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Bally Sports is doing a bit of pick and choose in their attempt to keep franchises. Twins and Rangers have been paid but the Arizona Diamondbacks have been left in the cold. A June 30th request came that Bally wasn’t going to pay the team, so please return their broadcast rights to the MLB. Then, in a bold move, Bally has asked for refunds for teams that they lose in payments made for games already broadcast.
I’m not a baseball person, but this is pretty much all the court hearings are focusing on. What it seems to be leading toward is Bally trying to keep any profitable entity and “releasing… those that aren’t and getting money from them. Good grief. Unfortunately, when the NHL is inevitably brought up those viewing stats aren’t great. At some point the court needs to let all affected franchises know what to do and plan for. Bally is also going “month to month… with some franchises.
The other major broadcast catch up is ESPN. This is a list of recent on air layoffs. If you’ve been following, this puts ESPN layoffs at about 400 this year. (One round of 300, one of 75 and the last 20). There is now some “heat… with the parent company as sentiment is starting to pop up that the mismanagement of other IPs under the brand made ESPN a victim to some of the cuts. This is the hardest story to stay on top of because it involves so many companies and revenue issues. It hasn’t been mentioned again but ESPN “ballooned… the idea of going full streaming for $20 per month as cable and satellite subs continue to fall. If they can find a model that removes blackout restrictions $20 per month without having to have 3 other subscriptions isn’t that bad.
Zadina’s departure:
I got this one wrong when Zadina was initially waived. Yzerman was shopping the winger with zero interest. He’s just very good at keeping these things internal. A second waiver allowed for the contract to be terminated as Zadina is “rumored… to be looking at 4 different NHL teams. Every team passed on him twice at his current salary, but someone may grab him on a near minimum deal. It’s been a disappointing ride in Detroit and I do hope he can find a fresh start.
Replacing Hronek, Bertuzzi and Vrana:
The Vrana trade was not well received on the board. I talked about some information I was given regarding the situation by a source that has never steered me wrong, but it’s not worth going back through. Vrana was lighting it up when healthy, but a surgery put him on IR to start the season. Bertuzzi is missed but has now had a taste of the post season and a team with regular season success. We haven’t replaced either player. More on that in a second. Hronek was a rough loss and the defensive signings haven’t replaced that. There are still rumors that something may be in the works but no guarantees.
Debrincat. This is the ongoing and strange situation. Ottawa wants to recoup the acquisition cost, but GMs are being said to have different values in mind. An 8 x 8 contract was mentioned as being called “too much… for the player. NYI and Detroit were both said to be in the mix last week, and there are even web hits that say that NYI left the table. The NHL mailbag (as of 7/6) responded to an Islander fan who believes Debrincat to NYI is inevitable. We’ll see where it lands.
I took a deep breath yesterday hoping something would have been wrapped up but if there’s a stalemate or a domino that needs to fall for other deals to go through this may be the “step back and take a breath… moment of the summer.
The prospects tournament had some good moments and I really want to see Mazur on the ice with the pros at camp and in preseason to see where he’s at. I’m sparing all the financials surrounding some of the issues I talked about this time. I think most of you realize that consumer spending has turned an interesting corner and the new financial models need to be addressed at some point. If Yzerman goes as per usual something will pop up out of nowhere as the clock ticks toward late September.