NHL
Hockey
The NHL (National Hockey League) has 30 teams. 7 of those
teams are in Canada and the other 23 are in the US. Without a doubt hockey is
Canada’s national sport which isn’t the case in the US where it lags behind pro
and college football, professional baseball, basketball, and auto racing. Still
there are some hot beds for hockey in the US. There are also NHL teams,
particularly in the south, that struggle with attendance like Florida, Tampa,
Phoenix, Carolina, Atlanta, and Columbus.
Owning any professional sports team is an ego thing. This
is not exactly surprising. It is another way for a very wealthy person to show
that they are the big dog. Pro sports have several sources of revenue aside
from putting bums in the seats including television and merchandising.
In 1993 Gary Bettman was brought in by the NHL team
owners to be the league commissioner. He is a lawyer by trade and previously to
his tenure with the NHL he was a vice president of the National Basketball
Association. For some strange reason the commissioners of 5 of the major sports
in the US are Jewish including Gary Bettman. Bud Selig runs Major League
Baseball, Paul Tagliabue runs the National Football League, David Stern
(Bettman’s former boss) runs the National Basketball Association, and Don
Garber runs Major League Soccer.
In the little over 20 years that Bettman has been in
charge of the NHL he has increased revenue from 400 million per year to over 3
billion per year. He has also expanded the league by 6 teams. For many years
selling NHL franchises was a big source of income for NHL owners. Bettman was
determined to see the NHL expand in the US South.
There have been times that I and some others have
wondered if some Americans really understand hockey. Are they watching and
waiting for some kind of blood lust because hockey is the only team sport where
fighting doesn’t equal automatic banishment? Some American spectators seem think it is
quite OK to bang on the glass as an opposing player goes by them like it is
part of their rights in purchasing a front row seat.
Bettman has been responsible for 3 player lockouts in the
past number of years including the 2004-2005 season when the NHL was shut down
for the entire season. If hiring Bettman was about making everyone involved in
the NHL more money he certainly has met those expectations and then some.
There have been some confusing things about how the NHL
has gone about their business since Bettman took over the reins. In 1996 a guy
named John Spano agreed to buy the New York Islanders for 165 million dollars.
He claimed to be worth 230 million dollars, had built a company that employed
6,000 people over 6 years, and had inherited a fortune from his uncle Angelo.
It turned out that these stories were all lies but for the best part of a year
Bettman bought into the con artist’s stories. Spano ended up in jail.
The lockouts were mostly about revenue distribution. The
owners thought the players were getting too much of the money. The last NHL
lockout was in the 2012-2013 season. There was a settlement in January of 2013
and the playing season was shortened to 48 games followed by the playoffs.
In the NHL there is something called “Free Agency” which
allows players past a certain age with expired contracts to sign a new contract
with their own team or another team. The basis of the 2012-2013 lock out by
team owners was supposedly about reining in costs. Last year’s free agency
turned into a frenzy with the owners spending over 375 million on new contracts
on the first day alone. So much for reining in costs.
A New Jersey player, David Clarkson, was probably the most
coveted player in free agency last year. The Toronto Maple Leafs signed him to
a 7 year contract at 5.25 million per year. He was to score all of 5 goals for
the Leafs this past season.
During the 1994-1995 season Gary Bettman secured a 5 year
television deal to broadcast NHL games with FOX Television. The deal was worth
155 million dollars which was a lot more than the NHL had received in American
TV revenue previously. This was the era of the glowing puck on FOX. Despite
failing ratings Bettman got a 5 year TV deal with ESPN and ABC in 1998 worth
600 million dollars. In 2011 Bettman managed to put together a 10 year TV deal
with NBC/ Comcast worth 2 billion dollars.
Hockey Night In Canada has been an institution in Canada
for over 60 years. For many years Canadians could only see 1 live hockey game a
week on TV and it was on a Saturday night. The games were broadcast by the CBC
(Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), a government owned corporation. Older
Canadians will remember the greats from the past that they saw on Saturday
nights, the exciting playoffs year after year, the Summit Series between Canada
and the USSR in 1972.
Canadians went from watching the excitable Howie Meeker
to the bombastic Don Cherry for in between period entertainment.
Somewhere along the line Canadian NHL hockey teams and
American NHL hockey teams started selling the local TV rights to their games
and sports networks also got into the action. Some teams like the Vancouver
Canucks also introduced pay TV for a package of selected hockey games or one
game at a time. The pay TV thing didn’t last long in Vancouver and most fans
resented it.
For the last several seasons Canadian hockey fans have
been able to see every game their home team plays including road games. Most of
the colour commentary is done by ex NHL players. Canadian sports networks spend
endless hours on hockey including panel discussions. Most of us are totally OK
with how the hockey product has been presented to us with the exception
possibly of one or two annoying commentators like Glenn Healy.
In November of 2013 the NHL announced that a new TV deal
for Canadian NHL teams had been agreed to with Rogers Sportsnet. The deal has
been valued at 5.2 billion dollars and is to last for 12 years. Rogers is A Canadian
owned company that markets cable and cell phone services. Part of the deal was
that the CBC and Hockey Night In Canada would continue for 4 more years but
Rogers would control all of their content and get all of the revenue.
Rogers Media president, Keith Pelley, promised that “It
will be the NHL like never before.” Hockey Night In Canada host Ron MacLean
said “I think that’s great and I think the 5.2 billion dollar deal is
tremendous for the league and the players. It just shows, you know, what hockey
in Canada has meant. It’s a great day.” In my opinion Ron MacLean is a
professional ass kisser who many Canadians have seen being bullied by Don
Cherry over the years.
NHL hockey players will get about half of the 5.2 billion
and the teams will have their salary caps increased by several million dollars.
Unlike the NFL all contracts signed by NHL players are guaranteed and salaries
range from a half a million a year for fringe players to as much as 14 million
dollars. The average NHL salary is 2.4 million per year. Not too shabby when
you consider that an NHL player often has a much longer career that other pro
sports athletes.
It has also been announced that the CBC’s hipster
interviewer George Stroumboulopoulos, a Montreal Canadiens fan, will take over
hosting Hockey Night In Canada next year. The general consensus is this move is
about getting George’s young fans interested in following hockey. Personally I
think this is very unlikely to happen because George's forte has been getting the confidence of rock stars, actors and political activists in his interviews. My guess is that a lot of George's fans could care less about him interviewing hockey players. I predict that the Rogers deal won't bring with it a larger audience.
Up until this new 5.2 billion deal, hockey on TV in
Canada was available from a number of Canadian TV networks. The new deal will
cut the CBC’s revenues in half and the network has already had staff cutbacks
with or without hockey.
What we are seeing here is the American corporate model.
Take over as much of an industry as possible and gain absolute control. Cause
lay-offs of employees by former competitors. With no competition and having a
monopoly, customers who want the product then become at the mercy of those in
control.
5.2 billion dollars is a lot of money. How is Rogers going
to recoup their investment? NHL hockey in Canada is pretty well at its saturation
point. Most Canadians can’t afford to buy seats at a game anymore. Even though
6 of the 7 Canadian teams failed to make the playoffs this year most Canadian
NHL games are sold out.
Contrary to what some might think, watching hockey on TV
isn’t free. First of all cable TV isn’t free and second of all neither is
advertising. If you watch a commercial you are a potential customer.
If you have been around the block a few times you know
what is coming to pay for Rogers 5.2 billion dollar deal. Pay TV! Only total hockey nuts will go for this and
there just aren’t enough of these folks around. At 12 or 15 bucks a pop for
hockey a lot of fans might just wait to the late sports shows and watch the
highlites and watch the big games or the play-offs in a bar. 15 bucks is at
least 2 beers.
I think the NHL and Gary Bettman have grossly
underestimated the Canadian public perhaps in the same way the American Target
stores have in coming to Canada. Most of us don’t want to pay 15 bucks or so a
shot when we didn’t have to pay that fee before. George Stromboulopoulos just
isn’t going to cut it! We certainly don’t give a shit about NHL players making
more money either. I’ve seen Derek Roy’s house and he doesn’t need a bigger
one.
NFL Football
Pro football and college football in the US are nothing
more than an organized racket. Yes I know football is the #1 sport in America
and people go nuts for it but that doesn’t mean that the sport doesn’t have its
scummy side.
Unlike team sports like hockey and soccer, or individual
sports like golf and tennis, playing football at a higher level often involves
taking drugs like steroids. A lot of positions on a football team require bulk
and strength and steroids will provide both of those. Weighing 280-315 pounds
may work when a player is in their early twenties but as they get older that
weight will most often cause health problems and quite possibly a shorter life.
Owners and fans won’t have to share in future medical difficulties. The list of
current NFL players and ex-NFL players getting in trouble with the law during
and after their careers seems endless and sometimes the mitigating
circumstances are “ roid rage”.
The average NFL career only lasts only 3.3 years. Most
players, other than the stars, are disposable. Contracts are often not
guaranteed. The money may be great for a short while but the wear and tear on
the body takes a toll on every player. Football is a hard contact sport and
repeated concussions can leave a former player in a sad state of affairs as
they get older.
Most pro football fans could care less what goes on
behind the scenes. They just want to back a winner and have bragging rights.
Many fans live a good part of their lives through their team. They wear the
jerseys, paint their faces, carry their signs, have their bar-b-ques in the
stadium parking lot, and pay huge bucks for their seats. They might not care
for the prices for the fast food in the stadiums but a lot of them will still
buy $7.00 dollar hot dogs and $5.00 pop.
NFL owners know that they have a good thing going for
them. They don’t have to finance farm teams and they get their players for free
from the college ranks without having to give the colleges a dime for teaching
the players how to play the game. In almost every city in the NFL the stadium
has been mostly financed by taxpayers. Many of these same taxpayers will never
set foot in their local stadium. Some have called this “corporate welfare”.
Every now and then some owner or another will threaten to
move the team to another city unless a new stadium is built with mostly
taxpayer’s money. Robert Irsay actually followed through with his threats a
number of years ago and moved his team, the Baltimore Colts, to Indianapolis.
More than any other sport, professional football can get
out of hand very quickly. If one team is up by 3 touchdowns at the half the
game is pretty well over. Very rarely does the team that is down 3 touchdowns
make a full come back. A fan could very well sit there for another hour or more
knowing that the game has been over for some time. Dandy Don Meredith used to
sing about this situation on Monday Night Football….”Goodnight, the party’s
over.”
As big as pro football is the US I find it interesting
that probably 90% of the fans don’t know the names of more than 10 players on
the team they root for.
US
College Football
US college football is no different than any other sport
including the biggest sport of them all, soccer, in the sense that being a fan
is often about kicking the other team’s ass. When it comes to college football
there are a number of rivalries between states. I’m guessing that most
Catholics who follow football have a soft spot for Notre Dame. Fans completely
forget the fact that their favourite team is stocked with a number of players
from out of state. Who cares they think, if they think about it at all, after
all every religion is open to converts.
For some reason college football and basketball are big
draws whereas baseball isn’t. You would be hard pressed to find someone who
knows who won the 2013 College World Series. It was UCLA.
College football in the US has 25 stadiums that hold over
80,000 people and 6 of those stadiums hold over 100,000 people. College
football is a big deal. Last year total revenues were over 2 billion dollars.
In 2013 the Texas Longhorns had gross revenues of over 109 million dollars and
profits of over 92 million dollars.
So where does all of this money go? We are told by
college and university spokesmen that the money is reinvested in the team with
things like stadium and practice facility upgrades, sports scholarships, and
propping up other college sports, like golf, swimming, wrestling, and
gymnastics. If you believe this I have a bridge to sell you.
Anytime there is a lot of money around there are those
that use their inside connections to slice off a chunk of money for themselves.
It’s the American way. Just who gets the contract to build new facilities, the
contracts to run the concession counters, the contracts for sports equipment
and uniforms, and a whole lot of other expenses to do with the football team,
is all decided behind closed doors by a close knit old boys network.
During the 2013 college football season over 70 coaches
and 3 assistant coaches made over 1 miilion dollars. College football is the
ideal business model. Almost everyone, other than the players who bring the
crowds in, the cheerleaders, and the bands, make off like bandits. It’s hard
not to make money when you have free labour.
Picture this. You are really good athlete just out of
high school. Chances are, particularly if you are black, that you have come
from a low income area like the inner city and that your family was financially
challenged. You are about 19 years of age and now find yourself living on a
campus with big lawns and old tall trees. You are totally away from the
environment you are used to. On campus there isn’t the constant honking of car
horns or the threat of a drive-by shooting. This is a peaceful place for the
most part with lots of pretty young gals and people your own age that admire
you.
Yes the coach and his staff are pretty tough on you and
the days practicing are long. You know that you can be replaced quite easily if
you don’t perform well on the field and each year there is a new crop of
football players trying to take your spot on the team. If you are black you
very well may not have had a father figure in your life. In many cases the
coaches become that father figure. You listen to them intently because if you
don’t you could easily find yourself back home without an education with the choice
of working at McDonalds or selling crack on the street. Statistics show that
only 22% of black college football players graduate from college.
These kids are between 19-25 years of age. They aren’t
wise to the ways of the world or familiar with business. They are totally at
the mercy of those in charge of the football programs. These kids are not going
to organize and demand a piece of the profits. The old reasons used for not
paying college athletes are that they are amateurs and the college is giving
them an expensive education. There is nothing amateur about college sports.
Not only do the players not receive any compensation,
there is no money put away for them once they leave the school. The players don’t
even own their own likenesses. They are not even allowed to make a bit of money
through endorsements. In some cases, if they are stars, they are given some
cash under the table from wealthy alumni, which of course is against the rules.
Friends of the team will also get star players laid on occasion.
College football fans can become blinded in their
allegiance to their team. Over the decades there have been dozens and dozens of
rapes by college football players. Victims have been as young as 13 years of
age. It is often a double edged sword for women and girls who have been raped. First
they suffer the trauma of being raped and then if they come forward and press
charges they are often harassed and ridiculed by a number of the fans. In many
cases these women have no choice but to leave the college they were attending.
Very rarely does a college football player who has
committed rape receive any jail time. When they are convicted it is usually by
pleading to a lesser charge than rape. The penalty is often a small fine,
probation, or community service. There are numerous cases where the rapist has
been reinstated by the football team.
What it comes down to is that college football is a
reflection of many corporate business practices. When it comes to making money
and being successful, ethics often go right out the window.
Golf:
The Masters
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| Canadian golf pro Mike Weir getting his green jacket from Tiger Woods |
The Masters Golf Tournament is held every year in early
April at The Augusta National Golf Course in Augusta, Georgia. The course was
built in 1933 by Bobby Jones and some of his friends. Bobby Jones was one of
the all-time greats in golf and back in the 1920s and 1930s he was one of the
biggest names in sports. Each year the winner of The Masters receives a green
jacket which is just one of the many customs associated with the tournament.
The green jacket is not given to the winner of The Masters to keep and it must
be returned to the club within 1 year. The Masters folks want to protect their
image and they don’t want to see one of their green jackets for sale on e-bay.
The Masters and The Augusta National Golf Course like to
portray themselves as examples of southern charm and hospitality but the
reality is that the folks that have run this institution have a long history of
racism and sexism.
It wasn’t until 1975 that black Americans were allowed to
compete in The Masters. The tournament is an invitational one. Traditionally,
winners of PGA tournaments in the previous year, former winners of The Masters,
and golf professionals with high profiles, are invited. Charlie Sifford, a
black American pro golfer, won the 1967 Greater Hartford Open and the 1969 Los Angeles
Open and was one the best golfers on the PGA tour in the 1960s but was never
invited to compete in The Masters. I wonder why?
Up until 1983 The Masters only allowed black men to caddy
at their course. Touring pros could not bring their own caddies to the event.
The Augusta course also didn’t allow black people to join their club until 1990
and even today there are very few black members. In total the club only has
about 2 hundred members and most of them don’t live in Georgia.
If you have watched The Masters on TV you may have
noticed that all the caddies have to wear white overalls similar to what garage
mechanics often wear. The idea of this is supposed to be that caddies can be
differentiated from the golf pros. No other golf tournament requires caddies to
wear overalls. Why? Because any moron can figure out the caddie is the guy
carrying the golf bag. It is disappointing that in this day and age grown men
are forced to wear overalls. But then again the south in general has never been
very progressive.
The Augusta course has always been a men only golf
course. That is up until a year or two ago when they gave 2 women honorary
memberships. What a break through! 2 women! Yes Augusta is a private club and
they can do whatever they want to do and yes it is nice to watch on TV but
every time I watch, knowing the history of the club, I think that the word “Masters”
is more than an appropriate way to describe
the Augusta Golf Club’s history.
Why
I Watch Sports
You may be thinking to yourself, why do I bother watching
sports at all if I am so critical. The answer is that I am no different than
the next guy in that I like the competition. Unlike some others I just don’t
get blinded by it all. If my teams lose I am not deeply disappointed. I had no
hand in creating the team. Win or lose. There are a lot more important things in
the world to me than which sports team ends up winning it all.
In hockey I watch almost every game the Vancouver Canucks
play and most games in the play-offs whether the Canucks are participants or
not. I rarely watch a baseball game other than the World Series. I might watch
an NBA play-off game or two. I like the final games in college basketball
because each game is sudden death. I don’t really follow soccer. Not enough
scoring for me. I follow the Seattle Seahawks in football but mostly avoid
college football. I watch golf sometimes when it is raining out. NASCAR, figure
skating, and curling bore me to tears. I usually take in part of the big 4
tennis tournaments. I still can’t figure out why people watch darts or poker on
sports TV. These aren’t sports. I’m a big fan of the Canadian Football League
and think the Canadian version of the game is much more exciting than the
American version. I used to watch The
Tours de France bike race partly because of the pretty scenery. All in all I’ve
been watching sports for almost 60 years.
I look at watching sports like watching the TV show
Survivor. Who you want to win often doesn’t happen. Sometimes who you are
pulling for ends up on top but that good feeling is always short-lived. Each
sports season you just start again and hope. Luckily I’m not a Chicago Cubs
baseball fan.
