NHLPA, NHL Have Differing Views On Second Team In Toronto Area
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Bettman Appears Indifferent About
Possible Expansion Team In Toronto |
The NHLPA is "annoyed by the NHL's indifference toward putting a second team in Toronto," as NHLPA Dir of Player Affairs Glenn Healy "believes the timing could not be better for the NHL to seriously look at transferring a second team to the Toronto area," according to Tim Wharnsby of the GLOBE & MAIL. Healy said that in addition to RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie and a group that wants to bring a team to Vaughan, Ontario, there are "at least two other factions interested in landing another NHL team for Southwestern Ontario." Healy, in reference to the "failure of the Sun Belt teams in the NHL," yesterday said, "They have been trying to fit a square peg into a round hole for a lot of years. They have tried everything in the world to sell the game, market the game, put fans in the seats and it doesn't work for a lot of reasons. You can go down a laundry list of why it hasn't worked -- it doesn't have the corporate backing, management has been ineffective in putting a winning team on the ice, and so on." Meanwhile, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly met with the Vaughan group last week, and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said he "didn't know who [Daly] was sitting down with." Bettman: "I couldn't care less. He had the meeting, he reported back that there was another group interested in a team in Southern Ontario, which doesn't come as a shock or a news bulletin to me." Wharnsby notes even if Bettman "changes his tune on the expansion front, Toronto or Southwestern Ontario would not be considered a front-runner" (GLOBE & MAIL, 4/28). Daly said, “There are groups all the time who come knocking on our door, suggesting they have an interest in owning NHL franchises. ... Between (Bettman) and I we probably take 20 of those meetings a year. Nothing about that meeting was in the least bit unique or special." Daly added, "What we’ve said over and over again, it’s nice to know what your options are and alternatives are and what might be out there given what might happen in the future, but at this point we have no present plans to expand and no desire to relocate a franchise” (“NHL Live!,” NHL Network, 4/27).
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Writer Says A Toronto Coyotes Team
Would Make For Stronger League |
NORTHERN TRACK: In Toronto, Steve Simmons wrote a second team in the area "should happen" because "an NHL with a Toronto Panthers instead of a Florida team, or a Toronto Coyotes instead of a Phoenix team is a stronger league. And you can make the same case with Atlanta, Tampa Bay, and the Islanders." Simmons added, "Never mind Hamilton or Waterloo as possible sites for a future team. Those are secondary markets. If there is to be a second team in Southern Ontario, it should be in the NHL's strongest market," Toronto (TORONTO SUN, 4/26).
STORM DOWNGRADED: In Raleigh, Javier Serna noted last Tuesday's Devils-Hurricanes Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Game Four drew the "third-lowest attendance for a playoff game in the history of the RBC Center." Of the 16 venues that have hosted playoff games this season, only RBC Center and Honda Center "have not sold out" for some games. Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford noted that North Carolina has a "10.8[%] unemployment rate." Seats in the 200-level at the arena have "stayed the same price through the first round of the playoffs, at $75," though they will "go up to $90 if the Hurricanes advance." The team also is "selling tickets game-by-game instead of asking season ticketholders to purchase through the first two rounds as it did" in '06 (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 4/26).
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