Yzerman talks about Toews as captain
Scott Burnside @ ESPN.com has a great piece up on the Chicago Blackhawks’ new captain, 20-year-old Jonathan Toews, including some remarks and advice from another No. 19, Steve Yzerman.
“I have no doubts that he’ll be fine. But it’s tough for a young guy,” Yzerman said. “There’s a lot of accountability. The captain represents the team to the fans, to the media.
“John’s a really mature young guy. It’s kind of a natural evolution for him to be a leader.”
While Yzerman stated that it was important to have other leaders in the locker room, The Captain had numerous veterans on his team in the 1986-1987 team when he first became a veteran. This year’s Chicago Blackhawks squad has only two players over the age of 30 so this team is relatively young. The alternate captains are 26-year-old Patrick Sharp and 25-year-old Duncan Keith.
If the Washington Capitals are the Cinderella team in the East, the Blackhawks are that team in the West. Just last season, the team only had 3,500 season ticketholders. This year? Almost 14,000. The team may even have to cap that number to allow for some group and walk-up tickets. As someone who spent the summer living in Chicago and even volunteering at the Chicago Blackhawks Convention, this is definitely a rejuvenated fan base and there is palpable excitement in the Windy City.
Ovechkin for President?
In a surprising turn of events, the NHL managed to garner the cover story on ESPN the Magazine courtesy of Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. The fun feature uses the upcoming presidential election and the Caps’ location in DC to tie in the change brought on by the infectious personality of Ovie.
Photo Courtesy of ESPN
You can view an amusing behind the scenes video of the photo shoot for the ESPN article here.
In other Ovechkin news, the Capitals shot their intro jumbotron video earlier this week with Ovie featured as the lead rocker of the band. The video over a Puck Daddy was quite entertaining!
And finally, Ovechkin was named Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Hockey ’08 cover athlete in conjunction with the partnership of Yahoo! Sports and the NHL, who have teamed up to provide a co-branded game. Not only will it have the typical fantasy hockey stats and features, but it’s the first fantasy game to have player highlights integrated throughout the offering so you can watch player videos available on team rosters and lists to help you make the right draft or line-up choice.
Islanders create “minor league” promo
The NY Islanders are trying to grab some big league attention in the crowded NYC marketplace. They decided to use a “minor league” ticket promotion to attract Long Island hockey fans. While it may be early to tell if it will work in terms of sales, it certainly has grabbed the attention of the hockey blogosphere.
The Victory Plan is a four-game ticket package that could potentially turn into up to an eight-game package. If the Islanders win one of those games, fans with this package will get a free ticket to a second predetermined game.
I think it’s a solid marketing idea. The Islanders aren’t going to be one of the top NHL teams this upcoming season and attendance has been touchy over the past few seasons. Last season, the Islanders finished last in average attendance. So why not try to generate some interest and at least get more people through the door?
Admittedly, pricing for this package was not released yet so who knows if the package price is above that of what four single game tickets would normally cost.
Thanks to Greg Wyshynski for pointing out this promotion. His thoughts?
Besides, it’s a shrewd businesses move, at least when it comes to the marquee game: The Penguins were 5-3 against a better Islanders team last season. There’s a better chance Ted Nolan attends the company Christmas party than fans getting to see that Ovechkin game for free in December.
I’m all for anything that puts more fans in the seats on Long Island, although given wins may be hard to come by, these 2-for-1 offers are a bit of a gamble.
Tampa Bay makes another move this summer
If this keeps up, we will all remember this as the summer of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Here’s a quick summary of what has gone down so far:
The new ownership group with eight members is announced. They bought the team from Bill Davidson, owner of the Detroit Pistons.
The Tampa Bay Lightning announced its new eight-man ownership group this morning, bringing together a team of leadership which will combine its extensive resources and diverse backgrounds to take control of the Lightning, the leasehold rights to the St. Pete Times Forum and approximately 5.5 acres of adjacent land in downtown Tampa’s Channelside District. The group, led by Hollywood producer Oren Koules and former NHL player and current real estate developer Len Barrie, expects to close on its purchase from Bill Davidson and Palace Sports & Entertainment on June 30.
“This is a great day for Tampa Bay and for the Lightning,” said Koules. “There is a wonderful foundation for hockey in this community; a great fan base and a former Stanley Cup winning team led by Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis. Our group’s primary goal is to win hockey games and compete for championships on a regular basis. And we look to further develop the community foundation Palace Sports has established in Tampa Bay.”
The Lightning make the No. 1 overall selection in the 2008 NHL Draft by picking Steve Stamkos, a player projected as a Steve Yzerman-caliber player.
The new owners are determined to turn this team around as quick as possible providing a strong framework for their new top draft pick.
Koules and Barrie, the primary investors in a group purchasing the Lightning for $206 million, have vowed to be “shockingly aggressive” in free agency to upgrade the roster and surround No. 1 draft pick Stamkos with players who can help him be successful.
These new owners announce Barry Melrose, the face of the NHL on ESPN for 12 years, as their new head coach.
Melrose estimates he watched about 90 percent of Tampa Bay’s games on TV last season. What he saw was a team that lost its zest under the hard-driving Tortorella, who led the club to its only Stanley Cup title four years ago.
The Lightning not only missed the playoffs for the first time since 2002, they finished last in the NHL with a league-worst 31-42-9 record.
“I think what happened here is just a group that lost their passion in the second part of the season. That’s why you win,” Melrose said. “You out-work other teams, you out-want other teams. When you lose that fire and lose that passion, it’s very hard to compete in the NHL.”
A day later, it comes out that the new ownership is working towards a $77 million, nine-year contract with Vinny Lecavalier, who they hope will eventually become a team executive as Steve Yzerman has done.
Owner Oren Koules on Thursday said he sees Lecavalier working as a team executive after he retires.
“We absolutely do,” Koules said. “We’ve already talked to Vinny about it. When we talked, we talked about lifestyle, about how long he wants to live here. He wants to retire here when he’s done, and he wants to be part of this.
“We look at Stevie Y as the exact model of what we want to do with Vinny.”
The team then acquires the negotiating rights to two Pittsburgh Penguins, Gary Roberts and Ryan Malone.
Yesterday, Malone signs a $31.5 million, seven-year contract with the Lightning. Later that evening, the Lightning picked up the negotiating rights to Brian Rolston of the Minnesota Wild. We’ll have to wait and see if the two sides can actually come to an agreement.
With Gary Roberts almost certainly in the fold as well, the Lightning made another bold overture Sunday evening, acquiring the rights to Brian Rolston from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for a conditional draft choice in either 2009 or 2010. Rolston is arguably the second most attractive forward available in free agency after Marian Hossa because of his age (35), consistency (three consecutive years of 30 or more goals), versatility (can play either right wing or centre) and ability to anchor the power play, with a devastating point shot.
Once again, the Lightning’s new co-owners, Oren Koules and Len Barrie, made the announcement. In a statement jointly attributed to both men, they said: “We are trying to prove after making our deal with Pittsburgh yesterday, we will work feverishly to improve the Lightning team for the 2008-09 season. We believe getting the Lightning a head start in the negotiating and signing process can help us secure the players we are targeting. Nothing is guaranteed here, but we hope to have a chance to get another quality player in a Lightning uniform sooner rather than later.”
What will happen next? Who knows, but it certainly looks to be an exciting summer for Lightning fans.
CSN Chicago: Wings/Blackhawks at Wrigley Field
Joe Hass here. Comcast SportsNet in Chicago is reporting that the NHL and the Chicago Blackhawks will announce as early as today (but probably Friday) that they’ve chosen the Red Wings and the Blackhawks for the 2008-09 outdoor game at the friendly confines of Wrigley Field.
As both a Red Wings fan and a Cubs fan, there are no words to describe how incredible this would be for me. Combine the facts that it’s an Original Six matchup, the large number of former Michigan residents (and likely Wings fans) who already live in the Chicagoland area, and the limited seating capacity of Wrigley (40,000, give or take a bleacher bum or two), and I think this could be even more incredible than the Pens/Sabres game last year.
Wall Street Journal: The Return Of A Great Game
Joe here. The NHL has an unbelievably good article in today’s Wall Street Journal online. Entitled “The Return Of A Great Game,” it leads with a stunning piece of news: Don Cherry is going to file reports for ESPN during the Conference Finals and the Stanley Cup Finals. If you recall, last year Cherry went on NBC during an intermission and verbally beat down Brett Hull.
Beyond that, the article gives a great overview in a place that you’d hardly expect it. Not a long piece, but one that has to make them happy in Toronto and New York, especially in light of the Fortune fiasco.
Fortune: You Did Not Watch That Wings Game On NBC
Joe here. Imagine, if you will, working in the NHL Public Relations office when you get a call from Forbes magazine. They want to do an article on Gary Bettman, road warrior.
(Stop laughing.)
Thrilled with the idea, you set up the interview. They come out to take a picture of Bettman at the offices, everything sounds great.
Fast forward to the issue of Forbes hitting the newsstands, and there’s the article! Let’s see what they wrote…
Going to 60 hockey games a year might sound like fun, but for Gary Bettman it’s just another day at the office. In 15 years as NHL chief, he has more than quadrupled revenues to $2.5 billion, added four teams, and changed the rules to speed up the game. But America’s fourth major sport is still without a network TV contract after the 2004-05 lockout, and attendance is well below pre-strike days. That keeps Bettman, 55, on the road shaking hands, doing deals, and catching scores on his cellphone. Fortune caught up with him in his New York office to see how he pulls it off when not on home ice.
Whoa, whoa, whoa! No network TV contract? Attendance down? I mean, it’s one thing to say that Bettman is quite possibly one of the worst commissioners in the history of professional sports, but even my wife knows those two facts are wrong. And not just mildly wrong, but flat-out, black-is-white, sun-rises-in-west, Toronto’s-about-to-turn-it-around wrong.
But here’s where things get odd. Search for the article online and you get this: (emphasis mine)
Going to 60 hockey games a year might sound like fun, but for Gary Bettman it’s just another day at the office. In 15 years as NHL chief, he has more than quadrupled revenues to $2.6 billion, added four teams and, more recently, signed TV deals with NBC and Versus, and led the league to record attendance levels even after the 2004-05 lockout season.
But meeting with team owners, business partners and season ticket holders keeps Bettman, 55, on the road shaking hands, doing deals and catching scores on his cellphone. Fortune caught up with him in his New York office to see how he pulls it off when not on home ice.
Boy, maybe things have changed from when I went through journalism class, but I remember hearing about this thing called a “correction” that newspapers and magazines would publish when they printed an error.
NHL TV Notes
Joe here. A couple notes on the NHL, television, and the start of the most miserable part of the NHL playoffs: cable exclusivity.
The NHL has noted that games 1 and 4 of the Wings/Avs series will be exclusively on Versus (meaning not on FSN Detroit) in the U.S. That means if you don’t have Versus (or don’t feel like paying the extra $20/month for the digital package), you’re out of luck (TSN has the rights for that series in Canada). Remember that Versus has cable exclusivity for the conference finals and the Stanley Cup finals. That’s why you always root for the Canadian teams: CBC would’ve had the series had the Flames won last night.
Also this morning, the NHL announced they’re renewing their contract with NBC for another year. There had been rumors during the second half of the season that the NHL was going to try to convince ESPN to pick up the entire NBC package (which would’ve required renegotiating their exclusive cable deal with Versus).
Comparing revenue data in sports
I am currently taking a Sports Economics course at the University of Michigan as part of my required classes for a Sport Management major. Anyways, I was doing my reading from the book Sports Economics by Rodney Fort (my professor) and came across a few interesting items of note.
At the bottom end of the revenue distribution, the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars have over 2.5 times the revenue of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. The average NFL revenue is just over 1.5 times larger than the average NHL revenue. At the top end of the distribution, MLB’s New York Yankees have nearly twice the revenue of the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings. …
On average, MLB fans spend over 75 percent more than NHL fans. NFL fans spend 60 percent more than NHL fans.
I know that this data is at least four years old, but I would think that the disparities between the leagues have actually increased. The NHL may say it’s doing well financially speaking and that very well may be the case, but the NHL looks like a minor league in comparison to the MLB and especially the NFL.
Data from Forbes in 2003
Smallest Revenue Teams
$48 million (NHL/Edmonton)
$70 million (NBA/Seattle, Golden State, Milwaukee)
$81 million (MLB/Montreal)
$126 million (NFL/Arizona)
Largest Revenue Teams
$238 million (MLB/New York Yankees)
$227 million (NFL/Washington Redskins)
$149 million (NBA/LA Lakers)
$113 million (NHL/New York Rangers)
League Revenue Averages
$70 million - NHL
$94 million - NBA
$129 million - MLB
$155 million - NFL
Toronto going crazy with the rumors
Toronto’s rumor mill is having a field day with the GM position. Who will take the wheels of the MLSE from John Ferguson Jr.?
Red Wings’ fans are no stranger to these Toronto rumors as they invariably contain one of the Wings’ management people including Scotty Bowman, Jim Nill, and Steve Yzerman.
As for Yzerman, Devellano said he has settled nicely into his vice- president’s role and has repeatedly said how much he enjoys apprenticing under Holland. The Wings are also compensating Yzerman handsomely.
Devellano dismissed the threat of a Toronto raid on the Wings’ front office as being more the product of a hyperactive media market.
“Our people are sexy, who wouldn’t want them?” Devellano said “But they all have contracts and I don’t think they want to go anywhere.
“The media in Toronto are dreaming in Technicolor.”
How much do I love that snippet from the article? A lot. As GM Ken Holland tells us, those guys aren’t going anywhere, but we’re happy to share some other characters according to Abel to Yzerman.
The article also notes that Assistant GM Jim Nill was interviewed for the Toronto job a few years back, but the team decided not to hire him. Nill said he has turned down multiple offers from other team’s wanting him to be their GM over the years.
Kevin, of the always entertaining Barry Melrose Rocks blog, has a new gig with FanHouse and today he offered up pointers on how to start a Toronto rumor.