As I continue to empty the notebook, here is something I’ve been thinking a lot about over the last week or so. After a 4,000 word analysis over two nights, today you’re going to get a posting that resembles more of a controlled rant.
This follows up on something I wrote in early August titled
"Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under" the week that the group of local investors and Boots Del Biaggio signed a letter of intent to purchase the Predators for $193 mil.
At the time it was reported by ESPN’s Scott Burnside that
plans were in the works for Craig Leipold to purchase the Wild after he cut ties with the Predators, and of course this is exactly what happened just last week. And I almost let it go too without rehashing the whole Boots/AEG/Leipold/Balsillie/Bettman saga all over again.
But then I was listening to Mr. Bettman’s radio show last week and there were two quotes in particular that made me decide not to let this topic rest just yet.
First, when asked whether the Wild deal with Craig Leipold had been in the works for a while (isn’t it strange that we haven’t heard a dollar amount associated with the sale?), here was Gary’s response:
“Not really for sometime… He got serious about this after the sale went through because he decided he was going to miss being an owner.”
So apparently he went to sell the Preds but then remembered that if he sold the team he wouldn’t be an owner anymore. And because Mr. Leipold wanted to be an owner, he set out to buy another team. Sounds pretty believable, don’t you think?
Well the Preds’ sale went through on December 7th – before the lease deal was even finalized/approved, I believe. Call me crazy but I’m thinking that this Minnesota transaction didn’t just come together in the last month, especially when you consider the strong rumours back in August that Leipold would end up with the Wild. Sounds to me like back in the summer somebody spoke about something they weren’t supposed to – a rarity in a league where free speech can cost a lot of money in fines.
.. don’t tell me you’re innocent. Because it insults my intelligence – and makes me very angry..
– Michael Corleone
Which brings me to the second quote – The Commissioner was asked: “When will the Coyotes move back to Winnipeg?” and here’s his response:
“If your question is when might there be a team back in Winnipeg, we don’t know. And the reason for that is we’re not currently planning on expanding and we don’t have any teams looking to relocate. However, if that should change, if we decide it’s time to expand or if there’s a team that needs to relocate, we’re going to look at every possibility and I think Winnipeg is certainly a place that will get a good look and consideration because I think that we know there are terrific hockey fans in Winnipeg, there’s now a new building and Mark Chipman who owns the AHL franchise in Winnipeg has expressed interest to us. I was quote in the Stanley Cup finals as saying ‘I’m intrigued about the possibility at some point considering going back to Winnipeg because under the collective bargaining agreement and economic system we now have it may well be that a team could make it now in Winnipeg. It’s not something that we’ve studied at the appropriate time we’d have to take a good look at it but obviously if we could go back and right something that happened a few years ago and put a team back there if all made sense if it all could work, under a situation where we were either relocating or expanding that’s something that might make a lot of sense. So I can’t give you a timetable but obviously we know of the great interest in Winnipeg.”
As far as I know this was the most detailed quote from Mr. Bettman regarding Winnipeg and he even confirms the fact that they have spoken with Mark Chipman.
I guess the league realized that after orchestrating the sale of the Preds to Boots and handing the Wild to Leipold who is buying and selling teams like they are hockey cards, they should throw Canada a little glimmer of hope – even if it was in regards to a situation that will likely never occur.
But assuming a cap in the neighborhood of $55 mil for next year, under this new ‘economic system’ the minimum payroll will be at least $39 mil. That of course was the salary cap figure coming out of the lockout, before the days of the $124 million contract. Don’t forget that Winnipeg couldn’t make it with a $20 mil payroll in 1996 so it’s unlikely that the new arena and some revenue sharing can make this a feasible market, especially once the dollar starts to drop. Now don’t get me wrong here, I would love, love to have a team back in Winnipeg but the higher the cap climbs the less likely the scenario gets and with a midpoint around $47 million US I’d say it’s very unlikely at this point.
Of course if you really want to appease hockey fans in Canada and you really want to talk about a realistic scenario that would generate significant revenues for the league, it’s time to take a serious look at Hamilton.
If we can talk about Winnipeg openly, can’t we at least do the same with Hamilton? After all, there doesn’t seem to be any kind of gag order when it comes to other markets:
“I think it’s [Las Vegas] a very viable location I think the league would be interested if the time came when it made itself available.”
- Jeremy Jacobs told the Boston Globe
"I think there will be a new arena in Las Vegas, and there are several interested parties that want to buy the franchise in Vegas, and you can't expand by one, you've got to expand by two. So that means Seattle and Kansas City, I think, will vie for that other franchise in the NHL. I believe Boots and his group will step up and get an expansion franchise if there is one to be had. In the meantime we're going to try anybody and everybody that ultimately is in trouble. We're willing to be used a little bit if that's the process it takes to get Kansas City a team."
- Tim Leiweke told the Kansas City Star
"There's little doubt that Las Vegas is coming in (during expansion), it's about four years from now. And I truly believe Gary Bettman will move us East at that changing."
– Jim Devellano told the Detroit News.
Seems odd that we can talk about Kansas City and Las Vegas – even Winnipeg – but Hamilton is a forbidden topic, doesn't it?
Let’s look at the scoresheet to date to see how everyone has/will fare(d):
Craig Leipold was on the League’s Executive committee and Audit committee. He helped negotiate the CBA in 2005. He makes a nice profit off the Predators and ends up with the Wild in one of the strongest US markets – that also happens to be close to home.
Bob Naegle will, I assume, make a great return on his investment and was able to get a deal done quickly and quietly – I don’t think he’ll have any issues with board approval here.
Boots Del Biaggio gets on the fast track to Kansas City with a new lease that only requires the team to play two more seasons in Nashville, a market that is drawing an average of under $13k paid per game this year - and a sale price likely lower than the next round of expansion.
Phil Anschutz / AEG will not only have their building filled (or should I say partially filled) soon enough in Kansas City but also you have to think it’s almost a lock that their Vegas arena will have a tenant too.
Jerry Bruckheimer has worked with Mr. Bettman and the league for a while and although there apparently would be other suitors for a team in the Las Vegas market, I’d be shocked if there wasn’t a wink nod agreement that something will be worked out once the arena is built.
Nashville hockey got a last chance at success and some local businessmen were given the chance to build long-lasting goodwill within the community.
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment maintains their stranglehold on hockey in Southern Ontario (at least it’s something that resembles hockey). One of the league’s most powerful teams are surely leading the charges to block a team that comes anywhere close to Leafland.
Tom Golisano and Buffalo resident & Chairman of the Board of Governors Jeremy Jacobscan sleep well at night knowing that the Sabres won’t have to deal with the competition from a nearby team – although I strongly believe there are enough fans and enough money to go around in the region, with 8 million + in the Golden Horseshoe North of the border alone.
Mike Ilitch and his Wings remain next in line to get into the East which means that barring relocations if/when we go to 32 teams they’ll both be placed in the Campbell Conference.
This was all orchestrated extremely well by the Commissioner and for that I certainly can see why his constituents are pleased with the job that he’s doing. Although I do believe that the question has to be asked – is the job of the Commissioner to please its individual owners or is it to do what is best for the sport as a whole? I’d certainly say both but in this instance (and others perhaps) I think we’re getting a little too much of former.
If you want to right something that happened a few years ago, how about the fact that Hamilton was robbed in their bid for an expansion team when two teams were granted to owners who couldn’t afford them?
How about the fact that the league will apparently do whatever it takes to protect territorial rights but the last Stanley Cup winner is only in existence because a crook owner needed cash in a big way?
I’ve written this one before: as recently as the 1992-93 season, one third of the league's teams were in based in Canada. Since then there have been six expansion teams and four teams have relocated. All ten teams have ended up in American cities:
1993: Anaheim, Florida, Dallas
1995: Colorado
1996: Phoenix
1997: Carolina
1998: Nashville
1999: Atlanta
2000: Columbus, Minnesota
United States +8, Canada -2
Is this the year that the league finally rewards its rabid and loyal fans North of the border and takes a serious look at putting a team not only where it belongs but also where it would surely thrive?
That’s my question for Mr. Bettman. I’m e-mailing it through for his next radio show. I’m ‘intrigued’ to see if it gets a response – although I think I already know the answer.
Danny –
[email protected] 
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