The Complete Historical and Statistical Reference

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Friday, January 21, 1977

Fighting Saints Fold Again

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - The Minnesota Fighting Saints folded Thursday after owners failed to sell the World Hockey Association club before a 10 p.m. (CST) deadline.

But the final hour was considered a mere formality by everyone from the players to the office staff. Nine Saints players had already been sold, and two others, John Arbour and Gord Gallant, were in Birmingham, Ala., Thursday night, waiting for the official word so they could sign with the Bulls. The demise of the Fighting Saints marked the second time in less than a year that a WHA entry in Minnesota had closed its doors. A team referred to in St. Paul as the "original" Fighting Saints had gone under last April, only to be resurrected just prior to the start of the current season.

Shortly after the 10 p.m. deadline the team's general manager-coach Glen Sonmor appeared on a Minneapolis television station to deliver a final eulogy. Asked why the Saints had folded a second time, Sonmor replied, "I am not one to ever admit this, but I guess I'd have to say now what a lot of people have said for a long time — that this area is not big enough to support two hockey teams."

Sonmor referred to the Minnesota North Stars, the National Hockey League club that had battled the Atlanta Flames to a 4-4 tie Thursday, that game ending just minutes before the Saints officially folded. Sonmor also said the Saints had to contend with the popular University of Minnesota hockey team, now the defending NCAA champion. Lee Meade, the Saints' director of marketing and communications, had cleaned out the last drawer and closed up the club's office at the Civic Center in St. Paul four hours before the deadline.

Meade said club president Bob Brown had told the staff that, barring a miracle, there would be no hope. "So we worked all day, or rather, we were here all day," Meade said. " there wasn’t much worn to do, just cleaning out desks." Meade and Sonmor said they had no idea where they would go next. But Sonmor allowed that hell try to find work in professional hockey. "It's been my life and I enjoy it," he said.

The current Minnesota franchise began WHA competition as the Cleveland Crusaders when the league opened play during the 1972-73 season. Low attendance and money troubles led management to consider an offer from executive Bill Putnam last summer that the team be moved to Hollywood, Fla., to be located in the Sportatorium there.

However, that endeavor fell through and the team, along with the Cleveland trusteeship of entrepreneur Nick Mileti, was moved to Minnesota to fill the void created when the original Fighting Saints ceased operation in March of 1976.

But the Minnesota franchise, too, had its financial troubles. Team spokesmen noted from the start that the Saints were never able to create sufficient interest among home-town fans to make the club a money-making operation.

Brown urged Saints fans to back the North Stars. "If two teams are too many, then having no team is a poor alternative," he said. Ironically, the Saints were riding a successful crest to recent weeks. The team had a 16- 8-3 record during the last two months, although their season record was 19-18-5.

The Saints' tale of financial woe had been an ongoing drama for the past two years. There were problems in paving the rent at the downtown St. Paul Civic Center where the team played its home games. At one point the Civic Center took civil action to collect a portion of some $50,000 in back fees.

In January of 1976 the collapse began in earnest. One set of payroll checks bounced, but the players voted to keep playing while club officials attempted to find fresh support. It never came.

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Wednesday, February 02, 1977

Fan support dwindling
NHL feeling crunch of financial problems

ByTimMoriarty
Newsday

Remember when the Bruins had 116 straight sellouts in Boston Garden during the early 1970s? Those were the days. Espo and Orr. Hodgie and Cash. Sl.inley Cups. Parades down WashingtonStreet.

Those days are gone. For the Bruins, certainly. Bobby Orr is with Chicago and Phil Esposilo and Ken Hodge are with the New York Rangers and Wayne Cashman is still wearing No. 12 for the Bruins and wondering where all Ihe people went. Other players on other teams are entertaining similar thoughts.

Where did all the fans go. The Bruins' season ticket sales slumped by 2,500 this season This was attributed in part to a boycott by fans who objected to the leant peddling Orr to the Black Hawks and getting nothing in return. And though the Bruins are locked in an exciting battle with the Buffalo Sabres for first place in their division, they -have had only two sellouts thus far this season.

This sudden lack of fan support Is not limited lo Boston. The New York Islanders are lucky. They rarely have an empty seat for their home games. Likewise the Rangers. But elsewhere the situation has become one of great concern to club owners.

Examples:
—Attendance al National Hockey League games was down 6.24 per cent for the first half of the season. The actual loss in customers was 260,300. Total gate receipts for the same period showed a 1.77 per cent decrease, indicating that the teams were recouping some of their losses through increased ticket prices.

—Several NHL clubs are financially ill, namely the Atlanta Flames, Minnesota North Stars, St. Louis Blues, Detroit Red Wings, Cleveland Barons, Colorado Rockies and Pittsburgh Penguins.

—A Minnesota franchise In the World Hockey • ' • Association, based in St. Paul, drowned in red ink for the second straight year. Indianapolis, the WHA's attendance leader with an average of 9,181 fans per game, failed to meet a recent player payroll and is in danger of folding. The WHA has other problem cities: Calgary (average attendance 4,372), San Diego, Winnipeg and Phoenix.

—Hockey's minor leagues also are experiencing a serious depression. Four teams dropped out of the Southern League because of financial problems/ leaving only three survivors. The North American League lost Beauce and Quebec, league champions last season. Several teams .in the Central and American League-are fighting losing battles at the gate

Higher salaries and expenses seem to be the main problem.

The plight of the Atlanta Flames epitomized pro hockey's largest headache. The Flames Joined the NHL In 1972, and provided the league with Its first team In Dixie. It may also be the last. The Flames have lost more than $5 million in live years, according to their president and general manager, Cliff Fletcher. It was feared earlier they would not survive the end of the current season. Their attendance was down, and expenses were mounting.

Things became so desperate that Georgia Gov. George Busbee stepped in and asked 40 of the state's largest business firms to help support the Flames by each buying $25,000 worth of tickets. Close to 20 complied. Then .the Atlanta players voted to contribute 1,5 percent of their salaries to buy tickets. They turned over $25,000 to the Flames' box office and took tickets to Busbee lo distribute to slate employees.

The Flames, though, remain in deep trouble. Their average attendance this season has dipped lo less than' 11,000. Tom Cousins, one of the club's principal stockholders, says that they must average 13,000 a game to break even. "And if we don't gel enough fans support to break even, we'll have to consider moving," he said. Fletcher is optimistic about the club remaining in Atlanta. “We need some long-term financing, and I feel we're close to gelling it," he said. "That would put us on solid fooling."

In Cleveland, the Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association have been averaging close to 14,000 customers a game in the 20,000-scat Coliseum. The Barons' average is approximately 5,000, the lowest in the NHL. Ironically, this is virtually the same hockey club that averaged 6,944 fans a game fast season in Oakland, but was moved to Cleveland because of non-support.

The Kansas City Scouts shuffled off lo Denver where they were rechristened the Colorado Rockies. Oilman Jack Vickers, their new owner, said he is prepared lo lose $1 million a season for the first three years. He might lose more. The Rockies have been averaging between 6,000 and 7,000 a game. They are going to need almost double that to break even.

Other NHL clubs like the Chicago Black Hawks, the St. Louis Blues and the Minnesota North Stars used to draw sellouts every time they opened the doors lo their rinks; now they can't get those automatic sellouts. St. Louis Blues' attendance has slipped almost 3,000 a game for a team struggling lo stay at the .500 level. Last year, the average crowd was a near-capacity 16,500. The North Stars, who recently needed a $2.5 million loan to keep operating, are averaging only 9,000 fans. That's 4,000 less than their break-even point, according to Gordon Ritz, president of the club.

He said the major problem facing most pro hockey teams Is soaring expenses. Also, the NHL does not have a contract with one of the major TV nelworks. "The players' salaries hove tripled in the past five years," he said. "Our other expenses have escalated lo the point where, in order lo make money, we have to charge too much at the gate. And our top scat ($9) Is one of the lowest in the league."

The average salary of on NHL player 10 years ago was $15.000. It is now $90.000. This increase, caused in part by the battle for talent between the NHL and the WHA, has left many club owners wondering where the next dollar is coming from.

Ritz conceded that the North Stars' financial problems can be traced to a recent transformation In the team — from winners to losers. Other reasons have been offered for the downswing in attendance at pro hockey games. Some hockey people agree that the recent lightening of the rules to reduce violence was badly needed, but they also feel it has taken some of the aggressiveness out of the game that fans liked.

Jake Milford, general manager of the Los Angeles Kings, said: "you don’t see the kind of good, solid bodychecking that you used to see. I don't mean 'goon hockey,' just some honest hitting. The fans appreciate a good bodychcck and they're not getting too much of that now and maybe that's why some have lost interest." Some think major league hockey has priced itself out of business. The average price for a lop ticket in the NHL 10 years ago was $6.70, about $3 less t h an it is today. Clarence Campbell surveys the dwindling attendance figures and shrugs them off.

"I don't feel any rebuff from the fact thai we're having trouble," the NHL president said. "Gripes, who Isn't. We're in a very vulnerable business because we're non-essential. It's a miracle we're doing as well as we are. "1 know some of our people feel it (a merger with the WHA) would cut our costs, but that makes no sense al all. “I wouldn't change anything. Gate receipts? Hell, the only place that had n conflict was In Minnesota, and the WHA died there. Player salaries? Expenses? That wouldn't change either because the teams aren't bidding for players any more."

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Wednesday, February 02, 1977


Arena Is Biggest Problem For Blues

ST. LOUIS (AP) – The building in which the team, plays and not flagging attendance poses the biggest problem for the St. Louis Blues.

Emile Francis said so Tuesday, adding that negotiations are continuing to alleviate- a financial pinch facing the National Hockey League club which stems from its ownership of the 18,000-seat Arena.

"We still have a lot of loose ends," said Francis, who Monday instituted a first belt tightening maneuver by laying off four staff members. "With a hockey club your big expenditures are, 'No. 1, your salaries; No. 2, your travel; No. 3, your building, and No. 4, your league assessments,'" he noted.

"Our operation is financially out of balance because the costs within the Arena continue to increase. A hockey club cannot carry a building such as this. There are a few buildings around the league that are owned by the clubs that play in them, but they're old and already paid for." Layoffs ordered by Francis, the Blues' executive vice president as well as coach and 'general manager included that of Lynn Patrick, senior vice president and the team's first coach.

Also dismissed in moves designed to eliminate salaries collectively estimated at $150,000 were Myron Holtzman, public relations director; John Sher, assistant Arena manager; Gordon Ziegler, director of ticket sales, and three members of the secretarial staff.

A $5.4 million mortgage and its attendant high interest in addition to city tax burdens imposed were described as the crux of the Arena operation problem for the Blues, whose attendance has decreased 12 per cent this season.

"There's also a lack of parking space, competition for dates from Kiel Auditorium downtown and no' air-conditioning, which means it's out of operation for six months a year," Francis pointed out. "Maybe it could be worked out by closing Kiel so we could have more business," he suggested.

A civic committee is examining possible methods of reducing the tax load for the Blues, who were once considered the most affluent of NHL expansion franchises.. Interest has been expressed in purchase of the Arena, general counsel James Cullen said, but a "hot lead" does not exist.

Cullen said salary cuts for Blues players, whose payroll is $2 million, have been discussed but the proposal was rejected. "Before I came here the problem existed," said Francis, who was hired by the Blues last spring. "It's not going to go away overnight, but we're working on it. I'm confident we'll be able to make it. We're doing more than biding our time.

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Wednesday, February 02, 1977

NHL Barons Face Crisis

TORONTO (AP) — Alan Eagleson. Executive director of the National Hockey League Players Assn. said Tuesday the position of the financially plagued Cleveland Barons "is serious.''

Eagleson told a news conference no paychecks were given to the players Tuesday and that he would meet Wednesday with Mel Swig, owner of the Barons. "I will also meet the players to see if the team can survive the 1967-77 season,"-he said. "Mr. Swig has asked the owners and players for help and to date the owners have rejected his requests."

The meetings are scheduled for Cleveland, with Eagleson apparently meeting Swig first. Swig approached the board of governors for help at the league's annual meeting in Vancouver last week. He said that partner George Gunn of San Francisco had backed out on an earlier agreement to raise $4 million for the troubled franchise, which joined the NHL in 1967 as the California Golden Seals and was moved to Cleveland after the 1975 76 season, It is believed Swig asked the NHL for at least $500,000 to continue operation for the remainder of the 1976-77 season.

"In my meeting with the players, if my meeting with Mr! Swig goes as 1 expect. I will indicate to the players some concepts that might permit Mr. Swig to stay on until the end of the year without the risk of the players losing their entire salaries," Eagleson said. "If something is not resolved, then there will be 14 days during which time the owners will have the right to pay the players any balances due or find that the contracts are going to be rejected." Eagleson said he will suggest to the players that they consider some sort of deferred payment of salary until "within a 30 or 45-day period" at the end of the season, "and not for a total deferment — a partial one only. It has to happen as a team and it has to be unanimous.

"If is my feeling that if the top players — they have the right to do it — decide to leave the club, then the Cleveland franchise will probably terminate. "The players can notify the club as of the date of receipt of their planned paycheck, namely Tuesday, that the club has 14 days to make the payment or they'll be free agents," Eagleson continued. "I would expect at our meeting Wednesday that we'll have a lengthy discussion among all of the players as to how we can hope to have the Cleveland Barons limp through until the rest of this season. "Of the 25 players involved, I would say 10 or 12 of them could get jobs immediately with other teams in the NHL. There's some who simply who won't get employment."

"So. for the team's sake, the league's sake and I think hockey’s sake, I'd be happy to just see Cleveland survive until the end of the season then determine whether the franchise can be located in another city."

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Wednesday, February 02, 1977

Eagle and IIHF block WHA plan

TORONTO (CP) — The W o r l d Hockey Association has run into a roadblock in its bid to play league games next season against European teams.

Alan Eagleson, chairman of the international committee of Hockey Canada, said he was told by the International Ice Hockey Federation that the "league game concept of the WHA" would not be acceptable to the 1IHF unless Hockey Canada and the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association requested the proposal.

Eagleson, also executive director of the National Hockey League Players' Association, made the comment at a news conference Tuesday.

He s a i d he met Dr. Guenther Sabetzki, president of the IIHF, in Vienna last week during a visit on international hockey matters, including preparations for the world tournament starting in April in the Austrian city. "Dr. Sabetzki told me that the proliferation of games in North America involving European teams was not in the best interests of professional hockey.

"He would like to structure a long-term program that would include the Canada Cup concept as part of it. His ideas include a possible invitational tournament of the NHL and WHA club champions and the two top European club teams."

The WHA announced its plan of league games against European teams at its alls t a r game in Hartford, C o n n . , in mid-January. Board chairman Ben Hatskin said the league was hoping that the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Sweden and Finland would play one game each against every WHA club. The league would red u c e its schedule to 76 games from SO next season. They would be included in each club's 40 home games. Hatskin said the Soviet U n i o n and Czechoslovakia had committed themselves to playing the WHA, and he expected Finland and Sweden to follow them.

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Thursday, February 10, 1977

Hockey Sinking In Red Ink

CHICAGO- The handwriting Isn't on the wall but on the ledgers of most of the 29 teams in the National Hockey League and the World Hockey Assn. It will show $30 million in red ink this season.

"Twelve of the 18 teams in our league are losing money," a prominent NHL .owner revealed in private this week. "Among them they will lose $18 million this season. When you consider that the annual combined gross of our 18 teams is about $64 million that's a tremendous setback."

The 11 remaining franchises of the WHA reportedly also are averaging losses of about $1 million apiece, even though one or two teams,, such as Quebec and New England may be marginally profitable. A 12th team, the Minnesota Fighting Saints, collapsed last month, about $2.5 million in the red.

Hamburger king Ray Kroc, who owns the WHA San Diego Mariners, has revealed' "We're going to lose from $1 million to $1.5 million this season." Kroc's immense personal wealth can keep the Mariners going, but many other teams are running out of funds needed for even day to day operations.

The NHL Atlanta Flames required an infusion of $750,000 from local firms last month to meet their payroll. The WHA Indianapolis Racers persuaded their players to accept a salary deferral plan, and the WHA Houston Aeros are expected to do the same shortly.

This Friday the NHL board of governors will meet in Chicago to consider the fate of the
Cleveland Barons, who are on the verge of extinction unless a last-minute financial rescue attempt succeeds. The Barons couldn't pay their players last week and need about $1 million to keep them afloat for the rest of the season, without even considering prospects for continuing next fall. Unless the money is found by Friday, the NHL may declare -the Barons out of business. They would become the first NHL franchise to fold since the Brooklyn Americans disappeared in 1942.

"We can no longer subsidize teams that are losing money," says NHL president Clarence Campbell. "During the nine years that the Cleveland franchise was on the West coast (known as the California Golden Seals) we poured $1.5 million into the franchise. It was a drain on our other clubs. "We can't do that any longer. Franchises are going to have to sink' or swim on their own." Shrinkage is on its way, and even some form of merger between the WHA and NHL is possible.

''Anywhere from six to 10 teams are going to go out of business,' says Alan Eagleson, NHL Players' Assn. executive director. "There's no way the owners can continue to absorb the huge losses, and the few teams that are making money aren't going to jeopardize themselves by trying to bail out the others."

Strangely enough, in this dismal scene of impending bankruptcy for so many clubs, a few are continuing to harvest money. Still flourishing with sellouts or dote every night are six stalwarts of the NHL, , Philadelphia, Buffalo, the New York Rangers, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

But this doesn't help the losers because unlike in baseball the NHL doesn't grant visiting teams a share of the gate receipts. Adding to the problem, few teams make much money from Radio or TV. Neither league has a contract with a major network.

A major roadblock to a restructuring of the two leagues, in which fewer teams might be able to flourish, is the agreement between the NHL ' Players Assn. and the NHL. This forbids a merger between the NHL and WHA for three more years. But the players, faced with the loss of so many jobs, are softening their stand. Players representatives will sit in on the NHL board meeting Friday,, which may be the beginning of rational planning.

Philadelphia Bobby Clarke, president of the NHL Players' Assn., is deeply involved in finding a way to bail out the floundering ship. "We might have to rewrite the contract for the good of the game," said Clarke. "If teams fold it's going to mean fewer jobs for the players and it's up to us to take steps to prevent that." Whatever happens to the Cleveland Barons, hockey will not quickly solve its immense problems, brought on by overexpansion and economic slump. Even General Motors would shiver at losing $30 million in one year.

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WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1977

Merger talk surfaces again

HARTFORD, Conn, — The money World Hockey Association teams would spend to buy their way into the Nationa1 Hockey League is what's prompting plans for a merger.

That's what the NHL wants and needs — scratch — " said Howard Baldwin, general partner of New England Whalers and vice president of the WHA. Price of admission being discussed is $16 million for eight WHA teams, one of which is Winnipeg Jets. Alan Eagleson, director of the NHL players Association, apparently wants $8 million' or half the total sum, for his organization.

Baldwin attended a dinner m e e t i n g in Toronto on .Wednesday with Bill DeWitt, Vice-president of Cincinnati Stingers and Eagleson's business partner, Bill Waiters. Baldwin said there is a better than 50-50 chance the merger will happen before Oct. 1,1977.

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WINNIPEG FREE PRESS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1977

Hal Sigurdson

It's all tentative and everything is still in the preliminary stage, but there are growing signs hockey’s logjam is about to break up. A merger between the World Hockey Association and National Hockey League may actually happen.

As Reyn Davis, Free Press hockey writer, reported from Hartford, Conn., last week, WHA people and members of the NHL Players' Association have discussed, the matter. Figures have been bandied about. Groundwork has been done.

Monday, a source close to the NHLPA told me the players will not stand in the way of a merger . . . for a price. The price mentioned in Davis' story was $8 million for their pension fund. The players' association source says, that figure is "not out of line."

A far bigger problem will be convincing the antitrust people in .the U.S. that a merger, of hockey's two major leagues will not be in violation of U.S. law. Opposition to a. merger is still strong within NHL' boardrooms. Bill Wirtz of Chicago, perhaps still smarting over the defection of Bobby Hull, is the most vehement opponent. Harold Ballard of Toronto no doubt eager to protect the Maple Leafs' share of the Canadian TV market has. also been against any suggestion of a NHL-WHA wedding. But Ballard may be weakening.

A Canadian division

During the all-star break' in Vancouver last month Ballard told newsmen he felt the Leafs" future lay in an all-Canadian division of the NHL. The teams, he suggested, should be Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver. Spiraling player salaries and traveling costs are what have many NHL owners taking a second look at a merger..

"We simply have to realign into divisions that make geographic sense," an NHL spokesman confided. "We have to develop natural rivalries '... to play the bulk of our games within our own divisions." Washington is an example. Though they're finally gaining a measure of respectability on the ice, the Capitals are averaging just over 10,000 fans a game But when Philadelphia comes to town all 18,131 seats in the Capital Centre are filled. The problem is Philly comes to town only twice in the present NHL schedule. You know at least some NHL members are serious about merger, bocausa some of them are already doodling . . . drawing up divisions which include both NHL and WHA teams. The Canadian division is a natural with three teams from each league and the Calgary Cowboys quietly fading into the gloom

Much remains unsettled

Everyone is pretty well agreed, too, on the makeup of an east coast division. That one would include the two New York teams — Rangers and Islanders — Boston, Philadelphia and Washington of the NHL and New England Whalers of me WHA. The other two divisions — preliminary speculation has the two leagues settling into four divisions of six teams each — are tough to nail down because the future of so many teams in both leagues is doubtful.

Cleveland of the NHL and Calgary and Phoenix of the WHA are definitely out In the doubtful category are Atlanta, Denver and Pittsburgh of the NHL, Birmingham, San Diego and Indianapolis of the WHA. There are at present 29 franchises in the two leagues. At least five will have to go.

One suggestion has Pittsburgh and Indianapolis amalgamating to form a single franchise based in the WHA city. The Penguins are already owned by Indianapolis money. There are many serious problems to be resolved apart from satisfying the U.S. anti-trust people before anything can happen. There has to be agreement on how to distribute players from folded franchises ... just how much heart balm the NHL will demand (the WHA is talking $2 million a team, the NHL people say $3 million is a nicer figure) ... some way for players to periodically gain free agent status

So far everything is in its preliminary stages — informal talks to clear the decks for formal talks. But at least some people in both leagues are anxious for something to happen. Many believe it will happen this summer or not at all.

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WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1977

AEROS Missed Payroll, ARE WHA GOOD BOOKS
HOUSTON (AP) — President Bill MacFarland of the World Hockey Association says Houston Aeros are in the best shape financially of any other team in the WHA although the Aeros missed their payroll Tuesday for the first time in the club's five-year history.

"The Aeros' situation is not a surprise in light of what's going on in hockey today," MacFarland said. "They (Aeros) are the most current team in the league as far as dues and assessments and as far as what they owe the league. They're in better shape than anybody." Team owners have refused to say if the team missed Tuesday's payday but an unidentified Houston player said the team had been told it would miss Tuesday's payday and possibly the next payday.

"Now we're trying to get something on paper to where we can get it made up later, probably after the season is over," said the player, who asked not to be identified . “ When word of the Aeros' financial difficulties surfaced last week, team officials openly talked about plans to restructure the Aeros' finances. An Aeros' spokesman now says no announcement of the pay issue will be made "unless the team folds."

MacFarland said hockey is facing a crossroads. "it's a matter of people recognizing the numbers (financial operations) don't work—and adjusting, " MacFarland said. " It's going to happen in a lot more places, and some teams in the National Hockey League might be a surprise. "Hockey people are facing up to the issues, and something is going to happen although I can't say when." Aeros' officials have taken their ease to Houston corporations, hoping entertainment funds can be rechanneled to increase Houston ticket sales.

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Fri., Feb. 18, 1977

Barons just part of trend in pro sports

By MILTON RICHMAN
DPI Sports Editor

NEW YORK (UP1) - Going, going, gone! In the shape it's in now, hockey doesn't need a benefactor so much as it needs an auctioneer because a couple of more teams look as if they're about to go under and as soon as they do, they're going to take a whole league alone with them.

Two years ago, it was the World Football League that folded, and last year it was the American Basketball Association that went out of business after being absorbed by the National Basketball Association, so it doesn't take any great effort for you to determine who'll figure in the next merger.

It will be between the National Hockey League, which is 60 years old, and the World Hockey Association, barely five years old only they won't refer to it as a "merger" because of the legal complications involved. They'll call it an "expansion," as the NBA did when it added four of the ABA's teams, an "absorption," or something else along those lines.

ATLANTA AND Pittsburgh in the NHL and Phoenix and Indianapolis in the WHA all have had serious financial problems this season. There has been one casualty already in the WHA where the Minnesota Fighting Saints quit fighting and simply disbanded. Another WHA team, the Houston Aeros, is struggling to survive right now and so are the Cleveland Barons in the NHL.

No one with the Aeros got his pay check last Tuesday except the three Howes, Gordie, Mark and Marty. The fact they were paid wasn't so much because they demanded their money, but rather because the other Aero players felt that would keep the Howes' from breaching their contract and that in turn would demonstrate to Houston's hockey fans how much that meant to their teammates. Cleveland's situation is even more critical. The Barons were losing money when they were the California Golden Seals, owned by Charlie Finley. The league bought the team for $6 million from Finley, but if you think he's laughing now. you're wrong because he hasn't gotten paid yet.

Mel Swig, a San Francisco hotel man, bought the team and kept it in Oakland last season, moving it this season to beautiful Richfield Coliseum, which lays smack in the middle of Nowhere, Ohio, between Akron and Cleveland.

When the franchise was moved, the players were told their troubles were over, they were set lor two years, and they fell so good about that, many of them went out and bought homes in the area. Capacity for Richfield Coliseum is 18,544; the Barons have been averaging a little over 5.000. so figure it out for yourself.

IN THE two seasons he has had the team. Swig has lost nearly $3 million. Two weeks ago, he met with his players and told them he didn't want to fold the club and that he'd go for another half million if they'd go along with him part of the way and take a quarter-million salary deferral. Most of them said okay. Four or five said no.

Before Wednesday night's game was the first time the Cleveland players had been paid since mid-January. That was back pay. Now Swig owes the players their salaries for the past two weeks and has two more weeks to pay them or else they all become free agents. The players met Thursday trying to decide what to do.' Some came up with the idea of wearing black arm bands on their uniforms for Friday night's contest with the Colorado Rockies mourning the death of the team although technically it is still breathing.

To show you the unimaginable turn this whole thing is taking, the coach of the Colorado Rockies is Johnny Wilson, who used to handle the Cleveland Crusaders in the WHA last season. When they didn't draw any people in Richfield Coliseum, the Crusaders moved to St. Paul and became the Minnesota Fighting Saints, and after the Saints couldn't make it. Wilson was named coach of the Rockies, who were the Kansas City Scouts last year until they moved to Colorado because they weren't making any money.

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Fri., Feb. 18, 1977

Will the Barons play tonight?

RICHFIELD (VPl) - The majority of the Cleveland Barons were expected to refuse to suit up for tonight's game against the Colorado Rockies without some new salary guarantees from Mel Swig, owner of the financially-troubled franchise. "Tomorrow morning at our pre-game skate, we will have a closed vote on playing tomorrow night." player representative Bob Stewart said last night. "If things go the way they did today, there probably won't be a hockey team available to play tomorrow night."

Swig did not meet his Jan. 31 player payroll until Wednesday when he finally got financial backing from the National Hockey League. An offer for the franchise from Sanford Greenberg. part owner of the NHL's Washington Capitals and owner of the Coliseum where the Barons and the National Basketball Association Cleveland Cavaliers play, was rejected by Swig Tuesday. Stewart said he intended to talk with NHL Players Association chief Alan Eagleson and Swig by telephone prior to the vote.

"RIGHT NOW the majority of players have decided that they will not dress for tomorrow night," he said. "That is not definite. I still have to communicate with Eagleson and Swig about this. We hope some type of agreement can be reached. "The major thing is some type of a guarantee of being paid our salaries." Stewart said, "some type of factual thing. We haven't had that yet.

"We just want some type of guarantee because when we go out on the ice to play we are putting ourselves in jeopardy. "As representative for the players, right now it doesn't look very good. It looks doubtful." Coach Jack Evans talked with Swig yesterday, but said he learned nothing new. "Mel wanted me to come up after practice for an update." he said. ''We just sat there and talked. He just told me the facts, the reasons for cutting down to 27 players. The roster was reduced to 27 players Wednesday when three players on the varsity and 16 players in the minors were told they would not be paid and would become free agents at midnight Thursday.

"It was Mr. Greenberg's suggestion that he buy the team but only pick up 27 contracts. When Greenberg pulled out. The NHL insisted on only 27 people. "He (Swig) did say that he had received a phone call that Mr. (John) Zeigler (chairman of the NHL Board of Governors) opened negotiations again with Greenberg. They were going to meet and kick the thing around."

THE THREE players released were Glenn Patrick, Phil Roberto and Frank Spring. "I don't have too many good things to say about Mr. Swig." said Patrick. "'He never faced us. The organization's very poorly run. not first class at all." Patrick left for Edmonton Thursday to sign with the Oilers of the rival World Hockey Association, saying he discovered the job "through the grapevine."

[JETStender]

Saturday, Feb. 19,1977

No talks yet for ice merge

Z10NSV1LLE, Ind. (AP)-AI Savill, board chairman of the National Hockey League Pittsburgh Penguins, says there Is "nothing formal at all" In the way of merger talks with the World Hockey Association.

He feels, however, that unofficial conversations probably are under way. "I wouldn't be surprised if there were owners in the NHL talking to owners in the WHA about coming into the NHL in a possible merger similar to the one between the National Basketball Association and American Basketball Association," said Savill, who also is on the NHL Board of Governors.

"I wouldn't be averse to a situation where some strong teams (in the WHA) could come into the NHL. I think it would make sense." Savill, recuperating from a broken ankle at his Zionsville home, told The Indianapolis News that "until something can be done lo get the budgets down to where you can survive on crowds of 10,000 lo 11,000, you're going to have problems."

Savill noted a financial crisis that has developed with the WHA Houston Aeros in recent weeks, but said the NHL is not without money problems of its own.

[JETStender]

Saturday, Feb. 19,1977

Aero players reach agreement

HOUSTON (UPD –The Houston Aeros Friday night announced financial d i f f i c u l t i e s between players and management have been resolved through the remainder of this season.

Few details were released in a one-page statement that was made available by an Aeros official one hour before the team was to play the San Diego Manners.

On Tuesday, for the first lime in the franchise's history, Aeros players were not paid and the players gave owners until Saturday night to guarantee in writing that back pay would be made up.

The announcement gave no indication the players' demands had been met, and Aeros public relations director Rich Burk said there would be no further explanation "Acceptable salary arrangements between players and management for the balance of the 1976- 77 season have been reached," the release stated.

Club spokesman Harrison Vickers, executive president and general counsel, said no details of the arrangement would be announced. The statement said "the arrangement had the unanimous approval of the players."

Aeros owners, strapped with deficits for the fifth straight year, this week appealed to Houston businessmen to sell 4,000 more season tickets for the remaining 15 home games. Minority stockholder George Bolin, who earlier in the day said the desperation ticket drive was as yet unsuccessful, was unavailable for comment Friday night.

B e f o r e t h e announcement of the agreement, Aeros players had formed a solid front in refusing to play after Saturday night' home game if owners did not promise (hem back pay None of the Aeros who were with the team last year bus received bonus money from the 1976 playoffs.

Aeros' Gordie Howe and sons Mark and Marty were paid their bi-montniy checks Tuesday night, the rest of the players were not. The Howes had appeared more unwilling than most to p!ay without pay

The Howe family said this week a missed paycheck would breach their contracts. National Hockey League teams in Boston and Montreal hold rights to Mark and Marty, respectively

[JETStender]

Saturday, Feb. 19,1977

Swig gets deadline

RICHFIELD. Ohio • UPI) - The Cleveland Barons hockey team has given principal owner Mel Swig a deadline of next Tuesday to either pay them or sell the franchise to someone who can.

If not, the players will become free agents, player representative Bob Stewart said Friday- He spoke after telephone talks with Swig, currently in Palm Beach, with NHL Players Association head Alan Eagleson, and NHL Board Chairman John ZieglerJr.

Only hours before, the players had "by a strong majority" voted to not play Friday night's scheduled home game with the Colorado Rockies.

After the consultations, they agreed to play that game and also Sunday's game against the Penguins at Pittsburgh. "We waited and waited and waited," Stewart said, "We feel it is time to get this thing worked out." The players did not receive their Jan. 31 paychecks until last Wednesday after the league advanced money to Swig

[JETStender]

Friday, Feb. 25,1977

Deal That Saved Barons Will Not Be Repeated

TORONTO (UPI) – The $600,000 deal that saved the Cleveland Barons from bankruptcy this season was a "once in a lifetime shot" and will not be repeated for other money troubled teams, Alan Eagleson said Thursday.

Eagleson, director of the National Hockey League Players Association, said the money to guarantee Cleveland players' salaries was borrowed and would be paid back from proceeds of additional preseason games under an agreement by the NHLPA and league owners.

The "risks to the NHLPA are nil," Eagleson said Thursday. But he cautioned, "this is a once-in-a-lifetime shot which won't be repeated. I will not recommend it again."

The Barons' deal, announced in New "York Wednesday, involves the NHLPA loan, a $350,000 contribution from Barons' owner Mel Swig and commitments for $20,000 from each of the 17 other league members.

The deal appeared to guarantee the survival of the financially-strapped Cleveland team at least to the end of the current hockey season. Eagleson said he would not let players attend training camps in the future if it appeared their teams would not survive the season. He blamed the financial problems which are besetting the Barons and several other NHL clubs on inflated salaries for "fringe" players and poor scheduling by league officials.

"A lot of fringe players are making superstar salaries, but the days are over for a fringe player to be making $750,000 a year," he said. "If they can't cut the mustard, let's send them down to the minors." However, he rejected suggestions by some club owners that mergers between some NHL and WHA teams might provide the answer to the financial difficulties.

"I see no reason to merge with a group of teams that are equally destitute as some NHL teams. Merger as a panacea is ridiculous."

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 1977

Big Mac won't attack

Compiled from CP-AP

Hamburger millionaire Ray Kroc appears on the verge of getting out of the pro hockey business, saying he sees no alternative to the sale of his San Diego Mariners.

Kroc, 74, spent Monday in Yuma, Ariz, where his National League San Diego Padres opened spring baseball practice, but tal'ked instead about the Mariners, managed by son-in-law Ballard Smith. " Ballard tells me we can expect to lose $1.4 million on the Mariners this year and that troubles me because I'm not very interested in hockey," said Kroc. ' If I were faced with that situation in baseball it wouldn't matter b e c a u s e baseball is my game."

Kroc said Smith is optimistic the Mariners, members of the World Hockey Association, can survive as a San Diego franchise in the National Hockey League. Kroc docs not share the view. "At $7.50 per ticket. I don't think the value is there. I don't blame people for staying away when we ask them to pay $15 per couple. I don't see any alternative to selling the team."

Despite talk about a merger of the hockey leagues. Kroc does not see survival for the Mariners. "This will be a consolidation, not a merger. I don't see more than four or five WHA teams being included.

In Montreal, meanwhile, National League president Clarence Campbell issued some disturbing news. He said some NHL clubs have already made deals to settle for considerably less than the $5 million franchise fee they once promised to pay and there are others expecting to do the same.

"The thing has been in the works for a year and a half. One was completed a few weeks ago and another was c o m p l e t e d about three months ago. There are two others in the works." A Star report from New York suggested that Washington Capitals, who put down $1.5 million when they entered the league in 1974 have arranged to pay off the remaining $-1.5 million for only 30 cents on the dollar. In other words, less than one half of the original price."

[JETStender]

FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 1977

Reports were news to Hull

One day last week Bobby Hull returned to the city he still dearly loves and met his former employer.

The conversation was of new b u s i n e s s , despite the fond memories of Hull's 15 years working and building and playing for Bill Wirtz and his hockey c l u b , Chicago Black Hawks. So Friday the story broke that Hull was going back to Chicago next year for the
favors of Wirtz in seeing that Winnipeg Jets are admitted to the National Hockey League.

"It's news to me," said Hull of the reported deal. "All I know is that it came out of our office somewhere." Wirtz is being considered the most vocal objector of any accommodation or merger with the WHA among NHL governors. However, sources in Chicago say his stand on the matter is "softening".

Hull has said he would do anything — "even return to Chicago" — to pull the leagues together. But his only encouragement after his meeting with Wirtz is that the NHL's problems are so immense financially a merger appears the only logical way out.

"I'm encouraged by the point that the NHL will lose between $13 and $15 million this season, and if they're not willing to talk now they're being very silly," said Hull. In 1972, Hull left the Black Hawks and the NHL to champion the newly-formed World Hockey Association. Overnight, players' salaries doubled, tripled and quadrupled.

He signed a $2.75 million contract then the richest ever paid to a professional athlete. The contract covered 10 years, providing him a position in the team's management when he was prepared to stop playing. Harvey Weinberg. the Chicago chartered accountant who handles all of Hull's business affairs, told Bob Verdi of the Chicago Tribune last Sunday: "Things looked very good towards Hull's return to Chicago.

1 have no doubt Bobby will be a free agent at the end of the current hockey season. The rest is up to him." Dr. G e r r y Wilson, vice-president of the Jets, said Hull has definitely not made any commitment to anyone. "Maybe my own selfish interests are showing through, but 1 thoroughly believe you'll see Bobby Hull in Winnipeg again next season, playing for the Jets in the National Hockey League."

A brewery is reported to. Be ready to become involved in the re-financing of the publicly- owned Jets if the team needs to buy its way into the NHL. Hull told Wirtz he believes players should encourage a merger. A 24-team alignment has been mentioned in the proposed merger. Hull believes 24 teams is too many

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 1977

Campbell admits NHL studying merger idea

MONTREAL (CP) — National Hockey League president Clarence Campbell denied Thursday that the NHL has entered into merger talks with the World Hockey Association, but did acknowledge the NHL is studying the idea.

Campbell's comments came in response to published reports that representatives of the rival leagues are discussing the possibility of a merger or amalgamation. "All that's happening is that there is a fact-finding committee of the NHL that is exploring the validity of representations being made by proponents of a merger," Campbell said. "We want to separate the fact from the fiction."

Campbell would not say who was on the committee or where it was mectins. WHA president Bill MacFa r 1 a n d confirmed from l e a g u e 'offices in Toronto there were discussions between the two leagues but agreed the talks were not a i m e d primarily toward merger.

A lawyer for the WHA said Wednesday that Judge A. Leon Higginbotham of Philadelphia, who has jurisdiction in matters involving the NHL and WHA, had been informed last month that discussions between the two leagues on "matters of mutual concern" had begun. It was reported in Washington this week that while it is premature to conclude merger or amalgamation of the two leagues is the aim of the talks, NHL and WHA sources indicate the possibility if such talks does exist.

Higginbotham issued a consent decree in 1974 approving the settlement of an anti-trust suit between the WHA and NHL over the NHL "reserve clause" and issuing guidelines for the relationships between the two leagues. MacFarland said the current meetings "are nothing new" since the consent decree allowed for "meetings of common interest" to take place between the two leagues.” But we've not had much success to get the NHL to these meetings," MacFarland added.

He said the history of profe s s i o n a l sport in North America dictates that most franchises suffer when there is an over-exposure of the sport and that merger has been the end result. He n o.t e d head-to-head clashes between the National and A m e r i c a n football leagues and the National and American basketball associations as leading examples w h e r e the leagues have merged to survive.

He predicted one major pro league "in the near future, no later than the 1978-79 season." "If there arc two leagues, then there will be 12 in one league (NHL) and seven in the other. Even the ones (teams) that look successful today really aren't." Salaries in pro hockey have escalated with the formation of the World Hoi-key Association six years ago to the point where there is a widely-held opinion only merger or amalgamation of the two leagues will solve severe financial problems.

Also, the NHL signed a five-year contract with the players association in October. 1975. that is automatically terminated in the Event of a merger. The players' association threatened anti-trust litigation in 1973 unless the two leagues agreed to refrain from merger discussions. Alan Eagleson, executive director of the MIL Players' Association, contacted in New York en route home from Europe, said the players' association had agreed to the talks. "We agreed on the understanding that they (NHL owners) will report their findings to a player-owner executive committee meeting on March 14 in New York."

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 1977

Time Out w/ Maurice Smith
Chicago owner's oversight cost the NHL a bundle

Almost every two or three weeks or so during the present hockey season, stories have been breaking regarding some sort of merger between the National Hockey League and the World Hockey Association. They have made interesting reading, especially In cities like Winnipeg, Edmonton and Quebec, where hockey fans are smart enough to realize that unless the two leagues get together, professional hockey in their areas may well be doomed. And that would be a major tragedy, for all three are good hockey towns.

However, as much as we'd like to see cities like Edmonton, Quebec and Winnipeg playing in the National League, one can't blame the NHL for its cautious attitude. After all, what has it really got to gain by merging? The WHA no longer poses a threat, if it ever did. Most teams in the WHA are struggling to survive. Consequently they are no longer in a position to outbid NHL clubs for the senders of outstanding talent as they did in the formative stages of the league.

That was the only area where the World Hockey Association really hurt the older league. But with that problem out of the way, it would seem the NHL has nothing to fear. Today, the NHL could drop some of its weaker franchises and get along quite nicely, especially since the days of outlandish player salaries are over. And that brings us around to Bobby Hull and Bill Wirtz, owner of the Chicago Black Hawks, for whom Hull toiled for many years before jumping to the Jets. Do you realize that if Winnipeg Is fortunate enough to gain a franchise In the National League, that Mr. Wirtz is the man we'll have to thank.

There is no question that Wirtz pulled one of the biggest and costliest boners in sports history when he failed to renegotiate Hull's contract five years ago. Instead, he allowed him to sign with Ben Haskin’s Winnipeg Jets and the World Hockey Association for $2.75 million. Without Hull, it is questionable if the WHA would have ever got off the ground, let alone last as long as it has. The magic of the Hull name not only gave the league the prestige it badly needed, but induced other players of talent to throw in their lot with the upstart circuit. It's doubtful if the Howe family would have ever joined the Houston club had not Bobby made that first move.

Hull's defection in itself probably would not have hurt the National League, for the lineups of its various teams were still stocked with the names of most of the game's outstanding players. What did hurt, was the demands of those players who were able to use the WHA as a lever to obtain salaries far beyond their worth. There is no way to telling just how much Hull's departure from Chicago cost, and still is costing, the National League. Suffice to say, it has run into millions of dollars and the end is not yet in sight.

Yes, Bill Wirtz and the entire NHL has paid a huge price because the Chicago owner failed to realize what a valuable asset he possessed in Bobby Hull, a great player and probably the greatest ambassador hi the history of hockey. Yet this is the same man, who, in an effort to appease Chicago hockey fans and put them back in his rink, negotiated a contract with the one-legged Bobby Orr for three million dollars.

It's hard to figure.

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 1977

St. Louis sings blues

TORONTO (CP) — St. Louis Blues may be looking for a new home at the end of the current National Hockey L e a g u e , Blues governor James Cullen said Monday.

"We have a viable and very s a l a b l e commodity to go elsewhere and establish ourselves," Cullen said. "A decision will be made at the end of the season.”We have secured the adequate financing from within our group to get us through the season and we will be reviewing and re-assessing then."

The B l u e s have been averaging 15.000 fans a game at the 18.006-seat St. Louis Arena, but maintenance on the largely-unused building is causing losses of about $2 million a year. Culen said the hockey team's troubles stem from a city-imposed amusement tax of 5.4 per cent, which is charged to sport teams on ticket sales.

"The hockey aspect of the operation is fine," Cullen said. "It's the building thats the albatross. "If we operated in a publicly- owned building and paid the rents charged franchises playing in such facilities, we would be all right.

"As it stands now, it's a case of the private sector lacing public enterprise." Cullen said the Blues have talked to several investors and are seriously considering moving the franchise unless the team receives a tax break.

'We want immediate assurances from the city or we must move on to suitable alternatives," he said. Kansas City, which has already lost one NHL team— the Scouts—because of lack of support—has been mentioned as a possible St. Louis transfer site.

I have a good understanding of Kansas City," Cullen said. "It has considerably more promise than other staid cities.

"It's a minor boom town and 1 emphatically say hockey will succeed there." Cullen said any move will be contingent on how well the Blues do in negotiations with a special sports committee that has been set up in St. Louis to review the tax problem