MONTEREY, Calif. — There will be one announcement and one announcement only coming out of the National Hockey League Board of Governor meetings this week, and the press release will have been written days before the vote was taken.
The NHL owners will unanimously vote in favour of the $5.2 billion Rogers TV deal. Of course they will.
“They’ll be walking off the plane with their hand in the air,” said one attendee, holding his hand up in the “Aye!” position.
It’s a record-setting deal and significantly raises the bar for all future TV deals. Of course the owners are pleased, and ready to formalize the 12-year contract. Find me a business owner who doesn’t want a big, long-term contract from one of his clients.
The discussion will turn from a rich new TV deal to the fact that it will drive the salary cap up, at the same time the Canadian dollar is heading down. That’s not great for Ottawa, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Calgary — or any American team that currently draws from the revenue sharing plan, for that matter.
As for the rest of the two-day session, Saturday’s Pittsburgh-Boston game may have added some juice here, though you have to remember it is the league general managers who dialogue over rule changes. These BOG meetings are usually pretty placid, with plenty of golf and a series of “updates” on general NHL business.
Fighting and general violence has always been good for the NHL’s bottom line, and for the most part the owners have kept their noses out of it. When that changes however — and in light of the recent concussion law suit, it has changed — the owners will want to be apprised of the course charted by Gary Bettman, Bill Daly and the rest of the NHL lawyers.
The highlight of Shawn Thornton concussing Brooks Orpik is simply bad for business, and that is where these men may wish to become more involved. Yes, it is the GMs who discuss, formulate and change the rules — with NHLPA input, of course. But it is the owner who calls his GM into the office to inform him of their team’s priorities. And two common priorities among the 30 owners is making money, and not falling prey to billion dollar law suits.
Think of this as a private company bringing together its 30 major share holders here in Monterey — most of whom have primary businesses outside the NHL — and getting them up to speed on the various fronts that are contained under the NHL’s business umbrella.
Are there any new business partners out there ready to close a deal? Is there any reason one of these owners would object to bringing that company into the NHL’s business family?
What about the game? What’s up with the Olympics, where the NHL held a site visit in Sochi last week? Are the promises the IIHF made to secure NHL participation in the Winter Olympics being kept? (By the way, it sounds like Stephane Quintal will represent the NHL, cooperating with the IIHF in Sochi where doling out discipline is concerned.
There are new wrinkles to the NHL’s deal with the Canadian Hockey League to be discussed, as well as relations with USA Hockey and Hockey Canada around the Olympics. They don’t have to divulge every item in the minutes, though we have managed to unearth what a few of the topics will be: