The Tuesday Memo

News and Notes from around the Business World of Hockey.

- The economy has struck down on the ECHL, causing the Dayton Bombers and the Mississippi Sea Wolves to suspend operations for next season, along with the Phoenix RoadRunners decision to cease operations altogether (ECHL.com). The Dayton and Mississippi clubs will have to report by June whether they plan to return to the league in 2010 or further suspend or cease operations.

In good news, the ECHL will return to Toldeo, Ohio next season.

- Charles Wang speaks again, saying that if the plans to renovate the Nassau Coliseum aren't approved by October, he will most likely look to move the team to another part of Long Island. Queens is making a big push (NY Daily News).

- We all know the St. Louis Blues and Detroit Red Wings will head to Stockholm, Sweden to kick off the '09-'10 NHL season on October 2nd and 3rd, but before that each team will play an exhibition game against Swedish Elite teams (NHL.com).

Also, both games in Stockholm have sold out at 26,000 for the Globe Arena in Stockholm.

- Darren Everson of the Wall Street Journal explains why you should have watched the NCAA Mens Ice Hockey Tournament over the weekend if you wanted real upsets (WSJ Sports).

- Also, on a non-business note but a personal opinion I agree with; Nate says the NHL is more physical than the NFL (SFSI).

- Finally, Ovechkin shocks the Caps physical trainer:



Check back later.

Rumors Go Where Bettman Goes

Wednesday it was Phoenix, Thursday it was Nashville, and yesterday was Carolina. That was the route of Commissioner Gary Bettman, and each day he was in each city stories broke on different NHL franchises and their financial concerns.

Bettman stated yesterday to the Tampa Tribune that the Lightning are fine financially. A little tidbit of detail was shed yesterday by the Tribune:

The team also recently announced that all building employees must pay to park starting March 1 and paychecks to the players - normally direct deposited - were live checks withheld until after 1 p.m. during the past two pay periods. Those situations help churn the talk of financial instability, which Bettman said is unfounded.

Naturally, that might cause some rumors, Commish.

Commissioner Bettman in a press conference you can watch here had a some business news to relay:

- "Real" growth, which was projected earlier at around 7%, is now being projected from 4-5%.
- The test for the economy and the NHL will be the sale of playoff tickets.
- Carolina will get an All-Star game, but he did not say when. (Sporting News, for a link)
- "We're not thinking about an NHL Division in Europe" - Good, to me.
- Bettman would like to see the number of games in the NHL Prmier increase.

YouTube Night Cap/NHL Premier News (Update)

Seeing that the Flyers visit the Rangers this Sunday at 12:30 PM EST in NBC's Game of the Week, I figured I would show a scrapped NHL on FOX promo involving the two teams.



Good night and come on back tomorrow.

- Update (9 PM):

George Richards of the Miami Herald says that the Panthers and Blackhawks will kick off the NHL Season in Helsinki, Finland along with the Red Wings and Blues in Stockholm, Sweden.

Apparently, the NHL will not be back in Prague, according to Richards. This had been previously speculated at CBC.

My take? Cool beans.

NHL Plans European Vacation Again

During HNIC's Hotstove segment last night, CBC's Scott Morrison reported the NHL is planning 3 games in Europe for the '09-'10 NHL Premier. The NHL's European tour will come back to Czech Republic in Prague, along with again visiting Sweden in Stockholm. The third and new city to host the two weekend games as of right now is Helsinki, Finland.

The tentative plan right now is to send Calgary and San Jose to Helsinki, Detroit and St. Louis to Stockholm, and finally Chicago and Florida in Prague. Morrison noted that these are all preliminary plans though, because the teams (especially Detroit, according to him) still have to satisfy their ticket sales needs.

As I've stated before around here, I'm for the NHL kicking off the season in Europe. Yes, there are some downfalls such as less home games for the loving fanbases over here and some tough logistics for the teams that travel; but I thought the NHL handled the scheduling well with this seasons premier. I'm for all of this because the Premier allows the league and the game to shine on an international level, which will always help the league.

That might be all for today, as I have some serious school-work. So if not enjoy your Sunday.

Monday Afternoon Update

And I'm back. It was a long weekend and I apologize for no posts. Lets get moving though...

As I mentioned last Wednesday, E.J. Hradek reported that the NHL and NHLPA were working towards setting up another World Cup of Hockey, which I am all for.

Well Saturday Scott Burnside picked up more on that story, saying that the two sides have reached a handshake agreement on how the revenues will be divided up involving the World Cup, thus giving the 2011 event a green light. He also added that the NHL will be continuing to send teams to kick off the season over in Europe.

As you know I'm all for the WC of Hockey, I will now shed my opinion on sending teams to Europe. Burnside reports in that article that six teams will be sent to three European cities to kick off the 2009-2010 season, followed by eight teams to four cities the following season.

The Good? From a Business standpoint, it is great for the NHL and the individual clubs. The 2008 events in Prague and Stockholm this season were big hits and created an amazing atmosphere. Sellout crowds, international exposure, and increased media coverage are all benefits here.

The Bad? Well for the teams that travel, they lose one regular season home game, along with a preseason game or two. I would venture a guess that this upsets the hometown fans along with some sponsors, but at the same time it is very cool to be selected to represent the NHL abroad. From an on-ice standpoint, scheduling is a bit of a hassle. The 2007-2008 season kicked off with the Ducks and Kings in London at the O2 Arena, and later on in the season there was rumblings about how the Ducks were upset because they were fatigued and didn't get off to a good start in the season. I don't see that as much of an issue now, as the NHL staged the 2008 Premier earlier than the start of the regular season at home, allowing time for rest for the four teams that traveled (OTT, PIT, TB, and NYR).

Either way, I think both events are great for the league, and highlight the great sport that we all follow dearly.

More News...

Sports Business Journal once again provides a great piece on NHL Attendance and TV Ratings, which brings everyone up to speed for how the season is going. I missed this originally, but today's Puck Headlines over at Puck Daddy allowed me to catch this.

If you follow the blog, you know that in the past week I've looked at SBJ's updates on the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference about Attendance, so I won't go on repeating myself. But, SBJ did some great research into TV Ratings thus far, which are up nationally, and only down in seven markets locally. Here is the snapshot (click to enlarge):


The only real shocker to me in the change column (negatively) is Detroit. How do you win a Stanley Cup and then decline in TV Ratings? Weird.

One final thing, as I'm sort of pressed for time now...

Greg Wyshynski wrote the following in his Puck Headlines about the Sports Business Journal article describing the above:

But here's the problem: When Sports Business Journal writes that "five teams reported average attendance below 15,000 - the New York Islanders, Columbus Blue Jackets, Atlanta Thrashers, Nashville Predators and Phoenix Coyotes," we all know those numbers are remarkably generous because of the way the League counts "attendance" and because we're not blind. Stop crowing about records built on a foundation of discounts, giveaways and unused tickets.

Now don't get me wrong, I agree fully with him. I've already taken a look at who I think is lying about their attendance numbers and who is telling the truth, but lets step back for a second.

I firmly believe that the NHL is not the only league that differs their attendance from how many are present in the building and how many tickets were sold, but this isn't anything new. Therefore, I don't see this as a big deal. Why? Well, from the business point of view, if I had a job in the Marketing Department for the New York Islanders (well first I would hit myself being a Rangers fan), I wouldn't be worried about if the person that bought tickets attend the actual game, I'd be worried about getting the payment for those tickets. So, although it is slightly unethical for some teams to be doing such a thing, it is (to me) somewhat of an evil necessity for certain teams' market.

That is all I have for now, possibly more later, if not definitely tomorrow.

EDIT: a quick note...

Last Weeks Sellout Count: 25, which brings up the total this year to 330. Saturday night was a big night, with 9 out of 11 games selling out, most surprisingly the Islanders and Predators "selling" out.