NHL cap could drop by 9 million for 2010-2011

[Donovan]

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/s...rtsHockey/home

They say next year it will only drop to around 55 mil, a 2 mil drop or so. But when they calculate players escrow and revenue sharing this summer that it could affect the following years cap by as much as 9 million, dropping it to 48 mil. This would seriously crush some teams who are in cap trouble already, like Ottawa with 3 players locked up for over 25 mil, or the Rangers. Some teams with lots of space and little locked up like Vancouver might be sitting pretty.

The drop will be mostly attributed to the global economy and not as much to falling ticket sales.

[bad_philanthropy]

Good. The cap should have never gotten as high as it did these past few years after the lockout anyway. I think in the case of the salary cap that a longer term approach would have been good. It would have been prudent get a sample of what revenues would be like when the post-lockout revenue boom cooled off. But who am I kidding, the NHLPA never would have agreed to that. The league could have been very healthy for the longterm if the 39 million salary cap had been locked in for four years.


This was bound to happen, and at least there is some protection now in the cba that prevents the player salaries from outpacing the revenues. Will definitely be interesting to see how this affects certain teams.

[SPTO]

Quote: Originally Posted by Donovan

The drop will be mostly attributed to the global economy and not as much to falling ticket sales.

Don't tell me you believe Napoleon Bettman's grandiose lies! Sure a lot of it has to do with the global economy but there are still franchises that are losing money and would still be losing money no matter how good the economy is. Hell, there's rumors that the Lightning may not even reach payroll next week!

Also this is what happens when you put all your eggs in one basket. the NHL for the last couple or so years have been showing off inflated economic numbers mainly because the league has been feeding off of the Canadian teams. Now the economy is going down the drain and the Canadian dollar is sinking like a stone. The president of the Canadiens was at a business function today and admitted that 40% of the revenues generated by the league in the last two years have come from the Canadian clubs. In fact, the Canadian teams are the ones keeping the Nashville and Phoenixes alive.

I don't even know how Gary Bettman can claim the league is healthy in the face of this economy calamity. The man must be smoking something faaantastic!

[Donovan]

I don't agree the league is healthy with so many struggling teams. But the Canadian franchises have been so strong and made so much money the last few years (with all those failed cup runs too) that the 6 of them paying into revenue sharing has propped up the dozen franchises that are struggling, hence why the cap has gone up so much the last few years. It's not a healthy league, but it was a league making more money every year for the last 4-5 years. All time profits last season. Now imagine if they got rid of 5-6 struggling teams, or relocated the worst 2-3 (I'd prefer losing them altogether but it will never happen), then the league would be in a better spot.

Obviously Toronto pays a lot into revenue sharing because of such big profits, but Edmonton, Calgary, even Ottawa and Montreal has lost money in the past and since the lockout all of them have been powerhouses in terms of profits. Too bad ****ty franchises are bringing the league down.

EDIT: You know I didn't really read your second paragraph before making my post, but upon re-reading it I pretty much just rehashed what you said. You're bang on.

[bad_philanthropy]

SPTO brings up an interesting discussion about Tampa's financial situation. I have read some things since the Melrose firing and it seems like the time was in fact sold to owners who didn't even have the cash for it and that there is all sorts of other crazy trouble and mismanagement behind the scenes.

How stupid is Bettman? Seriously? He would not let Balsillie into the league, but he lets this happen? Why is Bettman still employed by the NHL, I think it's pretty widely believed that he has failed at every aspect of being the comissioner. Thank you Bettman for moving the game needlessly to the sunbelt (and other odd locales). For every San Jose there's a Florida, Nashville, Phoenix.

[SPTO]

There is a lot of grumbling behind the scenes that Bettman may lose his job sooner then later. These rumors have been going on for at least a year now so I don't know if any of the governors are going to get serious with it but it seems that the biggest complaint is coming from the Canadian clubs. Bettman's biggest backers aren't exactly pristine in reputation either. (except for Jacobs in Boston)

[Money99]

I have mixed feelings about Bettman.

For one, he's employed by the owners so when he got a contract extension it meant that they liked the job he was doing.
We have to remember that he works for them. So any changes to the league come from them and he enforces them.
He got them a Cap (which many said could never be done) and he did boost revenues over the past 3 seasons.
Also, the expansion that took place during his tenure wasn't all his idea. Former NHL governor and commissioner Gil Stein has been on record saying that NHL owners wanted to expand into California, Georgia, Florida and other non-hockey markets since the early 80's.

Things are bleak now and it has more to do with how overzealous the owners and GM's were. If they kept ticket prices where they were, the Cap wouldn't have inflated as heavily. And they all knew that there was a chance for the cap to go down so they should have given their GM's a budget that didn't include spending the maximum.

Also, Ballsillie's blackballing is an owners thing. They didn't like how brash he acted and locked the door on him.

Also, without him we wouldn't have half the Canadian teams we do today. Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa would be gone. It was Bettman who coordinated a program that allowed Canadian teams to pay salaries in CDN funds with the rest of the league picking up the exchange rate. He also had the 24 other US teams provide revenue sharing to keep them afloat.
We must also remember that it was Bob Goodenow who once tried to get rid of a bunch of them as he felt the Canadian teams and their horrible financial standings brought salaries down.

I'm not a Bettman apologist. I recognize some of the things that have transpired under his power. But a lot of the things people complain about were already set in motion before he arrived. And since he's still an employee of the owners, it's them who have to take a lot of the heat as well.

I met Steve Yzerman recently and he divulged that a lot of the owners don't want to send pros to the Olympics. He commented that it's a no-brainer for him as it's free advertising. I couldn't agree more. And yet the dinosaurs in charge still think it's the 1930's and can't wrap their minds around that.

I agree that if the NHL is to become healthy it has to do what a lot of companies and people are doing - cut the fat.
Get rid of the struggling teams, or at the very least move them to profitable locations.
The CDN dollar will rebound as oil prices WILL go back up.
In the meantime, when the US dollar was less than the Loonie, Canadian owners bought US dollars by the millions for such an occassion. They'll be fine for at least 2-3 seasons if the CDN loonie continues to struggle.

It's time to move teams like Florida, Phoenix, Atlanta and possibly Nashville. And in my opinion, if you can't move them then the other 26 owners should buy-out these teams and spread the talent.

Quote:

Hell, there's rumors that the Lightning may not even reach payroll next week!

Where did you hear this? I'd be very interested in this if it's true.

[SPTO]

I heard it on Bob Mccown's show on the FAN 590. He has been very critical of Bettman for years now and they bring in guests who have been following the various NHL problems the last couple years. The Bobcat isn't on a bandwagon because he was talking about the impending economic problems of the league even when the economy was good and everyone was praising the league.

[Money99]

Quote: Originally Posted by SPTO

I heard it on Bob Mccown's show on the FAN 590. He has been very critical of Bettman for years now and they bring in guests who have been following the various NHL problems the last couple years. The Bobcat isn't on a bandwagon because he was talking about the impending economic problems of the league even when the economy was good and everyone was praising the league.

If that's true then the NHL and the board of governors should be ashamed of themselves.
How many bad owners do they want? First Nashville with Boots Debaggio, Anaheim's owner and now these to bobsy twins.

I agree that it's time to bring in guys like Ballsillie. This guy is perfect. He's filthy stinking rich and he LOVES hockey. You know he's going to pour his soul into a team.

The one thing the CBA did was help raise the value of franchises. So now you get owners who buy and then sell quickly to make a handful of millions.

This league needs stability.
And honestly, I think it really needs to explore the KHL and Europe as far as playing a winner from overseas for the Stanley Cup.
The ratings would be fantastic.
Can you imagine the Wings or Rangers playing Moscow Dynamo or Modo for the Cup?

I know the travel and timezones are a bitch, but this would be gold for the NHL. Talk about a huge TV deal for the finals alone!