WHA ramping things up - No Salary Cap

[Mess]

And that’s not even the kicker.

“We’re starting to toss around the idea – and it probably will go that way – of no salary cap,†Smith says. “If one team wants to pay Jeremy Roenick $6 million, we’d allow it.â€

We’re guessing Roenick, who with a 24 per cent pay cut would have grossed $5.3 million over a full 82 games with the Philadelphia Flyers if there had been a 2004-05, would be OK with it, too

http://www.thehockeynews.com/en/headlines/detail.asp?id=27526&cat=954945254360

Kicks off with a Tourney​

Now, to help prove the WHA is for real and create awareness, Smith says the league will host an invitational tournament that runs from May 19 to June 3. Some details remain to be finalized, but here is their big-picture vision:

• A six-team, winner-take-all tournament, with a total purse of $2 million (U.S.); each participant will receive a $20,000 appearance fee.

• Early games will be held at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton and Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto, with later games to be staged at a venue on Canada’s West Coast.

• Team captains will be appointed and they will draft rosters of roughly 14 players and a Team Strategist (coach-GM). Smith says 28 players are already confirmed, including Roenick, Chris Chelios, Sean Burke, Mark Recchi, Robert Esche and Jim Cummins.

Click to read more...

 

[futurcorerock]

I'd like to kick this thread off in style...

:lol :lol :lol

Flame on friends... flame, on.

 

[Drury_Sakic]

:lol



For now... thats what I think...


But if things get rolling this time(ie a game is played)




But what does it matter without THE CUP morons?








THATS why I watch the NHL.. The battle for Lord Stanleys Cup

 

[Hasbro]

I'm reading The Rebel League about the original WHA. At realtively smaller prices they were hemoraging money, I can't imagine how they can make this work.

 

[futurcorerock]

The truth is, they can't. They're a joke league... they've been since they tried to restart. Remember this glorious league they had lined up right when the NHL was supposed to shut its doors?

Where is it, Bobby?

Where is it?

 

[Mess]

I'm reading The Rebel League about the original WHA. At realtively smaller prices they were hemoraging money, I can't imagine how they can make this work.

Those Rich investors Bain Capital Partners and Game Plan International that offered to buy the NHL has been in touch with getting its own league up and going.

That 3.5 Bil number they are tossing around might go a long way ..

Plenty of good players to go around ..

Player agents are on board ​

Smith, who reports Oct. 27 will be the start date for the WHA’s inaugural 2005-06 season, says he has been encouraged by the feedback he’s getting from players and their representatives.

“We handed out a two-page letter to 100 agents explaining what we are doing, where we’re going to do it and how we plan to pay people,†Smith says. “We heard back from about 50 per cent of the agents and that was prior to the official cancelation of the NHL season. And we got phone calls. It was all favorable.

“It has been impressive. There is still some great spirit left in hockey. I heard from Neil Abbott talking about J.R. all the way to Scott Gomez’s father calling me from Alaska. The players are taking (the WHA) seriously now.€

 

[me2]

And that’s not even the kicker.

“We’re starting to toss around the idea – and it probably will go that way – of no salary cap,†Smith says. “If one team wants to pay Jeremy Roenick $6 million, we’d allow it.â€

I'm sure they'd allow it if someone wanted to pay Roenick $106m too...

We’re guessing Roenick, who with a 24 per cent pay cut would have grossed $5.3 million over a full 82 games with the Philadelphia Flyers if there had been a 2004-05, would be OK with it, too

http://www.thehockeynews.com/en/headlines/detail.asp?id=27526&cat=954945254360

Anyone got the slightest idea how they could find enough money to pay Roenick getting $6m?

Kicks off with a Tourney​

Now, to help prove the WHA is for real and create awareness, Smith says the league will host an invitational tournament that runs from May 19 to June 3. Some details remain to be finalized, but here is their big-picture vision:

• A six-team, winner-take-all tournament, with a total purse of $2 million (U.S.); each participant will receive a $20,000 appearance fee.

• Early games will be held at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton and Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto, with later games to be staged at a venue on Canada’s West Coast.

• Team captains will be appointed and they will draft rosters of roughly 14 players and a Team Strategist (coach-GM). Smith says 28 players are already confirmed, including Roenick, Chris Chelios, Sean Burke, Mark Recchi, Robert Esche and Jim Cummins.

$20000 per game by 82 games = $1.64m.

Can they sustain that at small rinks?

 

[Mess]

$20000 per game by 82 games = $1.64m.

Can they sustain that at small rinks?

That is not the League that is just the Start up tourney .. 20, 000 for each player and and 2 Mil final prize ..

The real league :

Smith, who reports Oct. 27 will be the start date for the WHA’s inaugural 2005-06 season, says he has been encouraged by the feedback he’s getting from players and their representatives.

The plans for Year 1 remain consistent with what Smith told The Hockey News in November, with a few new wrinkles. The league, which has Hall-of-Famer Bobby Hull as its commissioner, plans to start with eight-to-10 teams in North America and says it is negotiating lease agreement deals with arenas, including some inhabited by NHL franchises.

So it looks like some NHL owners are going to offer WHA games to its Fans, including Toronto, Vancouver, & Phoenix .. Looks like Wayne Gretzky is going to give back to the WHA that gave him his start ..

When Bettman said you see players in NHL arena's who knew this is what he may have ment ..

 

[me2]

That is not the League that is just the Start up tourney .. 20, 000 for each player and and 2 Mil final prize ..

I realise that. I'm just wondering how they are going to fund the tournaments given they are paying out the equivalent of $1.64m/y.

15 players + strategist x 2 x $20000 = $640,000 in player payments per game.

Rink rentals
$2m prize
travel costs
general costs
WHA costs
etc

The real league :

Smith, who reports Oct. 27 will be the start date for the WHA’s inaugural 2005-06 season, says he has been encouraged by the feedback he’s getting from players and their representatives.

The plans for Year 1 remain consistent with what Smith told The Hockey News in November, with a few new wrinkles. The league, which has Hall-of-Famer Bobby Hull as its commissioner, plans to start with eight-to-10 teams in North America and says it is negotiating lease agreement deals with arenas, including some inhabited by NHL franchises.

So it looks like some NHL owners are going to offer WHA games to its Fans, including Toronto, Vancouver, & Phoenix .. Looks like Wayne Gretzky is going to give back to the WHA that gave him his start ..

They can probably make as much or more money renting their rinks than running their teams. The WHA will make money by keeping wages down.

So who is going to lose?

When Bettman said you see players in NHL arena's who knew this is what he may have ment ..

In Year 2, the league plans to branch out to Europe and place as many as three teams in Japan.

LOL at the 3 teams in Japan idea. Even the expansion to Europe seems somewhat unusual. What are they going to do, fly players from Europe to Japan to Toronto To Europe To Vancouver and back again?

 

[dunwoody_joe]

To which the NHL says fine, we'll break the NHLPA's back.

NHL pushes to use replacement players and any member of the NHLPA that want to sign (which plenty will). They then go head to head with the newly formed WHA.

They send word that anybody already under contract with an NHL team will be held to that contract (exclusivity).

Good luck with that new league!

 

[Isles72]

wha is going to need better front men if to be considered seriously

with all due respect to Hull and Espo

 

[BLONG7]

I'm reading The Rebel League about the original WHA. At realtively smaller prices they were hemoraging money, I can't imagine how they can make this work.

I get a kick out of these guys who think they can just start a new league like they are going to open a conveinience store....

 

[BLONG7]

To which the NHL says fine, we'll break the NHLPA's back.

NHL pushes to use replacement players and any member of the NHLPA that want to sign (which plenty will). They then go head to head with the newly formed WHA.

They send word that anybody already under contract with an NHL team will be held to that contract (exclusivity).

Good luck with that new league!

The fans in about 85% of the cases would choose the NHL with replacenments than the WHA with the PA mongers like Guerin and Pronger...remember almost every fan will tell you they cheer for the TEAM not the PA member...

 

[dunwoody_joe]

The fans in about 85% of the cases would choose the NHL with replacenments than the WHA with the PA mongers like Guerin and Pronger...remember almost every fan will tell you they cheer for the TEAM not the PA member...

Word!

 

[YellHockey*]

The fans in about 85% of the cases would choose the NHL with replacenments than the WHA with the PA mongers like Guerin and Pronger...remember almost every fan will tell you they cheer for the TEAM not the PA member...

The majority of fans with money will choose the better product. If the fans wanted to watch ECHL players, they'd be watching them right now.

Fans follow the best talent, not the richest owners.

 

[Brewleaguer]

I get a kick out of these guys who think they can just start a new league like they are going to open a conveinience store....

Yeah but this is what the NHL really needs, some kind of competition in the sport of hockey. I hope these guys do it right and get this up and running.

 

[Mr Sakich]

the existance of a competing league means antitrust laws no longer apply to the nhl. Collusion is no longer illegal. The nhl owners may feal that they can now institute their own cba and, if the players don't like it, they can go to a competing league.

The players may have allready paved this path by going to europe in large numbers.

 

[shakes]

The fans in about 85% of the cases would choose the NHL with replacenments than the WHA with the PA mongers like Guerin and Pronger...remember almost every fan will tell you they cheer for the TEAM not the PA member...

But those same fans will also say they expect quality product on the ice as well. I'm not going to overpay to watch some career minor leaguer or third or fourth line player pretend. If I'm going to pay premium dollar, I want to see Mats Sundin and players of his calibre.. in my team's jersey.

 

[Flukeshot]

• A six-team, winner-take-all tournament, with a total purse of $2 million (U.S.); each participant will receive a $20,000 appearance fee.

I don't think that it would be $20,000 per game. It is an appearance fee for the tournament I'd imagine. So player costs would be $20,000 X 15 players X 6 teams for a total tournament cost of $1,800,000 in player appearance fees. Then the addition of $2m to be split 15 + staff member ways. Or perhaps the "total purse" includes the player fees? Meaning the winning team only gets $200,000. Either it is not THAT much money.

The tournament would be round robin for the 6 teams. I believe that is 15 games then 4 teams move on into a playoff, which is only another 3 games. So 18 arena rentals is also not THAT expensive.

As for the regular season games in NHL arenas, it all depends on the lease agreements and arena ownership in those markets. The Leafs owns the ACC so no WHA team will be playing in there. I also believe that GM place is owed by the Canucks' ownership so you can cross that out if I'm right. Phoenix is questionale, I'm not sure about their new arena, but the WHA team would probably play in the old one not the new. So no it would not be Gretzky doing the WHA a favour. I doubt Gretzky would do so even if he was in the position, especially because he is a minority owner of the Coyotes and does not wield that much power.

Can it work? Well the WHA has pushed that starting date back a ridiculous amount of times. And at least half the "owners" from before the sale of the WHA are out of it. Dallas pulled out, Quebec did I believe, so what teams do they have?

 

[CalgaryThrasher]

So instead of playing for the greatest trophy of all time, they will play for the "Money Cup" basically. Really shows the greed of these players.

 

[BLONG7]

So instead of playing for the greatest trophy of all time, they will play for the "Money Cup" basically. Really shows the greed of these players.

That's what they have been playing for now, for the past 10 years...ask Goodenow...

 

[Egghammer]

At the beginning of the year I really wanted the WHA to fail, but with the new ownership group and with the NHL cancelling this year, I really hope that the league succeeds. It's good to have a strong competitor out there or you become to lax at what you do. Obviously I want the NHL to play and be the top league but for now if the WHA starts up, I'll follow the league and watch the games if they're on TV. I'll probably even follow it after the NHL starts back up.

 

[kmad]

The majority of fans with money will choose the better product. If the fans wanted to watch ECHL players, they'd be watching them right now.

Fans follow the best talent, not the richest owners.

Fans are loyal to the logos. I know I stopped following Bure when the Canucks traded him.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

The majority of fans with money will choose the better product. If the fans wanted to watch ECHL players, they'd be watching them right now.

Fans follow the best talent, not the richest owners.

fine, go watch the WHA, I personally would rather watch my Oilers play for the Stanley Cup, not a bunch of money hungry players playing for some meaningless trophy.

In due time, players will realize the Stanley Cup is what they grew up wanting to win.

Plus, our draft picks will pan out and new heros will emerge in the NHL....

 

[NYFAN]

At the beginning of the year I really wanted the WHA to fail, but with the new ownership group and with the NHL cancelling this year, I really hope that the league succeeds. It's good to have a strong competitor out there or you become to lax at what you do. Obviously I want the NHL to play and be the top league but for now if the WHA starts up, I'll follow the league and watch the games if they're on TV. I'll probably even follow it after the NHL starts back up.

I agree 100%. The NHL has actually played into the WHAs hands beautifully. They are in a much better position for success because of recent events.