venue. In 2007-08, the Sabres said they sold out 38 of 41 home dates."
Please let me know what you think if you feel like it. Thanks for reading as always.So do you want a prediction? Well lets put it this way. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Rangers go down here. They made me proud in fighting for a playoff spot and coming through in the clutch recently, but they have been an inconsistent hockey club all year and have been a disappointment overall.
At the same time, the Rangers can beat Washington, and I think the key to that will be making less mistakes than the Capitals. The Rangers play such defensive and safe hockey sometimes that when they make a mistake it is blatantly clear what happened and who is to blame. The Rangers are the underdog alright; but sometimes that is exactly where you want to sit.
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