The AFL Orlando Predators’ loss to the Jacksonville Sharks on Saturday triggered a discount for the team’s season-ticket holders. The Predators Performance Guarantee, announced before the season, promised fans an incremental discount on ’14 season tickets if the club failed to win at least 10 games this year. Saturday’s loss put the Predators at 5-9 with four games remaining to be played. The promotion called for the discount to grow by 10% for every game less than 10 that the Predators fail to win. In an ironic twist, the discount-triggering loss for the Predators, owned by Brett Bouchy, came at the hands of the team owned by his brother, Jeff (John Lombardo, Staff Writer).
ON THIN ICE? The GLOBE & MAIL's David Shoalts writes Panthers GM Dale Tallon "opted for the player considered the most NHL-ready" by selecting Finnish C Aleksander Barkov with the No. 2 overall pick in the NHL Draft, showing Tallon needs "a reason to get someone, anyone, to buy tickets." Along with the Devils and Coyotes, the Panthers are "one of the NHL’s three biggest financial headaches." By the time the Panthers missed the playoffs this season "after a nice run in the first round the year before, they once again faced the prospect of acres of empty seats" (GLOBE & MAIL, 7/1).
CASH CALL: In Cleveland, Terry Pluto wrote, "Nearly every week there is a something in the news that makes me wonder how Jimmy Haslam will be able to be the long-term owner of the Browns." Haslam "obviously ... has a lot of assets," but you "like the owner of your team to have a steady cash flow and not a mountain of legal concerns." Nearly every NFL owner "turns a profit every year, and that may be true of the Browns." Pluto: "But all that debt? It is indeed 'significant,' as reported by Standard and Poor's" (CLEVELAND.com, 6/30).
MY KIND OF TOWN: In Chicago, David Haugh wrote the '12-13 Blackhawks fall into the category of a team that "transcends sports by appealing across all demographic groups with equal parts proficiency and panache." They have a "historically robust Q rating." Friday's Stanley Cup parade in Chicago was a "show of passion under a sweltering sun celebrating guys who chase a puck on ice." Haugh: "Years from now, history will record the arrival of Chicago's golden age of hockey with an image of the sea of red at Hutchinson Field." Every sports city in the U.S. "looked on with envy." Haugh: "Forget just Chicago; is there a recent title winner anywhere that penetrated its market like the Blackhawks have?" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 6/30).
