Re-Grand Opening: What a Pass

Few will read this, but for those of you who will (because your either still following or you forgot to delete me from your RSS feeds), I'm back with a new look. Welcome to What a Pass (WaP for short), where I (Rob) give my dilettante-esque opinion on the business of Hockey and Soccer (and occasionally the sports) in North America (for the most part).

If any of you remember Puck Money, this is the same site (with all the old posts), but instead of trying to act like the journalist I will never become, I am just going to write what I think and post it. It may not get much attention here, but I plan on sending stuff around to see if I can make any waves. I would venture a guess to say half the time I will be reacting to a link or story I saw, while the other half I will be attempting to share some ideas with many about improving the popularity and financial viability of Hockey and Soccer in North America.

Why Hockey and Soccer? Well, I've played Hockey almost all my life, and I've suffered almost fifteen years now of being a New York Ranger fan (It doesn't help when one of your first sports memories is the 1994 Stanley Cup win). As for Soccer, I am memorized by the loyal support of the fans in Europe along with the high level of difficulty of the game (similar to Hockey, to me). In a perfect world, I would be singing and supporting the New York Rangers in Madison Square Garden with 10,000 other crazed fans like at Soccer games and SC Bern games in Switzerland. But, thats not how Americans work, so I'll have to settle with what I've got for now.

I plan on going into the Business World of Sports in one way or the other. My plan now is to crack in with the MLS or NHL, and go from there. Ideally, I get lucky and get the right connections and end up with decision-making power of some sort for a North American NHL or MLS franchise. Being the "non-traditional" sports guy among friends of NFL, MLB, and NBA fans, I seem to spend a lot of time explaining issues and persuading them to watch NHL and MLS games with me. Big games aren't the problem - even I watch the World Series and the Super Bowl - its the league games that I wan't to improve.

So if you're reading this, check back in eventually. I expect to update the site three to five times a week, so lets see where this ends up going. I'm actually headed to Ottawa this weekend for the Ranger game, so I'm sure I'll have something on that.

Have a good weekend.

The End (?) of Puck Money

To any loyal readers:

I am sorry to say that I will not continue this blog beyond this day. It has been four months of fun and I have learned a lot about the Business of Hockey, but I am unable to fully commit to writing this blog daily, which makes it unfair to you guys to keep it going. I am not deleting the site in case anyone needs my statistics and such, but this will most likely be the last post unless I for some reason revive it in the unforeseeable future.

This blog did allow me to improve my writing skills and get noticed for a new gig (New York Ranger analysis at Blueshirt Banter). For that I am grateful. Thanks to all the commenters, and if anyone needs anything feel free to email me.

Here's to Northern Relocation and the NHL growing in general,

Rob Luker - Puck Money.

Light Week

Readers,

I have a final tonight at 7 PM, a paper due Wednesday, and another Final on Thursday at 8 AM. Because of this I will most likely be absent most of the week. And it's 80 and Sunny in Norhtern New York, kill me now.

Thanks for reading as always, and check out Blueshirt Banter for all your Rangers News and Opinion.

Rob

The Thursday Memo

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

A relatively big day business wise, lets kick it off:

-All national TV outlets (American and Canadian) experienced a rise in ratings this season, along with 12 franchises gaining on the tube as well (Sports Business Journal):

"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 big news today of a "serious" group of investors that met with Bill Daly last week in downtown Toronto looking to put another NHL team in northern metro Toronto in approx. 3-5 years (Globe and Mail):

"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...

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."

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.

- Finally, I have a new gig to go with this one. I am now a co-writer at Blueshirt Banter; SB Nation's Ranger blog. I am excited to work there in a great (for now) time for the Rangers, so please stop on by.

The Wednesday Memo

News and Notes from around the Business World of Hockey.

Yes, I'm still around. School is winding down (one paper, two finals to go) so I will start thinking about my little corner of the Internet here instead of school so much (who needs it, right!?). Here's some headlines...

- The Columbus Blue Jackets have generated over $2 Billion of economic impact in Columbus since their conception in 2000 (Business First of Columbus):

"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 You can watch up to ten companies at a time.

" width="13" height="13">Arena Football League franchise.

• 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.

The Monday Memo

News and Notes from around the Business World of Hockey.

- A summary of the Game 1 Local TV Ratings (Puck The Media). NYC ratings surprisingly low.

- The Blue Jackets are still operating at a loss (Business First of Columbus):

"Q: Will making the playoffs make the team profitable this season?

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)."

- 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...

- The Subway Ad's on the Madison Square Garden glass will be back for Game 3 and 4 starting tonight (Sports Business Journal). They may be back for all of next season too.

Some Ranger fans are really upset about this. I can deal with it, because I watch for the hockey. But many make a good point that it might be a slippery slope to over-advertisement.

- Finally, an amazing Versus NHL Playoff promo:



A little NYR inspiration. Also, that is a hook Scotty.

The Wednesday Memo/Merry Playoffs

I have a lot going on - tests, papers, presentations, Ranger playoff games, the norm. This is the only small post today to basically let you know that I will try to be around tomorrow with some more attendance figures, but if not I will be back on Friday when the dust settles.

- The city of Allen, Texas; a wealthy northern suburb of Dallas will be getting a Central Hockey League team for the 2009-2010 season (Dallas Business Journal). It will be interesting to see how the team does there, as the report says the team will have a close relationship with the Dallas Stars.

- The Penguins have a "tweetup" planned (Pittsburgh Business Times). Basically, get drunk and watch the Pens-Flyers at TGI Fridays with friendly Internet people.

- Hoping your team has a "tweetup" planned? Check out NHLTweetup.com - where you can find the answer to the exact question I just posed.

That's all for now, I'll be back later in the week. Let's Go Rangers.

I Have an Opinon on The Acutal Game, Too...

As you guys know if you read regularly, I am a Rangers fan. I was five in 1994, and it is one of my first and greatest memories waking up to see Messier lifting the cup. I've also played for 15 years now with a semi-successful high school career and have coached when possible throughout college around home. So as much as I sit here in my little niche of the hockey blogging world, I do have an opinion on something many have opinions about; the actual games.

I was asked to write an analysis/opinion on the Rangers-Caps series coming up tommorow for the Bleacher report which can be found if you click the following:

Mistake Free Hockey Will Be Key for Rangers, Caps.

I'll jump to the juicy end of the article, which sums up my overall opinions:

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.

Please let me know what you think if you feel like it. Thanks for reading as always.

Bruins Attendance Up 10%; Others Drop

These days are gone in Boston, for now.

No daily memo today, I am traveling for a job interview. Sorry.

Ahh, the smell of fresh Attendance statistics. Eight teams finished off their seasons at home last night, which gives us the final attendance (announced, that is) stats on their seasons. To the chart (click to enlarge):



In alphabetical order; Boston, Carolina, New York Rangers, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Tampa Bay, and Vancouver finished up their home games for this season Tuesday night. A couple of thoughts before I hit the road...

• I hope we don't see as many teams dropping in attendance this year as the ones thus far. 5 out of 13 thus far.
• How much affect did the Second Half Boost have? Carolina enjoyed a ridiculous 2,300+ Second Half Boost with a first half average of 15,135 and a second half average of 17,942; wow. Boston also enjoyed a boost of over 700 spectators per game; while Ottawa's average attendance dropped in the second half.
  
• Boston is the closest to the ridiculous numbers the Capitals put up this season, coming in up 10% from last season. The B's have been trending up for a bit the past two or three seasons, as well.
• Pittsburgh and Carolina have made enormous strides since before the lockout; a very encouraging feeling if you are Gary Bettman. A little blip for the Pens this season though, as they slip a bit from their Cup Final appearance last season.
• San Jose staying very constant the past couple of seasons, but at the same time have really stepped it up from before the lockout.
• Are Senators fans only fair-weathered ones? Wheres the Canadian dedication?
• Finally, it is no surprise that the attendance in Tampa Bay has dropped significantly since the Cup win; but really? By double digits % each year? Wow, apparently you need two cups to keep fans around in Florida.

Thoughts? Concerns? Sorry for the rough and quick analysis, but the real life calls. Thanks for reading as always and have a nice weekend. I'll be back Sunday or Monday.

Nashville's Attendance Up/Thursday Memo/Winter Classic Update

News and Notes from around the Business World of Hockey.

- Literally no "news" that I know of, but the Nashville Predators played their final home game Tuesday night, so we have new stats (click to enlarge):



Nashville finished up over a half a percent this season (announced attendance), where the Second Half Boost and their race for the playoffs (which looks bleak now) undoubtedly played a huge role. The Predators enjoyed almost a 1,000 person boost in second half regular season games this season, all of the heels of the recent announcement that the club will make the 14,000 average paid attendance mark required for revenue sharing this semester. Now although still down from their best season attendance wise (and possibly on the ice, too) two years ago, the franchise has grown leaps and bounds from their pre-lockout attendance figures.

- The Rangers have a big game tonight against the Flyers, win and we're in (yea, I said we). So, I present to you my favorite Bobby Granger commercial. Classic:



More (if anything happens) later.

Update, 12:00 PM EST

- Is Fenway Park the destination for the 2010 Winter Classic? (Boston Herald) Take a look:



Update, 2:00 PM EST:

- Speculating investors for the Montreal Canadiens (Globe and Mail)

The Thursday Memo

News and Notes from around the Business World of Hockey.

Slow, slow day so far.

- A look at the Escrow Situation along with some reporting on TV Revenues of four major sport leagues in the US (National Post):

"The players are having 22.5 per cent of their cheques deducted and put into an account with J.P. Morgan until the league determines what the actual revenues from this season have been. Once decided, the players will then be getting some of that money back, but the whack to their bottom line is expected to be substantial.

"Our best estimate at the moment is about 13 per cent will be what the players will eventually lose," says Kelly

...

"In terms of national revenues per season, the NFL is at $3.7 billion (US), major league baseball is $1.37 billion, the NBA is at $930 million and the NHL, with RDS, CBC, NBC and Versus all in, is at just $225 million," says Kelly. "There's a lot of reasons for that, but it's the single biggest drawback we're facing in the league right now."

The NHL makes 24% of what the NBA makes, 16.4% of MLB, and 6% of NFL. Downright puny. Remember my theory on the NHL being near a business peak? This is what I'm talking about. Yes, it is great that the league is filling two-thirds of its arenas on a regular basis but in terms of revenue growth without TV the league is going nowhere fast. Do I wish the NHL could make 3.7 Billion on TV? Sure. But its a special "niche" sport for a reason, I guess.

- Want your kid to go to school to learn hockey? How's $32,000 (Canadian) a year sound? (Metronews.ca)

- Finally, Bobby Granger bumps into Henrik Lundqvist:



More later.

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.

The Monday Memo (3:15 PM Update)

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

- Is Steve Avery the new NHL Golden Boy? (Puck The Media) - I like to think so.

- The University of Wisconsin is going ahead with plans to build a new arena for the Badger's Men's and Woman's Division I hockey teams (BizJournals). This one is a bit different though, as the arena is going to be privately funded, which is unusual for a University (especially one the size of Wisconsin).

- From Friday, the NHL Awards Show will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada this season (Yahoo).

- The NHL and Madison Square Garden have reportedly settled over their media-rights battle with the Rangers website among other things (Sports Business Journal):

"Terms of the settlement aren’t disclosed in the letter, but it does say that the settlement is expected to be completed by the end of March, at which time documentation of it will be submitted to the court and the lawsuit will be dismissed.

Sources familiar with the pending settlement say that it will see MSG cover all of the league’s legal fees, which are more than $15 million. Additionally, MSG will receive a seat on the NHL’s digital committee, NHL governors will be given the right to motion for anonymous votes on issues put before the board, and ownership groups will be able to propose a 30-day waiting period before the board votes on an issue brought forward by the NHL."

- The New Hartford Spartans win the Division II New York State High School Hockey State Championship (Utica OD).

- NHL.com has a sidebar ad for something called "The Portal" - I think from watching the video it has something to do with playoffs, as The Portal "opens" on April 13.

- Finally, an old OLN (Versus) NHL promo:



More later.

- Update, 3:15 PM EST:

- An overview behind the logic of freezing ticket prices in the NHL and NBA in such an economic climate (Dave Milz; Bleacher Report)

- Flyers at Rangers on NBC Sunday draws a 1.1/3 overnight (Puck The Media).

Monday Afternoon News and Notes

- Philadelphia Flyers ticket prices will not be raised next season (Philadelphia Business Journal). I think this applies for all prices after reading the article, but if not the season ticket prices will definitely not rise.

- Yesterday's Pens @ Caps NBC Game of the Week draws a 1.1/3 overnight (Puck The Media).

- Finally, some on-ice news for any fellow Blueshirt fans who follow me here, Tom Renney has indeed been fired (Rangers website). Sather deserves the axe more than him, but this might be a shake-up the team desperately needs. Please lets find someone that can bring in a system where offense is key.

Hopefully more later, but I'm not sure as the family dog was put down today, so I'm not feeling to hot. If I do not return, Playing Below Capacity with the Florida Panthers will be back tomorrow.

- Update: 6 PM:

The Anaheim Ducks jump in the ticket pricing fun, freezing all Season Ticket Plans (include partial ones), concession stand prices, and parking as well.

Thursday News & Notes

- Rangers/Flyers from last Sunday draws a 0.9 rating. Still up 13% from last seasons matchup of Stars/Red Wings at 0.8 (Puck The Media).

- Let's start the Coyotes fun! After Dredger's original TSN report, Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes did confirm that they have received interest from investors. Yes, there is an s on the end of investors (azcentral.com).

- In response to this news, David Shoalts writes an article which, oh how do you say, doubts the situation? (Globe and Mail).

"Who would make an offer on that team?" one source said, referring to the total losses of the Coyotes, said to be as much as $250-million since Moyes took control of them in 2001.

- In response to Shoalts, Odin Mercer writes on how he thinks Shoalts wove his article just to bring out more negativity around the Coyotes. I'm still laughing at the picture at this top of this article. (Five for Howling)

- Rangers @ Bruins is on tap for NBC's Game of the Week next Sunday, March 8th (Puck The Media). This Sunday it is Pittsburgh @ Washington (Capitals.com). I am so far two for two with my Game of the Week predictions.

- Update: 1:35 PM EST

Gary Bettman will host his show NHL Hour today from Nashville.

Members of the Nashville Predators organization scheduled to guest on today's show include Chairman David Freeman, President of Hockey Operations and General Manager David Poile and Head Coach Barry Trotz.

Click here if you want to listen to it at 4 PM EST. Once the NHL Network Online window loads, click on the "NHL Radio" tab and click the first "NHL Hour" tab on the right at the top of the list, and it should load.

I already sent in a question regarding some financial issues, so lets hope we hear some good stuff.

- Seeing that Alex Ovechkin might have had the goal of the year last night, I will leave you with one of his first commercials stateside from back in (I think, not 100% sure) 2007:

Winter Classic Rumor

Dan Rosen of NHL.com reported that Commissioner Bettman was touring the new Yankee Stadium Thursday as a possible site for the 2010 Winter Classic. Bettman was apparently invited by the Yankees to swing by. Bettman naturally backtracked, saying:

"This was extremely preliminary," Bettman said. "To suggest we're even at the embryonic stage would be an exaggeration."

I'm gonna call it now, the next Winter Classic will be in New York City.

I forget exactly where I got this photo, but I think it was over the Summer 2008 when the old Yankee Stadium was still being considered for the '09 Classic.



I like that setup, I always though they should have set it up at Wrigley like so.

That is probably all for today, enjoy your night.

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.

There is a God

I am detecting virtually no business related news today, except for this quick piece by Cassie Campbell at CBC. It takes a different look at the Coyotes and Predators situations. This will be my only post before I begin my afternoon/night of exams, and although the Devils trounced the Rangers last night; there is a god.




My Sean Avery NYR Jersey could be put to use, soon. Avery is heading to Hartford. I am filled with boyhood joy today.

Enjoy your Tuesday.