by Matt Barr

A whole new (puck)game

Two Boston-based firms want to buy the NHL:

According to a report in Friday’s Toronto Star, a Wall Street financial services corporation and a sports advisory firm are prepared to substantially increase their initial offer of $3.5 billion to purchase the 30 NHL teams.

Bain Capital Partners and Game Plan International - both based in Boston - made the initial offer to the league Tuesday in New York.

The radical plan is receiving little interest from team owners.

“It just doesn’t work for us,” Richard Peddie, president of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, told The Toronto Star. “We’re not for sale”

Similar sentiments were echoed by owners of the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers and the president of the Calgary Flames.

Which, as an aside, ought to tell you something about what a money pit these teams really are, if several of them are not for sale at any price. Anyway, the proposed model would be intriguing:

If it was owned by a single entity, the NHL would operate in a manner similar to a large corporation, owners were told.

Each team, like a division within the company, would begin the year with a set budget and act autonomously on personnel decisions.

The purchase would not be dependent on the NHL reaching an accord with the players, and a sale would not affect the status of the NHL Players' Association as the bargaining agent for players under U.S. and Canadian labour laws.

And the move, Bain and Game Plan said, would help bolster the league's revenue because all of the teams would work together to generate more local television, sponsorship and revenue instead of competing against one another.

The move would also cut down significantly on the league's operating costs.

Presumably, before the ink was even dry, the new owners would go about shutting down and consolidating unprofitable "divisions." Which is the fastest and possibly only way for the league to remain viable.

I wonder though why if you're willing to throw around $3.5 billion you don't start a new league organized the way you propose for the NHL if you bought it. Far fewer teams (obviously) -- say 12, two divisions of six, in the most viable markets. Overpay guys to come play for you -- if you lose $50 million, you're no worse off than the NHL, and you certainly have novelty and credibility on which to build.

Could work. The WHA didn't, and the USFL didn't, and the ABA didn't, but they were going up against actually currently operating leagues. You start waving money around at star players and get a few to defect, you yourself contribute to perpetuating the lockout/strike/whatever it turns into next year.

I suppose you're wondering what I would do if I were running the new league. I would have rules against players wearing visors, allow only primary and secondary uniform colors, forbid any singular team nicknames ("Avalanche," "Lightning" e.g.) and make hooking, holding and obstruction 10-minute misconduct penalties.

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