Burying $$ in Rochester

[LastPommerFan]

What I'm asking in the poll is, given a chance to make the team better, will TP bury contracts. Not, will he bury them just to do it.

[Taro T]

I'd be ok with a purchased cup or five

 

The lockout had nothing to do with parity and everything to do with the % of revenues the owners got to keep. If they got the roll-back and nothing else, I believe they would have still signed the CBA. The Owners wrote contracts to players that they could not afford, and needed a way out. The Cap was that way out. What parity the NFL has is because of profit sharing, not the cap. The NHL could use more profit sharing. The % difference between the top and bottom payrolls in the NFL is larger than the NHL. They actually have less payroll parity than hockey.

Absolutely.

 

The thing is, it is very difficult to convince teams like the Strangers and the Loafs to spread the wealth to the Isles, Cats, and other weaker sisters. Though the revenue sharing under the current CBA isn't significant (the top teams don't gut their profits to give to the weaker teams and revenues that are spread amongst the teams like national TV, internet, and non-rink purchased apparel aren't as great a %age of total revenues as they are in the NFL) it's light years ahead of where it was prior to '05. And teams like the Strangers don't want internet to be league-wide, they want to control their own site (and the $'s generated from it), so though pooled (revenues split relatively evenly) should be going up if anything, there will be pushback from the bigger owners to scale it back.

 

When the new CBA negotiations begin in earnest, there will be 3 factions: players, haves (NYR, Detroit, TO, Moe-ray-all, Filly and probably a couple of others, Baahston and the Hawks might be in that group, Dallas has definitely slid out, likely Cowawado as well), and the rest. Though the Sabres ownership puts them arguably into the haves category, I am hoping they stay aligned w/ the have-nots. That is the group that, out of necessity, has the long term interests of a viable 30 team (28, 30, 32, whatever) league most closely aligned with their own interests.

 

The players, rightfully so, are looking to get the most money they can NOW because their careers are short. The big guys figure that they'll make money regardless of whether they're in a 40 team league or a 20 team league. (The Snider's now owning NBC may put them more in the long term camp and their owning the NHL network probably factored into them being there in the last go around.) Heck, most of them would probably prefer a 20 team league to the current one as they increase their base odds of winning by 50% And they could still make money even if they were spending $100MM/yr on players.

 

The smaller fish need the league to operate more collectively to thrive. And I'd argue that for long term viability and to remain more than a niche sport, the league needs them to thrive.

 

As to your 1st sentence, I will agree with you that parity wasn't the direct goal of the owners, but would argue that indirectly it is key to the sustained viability of the league. And, greater parity was a goal of a lot of the owners. When the Sabres are only spending ~$32MM and the Wings, Strangers, and a couple others are up over $60MM because they can afford it; parity is a big part of it. (I don't refer to parity the way the NFL refers to it, where they'd try to have everybody end up 8-8 in Tagliabue's perfect world; I'm talking parity in terms of revenues and expenses which will lead towards a level playing field.) Without a reduced tilt to the playing field, brought about by the last CBA, there would have been far more franchises failing. The NHL is in a strange spot competitively compared to the other major NA sports. Total revenues (getting close to ~$3B) are about 1/3 of the NFL and IIRC ~50-60% that of MLB and the NBA, primarily due to the size of the US TV contracts. Which is still nothing to sneeze at even though revenues are significantly lower than the others. But unlike the others with NO direct competition (NFL) or limited competition (MLB - Japan, NBA - southern Europe) for top players; the NHL is closer to having direct competition for the top players. If the NHL doesn't continue to increase revenues and maintain their ability to pay top $ to players, competition from the KHL or a (future) Euro Super League could easily be a legitimate threat. National TV revenue is an important part of the picture and if the footprint in the US shrinks, the value of that contract will shrink as well.

[Weave]

What I'm asking in the poll is, given a chance to make the team better, will TP bury contracts. Not, will he bury them just to do it.

 

I don't think it is a straight up yes/no answer. If they think they can get the missing piece to a Cup but they have to bury a contract I suspect Pegs would OK it. If we are talking about incremental improvement I don't think it happens.

 

Then again, what do I know?

[inkman]

Don't think he's too worried right now. He just up'd his donation to Penn State by 14 mill.

Although the season ticket $$$ increase leaves one to wonder. Not exactly reminiscent of 'If I need more money I'll go drill a well'.

[TrueBlueGED]

What I'm asking in the poll is, given a chance to make the team better, will TP bury contracts. Not, will he bury them just to do it.

 

Generally speaking, I take Black at his word when he says there are no financial constraints on the hockey department. Now, that doesn't mean they're going to take on every team's bad contract that still has 4 years left on it, either. And I'd imagine if every single year Regier makes a Leino-esque signing that totally busts, Pegula will be OK with just burying $30 million worth in Rochester. But he's shown a willingness to bury $5 million there for at least a season, and nothing is giving me the indication that kind of a move would be vetoed in the future.

 

 

Although the season ticket $$$ increase leaves one to wonder. Not exactly reminiscent of 'If I need more money I'll go drill a well'.

 

I think people are just taking his statement to the extreme. I simply think it means that financials will play no role in hockey-related decisions...it doesn't mean the franchise isn't going to attempt to make money where it can. Technically the team could drop ticket prices 50% and he'd still personally be fine, but I don't think that's a realistic expectation either. I think incremental ticket price increases are to be expected and doing so doesn't contradict what he said about drilling wells.

[qwksndmonster]

We so need a gif for this!

I've been spending a lot of time on the HF Photoshop thread too :lol:

[LastPommerFan]

I think people are just taking his statement to the extreme. I simply think it means that financials will play no role in hockey-related decisions...it doesn't mean the franchise isn't going to attempt to make money where it can. Technically the team could drop ticket prices 50% and he'd still personally be fine, but I don't think that's a realistic expectation either. I think incremental ticket price increases are to be expected and doing so doesn't contradict what he said about drilling wells.

 

This is where I'm at on this as well. Some more napkin math 15000 tickets x $4.50 average increase x 41 games = $2.77M. It's pennies to the organization, and far less than what will be spent on "fan experience" things throughout the season. In other words, the fans will likely get all that and more back through giveaways, free game programs, and upgrades to the arena experience.

[spndnchz]

This is where I'm at on this as well. Some more napkin math 15000 tickets x $4.50 average increase x 41 games = $2.77M. It's pennies to the organization, and far less than what will be spent on "fan experience" things throughout the season. In other words, the fans will likely get all that and more back through giveaways, free game programs, and upgrades to the arena experience.

 

Part of that experience is food and drink.. I wonder how much THAT is going up.

[LastPommerFan]

Part of that experience is food and drink.. I wonder how much THAT is going up.

 

Urinal Shelves don't install themselves.

[Fire Lindy Ruff NOW]

Urinal Shelves don't install themselves.

neither do urinal cakes!

[dEnnis the Menace]

Part of that experience is food and drink.. I wonder how much THAT is going up.

 

That's a good point that I always tend to forget. When I go to games with my little sister, she always loves getting food at the arena, and I always forget the prices of said food until the cashier has to pry the money from my hand.

[spndnchz]

That's a good point that I always tend to forget. When I go to games with my little sister, she always loves getting food at the arena, and I always forget the prices of said food until the cashier has to pry the money from my hand.

 

First "like" on the board. I'm #1 hey! I'm #1 hey!