T1B

Bettman, Leafs talk revenue sharing


TSN.ca Staff
4/15/2005

According to a report in the Globe and Mail, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will reportedly ask the Toronto Maple Leafs to give up their opposition to greater revenue sharing when they meet on Friday.

The Globe also reports that Bettman will make a similar request to the league's other high-revenue franchises.

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment president Richard Peddie would not talk about the details, only saying that the MLSE chairman Larry Tanenbaum invited Bettman to the meeting.

''There is no agenda,'' Peddie told The Globe and Mail. ''I would hope our message stays in the room.''

According to the paper, Peddie and Tanenbaum will tell the commissioner that the Maple Leafs do not intend to use replacement players if the labour dispute continues into the start of next season.

Captain Haddock wrote:Yeah, I couldn't imagine their owners being union busters.

Add a little Globe & Mail propaganda. This is no surprise.

Hapday wrote:

Captain Haddock wrote:Yeah, I couldn't imagine their owners being union busters.

Add a little Globe & Mail propaganda. This is no surprise.

Rack!!

Sounds like Pettie had a little 'meeting' with their bosses who pull the strings down at MLSE.

For those of you don't know the Ontario Teachers Union (technically their pension fund) is the majority owner of the Leafs, Raptors, and the Air Canada Centre, so of course they are against replacement players. That is the real reason the Leafs are 'taking a stand' :roll: against replacement players.

Nice of the Globe to leave that little fact out of their propaga.......eeeerrrrrrr story. Or was it Otis.......................

Ken Fidlin

NHL owners losing it

Any advantage they once held will be erased if they try to use replacements




The leaks have been judiciously dispensed that tomorrow's hockey bargaining session in New York may produce a pinprick of light at the end of the tunnel.

Something new. Something special. Maybe they're going to agree on corned beef sandwiches instead of pizza for lunch.

These latest whispers are significant only if you believe anything that has been said -- quietly or shouted from the rooftops -- since this travesty of collective bargaining began.

Having dithered away much of their early advantage, the owners are now scrambling to avoid even more erosion of their position. It is believed that another hybrid proposal will be tabled to bridge the essential divisive issue dealing with whether salaries are to be linked to revenues.

Where that leads is anybody's guess. But one thing is certain: The NHL now needs an agreement, just as badly as do the players.

Three or four months ago, the NHL owners had a distinct advantage in this war of wills. Their solidarity confounded the players, who have always been accustomed to watching ownership's delicate resolve fracture under pressure. But Gary Bettman didn't seem to know how to play with a lead and the players have rallied late, depending upon your interpretation of "late."

April 15, the deadline for ESPN to exercise its option on hockey for next year, came and went silently. What exactly does that mean? Hard to tell. How could ESPN make a decision on whether to air a product until it has an idea what that product will be?

Which brings us to the real problem facing Bettman and his short-sighted pals. He claims there will be hockey next October, whether there is a collective bargaining agreement or not. If the owners go ahead with that goofy plan, they might as well just put the lid on the coffin and call it a day.

The concept of replacement players will never fly under any circumstances. In even the most naive market, it will insult the intelligence of paying customers. And that includes papering the house with free tickets.

First of all, where do you find 600 hockey players worthy of wearing an NHL uniform? Any player with half a brain and a dream of making it someday in the NHL is going to say no. The lockout is not going to go on forever and the replacements will be the most grisly casualty of all, shunned by the established players and not talented enough to make it not matter.

So, what are we talking about here: Senior A hockey players? Overage juniors not good enough for the AHL? Certainly not any AHL players who have a future. Overseas players? Beer league players? The good old boys from Mystery, Alaska?

People in Toronto wouldn't cross the street to watch such players, even if they were relatives.

That will be the same all over the league, one would have to guess. Most American markets are already lukewarm to the game played by the most talented players in the world. What are they going to think of a bunch of guys skating on their ankles?.

And when the great replacement players plan falls on its face, the owners will have frittered away any vestige of leverage in the negotiations. They will come crawling to the players, hat in hand, as usual.

DEVASTATING REALITY

So, even though there doesn't seem to be a hard deadline staring everyone in the face this week, if the owners have even a vague sense of the devastating reality that faces them next fall, they will treat these meetings with urgency.

The owners would be better off just extending the lockout rather than trying to peddle an unwatchable product to a resentful public. At least then there would still be some pressure on the real players to find a way to settle.

In a replacement situation, all the public sentiment that has warmed the hearts of the owners this past winter will flow to the players' side.

Whether this thing ends this week, this month or next year, there will be no winners. Not one. But the sooner it is resolved, the losing can stop.

Otis wrote:
Hap, did you suddenly suffer another case of anmesia or did you also happen to forget to mention that Larry Tannenbaum is still the Chairman of the Board at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd.
Did you forget to mention that he also owns a good chunk of the team?..

Otis wrote:Seriously, you're really reaching if your only arguement is that the Leafs took this stance only because of what the Teachers Pension Fund might say..

Hapday wrote:

Otis wrote:
Hap, did you suddenly suffer another case of anmesia or did you also happen to forget to mention that Larry Tannenbaum is still the Chairman of the Board at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd.
Did you forget to mention that he also owns a good chunk of the team?..

Who is the majority owner, Otis?

Hapday wrote:You are definately a Koolaid drinker. If honestly think there is another reason, you really have to get your head out of your ass.

Otis wrote: Owners: Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment is publicly owned, 58% by the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan, 15% by Bell Globemedia, 14% by TD Capital and 13% by construction magnate Larry Tanenbaum.

Hap, do you really need for me to dig up the article from the spokesman for the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan stating that Larry Tannenbaum runs the team and not them??.

Otis wrote:Koolaid drinker = anyone that doesn't agree with Hap's right wing, anti-union stance.. ya we know, you remind everyone ad nauseum.

Um how about you read that article.. the Leafs know as does anyone that actually lives in this city (unlike your 250 miles away ass) that scabs won't work in this market and hence they refuse to diminish their storied franchise by sinking to that gutter like tactic.

Hapday wrote:

Otis wrote: Owners: Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment is publicly owned, 58% by the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan, 15% by Bell Globemedia, 14% by TD Capital and 13% by construction magnate Larry Tanenbaum.

Hap, do you really need for me to dig up the article from the spokesman for the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan stating that Larry Tannenbaum runs the team and not them??.

Sure Otis. Just like Jerry Jones has always left his coaches in charge of the Cowboys? :roll: :roll:

Hapday wrote:You are seriously out to lunch on this one. You can't see the fact that the Leafs won't dress replacement players having anything to do with the fact that they are owned by a union?

Step away from the keyboard and think about it for about a few minutes. Seriously.

Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment is publicly owned, 58% by the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan

tough love wrote:

Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment is publicly owned, 58% by the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan

Ever hear of a little thing called, Majority Rules?
The wishes of the majority always take on a priority within all decision making, 'cept for politics that is. :wink

Otis wrote:

tough love wrote:

Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment is publicly owned, 58% by the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan

Ever hear of a little thing called, Majority Rules?
The wishes of the majority always take on a priority within all decision making, 'cept for politics that is. :wink

:roll:

Robert Bertram, executive vice president of investments for the Ontario Teachers pension fund and a board member of MLSE, said the pension fund won't manage the day-to-day operations of the organization despite their majority interest.

Hapday wrote:

Otis wrote:

tough love wrote: Ever hear of a little thing called, Majority Rules?
The wishes of the majority always take on a priority within all decision making, 'cept for politics that is. :wink

:roll:

Robert Bertram, executive vice president of investments for the Ontario Teachers pension fund and a board member of MLSE, said the pension fund won't manage the day-to-day operations of the organization despite their majority interest.

:roll: :roll:

Reel it in!!! We got a large one here!!!!!

No CBA, no NHL


NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters that if no deal was in place by October the NHL season will not begin.

NEW YORK (CP) -- The prospect of replacement players in the NHL next season appeared to be dead as an option as owners and general managers left a board of governors meeting Wednesday seemingly intent on negotiating a deal with the players, not forcing one through the courts.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters that if no deal was in place by October the NHL season will not begin.

An optimistic tone seemed to surround Wednesday's meeting.

"The feeling in the room was that we're getting closer to a deal with the players," said Dallas Stars president Jim Lites.

That was despite the way Tuesday's labour talks ended, with Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs apparently igniting a heated exchange with the NHL Players' Association.

Jacobs walked by reporters Wednesday and simply said: "I hope we'll be playing this year."

But the league seems willing to negotiate off the union's concept first presented April 4, one which would see an upper limit on payrolls as well as a base, linked on a yearly basis to league revenues.

"They're inching towards a settlement," Lites said. "We're on the same page finally."

Carolina Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford said the union concept has its merits, "if you work the numbers right."

Owners, executives and GMs from all 30 teams assembled at the same Manhattan hotel the last board meeting was held March 1.

And again, just like the last gathering, GMs were kicked out of the room while owners held an executive session for about an hour.

The order for the next entry draft was not brought up, which was somewhat surprising after the contentious discussion GMs had on the subject two weeks ago in Detroit.

All 30 teams want a crack at the No. 1 pick, when hockey phenom Sidney Crosby is expected to be selected.

Bettman said he planned to contract PA executive director Bob Goodenow later in the day to schedule a new series of meetings.

"We will continue to plan and work very hard with the Players' Association to reach a new collective bargaining as soon as possible so that our players can be on the ice for the start of the season," he said.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/article. ... 145528_956

Captain Haddock wrote:I still haven't seen any Leafs top brass say they wouldn't use replacement players. I wouldn't trust the Globe's unnamed sources.

Really, the article is a fluff piece. No offense, Otis.

When Richard Peddie says: "There is no agenda"...the first thing I wonder about is their agenda.

It's all moot. I'm convinced the owners are prepared to wait out another season. There might be casualties...but there are over 16 teams that will survive.

Adelpiero wrote:last i heard,

detroit,stl,dallas,Chi and 4 other owners had a hush hush meeting about wanting replacement players.



it wasnt the nashvilles that were involved, was the big clubs!

where there is smoke there is almost always fire..
And let's be honest..

tough love wrote:HOCKEY:
RACK The Victorious Wheat Kings.