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Tag Archive for 'hockey'

Crosby with The Cup…

Published by Puckhead 2 days, 12 hours ago in Blog Entries. 2 Comments

The Cup finally replaces his blanket…

And later that night…

Tags: bed, gary bettman, hockey, in bed, nhl, scandalous, sidney crosby, sleeping, stanley cup, the cup.

Acting locally, not thinking globally?

Published by Puckhead 1 week, 4 days ago in Bettman. 8 Comments

It looks like there might be a local bid put forth by the end of this week to keep the Phoenix Coyotes in Phoenix (or Glendale). This news come a week after bankruptcy court Judge Redfield T. Baum ruled against Jim Balsillie’s attempt (and June 29th deadline) to purchase and move the team to Hamilton, Ontario.

The Coyotes organization lost at least $45 million last season, was last in the league with ticket revenue at $18.4-million, and has lost $316 million since moving to Phoenix in 1996. The organization did not even meet enough of the trigger criterion set by the NHL to receive their full ($15 million) league revenue sharing money, which is the highest in the league. The Coyotes also only averaged about 11,000 fans per game last season at Jobing.com Arena.

In other news…
the Montreal Canadiens were sold to the Molson brothers (mmmm, beeer) by George Gillett for perhaps at much as $555 million.

Over the weekend, our favorite mini-commish Gary Bettman made his first appearance at an NHLPA meeting in Las Vegas. The meeting lasted nearly two hours and the biggest topic of discussion had to do with steroid and performance enhancing drug use in the NHL. Bettman and the players seemed to agree that it wasn’t much of an issue in the league, and nothing was decided on the issue of drug testing in the future. For Bettman… typical talk and PR. Furthermore, the NHL’s TV contract also came up in the meeting… it seems as though players want the league to move to ESPN, but the little man sticks to his original terrible decision to put and keep the games on NBC and Versus.

Tags: balsillie, bankruptcy, drugs, gary bettman, hockey, meeting, millions lost, national hockey league, nhl, nhlpa, phoenix, Phoenix Coyotes, relocation, steroids.

Time to send a message… No more hockey in the Desert!

Published by Puckhead 2 weeks, 2 days ago in Blog Entries. 7 Comments

If you haven’t already heard, Judge Redfield T. Baum ruled this past Monday evening against Jim Balsillie and his bid to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes from Jerry Moyes for $212 million, and move the team to Hamilton, OT. The Judge said that Balsillie’s decision deadline of June 29th did not give enough time to completely cover and rule on the whole case.

Balsillie isn’t giving up, however… even though his battle might be a tougher one than trying to make ice in a desert. Balsillie is going to submit another motion to the court, to purchase the team and hopefully enter mediation with the NHL.

So what do we all and Jim Balsillie do? SEND AN EMAIL TO GARY BETTMAN AND FLOOD HIS INBOX!!!!!!!!!!! We are working with Jim Balsillie and his MakeItSeven campaign to send the little commish as many emails as possible.

Simply fill out the form below and hit submit, and the message below will be sent to Gary Bettman!!!!!:

Name (required):

Email address (required):

Dear Mr. Bettman,

Why not?

It’s a simple question being asked by hockey fans like me. The nation that has the deepest roots and passion for the game of hockey, and fans all over the world want to know why there can’t be a seventh NHL hockey team in southern Ontario?

The NHL has already approved Mr. Balsillie as an NHL owner and in his ruling on Monday the 15th, Judge Redfield T. Baum recognized that he is an approved NHL owner.

It is clear that Hamilton remains the best location for the Coyotes versus letting it wither in the desert. So why not?

In his ruling Judge Baum also encouraged the NHL and Jim Balsillie to sit down together in mediation to determine what a fair and reasonable relocation fee would be. Mr. Balsillie has said he’s willing to participate in mediation. So why not?

We love this game and we know you do too. It’s time for discussion. It’s time to Make It Seven.

Why Not?

Sincerely,
A dedicated hockey fan

Tags: balsillie, email, email bettman, gary bettman, hamilton, hockey, hockey in canada, national hockey league, nhl, ontario, send gary bettman email.

Make It Seven!!!

Published by Puckhead 4 weeks ago in Blog Entries. 4 Comments

As many of you know, Jim Balsillie has a web site to promote his iniative to buy the Phoenix Coyotes and move them to Hamilton, Ontario… the site is http://www.makeitseven.ca. Jim and his team there send out email messages a few times a week, which we will start posting here on FB… because we support his mission! Here is the email sent out today by MakeItSeven:

To all our Make It Seven Supporters,

Tell it to the Judge!

We need everyone who supports an NHL franchise in Hamilton to let the Phoenix bankruptcy court Judge know. And it’s easy to do.

Tuesday June 9 is a critical court hearing to determine whether the Coyotes can be relocated when they’re sold out of bankruptcy.

We need some evidence for the Judge - evidence of bigger, stronger and deeper numbers of Hamilton backers.

We need you to use our “Tell a Friend” feature to get your neighbours, co-workers, family and friends to sign up to Makeitseven.ca.

Do it today. Do it now. We need to pull together. We need to tell it to the Judge.

Make It Seven.

In other very related news, a Toronto investment group - The Toronto Legacy Group - has put forth a proposal/bid for another NHL team in Toronto. The group says they already have around $900 million in financing available, and want to name the team the Toronto Legacy. We’re wondering if this is a joke…. but we guess if Los Angeles can “support” two teams, Toronto shouldn’t have a problem. However, we’d rather see the next team in Hamilton, or another city in Canada.

Tags: gary bettman, hamilton, hockey, Jim Balsillie, make it seven, national hockey league, nhl, ontario, Phoenix Coyotes.

Fire Bettman!!!

Published by Puckhead 6 months, 3 weeks ago in Blog Entries. 2 Comments

A supporter sent this photo of himself wearing a “Fire Bettman” shirt at a Tampa Bay Lightning game:

Tampa Bay Lightning fan wearing a Fire Bettman shirt!

Tags: fan, fire bettman, hockey, nhl, rick tocchet, shirt, spread the word, tampa bay lightning.

Write for FireBettman.com

Published by Puckhead 7 months ago in Blog Entries and email. 1 Comment

We have obviously been too busy to keep the site up lately… we sincerely apologize. Life gets a little crazy sometimes and other things become a bigger priority, unfortunately.
So… we’re going to let our users (you!) start submitting posts to us, and we will choose a couple per week to post to the site, while we are too busy ourselves to write.

Please try to keep your submissions to around the length of what we have written in the past… no one wants to read a book on here We welcome posts on any topics related to Gary Bettman and the NHL… using timely events/news usually works the best. Please remember that we will most likely receive a large number of submissions, so we can’t post them all. Don’t get frustrated if we don’t choose yours once… there is always a good chance of us choosing another submission from you!

So send your best stuff along to contact@firebettman.com (or use the “Contact” link above)… and let’s keep working together to complete our mission of getting Buttman out of the NHL!!!

cheers and many thanks,
JB and Puckhead

Tags: email us, fire bettman, gary bettman, hockey, nhl, post, posts, write, write for us.

Bettman and NHL counterfile against and threaten the Rangers… plus other Bettman news

Published by Puckhead 1 year ago in New York Rangers and Bettman. 29 Comments

Just when you think Gary Bettman couldn’t get more full of himself and ‘his NHL’… today he and the NHL filed a counterclaim against Madison Square Garden LP (owners of the New York Rangers), threatening disciplinary action for “materially breaching their contractual commitments to the league and the other 29 member clubs - as well as for compensatory damages stemming from those breaches.”

At the beginning of the 2007-2008 season, MSG LP sued the NHL for violating anti-trust regulations, and monopolizing teams’ promotions. The suit came after the NHL made every team turn over the private operations of team web sites and promotional activities to the NHL offices in New York. The lawsuit was taken to court three times, and the NHL won every time. The Rangers owners have challenged the decisions based on anti-trust regulations, and now the NHL will have nothing to do with it… so they have filed this counterclaim with an intent to stop MSG’s continuous actions against the NHL… with a threat of fining, suspending or making MSG lose ownership of the Rangers.

What?? The Rangers or no team can challenge the “rules”??? Everything the NHL does is completely correct and no one can say otherwise??? This is typical Bettman style… never admitting he’s wrong, sticking to his rules even though LOTS of people who know much more about business and hockey disagree, and doing anything he can to counter-attack and shed the blame when there is constructive criticism about the way he is operating the NHL (”NHL Hour” anyone??). Why would any team want to turn over their web site or promotions operations directly to the NHL? The only thing the NHL cares about is posting Sidney Cry-baby’s face all over their ads, putting teams in markets that will never survive, putting NHL games (even almost all of the playoff games!) on a TV network (Vs.) that no one really knows about or receives, turning the game into the NBA or other over-dramatic productions/sports, and making the owners money no matter how much it costs/hurts the fans and game.

In other news, apparently the NHL Players Association isn’t too happy with Mr. Bettman either. Before the infamous lockout of 2004-2005, one of the main reasons Bettman and his cronies insisted on a salary cap was to reduce ticket prices for fans. Just the opposite has happened… ticket prices have gone up… and there are still teams, such as Phoenix and Florida, who are losing money. Point being, no one but certain team owners are reaping the benefits of the salary cap and the new collective bargaining agreement. The players, fans, and many teams are worse off than they were before 2004-2005. It’s apparent the NHLPA is getting more frustrated with Bettman and his antics and tactics… as the article states “The union also agreed to form a committee to decide whether to opt out of its labour agreement next summer”.

Also, tomorrow night (June 20th) is the beginning of the official 2008 NHL Draft in Ottawa!! The thing we’re most excited about is to see how loud the “boos” are at Scotiabank Place when lil’ shit-fer-brains steps up to the microphone.

Tags: boos, counterfile, countersuit, draft, gary bettman, hockey, lawsuit, MSG, new york rangers, news, nhl, nhl draft, nhlpa, players association, Rangers.

Tracking the NHL…

Published by Puckhead 1 year, 1 month ago in Bettman, xm radio and "nhl hour". 6 Comments

Update (5/16/08): You can listen to the podcast of yesterday’s NHL Hour by clicking here.

According to Michael McCarthy of USA Today, the NHL and Versus are considering (re)introducing “puck-tracking” technology into broadcasts of NHL games, which they might put into effect as soon as next season. However, the Globe and Mail reports that this tracking technology would only be used in replays (see bottom of article) and not during live action.

When FOX covered NHL games in the 1990’s, they introduced a “glowing puck” technology… the puck had a blue streak behind it when traveling at low speeds, and then would have a red streak behind it when traveling at higher, slap-shot like speeds. It was supposed to make keeping track of the puck easier for fans watching the games on TV, but most people thought it was a foolish idea and interfered with their ability to focus on other aspects of the game. Players also complained that the FOX puck reacted differently than normal pucks and caused some problems for them.

Either way, we don’t see how this would help the NHL or its fans in any way. The idea has been tried and tested in the past, and it failed. There are obviously plenty of people who can follow the game without being taken by the hand and told exactly how to watch it… it is pretty easy to catch on to where the puck is just by watching the motion of the players and the flow of the game. Furthermore, with HDTV spreading rapidly through North American homes and bars, viewers can almost read the “NHL” logo on the puck We see this as another decision by the NHL to help attract non-market fans, while turning off long-time and die-hard fans at the same time… which would result in a net loss in NHL fans’ enjoyment of the game and possibly the number of NHL fans. With Versus’ commentary of the games already being about the worst we’ve ever heard (try listening to Doc Emrick & Eddie Olczyk for a whole game) , they must be trying to see how far and low they can go with their awful coverage of the NHL. Who knows, maybe they’ll want to put virtual ads on the glass and ice during the game. Ahh, never miss an opportunity to make an extra penny Gary!!! You might need those pennies to pay off another owner in the future.

On a much brighter note, Diane Brady of Business Week emailed us a link to a video of an interview that she recently conducted with Gary Bettman. During the interview she asks Bettman what he thinks of sites such as ours, and also asks some other very good questions. Check it out!.

Additionally, today’s NHL Hour with Gary Bettman will feature guest Ken Holland — the great General Manager of the Detroit Red Wings. The show airs at 4p.m. EST on XM Radio channel 204, or you can listen through the NHL’s live stream (which now includes advertisements for your viewing pleasure). You can call your questions/comments in at 1-877-645-6696 or e-mail NHLHOUR@NHL.com. If you miss the show today, we will post a link to the NHL’s podcast of the show tomorrow.

Tags: bettman, business week, fox, glow puck, glowing puck, hockey, interview, nhl, nhl hour, puck tracking, stupid ideas, versus, VS., xm radio.

Related Posts:
· Gary goin’ down (under)?

Scotty Bowman will be the guest on today’s NHL Hour

Published by Puckhead 1 year, 3 months ago in xm radio and "nhl hour". 8 Comments

Update: You can click here to listen to yesterday’s NHL Hour with special guest Scotty Bowman.

Scott Bowman One of the greatest men ever involved in professional sports — Scotty Bowman — will be the guest on today’s (03/20/08) NHL Hour with Gary Bettman. The show airs at 4p.m. EST on XM Radio channel 204, or you can listen through the NHL’s live stream. You can call your questions/comments in at 1-877-645-6696 or e-mail NHLHOUR@NHL.com. So get some tough questions ready!!

We are STILL waiting to hear Gary Bettman address the ongoing issue of games on the NHL Network not being shown on NHL Center Ice… which is making fans who have already paid at least $145 a season, pay another monthly fee to get what they originally paid for.

We will post a link to the NHL’s podcast of the show early tomorrow.

Tags: bettman, Bowman, hockey, nhl hour, radio, Scott Bowman, xm radio.

Stopping pucks for more bucks…

Published by Puckhead 1 year, 4 months ago in Bettman and advertising. 15 Comments

In this past Sunday’s Toronto Star, columnist Rick Westhead reported that the NHL is considering using goalies as billboards to generate more revenue for the league. According to Westhead, there is a “Goaltender’s Club” — consisting of at least Martin Brodeur, Marty Turco, Dominik Hasek and Dwayne Roloson — that has presented the idea of having advertisements from sponsors put on all goalie’s jerseys in the NHL. It is speculated that this advertising could generate up to $30 million in revenue for the league. Can’t you see it now? Dominik Hasek, brought to you by Requip (restless leg syndrome drug)…

The NHL is either really hurting for money, or they are really trying to turn fans off from the game…. Gary “Blue Skies” Bettman always says things have never been better financially for the league because of the collective bargaining agreement that was reached in 2005, and because of the overall health of the game. What Gary Bettman always forgets to mention when being questioned about the league’s financial health and the reason for it, is what Westhead points out in his article: “Consider that while just six of the NHL’s 30 teams are based in Canada, they account for close to one-third of the league’s overall revenue. And since September 2005 alone, the Canadian dollar has surged some 19 per cent in value, from 83.9 cents U.S. to parity. The loonie’s climb may be responsible for as much as half of the league’s revenue gains since the lockout, says one source familiar with NHL finances.” Furthermore, ticket prices are higher than ever this year (wasn’t the CBA supposed to help lower ticket prices for fans?), which is also the reason for greater revenue.

Just like us, we’re sure you are all sick enough of all of the advertising that already exists in the NHL… from the ads on the boards, ads on the ice, ads all over arenas, ads on TV (especially during the games), ads in the newspapers, ads in magazines, ads on our web site and others, etc… but to put ads on our favorite players?!!! That is an insult to fans and to the players, we would think.
We understand the need for the NHL to make money to survive, but we also think there are a lot of better ways that the league could $30 million per year. What about moving the Nashville Predators to Hamilton, where they were going to go if Bettman hadn’t interfered and taken the team away from Jim Balsillie?? There needs to be more hockey teams in Canada! That is where the biggest fan base is, where the game of hockey got off the ground, and right now, where the league is earning its most money! Next, get rid of the teams in the markets that are failing… Tampa Bay, Phoenix, Atlanta, Nashville (move them to Hamilton) and Florida. That would give us 26 teams in the league, and allow each of the teams to play one another more often, creating more rivalries (and bringing back old ones), thus increasing the enthusiasm from the fans. Next… lower the tickets prices so that you start selling out the games more… with the way the economy is, we would guess the reason why many teams aren’t selling out is simply because the average fan cannot afford to go to many games. Lower tickets $5-10 and you might see a higher turnout, and thus, more money if the difference is made up. Plus think of all the extra money these extra fans would spend on concessions, team paraphernalia, and so on. And lastly, reduce Gary Bettman’s salary from $2 million per year, to at least $1 million.

Our idea of lowering ticket prices so more fans come to games also requires the fans to want to go to games… if you start putting more ads on players, this could be a huge turn-off for fans, and keep them away from games. There are a lot of other reasons why fans still might not go to the games, but we don’t have room to cover all of ways that Gary Bettman has messed up the game here.

However, if the NHL does decide to move ahead with this plan to put advertisements of sponsors on the jerseys of all goalies in the league, we would be first in line to put a FireBettman ad on each of the goalies! What would Gary Bettman think of this money making idea then?

Tags: advertising, cba, gary bettman, goalies, hockey, jerseys, nhl, sellouts, sponsors.

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NHL FUN FACT

The Carolina Hurricanes (formerly known as the Hartford Whalers) received their new name shortly after Hurricane Fran hit their newly adopted home of Raleigh, NC in 1996.