NHL Hockey thread

[Barrister]

Could Bettman have done more to try and help the Jets stay?  Sure.  But in the end it came down to the fact that the City had dithered for years and years on building a new arena and it just never happened.  So when local owner Barry Shenkarow said "that's it - I can't afford to own this team any longer" there was nobody who had the means to buy the team and sustain those losses.

But there was no one to keep the team in Pheonix/Glendale.  In fact, he forced the bankruptcy of the franchise to buy it and keep it in place.  I agree that Balsilie made a dick move, but still.  The NHL bought and manage the team itself, went active on lobbying the city for funds, tried itself desperately to find a buyer or a group of buyers and even though Jamison still doesn't have all the money, they're willing to wait a little more.

True, there's an arena.  Something Winnipeg and Quebec city did not have.

Also, the CAD$ was very low at the time, meaning Canadian teams had an hard time turning a profit.

Still, the NHL did not move a finger to keep the teams there.  They did not try all possible avenues to find another owner group in Quebec city of Winnipeg.

I doubt the league is opposed to PKP.  If they were surely he wouldn't be at the forefront of getting a new NHL-ready arena built in Quebec City...

Bell owns parts of two teams: the Canadians, and the Maple Leafs.  Bell also owns TSN and its French equivalent, RDS.  Right now, people are tuning in to RDS because there's hockey.  Hockey attracts other viewers who may stay for other shows.  Having one more hockey team in Quebec means Quebecor's new sports channel will get the coverage, not RDS.  That means a bit less viewers for RDS.  Not much, but enough to make them sit and wait.

On a personal level, apparently PKP is not really best friends with David Thompson too.  There is intense rivalry between Bell and Quebecor, Quebecor and CBC, Quebecor and just about any media group in the country

I don't know how much it plays, but it might be one of the many reasons why the NHL really wants to Coyotes to stay put.

David Thomson.

Apparently he has nothing to do with Bell any ore - the Globe was split out from what is misleadingly called Globe Bellmedia.

[dps]

Dustin Brown:  "That's why we fuckin' play."  Live on the air on NBC.

Prepare for the FCC to come down on NBC like a ton of bricks.

As if the FCC watches Stanley Cup games.

As if anyone in the US does.

You and I could go on the air reading from the Cheyenne, Wyoming phone book and we'd get better ratings in most US markets than the NHL does.

[Valmy]

Ah the collective yawn of a Warm weather American team winning the Stanley Cup.  Or not?  Does anybody in LA care?

[katmai]

Have a bunch of LA based friends who were cheering about it late into the night. Just cause you lame ass texans are fair weather fans....

[Valmy]

Have a bunch of LA based friends who were cheering about it late into the night. Just cause you lame ass texans are fair weather fans....

Fair weather fans at least care when their team wins the Stanley Cup.  Therefore Stars "fans" do not qualify.

Do you even know what fair weather fans means? 

[Josephus]

No riots.?

[Barrister]

Dustin Brown:  "That's why we fuckin' play."  Live on the air on NBC.

Prepare for the FCC to come down on NBC like a ton of bricks.

As if the FCC watches Stanley Cup games.

As if anyone in the US does.

You and I could go on the air reading from the Cheyenne, Wyoming phone book and we'd get better ratings in most US markets than the NHL does.

That's not quite true.  Apparently NBC is getting... okay ratings with the NHL this year.  It's a lot better with traditional teams playing - I gather ratings were good until this final.

[viper37]

Ah the collective yawn of a Warm weather American team winning the Stanley Cup.  Or not?  Does anybody in LA care?

the LA Times first page is about the Cup and the hard road to get there...

[viper37]

As for our little hockey pool,  Grey Fox is the winner at 17 points, followed by Josephus at 14 and yours truly with 10 pts

[Josephus]

So what do I win for coming in second?

[viper37]

So what do I win for coming in second?

Nothing this year

Next year, we might add an incentive though

[Grey Fox]

As for our little hockey pool,  Grey Fox is the winner at 17 points, followed by Josephus at 14 and yours truly with 10 pts

[Barrister]

GWI announced via Twitter that they have filed suit against Glendale for failing to release information prior to voting on it.

[viper37]

I don't know if it's enough to stop the sale though.

Maybe all Glendale could do, is release all the info and re-vote 24hrs later.

[Barrister]

I don't know if it's enough to stop the sale though.

Maybe all Glendale could do, is release all the info and re-vote 24hrs later.

Yes.  That is all they would need to do.

But the question is - why didn't they do it in the first place?  I think the answer is either

A: that there's some really damaging information in some of those documents that, if made public, might put the deal in jeopardy;
B: there is a deadline that means they couldn't wait for that to happen; or
C: they just really are that stupid.

So it is possibly enough to stop the deal.