Get That Cash And Make A Stash

that the Hawks may have had an operating loss but the value of the franchise has gone through the roof. It’s sort of like if you had to take out a home equity loan to fix all the broken windows, stairs and railings in the house, but in the mean time God pissed down a gold plating that completely covered your house. Sure you’ve got to pay that loan back and you can bitch and piss and moan about your loan payments sitting on the bar stool at your favorite corner, bar but if you felt like selling that house you’d make a fortune.

However, I don’t know why Rocky would go public with this if it wasn’t true.

I think he announced this to justify the steep increase in ticket prices.
As for the losses, he talks about I’m pretty sure a large amount of that is on paper and was re-directed to the Wirtz Corporation.

This makes me break out in a cold sweat. I’m unfortunately a Cubs fan, and the agony of the last two years make me fear the Hawks future. Anyways, have a good August Sam, see you around.

Isn’t that a fairly common strategy? Look at, say, Minnesota with Havlat, Philly with Hartnell & Briere and the Rangers with basically every player on their roster whose name you recognise.

Throughout the history of the NHL, essentially every owner has claimed to have lost money every single year – accoding ot the official books anyway. It is their oldest and dearest trick – particularly around times to raise ticket prices or discuss salaries/CBA with the players (it was in fact the main bamboozling act that kept the players form starting the NHLPA for several additional years).

Some teams do actually lose money. But all of them claim to do so, and that isn’t always true.

The NHL does not have that big TV contract… it makes it hard to make money. I mean, the Hawks are a stable franchise, think of what it must be like in the struggling markets.

What really got to piss Rocky off is the revenue sharing. Had to give up 50% gate on that. I know he still owns the parking, concessions ect. BUT that is also part of the “paper trail” of the Hawks “fiscal plan”.

to get out ahead of and defuse stuff like: “Hawks raise prices 30%. Man, they sold out every game last year. Wirtz is rakin’ it in hand-over-fist already and now this. Greedy bastard.”

or 100 other reasons. Is it a coincidence that it’s jumbled up with ticket prices in the story?

I don’t think Rocky is a bad guy. I sill think Hawk tickets are comparatively cheap. I know sports franchises are often ego excursions and not the most profitable businesses around. But he’s too smart to have lost money on this team last year in any real sense, and I feel a little insulted that he expects me to swallow this poor-mouthing.

A WHOLE MONTH WITHOUT SAMFELS?

1. Sometimes my lips move when I read. Are you hinting that the Hawks themselves are being groomed for the block? I couldn’t quite connect the dots on the McD thing.

2. by the way, which one is pink?

(* Huet’s contract is already dead to me, thanks Rocky for picking up the tab on that one.)

The “core” contracts are eating up most of the cap, true – but once we get past this ‘bonus penalty’ season (and assuming the cap will increase from year to year), I think the team is set up for a good 5-year run with this core group. If some of the rookies come through, I don’t think any of our big contracts other than Soup can’t be moved if the team wants to plug a different piece into the “core”.

And I kind of figured that you have your top two lines, and your top 4 D-men.. then there’s a “checking” line, an “energy” line, and a couple of young defensemen to round out most any hockey club. You should be able to pick up these role players on the relative cheap, right?

The incredible depth the Hawks had last year was the exception to the hard-cap rule.

and a large endorsement deal with wirtz corp?!

/half-serious

you mean “completely abandoned,” because I’m apparently still in mental hibernation (read: have a new job), and also I’ve pretty much been priced out of the 2010-11 season, motherfuckers. Um, yeah. Sorry, coherent thoughts later, when I actually see a team out on the ice? I’m pretty much fine with whomever ends up in net, by the way—as much as I love them, goalies seem to be faceless vessels for bitching, at least until we have real numbers to work with.

I saw a clip where Toews said the fans were the real MVP of the playoffs. Thank goodness I have such a low cap hit.

Niemi’s agent was on the Score yesterday morning (stuck in traffic on the Ryan) and they had him on the phone…and he corrected the morning team that SHE would make the decision.

Just sayin…..

Wisniewski has been traded to the Islanders for an optional 3rd round pick. To quote NHL.com, that means:

The Islanders will have the option until June 1, 2011, to transfer to Anaheim their own third-round selection in the 2011 Entry Draft or Colorado’s third-round selection, previously acquired by the Islanders.

Source.

So do you think we will be announcing the signing of Marty Turco before or after dinner tonight?

Here’s the link: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=535282

are going to cough up a little less of the revenue sharing BS is for Bettman and his front office finally figure out how to promote this league better so it gets a REAL TV contract.

The fact the ’Hawks had to cough up about half their playoff ticket REVENUE (did I read that correctly? Yikes!!) tells me this league expanded too fast & too far into markets they were not prepared to sell to well enough.

However, if Rocky truly continues to believe in championships over a PnL statement, then salary caps and the next dreaded CBA won’t be nearly as bad as we think they can be.

The key on the local level is for the ’Hawks to absolutely leverage as much as they possibly can out of their media contracts.