faba Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 Report: Giuliani may help to form new hockey league June 1, 2005 TORONTO (Ticker) - It appears "America's Mayor" wants to help hockey. The Toronto Star reported Wednesday that former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and leading Canadian diplomat Maurice Strong may join forces to create a new hockey league if the NHL continues its lockout, which wiped out the entire 2004-05 season. According to a 71-page business plan reviewed by the newspaper and circulated to prospective Wall Street investors, the new league - tentatively called the International Hockey Association - would rely on Giuliani's New York consulting company to help raise as much as $5 billion in seed money. ADVERTISEMENT Giuliani became known as "America's Mayor" after he held New York together in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. NHL Players Association senior director Ted Saskin has confirmed that several groups have approached the union proposing alternative options. "Most of these groups have made these proposals on a confidential basis and the NHLPA will not be commenting on them," Saskin told the Toronto Star. "Our primary focus has always been to reach an agreement with the NHL on a new CBA." The NHL and the Players Association will resume labor negotiations Wednesday and Thursday in Toronto. Commissioner Gary Bettman canceled the 2004-05 campaign on February 16, making the NHL the first major North American sports league to have an entire season canceled due to a labor dispute. After convening with the NHL's Board of Governors in April, Bettman announced the league would not resume play until a CBA was in place, erasing the belief replacement players would be used for the 2005-06 campaign. In March, the league officially canceled the 2005 draft, which was slated to take place in Ottawa in June. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomShane Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 Hang on--Hockey is on strike? Since when? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faba Posted June 2, 2005 Author Share Posted June 2, 2005 Hang on--Hockey is on strike? Since when? TS Hate to correct you but it is a lockout not a strike- you can continue now with your abundance of hockey knowledge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gang Green Girl Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 Today is Bettman's 53rd birthday. Instead of making a wish, maybe he'll step down today and spare us all. Any word on today's progress? If the employees start the disturbance it is a strike; if the employer acts first, it is a lockout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R44 Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 Guiliani is a clown, a "fake Republican" (RiNO anyone?)and vastly overrated in so many ways. He claims to love hockey and it's traditon (particularly the Blue-shirts). But he should know the whole sport of hockey is hurting now as a "whole", not just the NHL. In a fools mind, this is perfect time to start a new league...But guess what, it's not. It's not the summer of of 1965, when there were only 6 NHL teams. Today, the NHL has 30 teams, plus a half dozens minor leagues scattered thoughout America. For example, does he really think, even as bad as the Blackhawks and Bruins have been recently, new teams could ever displace them in Chicago and Boston? If a new hockey league can't beat out the NHL in the top 20 U.S markets, where do they go to establish new teams? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faba Posted June 3, 2005 Author Share Posted June 3, 2005 NHL, union to meet for third straight day June 2, 2005 TORONTO (AP) -- The NHL and players' association will meet for a third straight day of negotiations on Friday following two days of small-group talks that focused on revenue calculation and financial reporting. Each side declined to comment about the details of the 10-hour meeting Thursday, which followed Wednesday's 10-hour session. ``As we will be resuming negotiations Friday, we will defer comment on the status of negotiations until that session is complete,'' Bill Daly, the NHL's chief legal officer, said in a statement. The sides have focused on a review of revenue measurement and financial reporting issues, trying to reach common ground on team-by-team revenues and how to associate them to a salary cap. The league and union have agreed that a salary cap model with an upper and lower limit will be the centerpiece of a new collective bargaining agreement. The small-group meetings carried over from Wednesday's session to Thursday. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and players' association executive director Bob Goodenow were on hand, but didn't meet face-to-face. In addition to small-group meetings, each side spent some time in caucus. Small-group talks will resume early Friday before Bettman and Goodenow join their sides for a bargaining session. ``We continued our small-group meeting throughout the day and evening, and plan to meet again tomorrow morning in both small and large groups. We will not be making further comment until tomorrow's meetings have concluded,'' NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin said in a statement. Thursday's session was the 18th between the sides since the season was canceled Feb. 16. The reports I have been reading they need to get a settlement in the month of June- for season ticket holders and marketing purposes. It will be interesting to see what sort of things they try to do to win back some of the fans if they do settle. Also the status of last year contracts are the teams obligated to them in the Times today gave a example Rangers contract with Durham at 3.3 million- are last year contracts applicable to this year since there was no season last year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gun Of Bavaria Posted June 4, 2005 Share Posted June 4, 2005 The IHA? Is that anything like the IHL? Apparently Rudy hasn't heard about the ongoing effort to recreate the WHA either. They're not exactly a lock but they're closer already and are supposed to have a large number of pros ready to play in their tournament. http://www.worldhockeyassociation.net/ everytime there is a lockout or a strike someone threatens to create a new league. Remember when NBC was going to help start a new baseball league? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R44 Posted June 5, 2005 Share Posted June 5, 2005 Agreed and good point about the WHA. That idea of the WHA was floating around well before the strike. If they couldn't launch that league in 2004, with all the planning and the lockout/strike, why should a different new league be viable? Looks like the WHA is going in reverse. In 2004, on this date, the league claimed to have teams scattered throughout North America and was working on signing Sidney Crosby :? Guilani is a clown, just looking to keep his name in the forefront. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faba Posted June 5, 2005 Author Share Posted June 5, 2005 Agreed Guns and R44 this proposal is a farce- there is not enough interest right now for any alternative league to be a possibility- they can not support hockey in certain cities in NHL right now- how can a new league do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gun Of Bavaria Posted June 5, 2005 Share Posted June 5, 2005 Agreed and good point about the WHA. That idea of the WHA was floating around well before the strike. If they couldn't launch that league in 2004, with all the planning and the lockout/strike, why should a different new league be viable? Looks like the WHA is going in reverse. In 2004, on this date, the league claimed to have teams scattered throughout North America and was working on signing Sidney Crosby :? Guilani is a clown, just looking to keep his name in the forefront. R44...Not only are they going backwards, they're stepping on their schwanzes. They've failed to capitolize on this NHL disaster by promising a tournament in mid May involving a large number of NHL players that had 'officially signed on'. Not only did May pass w/o a tournament, but if you go on the website they can't even tell u when it is. Clicking on the options are hilarious, they all say 'coming soon'. Hell the site hasn't been updated in 2+ months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.