The Complete Historical and Statistical Reference

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1978

Winning record doesn't always boost gate
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Success on the ice doesn't guarantee success at the box office in the National Hockey League, a matter which might interest the people in Hartford, Conn., Winnipeg, Edmonton and Quebec City.

It might be of interest if the merger of the NHL and the World Hockey Association
teams in those cities goes through, and a lot of people are saying it will — effective next season.

But even if those four cities are part of the WHA next year, it still might be of note that not every club in the "established" league sees t landslide of bodies through its ticket wickets.

In Atlanta, for example, people apparently still aren't sure the Flames are for real, even if they have more points in the standings than any other club. Statistics kept independent of the league show that Atlanta,-an unquestioned power on the ice, has played to only 77.6 per cent of capacity at the 15,191-seat Omni.

By contrast, people are flocking to the Olympia In Detroit. The Olympia seats 14,700, but in 10 home dates this season, the Red Wings, who have won five of
their 19 games, are averaging 14,897 — or 101 per cent of capacity. The top figure in the NHL belongs to the champion Montreal Canadiens, who have averaged 16,431 in a building that seats 16,109.

But consider Boston Bruins, who service their fans by telecasting most of their home games and suffer at the gate as a result. The Bruins, playoff finalists the last two years, have had only 86.4 per cent of the seats filled at Boston Garden.

Chicago Black Hawks, who have finished first six times in nine years, in whatever division they were placed, are averaging 10,958 a game. That's only 64.1 per cent of capacity.

In 13 home games, more than any other club in the NHL, the Kings have played before an average of 7,336 empty seats. Attendance, entering Thursday night's action, was 2,086,006 for 163 'Contests, an average of 12,646. That's nearly 1,000 a game more than the NHL averaged last year for 720 regular- season games.

But last year, there were 18 teams, and that lowers the average. Projected over a full season this year (if things don't get any worse), NHL attendance would be 8,346,824, a decrease for the fourth consecutive year.

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1978

Series on again
Oilers' owner to the rescue

EDMONTON (CP) — The World Hockey Association announced Monday it has reached an agreement with Canadian amateur hockey organizations that will allow a series of international games to proceed.

The agreement, announced simultaneously in Edmonton and Hartford, Conn., ends, at least temporarily, a lengthy dispute over the signing of under-age players by some WHA teams.

Terms of the final agreement were not revealed but the Oilers said the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association has agreed to give its sanction to the games. Ed Chynoweth, executive director of the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League, who received a cheque for an undisclosed amount from Pocklington, said the Edmonton owner became involved when it was apparent the games would be cancelled otherwise.

"I have no doubt there would be no international games had Peter Pocklington not come forward and reached a settlement our people can live with," Chynoweth told a news conference.

Pockiington, who wouldn't say how much money he paid out, said he got involved to save the series and the integrity of the WHA.

"I got involved for two reasons: financial and because the integrity of the league was at stake. We agreed last year to the $150,000 bond for signing under-age players and I can't believe our league wouldn't fulfill its obligations."

The agreement means the international games — eight in Edmonton — will be played as scheduled beginning Dec. 14. It includes a three-game series in Edmonton Jun. 2-4-5 between the WHA all-star team and a strengthened Moscow Dynamo club.

The initial dispute arose when some WHA teams continued signing under-age juniors this summer despite efforts by the league to halt the practice. As well, the teams refused to pay development fees to the CAHA.

An agreement was apparently reached 10 days ago at a Hockey Canada meeting in Toronto when the WHA agreed to make a $170,000 down payment for the signing of eight under-age players. It said a further $150,000 would be paid in July, 1979, if the players remained with the WHA after the NHL draft next spring.

But that agreement fell through when the WHA demanded the CAHA drop its claim to a $150,000 bond posted last year in hopes of discouraging signings of under-age juniors.

The CAHA then informed the International Ice Hockey Federation (11HF) that the WHA owed $320,000 in development fees and said it would not sanction the games in Canada.

The problem revolved around money and, in particular, the $150,000 bond. Chynoweth said the problem has been solved with the eight under-age players signed by WHA clubs this year and with the bond. The Oilers said the CAHA has agreed not to press further for payment of the bond it claimed had been forfeited by the signings.

Pocklington expressed disappointment with his fellow WHA owners who refused to step forward and try to settle the problem.

"Even Quebec Nordiques wouldn't agree," Pocklington said. "Only Winnipeg agreed to contribute and they said they'd pay their equal share. But, so far, no money has been forthcoming."

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1978

Ziegler gives merger last chance to bloom

TORONTO (CP) — The National Hockey League could incorporate as many as five existing World Hockey Association franchises, as early as February, the NHL's board of governors approves a merger plan at winter meetings next week in Florida, NHL president John Ziegler said Friday.

"We are ready to deal with this topic one way or another for the last time," Ziegler said in an interview. "Either we are going to reject the concept completely next week or we are going to move on, get into committee and explore the basis for a yes or a no answer by the end of February."

Ziegler said he and NHL board chairman Bill Wirtz of Chicago have laid much of the necessary groundwork for a merger plan, should such a proposal gain the support of most of the governors. "The February timing is significant, because we have to-deal with such matters as scheduling," Ziegler said. "Naturally, we will need this early timetable to commence talks and negotiations with the NHL Players Association, our partners in collective bargaining.

"Although this topic was not originally on our agenda for Florida, it will now likely take up the majority of our discussions. If we are going to get into it, we don't want to waste any time." The governors have rejected two earlier attempts at a merger and five negative votes would quash the idea again. Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs and Los Angeles Kings are on the record as opposing expansion into WHA centres.

The proposed expansion of the NHL into the Meadowiands Sports Complex in New Jersey for the 1980-81 season will also be discussed at the Florida meetings, Ziegler said.

"Realistically, I don't think we can talk about expansion to the WHA unless we include the Meadowiands and viceversa," Ziegler added

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1978

John
Robertson

The NHL owners are feeling the urge to merge again. ..

And the question which begs to be answered is. . .why now?

Why the sudden urgency to clear the decks at the NHL winter meetings and put merger talks at the top of the agenda, when it was voted down last summer? Obviously, because recent events have triggered a change of heart among enough members of the antimerger faction within the NHL, to give president John Zeigler and board chairman Bill Wirtz reason to believe the merger plan can get enough votes now to receive approval in principle.

And my spies tell me those "recent events" revolve around our own Winnipeg Jets.

It's a well-known fact that the Jets' situation was the stumbling block last summer when the NHL owners backed off at the llth hour, after letting it be known that Quebec, Edmonton and New England were perfectly acceptable.

The concern regarding the Jets was three-fold.
• Council had yet to approve arena expansion and the building was just too small by NHL standards.
• While the financial credentials of the new Jet owners were not in question, their presentation at the NHL meetings was weak, and raised serious doubts about their ability to run a professional hockey operation.
• The Avco Cup championship team seemed to be disintegrating, with the departure of Hedberg and Nilsson and persistent rumors that Hull would follow and that several other Jets were ready to jump ship. This, if you'll recall, was before Michael Gobuty purchased all those Houston Aeros, and with no farm system to draw from and little inclination to get involved in the bidding for the top junior draft choices, you couldn't blame the NHL owners for wondering whether the Jets would even be able to ice a team this season.

All of us or none of us deal

Plainly, Winnipeg was unacceptable, and if the Jet owners hadn't made a deal with New England, Quebec and Edmonton to approach the NHL on a "take all of us or none of us" basis the other three would have been in the NHL right now.

It's quite obvious, then, why the NHL owners are not only ready, but almost eager to open up expansion talks again.

The Jets now have approval for an expanded arena: the Houston player purchase has made them competitive on the ice again; Jet fans proved that they could live without Ulf and Anders, by purchasing a club record 7,000 season tickets; and last, but by no means least, the Jet owners moved quickly to make their front office major league. I cannot believe that it was only coincidence that within days of the announcement of the acquisition of John Ferguson and Marc Cloutier — eliminating the last of the major concerns the NHL had about the viability of Winnipeg as an NHL entity —that the NHL owners announced that merger talks were on again, in a big way.

Similarly, why else would the NHL release John Ferguson from an obligation to coach its entry in the Izvestia Cup series, and give him its blessing to take the Winnipeg job right now. . .when the New York Rangers, who had him under contract for the balance of the season, could have prevented Fergie from coming here and, in effect, jumping to another league?

Why would John Ferguson turn down several NHL jobs to come to Winnipeg, if he didn't have some inside knowledge that Winnipeg would soon be a part of the league he was leaving?

Why would a man with the credentials Marc Cloutier boasts, both with the Canadiens and the Montreal Expos, come all the way to Winnipeg, if it weren't to get involved on the ground floor of a new NHL operation?

Merger now a foregone conclusion

My spies tell me that merger chances are almost a foregone conclusion right now.

Bearing in mind that the owners have rejected two earlier merger tries — and that it takes only five votes for them to veto it again — let's see how the merger faction stacks up going into this week's meetings in Florida. Harold Ballard in Toronto, Jack Kent Cooke in Los Angeles, and whatever twit who is the current braintrust of the hapless Vancouver Canucks, all remain adamant against a merger. But Ballard and Cooke are so resoundingly despised by the other NHL owners that their sphere of influence is astonishingly small.

But, from then on, the picture brightens.

The Bruins, who have been outspoken critics of a marriage with the WHA, are reportedly wavering, and ready to support a merger in view of the drastically improved situation in Winnipeg.

But even if the Bruins end up voting against merger, a fifth vote will be needed to make the veto work. And this is where the picture has changed drastically.

You may recall me mentioning a few weeks ago that the retirement of Bobby Hull might end up helping rather than hurting the Jets' chances of getting in the NHL, because the Wirtz family had vowed that Bobby would never play a game in Chicago Stadium in another uniform. They considered him their property — stolen by the WHA.

Now we read where Bill Wirtz of Chicago, as chairman of the NHL board of governors, has been doing much of the groundwork with league president Zielger to prepare a new merger plan in time for this week's meetings. Wirtz would hardly be doing this if he planned to veto the move.

An about-face by Les Canadiens?

Perhaps the most influential switch of all, from anti to pro merger, is Montreal. The Canadiens are almost as powerful in the executive suite as they are on the ice, and the word I get out of Montreal is that"several things have happened since last summer which have contributed to an about-face by Les Canadiens.

First of all, Molson's Brewery replaced Peter and Edward Bronfman as majority owners, and it would simply be bad business for Molson's to alienate Manitoba beer drinkers by having it known that the brewery didn't consider Winnipeg major league.

Secondly, Irving Grundman, an old friend of Winnipeg, took charge of hockey operations from Sam Pollock, and it's no secret he'd love to see the NHL come here. Thirdly, John Ferguson and Marc Cloutier are both Canadiens alumni in very good standing.

For all these reasons, expect the NHL owners to announce this week (hat they have voted to go ahead with merger plans.

Don't be fooled by the fact it won't be finalized until February. The big decision will be made behind closed doors this week.


John Robertson is host of CBC's 24 Hours.

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS , TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1978

Hal Sigurdson SPORTS EDITOR

The man at the other end of the telephone conversation sounded calm, rational and, one gathered, more than a little fed up.

What had him fed up is the fact the National Hockey League is starting up the old merger fandango again. This, as we all know, is a dance which gets the participants all flushed and excited before leaving hockey operators in various WHA cities with their noses pressed against the window pane, looking enviously at the dancing and merriment within.

"As I understand it, merger keeps getting shot down by the NHL's three Canadian cities, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver," my caller said. "They vote no because they don't want to split the TV revenue they get from Hockey Night in Canada. If that's the case, why don't hockey fans in Edmonton, Winnipeg and Quebec City boycott the products and services offered by their sponsors?

Wouldn't that be the fastest way to make the NHL's Canadian cities change their mind?"

It might, indeed, if the boycoit could gain wide enough support, I told him. A similar boycott was launched by Vancouver hockey fans when that city was left at the altar during the NHL's original expansion back in 1967. Three years later Vancouver had its franchise, though how much the boycott had to do with it is open to debate.

Then I suggested a boycott might not be necessary because from what I can find out from the NHL grapevine, this time merger is going to work. There are several reasons. For one thing Alan Eagleson wants it to work. As as executive director of the NHL Players' Association and chief international negotiator for Hockey Canada, he is the most powerful man in North American hockey.

What Eagle wants, Eagle gets. For another, the Montreal Canadiens have new owners. They are now owned by Molson's Breweries, who have no desire to see their sales plummet, which is what would happen if they voted to keep out Edmonton, Winnipeg and Quebec City.

For a third, many NHL cities are now in a far worse financial plight than every WHA city, save Indianapolis. For example, six NHL games were played last Wednesday. New York Rangers at Atlanta drew 10,247 customers; Washington at Pittsburgh 5,981; Toronto at Minnesota 7,041; Vancouver at Chicago 10,977; Detroit at Colorado 5,338; New York Islanders at Los Angeles, 8,579. That's less than 60 per cent of capacity. Financial people estimate the NHL lost $500,000 that day alone.

As a result, the NHL is finally ready to deal. Its teams need the money. There will still be holdouts like Harold Ballard in Toronto and Jack Kent Cooke, the owner in exile of the Los Angeles Kings, hut the overwhelming majority now favor merger. It is the only way to bring down spiraling costs.

Here is the deal WHA owners will be offered this week in Florida: If four WHA cities are accepted, the price will be $500,000 to each of the 17 existing NHL teams or a total of $8.5 million. If Cincinnati is added to make it a five-team package the price goes up to $17 million or $1 million to each of the existing teams.

Why the big price hike to include Cincinnati? Simple. If the Stingers are not included, the WHA cities which do join are obligated to pay them $4.5 million in indemnification. If the Stingers go in, too, they don't get any heart balm, so the NHL in the interests of simplified mathematics, has simply added the $4.5 million to its own entry fee. Neat, wot?

Nor will the four- and five-team packages be the only options offered. The NHL would dearly love to rid itself of its most troublesome franchises, Colorado and Pittsburgh. Colorado is earmarked for Edmonton; Pittsburgh for New England, leaving room for Cincinnati to create an expanded NHL of four five-team divisions in a 20-team league. If Cincinnati chooses to take its indemnification and run, a 20th team could be created by granting an expansion franchise to the Imperatore interests in Meadowlands, New Jersey.

The big question this time will not be Whether the NHL wants the WHA, but whether the WHA wants to jump into bed with ihe NHL. With the exception of Indianapolis, the WHA has itself a pretty financially solid, highly competitive league. Also less expensive. If the two merge, eventually everyone's operating costs will come down, but initially the WHA's will go up. A long way up.

For example, Pacific Coliseum where the Vancouver Canucks play their home games has 15,570 seats. I'm reliably informed the Canucks, who hardly have the NHL's largest payroll, have to sell every one of them for all 40 league games just to break even. If there is to be a yearend profit, it has to come from program and novelty sales, TV and radio revenues.

Here's another piece for the puzzle. Make of it what you will. Recently Sam Pollock, retired general manager of Montreal Canadiens, placed an order for 1,000 shares in the Canucks' parent company. It hasn't been filled, but it's still there. Does it mean anything? Who knows? Maybe Sam wants a voice in the affairs of the Canucks to tell them how to vote on merger.

Well, somebody has to.

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1978

New Hope for NHL Merger

HOMOSASSA SPRINGS, Fla. (CP) — The National Hockey League's hoard of governors could decide today on future expansion plans that would include several World Hockey Association franchises.

The inclusion of the WHA teams was included in Wednesday's agenda and while NHL president John Ziegler refused to elaborate, it was learned the presentation from the NHL's expansion committee was "more attractive than any put forth in the past by the WHA."

Ziegler, asked how far along the governors were in discussions that might lead to the WHA teams joining the NHL, said: "It's too early to make a call. However, the fact we are now approaching this plan of possible expansion from a sports point of view rather than an emotional view is a step forward."

It was further noted that the expansion talks also included proposals to include a franchise for the new 20,000-seat Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey which is scheduled to begin operations in late 1980. Ziegler did say talks would continue today "in the area of expansion." It was learned no WHA representatives attended Wednesday's meeting.

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1978

Stingers latest to eye NHL

HOMOSASSA SPRINGS, Fla. (AP) — The World Hockey Association's Cincinnati Stingers joined the list of hopeful National Hockey League entries Thursday, but the NHL board of governors ended their meeting by shelving merger and expansion proposals.

And NHL president John Ziegler said plans to expand his league into the New Jersey Meadowlands or to absorb the WHA's New England Whalers could cause similar territorial conflicts.

"We have received an expansion proposal from five WHA teams (Cincinnati, Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques and New England)," Ziegler said.

"Each team's commitment is over $5 million with proper indemnification for those WHA members not taken in." Birmingham Bulls and Indianapolis Racers are the only other WHA teams now in operation.
"We have turned both the WHA proposal and a study of feasibility of expansion of the NHL to the Meadowlands over to our advisory and expansion committee," said Ziegler.

He heads the committee which also consists of William Wirtz of Chicago Black Hawks, Jacques Courtios of Montreal Canadiens, Seymour Knox of Buffalo Sabres, William Jennings of New York Rangers and Emile Francis of St. Louis Blues.

Winnipeg Jets' vice-president and general manager John Ferguson expressed satisfaction with the decision to defer until January the merger question.

"The Winnipeg Jets have the necessary credentials to be an asset to any major hockey league," said Ferguson. "To include us in any merger would be a great plus for Canadian unity."

Ferguson added that the decision to work out the details of the proposed merger before presentation to the NHL board of governors was a "proper move at this stage." Putting an NHL team in the Meadowlands — there have been reports that Colorado Rockies may someday be moved there — would mean adding a fourth club to a 100-mile radius already containing the Rangers, New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers have expressed their opposition to a team in New Jersey.

And the Whalers, who will return to Hartford Conn., next season (the roof on ! arena there collapsed last year and they have been playing in Springfield, Mass., this season), would be within the territorial area of the NHL's Boston Bruins. In each case, conflicts would arise over home television and cable television rights and the Flyers and Bruins would demand indemnification similar to that received by the Rangers when the Islanders were created.

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1978

Expansion Plan Ready by January

TORONTO (CP) — The National Hockey League expansion committee may have its plan for absorbing five World Hockey Association teams ready by about mid-January, NHL president John Ziegler said Monday.

The NHL board of governors, meeting in Florida last week, turned the latest expansion proposals over to the advisory and expansion committee composed of Ziegler, William Wirtz of Chicago Black Hawks, Jacques Courtois of Montreal Canadiens, Seymour Knox of Buffalo Sabres, William Jennings of New York Rangers and Emile Francis of St. Louis Blues.

Ziegler told reporters in an informal meeting Monday that the expansion committee's job now involves talking with each NHL club to try and reach a consensus on how the expansion should proceed.

He acknowledged that there remains opposition within the league to the expansion proposal which would bring in Cincinnati Stingers, Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques and New England Whalers of the WHA and a possible new franchise at the New Jersey Meadowlands sports centre.

But the NHL president said an expansion proposal would need approval by only three-quarters of the NHL members. Asked how such a vote would go if it were conducted today, Ziegler said: "It's too early to say because we still do not have a plan."

One of the top selling points of this latest expansion plan is that the five WHA members seeking admission now have adequate financial backing to ensure protection against any litigation arising from previous WHA operations. Ziegler said previous proposals for an accommodation lacked such adequate protection.

Problems that still face expansion include the question of indemnification for New York and Philadelphia teams if a Meadowlands club moves into their area, and for Boston if New England Whalers move in.

The question of player rights also remains a serious problem.

" I t ' s an emotional issue," said Ziegler. Some NHL owners maintain that if WHA teams come into the fold they must return any players lured away from NHL clubs.

Ziegler was on his way to Moscow where a team of NHL and minor league players is entered in the Izvestia tournament starting this weekend.

Asked if he expected any criticism from the Soviet Union regarding the caliber of the NHL entry, Ziegler said: "They know what kind of team we're sending."
He added that the league hopes to send a better caliber team in future to maintain the quality of the NHL-Soviet exchange program. In making up the current Izvestia team, each NHL club was asked to provide at least one inactive player from the NHL roster or a minor league player The 20-member 'earn assembled last week contained 12 minor-league players while none of the other eight were established NHL regulars.

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1978


Hal Sigurdson
SPORTS EDITOR

Once upon a time the National Hockey League was the most successful professional sports operation on the continent. There were only six teams and they were all playing before near-capacity audiences. Salaries were modest, travelling costs low and owning a franchise was like having a licence to print money.

Then, 11 years ago, the league expanded with visions of fat franchise fees and a lucrative U.S. network television contract, making it all seem like worthwhile cultivation of the money tree.

Since then three more NHL expansions and the birth of the World Hockey Association have left us with a maze of so-cailed major league franchises in numbers far too great for the average hockey fan to follow. With few exceptions, owning a franchise in either the NHL or WHA today is virtually certain to cost you money.

What went wrong?

A lot of things. First of all, the NHL badly over-estimated the appetite of the U.S. television audience for professional hockey. It is a sport which does not lend itself to the small screen. If you do not understand the game to begin with, watching it for the first time on TV is apt to' leave you hopelessly confused.

But beyond that, the NHL made a serious marketing mistake. Instead of developing regional rivalries, it tried to sell a one big league concept. Theoretically, the league has two conferences and four divisions, but teams play every other league member roughly the same number of times. Fans are expected to keep track of 16 teams in addition to their own and most can't be bothered.

In no other league is as much expected of its fans. In major league baseball, there are two totally separate leagues and four fairly autonomous divisions. NFL teams eventually play every other rival, but the emphasis is on divisional rivalries. That's also the case in the NBA. Even in the nine-team Canadian Football League, winning your own conference is what it's all about.

With merger talks between the NHL and WHA finally getting serious, hockey has the perfect chance to restructure the game into sensible geographic divisions and start rebuilding those regional rivalries it has ignored for the past decade. Let's hope that this time the sport's deep thinkers don't blow it.

[JETStender]

Wednesday, December 13, 1978

WHA admits Indy fold may be near

TORONTO (AP) - The World Hockey Association, i conceding the possibility that the Indianapolis Racers could fold at any time, had a standby schedule ready to be implemented should the league be reduced to six teams.

The Racers, owned by Vancouver millionaire Nelson Skalbania, are projecting, losses of $1.3 million for the 1978-79 season and their next payroll must be met Friday.

"Indianapolis is like the patient being held together by a machine," league President Howard Baldwin said Tuesday in a telephone interview from Boston. "I haven't heard anything from Nelson, but I do know the team is still playing, they've been playing for time months. On the other band, it could very well be a day-to-day thing.

"When I last talked to Nelson, he gave assurances that be would see out the rest of the year, but I'm hearing a lot of things these days. Sure, we could end up with a six-team league. I just don't know."

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, THURSDAY DECEMBER 14, 1978

Mayor awaits— owner's next move

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The future of Indianapolis Racers, whose bi-monthly payroll is due Friday, is "all up to (Nelson) Skalbania," says Mayor William Hudnut.

"He's unpredictable, erratic, and you can't pin him down," said the mayor, who attended the Racers' World Hockey Association game against New England Whalers Tuesday night. "There's a lot more I could say, but I won't.,

"The impression you get is he's hanging the team on a string and letting it strangle." Racers' president Bob Johnston said he had not heard by Wednesday afternoon from either league president Howard Baldwin or Skalbania, the Vancouver millionaire who owns the club, as to whether the payroll would be met.

"I don't know that we will (hear anything)," Johnston said. "He (Skalbania) is likely to wait until Friday. But we've already printed programs for Saturday, so we're still optimistic." Skalbania said earlier this season, after he traded away the team's top three players, that he lost $1 million last year and projected a loss of $1.3 million this year. He said the Racers need to take in $60,000 a game to break even, and that so far, because of poor attendance, he is losing about $30,000 a game. Johnston1 said he telephoned Skalbania on Tuesday.

"There was a lot of cussing. Then I asked him what he was going to do. I said,
'If you change anything, we'd like to know what your position is, because we're trying to get our troops to stay here.' " - "Skalbania has (Racer coach) Pat Stapleton and local leadership demoralized," Mayor Hudnut said. "It breaks my heart, because I think the city is in the process of being a major league city, and the Racers are a symbol of that."

The WHA on Tuesday announced that it has a standby schedule ready to be implemented should the Racers fold.

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1978

Racers Leave WHA Fold

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A struggle for survival that lasted 4 1/2 years ended Friday with a short prepared statement in a news conference that was over before it was even scheduled to begin.

"We regret that effective at midnight today, the Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association will cease operations," said Gordon Robson, who represented majority owner Nelson Skalbania, millionaire businessman from Vancouver, in negotiations with the club's limited partjiers. Robson said the decision to fold the team was reached following day-long talks between himself and representatives of the limited partners. Those negotiations came after Skalbania gave the limited partners a lengthy statement which included his demands for continued operation of the club which he purchased in August of last year.

Those demands included having the limited partners relinquish their rights for any share of indemnity money the club might receive if there was a merger between the WHA and National Hockey League which did not include the Racers.

Skalbania, in his statement, said the team needed $800,000 to operate for the balance of the 1978-79 season. He said he was willing to commit $300,000 of that amount with the balance coming through local sources.

Robson read a prepared statement at the news conference, which he began 15 minutes before it was scheduled to start. He failed to provide copies or answer specific questions. "The talks were unsuccessful and leaves the general partner (Skalbania) no choice but to fold the team," he said. "If you have any questions, you'll have to direct them to the club's attorney."

"The limited partners had taken the situation as far as they could," said Indianapolis lawyer Tom Jones. "He (Skalbania) had devised several ways he felt ihe local people could keep the club, but it was simply a matter of not enough cash." The Racers joined the WHA in 1974. The organization had gone through several changes in ownership and management in its history with financial stability a constant problem.

Skalbania purchased the team in August of 1977 after the Indiana National Bank had seized its assets, following default of a loan by the owners. The purchase came just when it appeared the team was about to fold because the bank was not able to operate it and was unable to find anyone to buy the club.

In his statement, Skalbania said he has written cheques for $1.2 million since his purchase on the Racers' behalf. He said his limited partners had not put any money into the team.

The players now are free agents, said defenceman Ken Block. However, apparently Skalbania sold at least one player. "I was sold to Edmonton a month ago," said defenceman John Hughes. "He (Skalbania) sold me, but he didn't let me know about it or notify anyone in Indianapolis. I found out about the sale through my attorney."

There was another report that forward Blame Stoughton had been sold lo N«w England, but he was not available to confirm it.

Meanwhile, Howard Baldwin, president of the league, said in a statement from Hartford. Conn., "we regret Using Indianapolis as a market yet this was a decision made by (he Indianapolis owners." "The league is in the process of drafting an alternate schedule and it will be released on Monday. Ail home dates of all WHA dubs will be preserved."

Earlier in the season, Skalbania sold one of his top junior picks, Wayne Gretzky to Edmonton Oilers. He also got rid of ii number of other players in an attempt lo reduce his payroll.

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1978

Has WHA found an angel?

TORONTO (CP) — A report in The Globe and Mail today says the Aetna Life and Casualty Co. of Hartford, Conn., is playing a major role in the proposed merger between the National Hockey League and the World Hockey association.

The newspaper says the insurance firm is prepared to underwrite expansion costs not only of the WHA's New England Whalers in which it holds a 25-per-cem interest, but also the costs of all other WHA clubs involved.

It says Donald Conrad, Aetna's chief financial officer, will be meeting members of the NHL's expansion committee next month to outline his company's proposal, which would include Edmonton Oilers, Quebec Nordiques, Winnipeg Jets and possibly Cincinnati Stingers.

NHL president John Ziegler is quoted as saying the company's offer was an attractive selling point in any expansion deal.

"Aetna's willingness to stand behind the WHA and Whalers is obviously a big plus," Ziegler said. "Whalers will not just go away and die." WHA president Howard Baldwin said. "Aetna and our other partners (Travelers Insurance Co., Connecticut General Life, United Technologies among others) believe in the expansion plan. The net assets of our 16 partners two years ago were $59 billion. We do have a sizeable commitment."

The newspaper quotes an NHL governor identified only as in support of expansion as saying Aetna "holds the key in many of our minds . . . a company with strong lies with U.S. television, a company that could mean money in our pockets."

However, Ziegler is quoted as pointing out that an expansion proposal also must take care of several key issues—player rights; compensation for players signed away from the NHL; divisional alignments and scheduling; Canadian television rights, and how much to charge the WHA clubs for entry.

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JANUARAY 3, 1979

The most infamous story told about the Gretzky/ Jets

Reyn Davis

EDMONTON — The plane that carried Wayne Gretzky to Edmonton in November was radioed in mid-air with instructions to land in Winnipeg.

The 17-year-old whiz kid of hockey was going to the Jets. "It didn't matter to me," said Gretzky, recalling his flight from Indianapolis and the battle for his services waged between the Oilers of Edmonton and the Jets of Winnipeg.

Michael Gobuty, the president of the Jets, made a special trip to Indianapolis to negotiate the purchase of Gretzky's contract, then owned by Vancouver's industrialist Nelson Skalbania.

But, eventually, the war in the skies was won by Peter Pocklington and the Oilers and the small jet plane, carrying Gretzky, leftwinger Peter Driscoll and goaltender Eddie Mio, bypassed Winnipeg and landed in Edmonton. Gretzky, 'whose parents in Brantford,
Ont. still collect family allowance cheques under his name, will turn 18 on Jan. 26.

Tuesday night Gretzky was named the player of "the game for the World Hockey Association All-Stars following their 4-2 conquest of Moscow Dynamo. His contribution was great. He scored two. goals and set up another, by his 50-year-old linemate, Gqrdie Howe. The line's leftwinger, Mark Howe, had three assists.

"He reminds me so much of Jean Beliveau," said John Ferguson, the general manager of the Jets and a former Canadiens teammate of Beliveau's in Montreal.

"He is going to be great some day." That day is already at hand.. .and think he might have been a member of the Jets.

[JETStender]

THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 1979

Reyn Davis

EDMONTON — Lest anyone be led astray, the Aetna Life and Casualty Co. of Hartford, Conn., has not chosen to underwrite the entry of Winnipeg Jets and other World Hockey Association teams into the National Hockey League.

"That's crazy," said Howard Baldwin, WHA president. "Winnipeg doesn't need anybody's, help. Either does Edmonton, nor Quebec nor New England.. But what Aetna has agreed to do is vastly more-significant, according to Baldwin.

He said Aetna has agreed to cover the WHA teams' indemnification payments from all suits that might result from their entry into the NHL.

"Let's face it," said Baldwin. "In our two countries anybody can sue anybody else. We've had suits from agents we haven't seen for two years.

"To be protected from suits in a deal such as this is tremendously important" Baldwin said the WHA should know by March 1 what is going to happen to the expansion plans of the accommodating forces in the NHL.

Meanwhile, Cincinnati Stingers appear to be dropping out of the running for an NHL franchise.

One rumor making the rounds in Edmonton has Cincinnati demanding $4.8 million in indemnification payments. The Cincinnati trustee, Bill DeWitt Jr., told the Free Press that as much as the Stingers would like to be in the NHL "it breaks down to how well you can draw. "Cincinnati is not a hockey hungry community," he said. "Not like Winnipeg or Edmonton. At least, it's not apparent right now. But I thoroughly believe Cincinnati is a major league city."

He said the Stingers are experiencing losses in excess of SI million for the fourth consecutive year. .If Cincinnati drops out —and no one would be surprised if they did — the Stingers will join Birmingham Bulls on the sidelines.

Quebec Nordiques, the Jets, Edmonton Oilers and New England Whalers are all gung-ho about buying their way out of the WHA and into the NHL. The NHL will hold its next round of meetings, in the first week of February in conjunction with its Challenge Cup series of games against the Soviet national team.

Baldwin would expect a firm answer two to three weeks later.

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, FRIDAY. JANUARY 19,1979

John Robertson
The good old days...
When it was fun to be an owner in sport, because you were one of the boys, operating a family business out of your hip pocket, riding the buses with your players, eating baloney sandwiches at the same road-side diners, drinking elbow-to-elbow in the same beer joints after the game, and living the same hand-to-mouth existence as everyone else in the game.

On the bad days, you rushed the gate receipts down from the bank to try and cover the next payroll, and on the good days when the stands were full, you slipped a few extra bucks in everyone's pocket — not because you had to, but because these were the same guys who shared the lean times with you, too.

But that's all changed now.
Professional sport has become the land of the corporate giant. We have the Labatt's Blue Jays and Carling's Argonauts in Toronto.. .we have the Molson's Canadiens and the Seagram's Expos in Montreal. . .we have the O'Keefe Nordiques in Quebec. Most of today's pro teams shouldn't play in stadiums at all. They should play in tax shelters.

Guys like Cat Griffith, owner of the Minnesota Twins, are the last of a dying breed. The guy whose sole means of support is his team. And you saw what happened to Cal Thursday. HE HAD TO DEAL OFF HIS MEAL ticket, Rod Carew, to a club which could afford to pay him the current outrageous going rate sports superstars are commanding.

But unless something is done really soon to stop this senseless salary escalation, sports franchises will soon become bad investments even as tax write-offs. People here talk of an NHL franchise as if it were a license to print money. But even after Michael Gobuty and Co., ante up more than $5 million to get into the NHL, they will face the grim fact that 11 of the 18 NHL teams lost money last year, some of them genuine contenders such as the New York Islanders.

It's crazy. In the cruel, corporate world outside sports, consistently unprofitable operations just do not survive. Even one bad year can result in cutbacks and the laying off of personnel.

So how will professional athletes continue to go on blissfully filling their pockets, without feeling the pinch? Until the owners, as a group, wise up. Every owner in every league is going to have to spell it out to the athletes. "We're fed up draining profits from our non-sport investments to operate franchises just for your benefit. From now on, you are going to be paid only an equitable share of the revenue you bring in as a team, after expenses.

"You will continue to take pay cuts until we stop losing money. When we have a bad year at the box office we are not going to pay you money we don't have. "YOU WANT TO BE FREE AGENTS? Be our guests. But the other owners are going to operate by the same rules. And if one or two rich clubs collar all the talent, they'll soon find out they have no league to play in, because we're through subsidizing them too, by staying in the league so they'll have someone to beat.

"There'll be no more long-term contracts, and if things get any tougher, there might not even be contracts at all. We might choose to hire you like everyone else is hired outside sport. Nothing in writing, two weeks notice if we want to lay you off or fire you. And if you don't like it, go on strike, and see how much support you get from the guy carrying a lunch bucket, who lives by the same rules we're asking you to live by."

If all this came about, the calibre of entertainment would get better, not worse, because the athletes would realize that the onus is on them to produce and attract enough fans to make their paydays bigger. And when they didn't put out and the size of the crowds dwindled, they'd lose more than the game.

Those athletes who quit in a huff would soon find out what most of you out there already know. Things are tough all over. Somewhere along the line we got our priorities mixed up. Okay, so maybe they weren't really the good old days in every sense of the word. Maybe the most incredible thing about them is that we cherish so many fond memories of what had to be much harder times.

HOW MUCH HARDER? WELL, START with a stock-market crash, a flu epidemic, a drought and a depression, sandwiched between two World Wars and a nuclear holocaust. The work was harder, the pay was lower, the hours were longer, the pace was slower.

But somehow, as we've become more demanding, more sophisticated, more competitive, we've let slip a lot of old values which were worth retaining. . .such as pride of accomplishment. Unions have done wonders to end the exploitation of the common man by guaranteeing him a livable wage, safer working conditions, job security and retirement benefits. But unions have also become, in many instances, havens for the lazy and incompetent, destroying the initiative of the dedicated worker, who ultimately resigns himself that no matter how much harder he works, he will never get ahead of the slackers in his midst.

Likewise, employers pay less and less attention to craftsmanship, sacrificing quality for mass production. And when was the last time you actually got what you paid for in the way of service? In most places of business today, a customer feels like an intruder. You almost have to apologize for trying to spend your money.

GOOD MANNERS ARE ALMOST Extinct. This shows up in the way we drive our cars; the tart, impatient way we answer our phones; the way v/e push ahead of one another to get onto buses and elevators, or into any public places. In the old days, if you were building a barn, the whole town turned out to help. If you saw anyone trying to do anything with any degree of difficulty, you pitched in without a second thought: Nowadays, only the Mennonites do it, and when we hear of it, we say: "My, isn't that quaint!"

When times were tough your door was always open; there was always enough in the pot for one more. Nowadays, the operative words are: "Don't get involved!". . .or. . ."Stay off my turf!"

In the olds days, grandma and grandpa were part of the family. Nowadays, the tendency is to herd the old folks into homes and quarrel over who gets what they leave behind. The old folks cramp our style. Let the government take care of them. I miss quiet streets.. .a sense of adventure. . .people too proud to accept charity without repaying it with the sweat of their brow.. .old-fashioned weddings.. .sleigh rides.. .strangers who smiled and tipped their hats when they passed on the street. The Ampitheatre. . .Osborne Stadium. . .the Olympic... Your money's worth.

John Robertson is host or CBC's 24 Hours

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, FRIDAY. JANUARY 19,1979

Canadiens’ chief fans Expansion Fever

By REYN DAVIS
The president of Montreal Canadiens says anti-expansion forces in the National Hockey League have begun to dwindle.

In a frank and enlightening discussion with members of the Winnipeg media Thursday afternoon Jacques Courtois fanned the flames of hope that Winnipeg will soon have an NHL franchise.

"I don't think there are enough hard-liners anymore to completely stop expansion," he said. Courtois is a member of the NHL's expansion committee.

He visited Edmonton Wednesday on a tour of western cities hopeful of gaining admission to the NHL. "We're closer now than we've ever been," he said. "Right now the NHL is deciding how it will accept expansion applications. Anybody who can meet the standards will be accepted." The Jets' owners plan to apply. The cost is still unfixed but $5-million was mentioned.

Courtois said the issues to be settled involve the NHL Players' Association, the size of the expansion fee, television rights in Canada, NHL rights of players belonging to WHA teams and realignment. Three expansion sub-committees have been formed to settle those matters. He warned WHA teams that aspire to be in the NHL to avoid raiding Cincinnati Stingers and Birmingham Bulls.

"Anybody who does that will find it a lot tougher to reach a settlement for the players involved," said Courtois. Jets' trustee Barry Shenkarow had said that current WHA rosters are non-negotiable.

Courtois agreed. "You can take for granted that we would not take their players away, except in the case of under-age players."

There are 20 players in the WHA whose NHL rights belong to the Canadiens. "Obviously, for us to get them, WHA teams have the right to expect that we would pay some form of compensation. But if they are going to keep them we would expect some considerations, either draft choices or financial."

Marc Tardif of Quebec Nordiques was used as an example. He is clearly the heart of the Nordiques' franchise, but he was once a Catiadien and they continue to hold his NHL rights. "it would be unrealistic for us to say to Quebec, 'Come in, but we'll take Tardif," said Courtois. However, he believes Wayne Gretzky of Edmonton Oilers is a different matter.

"My own reaction is that he shouldn't be allowed to come into the league with Edmonton," he said. "I think he should be put up for grabs." He conceded, however, that the legalities of the situation may dictate otherwise.

The Canadians are owned by Molson's. A competitor, Carlings, owns Quebec Nordiques, only 90 miles away.

"Quebec's a good hockey town," said Courtois. "The fact that the Nordiques are owned by a competitor of ours will be no impediment." He is cool toward the concept of a Canadian division within the NHL. "I don't see any particular merit," he said. "We have found that it's not so much where a team comes from but the competition it gives us."

Courtois was asked if Winnipeg's chances of being included in expansion were improved when the Jets hired John Ferguson, a former Canadien. "Personalities are not a factor," he said. The biggest issue of all appears to be the brewing fight for the Canadian television dollar.

"There are two extremes," said Courtois. "The WHA teams say, 'You have had the Canadian market, now we want a share'. And we're like every business venture in that we don't want to give up our share. It's a major problem but our position is that it's negotiable.

He said the NHL will deal with each team separately. "It doesn't matter to us if it's a 20-, 21- or 22-team league." Applications are expected to be filed in time for the NHL's mid-season meetings, Feb. 8-10 in New York.

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 1979

Hal Sigurdson
SPORTS EDITOR

Four obstacles to be cleared

Jacques Courtois, the courtly president of the Montreal Canadiens, tells us there are four major obstacles to be cleared before a merger — oops, Sorry Jacques, accomodation — between the NHL and WHA can be achieved.

These are: 1, settling up with the NHL Players' Association; 2. Canadian cities reaching agreement on TV rights; 3. player rights; 4. realignment. Number one will be settled only after long nose-to-nose debates with Alan Eagleson, executive director of the players' association, and the NHL governors and WHA trustees are welcome to that job.

NUMBERS TWO AND THREE are tacky problems requiring delicate negotiations, but if the chaps want any help with number four, well, er.. .ahem, may I blushingly offer my assistance. Ever since the WHA came into existence, the NHL has tended to blame it for all its problems and wish earnestly for its early demise. Now there is now doubt the birth of the WHA drove up the price of hired help, but it never has been the NHL's biggest problem.

Now, as always, the NHL's biggest problem is the NHL.

First of all, the league has no competitive balance. If Montreal doesn't win the Stanley Cup, Boston or Philadelphia do. This season no more than three of the 17 teams — Montreal, Boston and New York Islander— have any realistic hope of going all the way.

BUT THE NHL HASN'T BEEN satisfied merely to offer its customers an imbalanced league. It has also divided itself into divisions which make no geographic sense and ignore natural rivalries.

If Courtois is right in saying the problems he described in yesterday's editions can be solved, it will at least afford a merged NHL and WHA the opportunity to create, divisions which are more compact and cheaper. By what logic, for instance, do you lump Montreal and Los Angeles together? In creating the new alignment, the first thing you do is walk into the dressing room of the Colorado Rockies and hand plane tickets to Edmonton to those players worth keeping, thus reducing the number of teams to 20. Then you take a look at a map of North America, examine a few airline and train schedules and split them into four five-team divisions.

FOR INSTANCE:
Division One — Montreal, Quebec City, Boston, New England, Washington.
Division Two — New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Atlanta.
Division Three — Toronto, Detroit, Buffalo, Winnipeg, Minnesota.
Division Four — Edmonton, Vancouver, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Chicago.

The first division continues the long-standing Montreal-Boston rivalry, it also affords a chance for what should be natural Quebec City- Montreal and Boston-New England rivalries to develop. Washington? Well, everyone's got to be somewhere.

DIVISION TWO CONTINUES what is already the NHL's most competitive and only geographically logical division. Pittsburgh is added because it's in the neighborhood and
might be able to get something going with its uppity Pennsylvania bretheren in Philly.

In the third division, Minnesota, Toronto and Buffalo are already in the same division. Toronto,and Detroit used to have good thing going in the days of the old six-team NHL. Winnipeg fits in nicely because all four cities are readily accessible by air. Even Detroit isn't a problem because the Olympia is closer to the airport in Windsor than Detroit International.

DIVISION FOUR IS MOSTLY what's left over, but three of its teams — Vancouver, Chicago and St.
Louis — are already lumped together in the NHL's Sweathog group anyway. Even Edmonton and Los Angeles should add a little class to that trio.

Next let the teams play half their 80-game schedule within their own division. It won't bring parity any closer, but at least it will be less expensive.

Y'r welcome, chaps.

[JETStender]

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7.1979

Hal
Sigurdson
SPORTS EDITOR
NHL back wooing U.S. TV industry

To most of us in this corner of the universe, the forthcoming events in New York are just another international hockey series.. .us vs. them at close to the top level.

When the National Hockey League All-Stars face off against the Soviet Union's hockey elite in the first of a three-game series Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, most of us will watch with interest and dutifully cheer the domestic product. But to the governors of the NHL, the series means more than that. A great deal more.

With its accustomed, modesty, the NHL's publicity department has termed these three exhibitions as the "Series of the .Century." It's nothing of the sort, of course, but oh how the NHL wishes it could make us believe. There are good and logical reasons for this, all of them financial.

Once upon a time the NHL dreamed of becoming a major factor in the all important U.S. television market, a force to rival football and baseball. For a time, the owners had reason to dream. They had a TV contract with CBS whose improving production crew and competent play-by-play announcer, Dan Kelly, had the ratings gradually climbing to a point where the network was nearly breaking even.

Then, as they so frequently do, the governors got greedy. In 1972 they tried to hold up CBS for a big increase. The network finally said nuts and signed a deal with the National Basketball Association instead. In desperation the NHL jumped into bed with NBC. This marriage of convenience shortly produced Peter Puck who promptly convinced every fan more than 12 years old of the merits of taking long, solitary walks during hockey telecasts.

Within two years hockey was off U.S. TV screens. To add insult to injury, CBS was spectacularly successful with its NBA telecasts.

Ever since this traumatic experience, the NHL has been trying to get its games back on the small screen. The best it has been able to do is convince roughly 60 independent stations to carry a telecast it produces itself.

This week's series with the Soviets was supposed to be the vehicle which rekindled the interest of the major U.S. networks. For weeks the league's publicity department has been pumping out hyperbole — that series' of the century slogan, for instance. In addition to the games (the real world championship, the PR men whisper), the league has also scheduled a couple of black-tie dinners and has arranged to have every available celebrity on hold, ready to appear at a moment's notice.

And, of course, everything is scheduled in New York. . .the Big Apple.. .the media centre of the universe. Only it hasn't helped. Despite getting all decked out in fancy plumage and applying expensive perfume in large dollups, the TV networks still haven't asked for a dance.

In Canada we'll see all three games. CBC will carry the Thursday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (1 p.m.) games. CTV will carry the third at 7 p.m. Sunday. The series will even be shown via satellite in Japan, Austria and, naturally, the Soviet Union. But the Canadian or even the international TV market is not what the NHL is aiming at. Instead, it's that lush U.S. money tree — the one which provides every NFL team with more than $5 million in revenue before the turnstiles even open-that the hockey people are eyeing enviously.

But the U.S. networks haven't given the series a tumble. American viewers will see the league's own house production Thursday and Sunday. The only network exposure will come Saturday afternoon on CBS which plans to show a few taped highlights from Thursday's game and a period of live action Saturday, if time permits.

It was the NHL's preoccupation with trying to dazzle U.S. network TV executives which prompted its governors to postpone merger talks with the WHA. Those talks were originally scheduled for this week, but they have now been set back to an as yet unnamed time and place.

"We've been told to expect a decision by early March, but that's all," says Jets general manager John Ferguson. But the NHL's failure to impress the nabobs of U.S. network television has strengthened the WHA's hand.

The old league badly needs the reduced competition and the injection of new capital that would result from an accommodation with the new. Let's hope the WHA realizes that and doesn't pay too much to join forces with a league that right now doesn't have all that much to offer.

[JETStender]

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1979

Says minority group runs NHL
Philly owner raps negative thinkers

By DONALD RAMSEY
Toronto Globe and Mall

TORONTO — An influential owner of a National Hockey League team has charged that the NHL is run by a minority of governors who think negatively and are uninterested in preserving the game.

Ed Snider, chairman of the board of the Philadelphia Flyers and owner of the Spectrum, also said that hockey is a flop as a national sport in the United States but that NHL owners might improve their situation if they gave president John Ziegler the same control afforded commissioner Pete Rozelle of the National Football League.

Snider said the NHL is still operating as it did in the 1940s and has not kept pace with the development of professional sports in North America. "The Owners and the committee setup we have now cannot properly run the league on a day-to-day basis," Snider said. "The owners must give the president the commissioner-type control. "I personally feel that in the last several years we (owners) have taken a sport that is tremendously on the rise in North America and Go Jets Go its progress. I remain tremendously positive about the future of the game but I'm frustrated about where it has been heading.

"When Rozelle took over as commissioner of the NFL the game grew and their thinking is in the 1970s. When Larry O'Brien took over as commissioner of the National Basketball Association that league turned around and is in the 1970s. The NHL, however, is still using the same logic they employed in running the league in the 1940s."

Snider said that whenever the majority of the owners wanted to take such positive steps as expansion or merger with the World Hockey Association they were stopped by a minority. A threequarter majority is necessary for expansion and other similar issues. "Even though the majority wants something to go through they are stopped by a minority," Snider said. "Collectively speaking, we have mostly progressive owners but there are a few negative people in the NHL not interested in the best interests of the league, people who are happy to see teams in trouble financially, people who would prefer to see others go out of business.

"These people think in a distorted, unbusinesslike fashion. They do not think about the betterment of the game or the $20 million a year we suffer in losses. They are thinking more about destroying individuals. If I was involved in anything like this on a social basis I would get out."

Ziegler said NHL clubs collectively have lost more money than they have made in recent years and there might be a negative element within the league. "Fortunately it's small pockets of negative approaches to problems and problem solving," Ziegler said. "For the most part everyone is working for the good of the league.

"From an operational standpoint two years ago our losses might have exceeded our profits on a collective basis but that's getting better. "Ed Snider, who has done one hell of a job with his own product, often doesn't have the patience to deal with the confederation or trade association and loses patience when things don't get done."

Snider said he was shot down in 1972 after peeling with WHA officials and loosely structuring an expansion plan lo absorb 11 WHA teams, which would have payed the NHL $4-million each fur the right to play in their own division for five years, joining th NHL in a balanced schedule in 1976.

Snider, part owner of the NFL Philadelphia Eagles in the 1960s, structured his expansion formula along the lines of the one used by the NFL in their absorption of the old American Football League.

"I met with the WHA because 1 don't believe in fighting another league," Snider said. "A group of the governors tried to embarrass us and all the detractors said the WHA wouldn't last until Christmas, then said it wouldn't finish the year. It's still with us, isn't it?

"At the time we had a nice little television package with CBS and adding the WHA would have given us a solid geographical base around North America, a base in Houston and San Diego that would have encouraged CBS to continue. Losing that CBS contract ruined our reputation and it should never have happened.

"In my opinion, not taking the WHA at the time cost us hundreds of millions of dollars. Included in that figure we would not have had the various losses, we would not have all the astronomical salaries."

In hopes of getting another network contract the NHL persuaded CBS to telecast the third period of last Saturday's second game of the Challenge Cup series between the NHL all-stars and the Soviet national team across the U.S. Because of the board advertising in Madison Square Garden, CBS did not want to upset its own sponsors and telecast the event from inferior angles.

"It turned into a monstrosity which turned into the biggest disgrace in hockey history," said Snider. "Fans in Philadelphia were blacked out of Saturday's game after watching Thursday's because of CBS. And when you weighed the benefits of a national telecast of one period you have lo assess NHL participation as a bad business decision.

Irving Grundman, executive vice-president of the Montreal Canadiens, said that many things had to be sorted out internally to put the league back on its right rack. "I found out that the longer you slay in this business the shorter your patience becomes," Grundman said. "Ed is probably a little tired of it all."