Hockey Needs Monopoly

Report: Firms to increase offer for NHL

According to a report in Friday's Toronto Star, a Wall Street financial services corporation and a sports advisory firm are prepared to substantially increase their initial offer of $3.5 billion US to purchase the 30 NHL teams.

Personally, I'd love to see this happen. Sure, it would kill the idea of a "dynasty" team, but who cares? Share the love, I say.

Unbeknownst to me, the MLS actually operates under a single entity ownership, and despite the fact that they actually pay for major network airtime (as of last year...), they have a strict salary cap (that every team is interested in following, because they all work for the same people) and probably do fairly well financially. (I couldn't find anything that said whether or not the operation was running in the black, and I'm just too damned ignorant about pro soccer to say anything with authority.)

Oh, and meanwhile, Don "Grapes" Cherry is making friends as usual, I'm sure, with his statement that if NHL players get to go to Europe to play during the lockout, European players shouldn't get grief if they come over here to fill in the holes.

"Talk about hypocrites. They go over to Europe, 400 of them, and take those jobs. As far as I'm concerned all those guys over there are scabs."

Nice. Like Don wouldn't go work for ESPN – possibly costing John Buccigross a job (I doubt it.) – if he got "locked out" by the CBC?