Nashville's days appear numbered

[Dixie Wingslover 0]

http://www.fan590.com/mediaplayer/audiopla...hard_rodier.mp3

this is an interview with ballsies lawyer

Anyone interested in this topic really needs to listen to this interview with the lawyer..... Unfortunate, but I would defintely make a bet that he is moving the team. From what I got out of the interview... it won't happen for 2-3 seasons, but.... becasue of the way the clause is written, it defininitely will happen, the questionis time frame. Worst cast scenario is Preds pay Nashville city $1.2 mil a year for rent..... all the teams in the league carry players with bigger salaries..... and some or all of that rent may be deductible off the bottom line. The Preds are vulnerable..... and a quality team, as they stand. Good chance Balsillie buys them, improves the product, they can take the Cup, and move into Hamilton to raise the banner. I suspect he will not degrade the team. He wants his name on the Cup. Expansion will take too long to build a team, when he has one ready made in the Preds.

[Guest bullocks]

^ they always cut up the preds on the fan590 lol i listen to it everyday around 6.

[vladdy16 2,154]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=210839&hubname=

Pretty brisk sales for the initial day's release.

[drsingle 0]

Here is Gary Bettman's potential saving move:

Competing Ownership Bid for Predators- Local to Nashville

The rumors are swirling around billionaire Todd Wagner, formerly of Dallas and once looked into buying the Stars before Tom Hicks. Wagner is now a resident of Franklin Tennessee (about 20 minutes from Nashville).

Wagner is a former partner to Mark Cuban as well.

This is a very interesting turn of events made possible by the Nashville corporate community and city leadership finally waking up. If true, this provides Bettman the possiblity to solidify the Nashville market and move forward with expansion- with or without Balsillie as I laid out in my PredNation article.

What an amazing soap opera.

David

[Legionnaire11 0]

here's some new you probably won't here out of the Canadian press (where all these stories are coming from anyway).

Okay, the Letter of Intent says the sale must be approved by the 30th of this month. The BoG has already said that they won't discuss it at their meeting on the 20th... There has also been negative feelings about the sale expressed by the BoG, Bettman and even Leipold himself who feels like Balsillie decieved him.

Now, the real news here is that there is a group that has popped up here in nashville, led by Todd Wagner, he is the guy that started up Broadcast.com with Mark Cuban and recently purchased a bunch of land here and is either living here or is moving here. This group has an offer ready and said that if the sale with balsillie falls through for whatever reason, they are prepared to give their offer to Leipold. The only reason they can't right now is because Balsillie has exclusive rights with the letter of intent. But Leipold can always back out of the agreement.

I think it would the greatest thing in the world to have local ownership and keep the preds in town. This coming season should set our best attendance mark ever, and if Wagner is anything like Cuban, we'd have a fantastic owner.

Then Balsillie can get an expansion team in SoOnt. It would work out for everyone!

[ChelisChick 174]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I want to keep the Preds right where they are. Keep me posted!!!

[RedRockit 0]

here's some new you probably won't here out of the Canadian press (where all these stories are coming from anyway).

Okay, the Letter of Intent says the sale must be approved by the 30th of this month. The BoG has already said that they won't discuss it at their meeting on the 20th... There has also been negative feelings about the sale expressed by the BoG, Bettman and even Leipold himself who feels like Balsillie decieved him.

Now, the real news here is that there is a group that has popped up here in nashville, led by Todd Wagner, he is the guy that started up Broadcast.com with Mark Cuban and recently purchased a bunch of land here and is either living here or is moving here. This group has an offer ready and said that if the sale with balsillie falls through for whatever reason, they are prepared to give their offer to Leipold. The only reason they can't right now is because Balsillie has exclusive rights with the letter of intent. But Leipold can always back out of the agreement.

I think it would the greatest thing in the world to have local ownership and keep the preds in town. This coming season should set our best attendance mark ever, and if Wagner is anything like Cuban, we'd have a fantastic owner.

Then Balsillie can get an expansion team in SoOnt. It would work out for everyone!

CBC just did a segment about this on the news following the NHL Awards. It was cautious, to put it mildly--implied that those pre-bought seats could easily turn out to be a bad investment (what they neglected to say, oddly, is that the money is in trust and will be refunded in the non-event).

Edited June 15, 2007 by RedRockit

[eva unit zero 271]

Then Balsillie can get an expansion team in SoOnt.

That won't happen. The NHL already has two teams in that market. Thinking of putting a third team in a market? Look at how New Jersey compares to the New York Rangers and tell me if you think a third team is a good idea. New York has every bit the fan support Southern Ontario does, yet only the Rangers see good attendance numbers regardless of success. Toronto gets the same good numbers NYR does, then you have Buffalo getting ok numbers because while they do lose fans to Toronto, they are a separate large city that is near Toronto, rather than being just a part of the metro area. K-W is a smaller market than Nashville, and already has a fanbase dedicated to other teams.

The only way we see another team in Canada or any new metro area with less than a million people is if an established team moves.

[Guest jaytan]

That's awesome, that Hamilton fans are willing to invest already when everything is up in the air. I'm starting to feel more confident that everything will work out with the move.... But at the same time, I'm worried Balsille may have blown it by moving so fast.

[Mickeyisms Rule! 0]

That won't happen. The NHL already has two teams in that market. Thinking of putting a third team in a market? Look at how New Jersey compares to the New York Rangers and tell me if you think a third team is a good idea. New York has every bit the fan support Southern Ontario does, yet only the Rangers see good attendance numbers regardless of success. Toronto gets the same good numbers NYR does, then you have Buffalo getting ok numbers because while they do lose fans to Toronto, they are a separate large city that is near Toronto, rather than being just a part of the metro area. K-W is a smaller market than Nashville, and already has a fanbase dedicated to other teams.

The only way we see another team in Canada or any new metro area with less than a million people is if an established team moves.

There is a major difference between the NY/NJ area and the Toronto/Hamilton area. The Toronto/Hamilton area is in Canada, where a majority of the population eat, sleep, and breathe hockey. NY/NJ eat, sleep and breathe the Yankees, the Giants, the Mets, the Jets, the Nets, and the Knicks. Hockey is a distant 7th place in the contest.

In Hamilton it would be number 1 on the list.

[eva unit zero 271]

There is a major difference between the NY/NJ area and the Toronto/Hamilton area. The Toronto/Hamilton area is in Canada, where a majority of the population eat, sleep, and breathe hockey. NY/NJ eat, sleep and breathe the Yankees, the Giants, the Mets, the Jets, the Nets, and the Knicks. Hockey is a distant 7th place in the contest.

In Hamilton it would be number 1 on the list.

The Greater Golden Horseshoe and the Buffalo metropolitan area combine for about 7 million people (rounding up). The New York metropolitan area has almost three times that number. The greater New York and Toronto areas have something in common; despite having multiple teams, only one team is really supported by the fans attendance-wise regardless of success. Buffalo typically has poor attendance when they aren't winning--take a look at some recent numbers here.

The Islanders typically get similar attendance to the Sabres given the same success in a season. The Rangers typically get similar attendance to the Leafs regardless of success. This would suggest that a Preds move to Hamilton and becoming the #3 team in the market would mirror New Jersey, the #3 team in the New York market. New Jersey has attendance problems REGARDLESS of how good the team is. The team might be #1 in Hamilton, but Hamilton is less than an hour from Toronto--and the team wouldn't be #1 in the greater area. They wouldn't even be #2.

[RedFX 48]

Reading that Nashville post article that's the first time I've heard that, but that's great. I remember an article where Balsillie told Bettman directly that he would not be moving the team, and that one consent of the sale was that the team would remain in Nashville. He's obviously pissed a bunch of people off here, so I'm hoping the sale doesn't go through. I must see my 4 Wings games a year!

Then Balsillie can get an expansion team in SoOnt. It would work out for everyone!

...Or buy the Panthers and "keep the team in Miami"

[redwingfan19 293]

Hamilton could defenitly support a team. They have already sold quite a few tickets and SO Ontario is a hockey hotbed, it be wrong not to move a team here. And everytime a team talks about moving Hamilton always seems to pop up as a possible location. so it's obvious the city and the people badly want a team to support. I have a freind who lives in Hamilton and Cousins in Brantford(20 min drive from hamilton) that have been Leaf fans all thier lives but would switch over in a heartbeat If steel town got a team. Out of the 8 million people who live in or just outside of the Golden Horseshoe would have no trouble supporting a team.

[Legionnaire11 0]

Hmm, Pete Weber was just on XM and didn't mention Wagner, but did talk about Bill Frist. His family has $1.8 Billion. Even better than Balsillie. Plus whoever else is in this group with him.

[vandypred 0]

The Greater Golden Horseshoe and the Buffalo metropolitan area combine for about 7 million people (rounding up). The New York metropolitan area has almost three times that number. The greater New York and Toronto areas have something in common; despite having multiple teams, only one team is really supported by the fans attendance-wise regardless of success. Buffalo typically has poor attendance when they aren't winning--take a look at some recent numbers here.

The Islanders typically get similar attendance to the Sabres given the same success in a season. The Rangers typically get similar attendance to the Leafs regardless of success. This would suggest that a Preds move to Hamilton and becoming the #3 team in the market would mirror New Jersey, the #3 team in the New York market. New Jersey has attendance problems REGARDLESS of how good the team is. The team might be #1 in Hamilton, but Hamilton is less than an hour from Toronto--and the team wouldn't be #1 in the greater area. They wouldn't even be #2.

That's the best reasoning why they shouldn't do this I've seen yet.

[Hank 0]

here's some new you probably won't here out of the Canadian press (where all these stories are coming from anyway).

Okay, the Letter of Intent says the sale must be approved by the 30th of this month. The BoG has already said that they won't discuss it at their meeting on the 20th... There has also been negative feelings about the sale expressed by the BoG, Bettman and even Leipold himself who feels like Balsillie decieved him.

Now, the real news here is that there is a group that has popped up here in nashville, led by Todd Wagner, he is the guy that started up Broadcast.com with Mark Cuban and recently purchased a bunch of land here and is either living here or is moving here. This group has an offer ready and said that if the sale with balsillie falls through for whatever reason, they are prepared to give their offer to Leipold. The only reason they can't right now is because Balsillie has exclusive rights with the letter of intent. But Leipold can always back out of the agreement.

I think it would the greatest thing in the world to have local ownership and keep the preds in town. This coming season should set our best attendance mark ever, and if Wagner is anything like Cuban, we'd have a fantastic owner.

Then Balsillie can get an expansion team in SoOnt. It would work out for everyone!

In all honesty, how can you say that would be the best thing in the world? Sure, for the 8,000 fans that show up and care it would be, but as far as the league is concerned a team in Nashville has been a disaster.

The Preds had one of the best seasons in the league and certainly in their short existance and yet the attendance was beyond pathetic.

It's no different than when Montreal had the Expos. They didn't deserve to have a team and it dragged the league down having such a horrific franchise.

I know that stings for true Preds fans, but I'm sure you could get 8,000 diehard fans in any city in any country. It doesn't mean you should have a team there.

And this isn't even talking about corporate support, which is essential in todays NHL. In a recent article 250 local companies were contacted regarding tickets and suites and only 30 of them gave the Preds 5 minutes to plead their case (it might have been less than 30 - I can't remember now).

Say what you want, but the Preds are horrible for the NHL. It's time to move on to a place that actually can support the sport.

P.S. I don't believe for one second that the BOG is angry with Ballsillie. How could they be? The Preds have dipped into the revenue sharing cookie jar more than any other team the last 2 years. With them moving to Hamilton, where they'll get tremendous corporate and fan support, all that money will be back in their own pockets.

Edited June 15, 2007 by Hank

[Dixie Wingslover 0]

P.S. I don't believe for one second that the BOG is angry with Ballsillie. How could they be? The Preds have dipped into the revenue sharing cookie jar more than any other team the last 2 years. With them moving to Hamilton, where they'll get tremendous corporate and fan support, all that money will be back in their own pockets.

Yeah, we do tend to forget this.... the Preds took $10 million out of the BoG pockets last season...... and Leopold planned it that way..... see this article, from 2005. I hated him from the moment I read this. Not the Preds, their owner.

http://nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?se...p;news_id=43220

CP: The biggest promotion for most teams is winning games. You have mentioned the Predators will up their payroll to between $26 million and $28 million. With reduced ticket prices and an uncertain market in terms of fans, how will a $4 million to $6 million increase in payroll work?

Leipold: That’s the purpose of the revenue sharing program. That number is going to be somewhere around $7 million to $8 million per team. Plug that into our economics and we feel pretty good. The money comes from the top-10 markets which will be supplementing the money to the smaller markets. Those teams at the mid-point or below in terms of payroll will have access to the full amount of the revenue sharing pot. The biggest pop for us is making the playoffs again and going deeper this time. I have no problems whether we get an “A†player with a gigantic name on the downside of his career or two “A-plus†players who may not have the celebrity factor but are young enough for us to keep them for two or three years to get us to the next level.

I gotta think that the BoG is getting sick of miss-managers profiting off their hard work. They may only be 10- but that is a third of the teams ownership. And some of them are no big fans of Bettman, so somebody who is going to give that little turd a few sleepless nights would get my vote.

[drsingle 0]

In all honesty, how can you say that would be the best thing in the world? Sure, for the 8,000 fans that show up and care it would be, but as far as the league is concerned a team in Nashville has been a disaster.

The Preds had one of the best seasons in the league and certainly in their short existance and yet the attendance was beyond pathetic.

It's no different than when Montreal had the Expos. They didn't deserve to have a team and it dragged the league down having such a horrific franchise.

I know that stings for true Preds fans, but I'm sure you could get 8,000 diehard fans in any city in any country. It doesn't mean you should have a team there.

And this isn't even talking about corporate support, which is essential in todays NHL. In a recent article 250 local companies were contacted regarding tickets and suites and only 30 of them gave the Preds 5 minutes to plead their case (it might have been less than 30 - I can't remember now).

Say what you want, but the Preds are horrible for the NHL. It's time to move on to a place that actually can support the sport.

P.S. I don't believe for one second that the BOG is angry with Ballsillie. How could they be? The Preds have dipped into the revenue sharing cookie jar more than any other team the last 2 years. With them out and into Hamilton where they'll get tremendous corporate andfan support all that money will be back in their own pockets.

Hank, let's not get carried away here. There's no point going to the opposite extreme and just throwing junk into a post.

Let's examine the Nashville market please.

The capacity of the Sommet Center (newly named two months ago, pronounced so-may) is 17,113. This past season (our third straight season in the playoffs and third straight of increased attendance), our average paid attendance was 13,800 (rounded down). That is better than 80% capacity with a ticket-buying base that is 70-30 slanted toward non-corporate ticket sales. That is one of the best (if not the best) non-corporate ticket bases in the league.

There's no doubt that corporate Nashville and city leaders have dropped the ball. In today's world, a professional franchise must be supported by the area corporations and city leaders to succeed. That was understood by all parties going into this and the ball was dropped.

Unfortunately, it sometimes takes this type of wake-up call for everyone to understand. Edmonton and Calgary have both had a similar process occur.

Few people will argue that the growth of the NHL, in terms of the number of markets that have been added over the past seventeen years, was properly marketed and supported by the league. Some will argue, however, that the league should not have expanded that much (although they typically argue from the standpoint of on-ice talent, not from the business perspective). Given the poor marketing that ensued, the league probably should not have expanded to that degree. That is more of an indictment on the league, however, than the indvidual markets themselves.

Is Nashville a horrible market? I don't think so, but my definition of horrible appears to be more realistic than most. It's also based on the league as a whole. As I stated in my last article on PredNation.com, the NHL is not a healthy league right now- despite an excellent CBA. There are several franchises in trouble- traditional, non-traditional, competitive, non-competitive. The marketing of the league is horrible and revenue only increases due to franchises pushing the limit on ticket prices (as Detroit did too far in this years playoffs). This league will continue to tread water until larger television contracts are signed. (Again, I present more detail along this line of thought in my article.)

Is Nashville a key market to achieve that television contract? No, but that does not make them a horrible market.

If Nashville moves to Hamilton, will the other owners be able to pocket more money instead of committing it to revenue sharing? Possibly some, but not a lot more. Until this league is on firmer footing, franchises will continue to struggle.

Anyone that doesn't believe that Balsillie has angered some other others as well as Commissioner Bettman is naive. Nobody likes to be bullied and that's most certainly what Balsillie is trying to do. Will it have negative ramifications? I don't know the answer to that. If another option presents itself to the other owners, they would probably be more inclined to listen I would suspect. Beyond that becomes really murky speculation.

Finally, I acknowledge that it would hurt me tremendously to lose the Predators. That said, I have no ill will towards Leipold nor towards Balsillie. They are business men that are looking out for their best interests. For anyone to expect otherwise is foolish (not saying it can't happen, but do not expect it). There's no doubt that team owners are cut from the same cloth as politicians (working in Tennessee state government, trust me in this). There's also no doubt that Balsillie does not fit that mold. This is another reason that the BOG and Bettman (an "uber-politician") would love to have another legitimate option.

I've attempted to approach this issue from an educated standpoint. I welcome any discussions counter to my opinions.

Thanks.

[vandypred 0]

In all honesty, how can you say that would be the best thing in the world? Sure, for the 8,000 fans that show up and care it would be, but as far as the league is concerned a team in Nashville has been a disaster.

The Preds had one of the best seasons in the league and certainly in their short existance and yet the attendance was beyond pathetic.

It's no different than when Montreal had the Expos. They didn't deserve to have a team and it dragged the league down having such a horrific franchise.

I know that stings for true Preds fans, but I'm sure you could get 8,000 diehard fans in any city in any country. It doesn't mean you should have a team there.

And this isn't even talking about corporate support, which is essential in todays NHL. In a recent article 250 local companies were contacted regarding tickets and suites and only 30 of them gave the Preds 5 minutes to plead their case (it might have been less than 30 - I can't remember now).

Say what you want, but the Preds are horrible for the NHL. It's time to move on to a place that actually can support the sport.

P.S. I don't believe for one second that the BOG is angry with Ballsillie. How could they be? The Preds have dipped into the revenue sharing cookie jar more than any other team the last 2 years. With them moving to Hamilton, where they'll get tremendous corporate and fan support, all that money will be back in their own pockets.

You know, I've never been to a game in Nashville that hasn't had a decent amount of fans there and been fun to watch the game and the crowd. It's not like they are playing to empty houses; just some empty spaces in the lower bowl that are usually the pervue of corporations.

Honestly brother, I've been through this situation 25 years ago in STL with a saskatoon group trying to take the Blues to the Canadian prairie. The Blues weren't exactly making money for their owners (Ralston-Purina) at the time and it looked like they were well on their way to become the Saskatoon Spittoons featuring Joey Mullen, Bernie Federko, Brian Sutter, and Dougie Gilmor. They weren't an Original Six team and didn't exactly have a lot of tradition in their 14-15 year history as of the early 80's. The NHL BoG nixed the deal and whom would argue that STL hasn't become a very good hockey market in its 40 years of existence. The Blues in the early 80's and the current Pred's organizations really are very similar in this stage of franchise development. If we can see this thing through, fight off Balsillie, and get local ownership like the Blues did when Mike Shanahan's group bought the Blues in the late 80's from Harry Ornest, I can see this thing really taking off and being a fixture till the big building on Broadway in Nashville, Tennessee come crashing down 40 years from now. It's not like there aren't deep pockets people here in Nashville. Climate's good and the taxes are low and enough celebrities to hon knob with.

[toby91_ca 620]

Hmm, Pete Weber was just on XM and didn't mention Wagner, but did talk about Bill Frist. His family has $1.8 Billion. Even better than Balsillie.

I believe Balsillie's shares in RIM alone are worth more than $2 billion.

[drsingle 0]

Yeah, we do tend to forget this.... the Preds took $10 million out of the BoG pockets last season...... and Leopold planned it that way..... see this article, from 2005. I hated him from the moment I read this. Not the Preds, their owner.

http://nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?se...p;news_id=43220

I gotta think that the BoG is getting sick of miss-managers profiting off their hard work. They may only be 10- but that is a third of the teams ownership. And some of them are no big fans of Bettman, so somebody who is going to give that little turd a few sleepless nights would get my vote.

Anyone that expects to start a business and make money immediately hasn't started one before.

The NHL should have have been more supportive of its franchises from day one (meaning early nineties) in order to have been more supportive of their goals of expanding into "non-traditional" markets. That takes a lot of effort and money that the NHL put primary responsibility on the owners in those areas. Truth is, if the NHL had been more supportive from day one (meaning again, the early nineties), it would be more likely to have achieved that elusive television contract, or two- to the benefit of all the owners.

There's a reason the NFL is the success it is today- they took off when they recognized the need for all franchises to operate on near-equal footing and to be promoted as equally as possible. The NFL has grown exponentially since revenue sharing and the salary cap (combined with one of the best marketing machines in the world).

Thanks.

Edited June 15, 2007 by drsingle

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Anyone that expects to start a business and make money immediately hasn't started one before.

The NHL should have done this from day one (meaning early nineties) in order to have been more supportive of their goals of expanding into "non-traditional" markets. That takes a lot of effort and money that the NHL put primary responsibility on the owners in those areas. Truth is, if the NHL had been more supportive from day one (meaning again, the early nineties), it would be more likely to have achieved that elusive television contract, or two- to the benefit of all the owners.

There's a reason the NFL is the success it is today- they took off when they recognized the need for all franchises to operate on near-equal footing and to be promoted as equally as possible. The NFL has grown exponentially since revenue sharing and the salary cap (combined with one of the best marketing machines in the world).

Thanks.

The NHL was poised for that kind of success in the mid-90s.

then Bettman took over as commissioner.

[Barrie 900]

Hamilton could defenitly support a team. They have already sold quite a few tickets and SO Ontario is a hockey hotbed, it be wrong not to move a team here. And everytime a team talks about moving Hamilton always seems to pop up as a possible location. so it's obvious the city and the people badly want a team to support. I have a freind who lives in Hamilton and Cousins in Brantford(20 min drive from hamilton) that have been Leaf fans all thier lives but would switch over in a heartbeat If steel town got a team. Out of the 8 million people who live in or just outside of the Golden Horseshoe would have no trouble supporting a team.

I don't know if this was mentioned already, but Ticketmaster yesterday started selling Season Tickets to a possible Hamilton team. Last I heard they had sold 7,300 seats and the Luxury Boxes were all gone, and the NHL hasn't even started discussing the sale of the Preds. If I remember the FAN590 updates correctly, they made $6.3 Million.

I've said this before, but this area is badly in need of another team. Having only one team in the Toronto-Hamilton area is a crime!

Buffalo will be fine.

Edit: Just some extra info I found on the tickets. Ticketmaster was taking deposits for Season Tickets, $1,000 for the lower bowl, $500 for the upper bowl, and $5,000 for the corporate boxes. Yeah, so yesterday they got deposits on 7,300 seats, the boxes were gone, and made $6.3 Million. If the Pred's don't moves, a full refund will be given.

That's outstanding!!! I hope the NHL takes notice......

Edited June 15, 2007 by Barrie

[Dixie Wingslover 0]

Vandy, you make quite a few valid points. One that I believe you have missed is the nature of the business miss management. You make the observation that Bettman is an uber politician.... and he is. Many of the problems with the league and the owners who are in trouble is just that.....politicians and not small business men. The NHL differs from the 'Big Three' of professional sports ( NFL, NBA and MLB ) in that, for best effect, it needs to be managed, not like a multi-national conglomerate, but like a small business. Successfull small business supports other small business, even those larger than itself. Small business is a constant, you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours..... not a rape and pilage of the local area for stock-holders. A small business should engage in behavior which makes it part of a community. Just an example..... our home games bring in business and revenue to your business.... how about supporting us and help yourself out at the same time????? Buy a block of tickets and do a ticket give away.... Got a contract to show our games???? ( and give us exposure) well, then, we will commit to $50,000 of non-event advertising on your network.... over the next three months of the season..... this is the type of reciprocity that makes a business, any business grow. The successful owners know this, and this is how they remain successful. That didn't happen in Nashville, and in some the other markets that are having trouble. It may, from my reads of the local papers the local business has figured it out.... not because Leipold and his people finally figured out how to market..... but because they got pushed in the pocket book by Balsillie.

Leipold and his crew made an elementary sales mistake, they went after the big ticket, sexy sale, rather than the 5 smaller sales that were invested in the success of the team. It is way easier for some corporate flunky to say 'no' than some small business owner who just filled his business last night because you had a home game.......

Edited June 15, 2007 by Dixie Wingslover

[drsingle 0]

The NHL was poised for that kind of success in the mid-90s.

then Bettman took over as commissioner.

That is certainly a fact. There's also a lot of truth that he was a relatively new commissioner and he got what the owners wanted at that time. Your comment is misleading as it implies that the CBA instituted in 1995 was entirely his fault. I'm not sure that the results of the new NFL CBA were known less than three years after its implementation. While late, it's obvious that they've learned their lessons with this latest CBA.

Another aspect of the NHL that is damaging is the commanding influence of the "old-timers" like Colin Campbell. Things in the league office, particularly discipline, isn't done openly or consistently. That does not lend credibility to the league.

The game is fantastic. The league has instituted a very good CBA. The league does have marketing and credibility issues, however.

David