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Post by JETStender on Jan 13, 2009 1:39:50 GMT -5
Dec 28 1975
Soviets Eye Hockey Title
NEW YORK (AP) — Taking what could be the first step toward a true world championship of hockey, the Soviet Army's team visits the 'New York Rangers tonight to kick off an eight-game tour of National Hockey League cities and teams.
The Soviet Army will play the Rangers, Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers during its two-week excursion to North America, while the lesser Russian squad—Wings of the Soviet— will encounter the 'Pittsburgh Penguins, Buffalo "Sabres, Chicago Black Hawks and New York Islanders on its sojourn.
"This series presents a new potential for hockey internationally," said NHL President Clarence Campbell. "We hope this new development is the forerunner to international competition' on a continuing basis." However, officials for both "organizations have agreed to see how the series goes before discussing any possibility of NHL expansion overseas '"or further international play 'of any kind.
For the Rangers, though, the wait has ended. Only .two of their number, center Phil Esposito and right wing Rod Gilbert, have played against the vastly different, disciplined game presented by the Soviets—in the 1972 Team Canada encounter when the Canadians won four and tied one of the eight games. And to a man, from Coach Ron Stewart to goalie John Davidson, there is a wait-and- see attitude about a Russian crew which last ventured here in 1974 to win four and tie three of an eight-game series against a World Hockey Association all-star team.
Esposito is certain of one thing, however: neither of the visiting clubs will be underestimated as the Russians were before the Team Canada '72 series.“Before that series, we had some scouts tell us that (Army goalie Vladislav) Tretiak couldn't stop a puck—which was a lie; that the Russians couldn't shoot—which was another lie; and that the Russians couldn't skate—which was absolute nonsense," recalled Esposito. "That series not only opened my eyes but those of a lot of people across the United States and Canada."
There will be countless eyes focused on this undertaking, which will mark the first time Soviet visitors have played full NHL teams. Although there has been considerable difficulty lining up a network telecast of the Army-Flyers game on Jan. 11— considered by both sides the key test because it pits the 1974-75 champion Russian squad against the Stanley Cup champion—there will be considerable broadcast coverage across Canada and Russia.
Ticket sales have not been overwhelming. The NHL is paying all of the Soviets' expenses for their trip to North America, plus $25,000 for earh game. All remaining revenues go lo the NHL and the NHL Player's Association pension fund. "They're coming over for the money as much as anything else." said Brian O'Neill. NHL director of administration, who added that the games will be played under NHL rules and officiated by two Russian and four NHL referees, along with five NHL linesmen. The Soviet jurists will alternate as referees and linesmen.
Each visiting squad will be augmented by members of a third Russianteam, Spartak. That team's top player, superstar forward Aleksandr Yakushev, and his unit will be assigned to the Wings. "That's just as well as far as I'm concerned," said Esposito. Te Rangers will face Red Army and so the New York captain, who singled out Yakushev as his top opponent in the '72 adventure, will not see him this time. Thus begins a clash of hockey styles: the individually- oriented, sometimes fragmented NHL game against the selfless, community-directed attack of the Soviets.
A major difference is that the NHL often changes its forward lines and defense pairs at separate times while the Russians play in five-man units. This strategy has been derived from a number of circumstances. One reason is that there are fewer than a half-dozen indoor rinks for all of Russia's hockey players. As a result, off-ice training is as strenuous as on-ice work, with strategy fr.om soccer, basketball and volleyball incorporated into the Soviet game plan.
An example is the Army's top unit of team Captain Boris Mikhailov with linemates Valeri Kharlamov and Vladimir Petrov and defensemen Vladimir Lutchenko and Aleksandr Gusev. Lutchenko is regarded as the best body checker in Soviet hockey. Tretiak, who will tend goal for the Army, is considered Russia's best. When he tried out for the team, Tretiak dreamed of being a forward. But, as the story goes, only the goalie's uniform was available. He has been goalie ever since, and now has five world and five Soviet championships to his credit.
"What we are going to see in this series is one of the most disciplined and talented hockey teams ever," said Flyers center Bobby Clarke. His point about discipline was confirmed, when, less than a day after arriving in Montreal from Moscow the Russian teams turned down an NHL planned tour of the Laurentian Mountains so they could practice.
In cese there is any doubt about the intensity of Soviet workouts, here is one of their drills: A defenseman, standing on his own goal line, must send a hard pass to a forward line 60 feet away at the blue line. He then must be the defenseman against the rush he has just begun.
Esposito is aware of that, and he's aware that the Rangers are guinea pigs, so to speak, since they are playing the first game. "If we lose it," he says, "it's not going to be the end of the world for me. We've got 45-50 regular season games to go and a playoff spot to win. Unfortunately, we only have one chance against the Army and they have three more chances. "It's an exhibition series that's darned good for hockey. But let's not get carried away."
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Post by JETStender on Jan 13, 2009 1:40:07 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31.1975
Keeping Arena Recommended
A recommendation to keep the city-downed W i n n i p e g arena and stadium sports complex was approved Tuesday by civic executive policy committee and referred to civic finance committee. The motion not to recommend the sale was made by c i v i c finance committee chairman Councillor C. John Gee (Independent Citizens Election Committee — St. Boniface).
Even if council doesn't approve paying for the proposed $11 million seating expansion, Coun. Gee said he w o u l d oppose selling the sports complex. "The facilities are not costing us a dime to own and they're making us money," he said. His motion passed on a 6 to 3 vote. Those in favor were councillors Go Jets Go Wankling (ICEC - Fort Garry), Pearl McGonigal (ICEC — St. Jamcs-Assiniboia), Bernie Wolfe (ICEC — Transcona), Ken Galanchuk (ICEC — Lord Selkirk), Norm Stapon (ICEC — East Kildonan), and Gee. Opposed were councillors Gerry Mercier (ICEC — Fort Garry). Bill Norrie (ICEC — Fort Rouge) and AI Ducnarme (ICEC - St. Bonilacc).
The committee, including its chairman, Mayor Steve Juba, debated half an hour over a letter from the mayor on w h e t h e r private enterprise is interested in buying the complex. The mayor recommended two alternatives to policy committee: selling- the complex by public tender, with details, terms and conditions subject to council approval; or charging the cost of the proposed expansion in the 1976 city capital budget.' "A number of prominent individuals whom I consider to have the financial capability" to buy were contacted,
Mayor Juba wrote. "There is a definite indication" a local business consortium could be assembled to make the purchase, he wrote. All those contacted wanted more information on price, terms, and conditions, but the mayor told them he was just making an "exploratory" inquiry and expected council to determine the sale question early in the new year.
"The need for the expansion facilities has been established," Mayor Juba wrote. "If the city is to maintain the caliber of professional sport and enjoy the economic benefits there from, unnecessary delays in deciding this question should be avoided." Coun. Norrie said the third alternative to sale or expansion is simply to leave the complex as it is. He said that to put the issue of selling the complex before council would just "smokescreen" the expansion issue.
But Mayor Juba disagreed, and Coun. Mercier said the sale issue should be decided, b e c a u s e any prospective owner would have to consider the scaling expansion proposal if the Winnipeg Jets hockey club and Blue Bombers football club are to remain viable in the city. The latest assessed value of the complex was between $12 million and $15 million, Coun. Galanchuk said. If expansion was a condition of the sale, the purchaser would have to have $24 million, he said. Coun. Gee said that the committee had no information on which to base a sate decision.
Finance committee will consider it next Tuesday, but Coun. Norrie predicted that there is no way the issues of sale and expansion can be resolved before the 1976 capital budget is approved. Winnipeg Enterprises Corporation, the non-profit body which manages the complex, proposed Dec. 9 that the city invest $11 million in about 5,000 more scats in the arena and 6,000 in the stadium. The Jets and Bombers had been pressing for such expansion for two years, corporation chairman Allan Finnbogason said, and have indicated they need it to remain financially viable.
An 18 per cent inflation factor, based on construction from 1975 to 1977, was built into the cost estimate, Mr. Finnbogason said. The city's civic properties division engaged Bird Construction Ltd. to do the cost analysis. Mr. Finnbogason said a much more expensive cost analysis was required for the arena proposal than for the stadium, since the stadium expansion s i m p l y involves "mirroring" on the east –the 1972 west side expansion.
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Post by JETStender on Jan 13, 2009 1:40:33 GMT -5
Stay tuned for 1976.............
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Post by JETStender on Jan 13, 2009 19:05:16 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 1976
Pros not talking
TORONTO (CP) _ Hockey's two major leagues refused to comment Wednesday on reports that 17 of 32 clubs that comprise the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association are encountering financial difficulties.
NHL president Clarence Campbell said in Montreal he wasn't going to comment on conjecture. "The Globe and Mail doesn't know what it's talking about." The morning newspaper said in an unattributed story Wednesday that seven of the' 18 NHL teams will be operating in the red by the end of the season, including Detroit Red Wings, one of six teams that made up the league before expansion in 1967 doubled its membership.
The newspaper suggested NHL team losses will total $4.4 million. It further said that 10 of the 14 WHA teams will run up losses totaling $7.25 million this season. Toronto Toros, alone, were expected to lose about $2 million on their operations unless attendance at home games picks up. The Toros, who have been averaging about 6,600 at home, must average 10,000 to break even.
Neither Ben Hatskin, the WHA's chief executive, nor Bud Poilc, vice-president in charge of hockey operations, was available for comment. They both are in California, apparently to check further with the San Diego Mariner franchise which the Toronto newspaper says will lose $1 million this year.
Minnesota Fighting Saints, who failed to meet their semimonthly payroll Wednesday, are surviving at the behest of the players. Team captain Ted Hampson said the players voted to continue playing while team president Wayne Belisle searches for new sources of revenue. A spokesman at the WHA's head office here said he has no idea where tile newspaper got is figures because the only two WHA officials allowed to discuss the subject— Hatskin and Poile—have been traveling since before Christmas.
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Post by JETStender on Jan 13, 2009 19:05:37 GMT -5
FRIDAY, JANUARY 9, 1976
Appealing to the public seems to be an ongoing story for Winnipeg Hockey Club Incorporated, owners of the Jets. The purchase of the World Hockey Association franchise was made possible by people digging deep into their pockets by way of loans and donations exceeding $600,000. City hall" chipped in a further tax dollar loan of $300,000, and later in the year $125,000 was raised in a jetstakes lottery.
At present the corporation is in debt to a total of $2.7 million. This July it has to pay the former Jets franchise owners something in the order of $450,000. So it's back to Mr. and Mrs. Hockey Fans. Next week there's a Las Vegas night in the hopes of raising $50,000 and another lottery is planned for later in the year with an expectancy of a further $200,000. Free Press business writer Mike Ward reports.
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Post by JETStender on Jan 13, 2009 19:06:08 GMT -5
Former owner can repossess if default occurs Jets need extra seats to pay off Hatskin
By MIKE WARD Winnipeg Hockey Club Incorporated, t h e non-profit public funded corporation which owns the Winnipeg Jets, will have to pay a figure approaching $450,000 to the hockey team's former owners this July.
If the corporation defaults then the team's vendors, headed by Ben Hatskin, chief executive officer of the World Hockey Association, will have the option to take back ownership of the Jets. The corporation, which purchased the Jets with a $500,000 down payment November, 1974, is already eight' months behind on its interest payments — a fact not reported at its annual meeting Nov. 5 last year.
What was disclosed at the meeting,' however, was that the corporation had not paid its first annual principal repayment of $257,143 and that this had been, deferred to July 15, 1981. The figure of $1.8 million was the balance outstanding when the corporation took over the club's franchise from Mr. Hatskin and members of the Simkin family who head the BACM land development and construction empire.
So by this July the corporation will owe the current year's principal payment plus 13 months of interest around the $200,000 mark. And from that moment on a special clause in the sales agreement which benefited the corporation will no longer apply. Interest payments will have to be met regularly every month without fail, and principal payments likewise every July 15 to 1981. For two years the club has been protected by an agreement that stipulated should it not achieve a working capital of $400,000 then a principal payment could be deferred and similarly on interest payments if a working capital of $300,000 wasn't reached.
It is this fact, more than any other, which has prompted the corporation to urge city council, to fund a $7 million seating expansion at the Winnipeg Arena. Should the city turn down financial support for an extra 5,000 seats then the chances of the corporation defaulting with its payments are, in the words of one of the corporation's officers, a very grave risk.
Corporation treasurer Bill Shields said this week that he was confident interest and principal payments will be met this July. "We are on target at this point of time," he added. "Where we are concerned is what happens next season, 1976-77, then there will be a grave risk of defaulting should we not get the extra seats."
The Jets thin financial ice is worsened by two other levies imposed on the corporation —. a $150,000 flat r a t e assessment by the World Hockey Association, its equal shave contribution to WHA administration costs and an annual rental fee of $100,000 to the city-owned Winnipeg Enterprises Corporation which operates the arena and stadium.
Last season, the first year of the Jets under new management, ended in tin operating loss for the period of $ 27,740 prior to paying $157,219 interest to the vendors. The balance sheet showed as at May 31, 1975, current assets of $582,880 compared with current liabilities of $351,830. On the plus side, total-revenue rose 47 per cent over the previous year (when Mr. Hatskin was owner), to $2.2 million. Average game attendance rose from 6,470 to 8,558 and this year the corporation hopes to average around 9,000 in the 10,777 seat arena.
Corporation secretary –Art Coulter is anxious to see Mr. Hatskin paid off, but more on a matter of principle than just clearing a debt. "I would like to sec the corporation refinance t h e whole tiling and clear ourselves of what is tantamount to a partnership.”We may do this regardless of what happens about arena expansion. We are having discussions and exploring refinancing with the credit union movement in Manitoba, so that we can remove ourselves completely from involvement with the previous owner.
"I feel there is a conflict of interest. Mr. Hatskin is chairman of the World Hockey Association and has an ongoing financial interest in the Jets. We would feel more comfortable without Mr. Hatskin." Mr. Coulter said the corporation had been looking towards the credit union movement for. support for some time. "It has been said we could go to the bank and get refinancing but I don't think we would get it," said Mr. Coulter. "It really is a surprise to me that the credit union movement has seen this as something which they want to support.
"We have used the movement for all our financing because they have given us the best deal." Mr. Coulter said that one of the best arguments the corporation had for getting more seats at the arena is the extra concessions city ball would collect. "The revenue the city gets from concessions is quite substantial," he said. "If we get the money from council for seat expansion it would certainly not be a total deficit on the city. Because of t h e extra concessions it would he self-financing."
While no figures are available, it is estimated that roughly 55 cents per person is spent during a hockey night. This year some 350,000 people are expected to attend the arena for games.
An alternative to raising money from city hall for the extra seats is to sell the arena and stadium complex, or just the arena alone, to private enterprise which would almost certainly invest in a seat expansion program. Mayor Steve Juba has spent the past few weeks looking for interested buyers and has come up with a few names, including Jim Wright owner of the Assiniboia Downs, and Harold Ballard, owner of the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. One person who is certainly not interested is Mr. Hatskin, who, when he owned the Jets, said more than 'once he would consider buying the arena.
"When we owned the team 1 might have been interested but not now," he said. Mr. Hatskin said that should the corporation default then he would take back the Jets. "If that happened I would certainly not let an asset like that stand still," he added. Until last year Mr. Hatskin was a director of the corporation. He explained that as chairman of the board of the WHA he -had to be impartial and that was the reason he bad ceased to be a founder member director of the corporation.
Mr. Hatskin was president of Sports Centrepoint, the company which owned the Jets. When the corporation took over (lie hockey team franchise it also bought the company's stock but Mr. Hatskin, as part of the agreement, remained a director. "It was then part of the deal that I carry on as a director until the money is paid," he said. Sports Centrepoint at the time of the Jets purchase became a wholly owned subsidiary of Winnipeg Hockey Club Incorporated and franchise repayments made direct to the vendors.
Mr. Hatskin said seat expansion at the arena was essential. "If some people bought the arena — and a lot depends on what they pay for it — it could be made to work.”But the arena would have to be used for more than just hockey. Ice shows and carnivals would have to be part of it, not just hockey." Mr. Ballard said he had received a telephone call from Mayor Juba asking if he was interested in buying the arena. "I told him I was," he said. "But that first I would want to learn more about the financial arrangements, have a look at the arena profit and loss picture, and find out precisely what they have in mind."
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Post by JETStender on Jan 13, 2009 19:06:29 GMT -5
TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1976
NHL gives Blues the green light to shift franchise
PHILADELPHIA The N a t i o n a l Hockey League's board of governors voted unanimously Monday to permit St. Louis Blues to move or be sold if the club c a n n o t reconcile its differences with the city of St. L o u i s , league president C l a r e n c e Campbell announced.
The Blues, who own their 18,000-seat St. Louis Arena home, have become increasingly dissatisfied with what Campbell called "unfavorable treatment in their community," which involves taxation and the fact that city-owned Kiel Auditorium siphons events from the arena by charging much lower rent.
Blues president Sidney Salomon 111 presented to the board a "whole series of things which inhibited his operation," Campbell reported after the meeting produced the first action of such nature in modern hockey history. "What they (the Blues) feel is that they need this backing from the league to put themselves in an acceptable bargaining position," Campbell said.
It was speculated, therefore, that this vote of confidence to Salomon by the league would act as a lever for the Blues: if there is no improvement in the situation, the Blues would take their franchise — a m o n g the league's top-drawing clubs at home — to another unspecified city.
Campbell said no city had been mentioned for such a possible shift, nor had any prospective purchaser been named. Miami is reported to be a site in which the Blues are interested. Campbell would not comment. "The problem isn't the franchise, it's the building," said the league president The Blues are reported to have spent $12 million on the renovation and maintenance of the arena they purchased when the team entered the NHL in 1967.
But one source said that it costs approximately $4,000 per event to rent the arena, while Kiel Auditorium can be obtained for $500 per event. There have been other reports that the Blues wanted the city to air-condition the arena and that there was a further problem involving insufficient parking. The vote was unanimous the first lime out," Campbell said, "Although one club abstained because of a proprietary interest. (CHICAGO)
"I don't know of a cubic foot of building space owned by 'any basketball or football club, but the National Hockey League has 11 buildings for which it is financially responsible. We're experiencing an encroachment by civic authorities who read stories about the high salaries paid players and think we can afford to exist without help."
The St. Louis discussion took up most of the meeting Monday as the league prepared for its 29th annual all-star game. Campbell added that no steps had been taken towards starting the process which would find a successor for the 72-year-old president, who is in his 29th year at the league's helm.
"The biggest thing, other than the St. Louis discussion, was a reaffirmation by both the NHL Players Association and ourselves of the collective bargaining agreement which has not as yet been activated because of several intervening events," said Campbell.
One of them was the settlement of the John Mackey case against football's Kozelle Rule, which affected hockey because there is a similar clause in the standard NHL player contract. The league and players entered into a five-year agreement before
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Post by JETStender on Jan 13, 2009 19:07:08 GMT -5
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY .21, 1976
Rink-stadium seats decision left to council
By RON CAMPBELL Free Press Urban Reporter
A special meeting of city council should decide the fate of the $11 million Winnipeg arena and stadium seating expansion proposal, civic finance committee recommended Tuesday.
Mayor Steve Juba said later he will announce in council when he would call the special meeting and hinted it would be Jan. 28, as finance committee suggested. Committee a l s o recommended to council that the proposed additional 5,000 seats for each of the arena and stadium be financed if approved in the city's '76 capital budget.
The final recommendation was that council be reminded of its policy of limiting 1976 capital borrowing, to approximately $50 million. Committee gave unanimous assent to this three part motion, presented by committee member Councillor Robert Steen (Independent — Midland) after the group spent an hour and a half arguing the expansion issue.
'Winnipeg Enterprises Corporation, a non-profit citizen Councillor body which runs the arena and stadium for the city, proposed the expansion to finance committee Dec.9. Corporation chairman "Allan Finnbogason warned that the future of Winnipeg Jets hockey club and the Blue Bombers football Team was in jeopardy if expansion were not undertaken soon. Argument was tense around finance committee table Tuesday as members argued whether or not the committee should take a stand on expansion.
Committee chairman, Coun. C. John Gee (Independent Citizens Election Committee — St. Boniface), said that under the City of Winnipeg Act, the committee's responsibility was to recommend a method of financing the proposal.
But Coun. Alf Skowron (New Democratic Party — East Kildonan) said that a recommendation on how to finance such a project would be tantamount to recommending that the project itself proceed. Assistant city solicitor Plunkett McCormack ruled that under the act, the committee could say whether the! city can afford the project, but not whether it should be approved. Coun . Florence Pierce (ICEC — St. Vital), angered during the debate, threatened at one point to bolt the ICEC caucus over the expansion issue.
She suggested to Coun. Gee that he had been told by deputy mayor Bernie Wolfe to make sure the matter was not approved for council's consideration. She said she overheard them talking about it at a recent Winnipeg chamber of commerce dinner. Coun Gee said he didn't recall this. If the statement was made, he said, "I certainly didn't take it seriously." She pressed .the matter, saying that Conn. Gee had told another councillor finance committee wouldn't move oil the issue. Coun. Gee replied that, if this were so, then the councillor in question should come forward.
Coun . Pierce exploded. "Maybe he should, because - I'm just about going to leave this sinking ICEC boat that you're all floating in." In an interview later, she had cooled down and declined comment on whether she would quit the ICEC. But she said she was "just thoroughly disgusted." Coun. Gee, meanwhile, denied in an interview that he had made any "back room deals" with Coun. Wolfe or anyone else.
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Post by JETStender on Jan 13, 2009 19:07:14 GMT -5
THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 1976
Special meeting on $11 million plan
A special Winnipeg city council meeting is expected to be called next Wednesday night, to discuss the –controversial $11 million seating expansion' proposal "for 'Winnipeg arena and stadium.
Council passed a motion by Councillor Bob Bockstael (Independent Citizens Election Committee —.St. Boniface) Wednesday a s k i n g Mayor Steve Juba to convene the convene the special meeting special meeting. Actual typo as printed
The mayor earlier had said he personally would not call such a meeting, since expansion could not be considered a priority item at a time when the c i t y ' s transit workers may be on strike. But he said he would carry out a council request for one. He was absent when the vote was taken.
Coun. Bockstael 'also formally asked for .a legal opinion on whether councillors 'sitting on the Winnipeg Enterprises Corporation board, which runs the stadium, and arena, or on the Winnipeg, Jets hockey club board, the: arena's prime tenant; should vote on the expansion issue. Conn. Alan Wade (New, Democratic Party — Centennial) recalled that as a councillor- member of the city's municipal hospitals board, council ruled him ineligible to vote on municipal hospital subjects. The. city legal department upheld the ruling, he said.
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Post by JETStender on Jan 13, 2009 19:07:50 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 1976 No danger, states Cleveland owner
CLEVELAND (AP) — The owner of Cleveland Crusaders says the World Hockey Association club "will finish the season and is in no danger for next year."
J a y Moore, a wealthy Cleveland industrialist who bought the WHA franchise from Nick Mileti last March, said the recent series of late pay cheques which came to light Wednesday has been "simply a matter of cash flow."
The situation came to a crisis Wednesday when the players found the most recent paycheques, issued Tuesday, were not going to be covered by the two Cleveland banks they were written on. This was the payroll originally due Jan. 15. The players threatened not to play their game last,night in Cincinnati, but finally went ahead when a bank official guaranteed the cheques were in the bank.
Moore said the delay in getting up the money came in working with two banks and "trouble getting the right in formation to the right guy. If anyone is to blame, it's probably my fault for not making sure I touched base with everybody."
The Crusaders, an original WHA franchise, are in their fourth season in Cleveland and their second season at the 18,000-seal Coliseum in suburban Richfield Township. After two good years on the ice, the club slipped last season and so did the attendance. This year, with great tilings forecast for the team, the Crusaders stumbled out of the starting blocks and their attendance has been averaging only about 5,800 a game. Moore said he knew when he took over from Mileti, rescuing the original owner of the Crusaders from the only other financial bind in the team's history, there would he red ink for at least a couple of seasons. Moore noted, however, his problems began in December, with the team in a slump, when attendance slipped lower than what had been forecast.
"We simply didn't have enough cash on hand to meet the payrolls on time," Moore said. "1 had to liquidate some assets and it took time. The players understood the situation and agreed to wait." But the players, who kept the matter within the Crusaders' organization for more than a month, came close to rebellion Wednesday when the mixup at the bank occurred. "I told them we would get closer and closer to the payday where we could ultimately be back on schedule," Moore said. "That situation (Wednesday) should not have happened and, so far, the players have been super. They understand the problem. They know we need fans."
Moore said the club needs to average 13,000 spectators a game to break even. "I came into this figuring it would lake us three years to get on our feet financially. I still feel that is within our reach." Moore said his situation is nothing like the problems recently faced by the defunct Ottawa franchise or the financially plagued teams in Minnesota and San Diego. "We have the money to keep going and it is simply a matter of getting the cash flow going," Moore said. He added the players were willing to accept future delay, should any occur, and that "as long as I keep meeting my commitments to them, I think they will work with it." The next paycheques are due Saturday, but Moore has told the players they will receive them when they return from their current road trip next Thursday. -
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Post by JETStender on Jan 13, 2009 19:08:07 GMT -5
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1976
Winnipeg mentioned in one-league merger
TORONTO (CP) — The Globe and Mall says as many as six cities in the World Hockey Association may get National Hockey League teams. The newspaper says that NIIL sources say the financially- troubled Pittsburgh Penguins and California Golden Seals may be shifted to Cleveland and Edmonton, cities said to be in danger of losing their WHA teams.
In addition, if the WHA fails to operate next season, the sources say the NIIL is prepared to look at Cincinnati, Houston, Indianapolis, Winnipeg and Quebec. As many as four of those cities would get expansion teams, the sources say. With proposed expansion to Miami and Denver, that would give the NHL the 24 teams Clarence Campbell projected two years ago.
The newspaper says Cleveland Crusaders, Edmonton Oilers, Minnesota Fighting Saints, San Diego Mariners and Phoenix Roadrunners may have difficulty icing teams next year. The other teams in the WHA this season are New England Whalers and Calgary Cowboys.
Bud Poile, director of operations for the WHA, said someday his league would welcome anything that would benefit the game and give it national scope. "I know Edmonton, Cincinnati, Winnipeg and Cleveland have all been named in such proposals," said Poile. "The other cities are a surprise."
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Post by JETStender on Jan 13, 2009 19:08:20 GMT -5
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1976
Time to sit down and talk., says Hull
EDMONTON (CP) — Hockey's Golden Jet. Bobby Hull, says that after enduring lour years of bickering back and forth, he is getting impatient at the lack of action in merging the National Hockey League and the World Hockey Association. Hull, interviewed Tuesday night after his Winnipeg Jets earned a 4-4 tie with Edmonton Oilers in a WHA game, said a merger is needed now for the good of the game.
'"The best thing that could happen to hockey right now is for everybody to sit down at the same table and say this is good, this is bad,' and to look at the teams hurting the game on the ice and get on with it," he said. "If there isn't a merger soon, then there's no sense in knocking your bead against a brick wall." Asked if he meant that could mean the exit of Bobby Hull from the game, he replied "yes." But, asked to elaborate, he said "no."
Hull said there are WHA franchises which have proven they will draw crowds and some which haven't. The same is true in the NHL. "The two leagues have got to get together, if for no other reason than the people most, important to the game, the fans." he suggested everyone was sick of the bickering and now is the time to do something "constructive." "The time has come for management and players to live peaceably. At one lime it was all one way for the benefit of-management, now it's the other way for the players."
Hull said the players' associations have to get rid of people who are in the game for "a quick buck." "Everybody has to sift out all the deadwood and by that I'm including players, coaches and owners."
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Post by JETStender on Jan 13, 2009 19:08:42 GMT -5
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1976
Attendance goal in sight
By REYN DAVIS Free Press Staff Writer
With 10 home games to go, Winnipeg Jets are enjoying their finest season at the box office. After 30 games - - the three-quarter mark — the Jets have sold 264,784 tickets or -an average of 8,826 per *game.
A pre-season objective of an average attendance of 9,000 is noticeably within reach for three reasons: Their unique, Canadian- European style continues to be as successful as it is entertaining; •The real possibility of a first-place finish in the Canadian Division of the World Hockey Association; and • The imminence of spring when hockey fever is traditionally highest in Winnipeg. Compared to a year ago, total attendance is' up 20,285 or two full houses. The average - sized crowd after 30 games a year ago was 8,150; now it's 8,826, an increase of 676 tickets per game.
A current transit strike is affecting the Jets, like most other businesses. Last week two crowds were below the 8 000 mark, though the visiting teams (Phoenix Road runners and Edmonton Oilers) are historically m o d e s t draws.
A milestone was passed unheralded during Houston Aeros' last visit on Wednesday, .Ian. 14. Sometime that night a fan stepped through the turnstiles and became the one millionth admission in the team's history.
Since their inception, the team has attracted 1,075,543. On the road, an average crowd of 8,902 has seen the Jets over 33 away games to dale. They are most popular in Houston where they average 12,978, followed by Quebec at 10,688. In Winnipeg, the three best draws have been,, in order, Quebec Nordiques (10,253), Houston (10,185) and Minnesota Fighting Saints (10,030).
The Jets have eight road games left to play, including one (March 9lh in Toronto) which was added to their schedule in mid-season as a makeup game following the disbandment of Denver Spurs (Ottawa Civics). Their remaining 10 games on home ice are Wednesday (Cleveland Crusaders), Friday (Edmonton), March 7 (Calgary Cowboys), March 10 (Quebec), March 12 (Quebec), March 14 (San Diego Mariners), March 17 (Calgary), March 24 (Edmonton), March 28 (San Diego) and M a r c h 31 (Toronto Toros).
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Post by JETStender on Jan 13, 2009 19:08:58 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, FEBRUARY 28, 1976
Not easy to retire from NHL presidency
By AL COLLETTI
NEW YORK (CP) — National Hockey League team owners made it pretty clear F r i d a y that they want Clarence Campbell to stay on as president for a while longer.
The NHL board of governors, unable yet to agree on an acceptable format for a new successor, took up the question once more at a meeting. "There was a resolution providing for my continuing in office which was tabled until next month, that's all," Campbell said.
That might mean a variety of things, the 72-year-old president explained. It might mean he will stay in office until a new president is picked, or until his successor is brought into the post gradually. Does that mean the present setup might go on until the annual Juno meetings in Montreal, or into September, or indefinitely? "Of course, yes," Campbell replied.
After 30 years as president, Campbell has told the owners he won't stay on voluntarily. But that doesn't mean he would desert them. So far, the owners won't go along with changes in their power base that Campbell feels are needed to ensure that any new president will be able to hold on to the job. Campbell wanted to change the league's constitution and bylaws that would allow his successor a breaking-period while Campbell himself held some power also during the period of transition. But the owners apparently were not ready to let the league shift to a kind of executive - committee stewardship that Campbell feels is needed for the continuity of the presidency. "You can't have an executive committee of 18 especially when they all have the veto," Campbell said. "It is not possible. "So one of the proposals was to have a restricted committee, an executive committee, with some restrictions on their powers different than the full meeting of the governors would have." While the idea in his judgment was sound, Campbell said the club owners didn't go for it.
"What they decided was that they weren't ready to make that decision, to make any decisions." Campbell noted that under the present constitution, the owners still can go ahead and pick a successor cold and Campbell would be out. B u t the- NHL president noted that not a single name of a potential successor was mentioned at Friday's meeting
The league already has appointed a five-man selection committee to select a candidate. If the new president came in under the existing constitution, "in which case he would have come in cold, my function would end completely," Campbell said. "Not that I want to perpetuate myself, I just think that that kind of cold-water treatment would be a pretty big shock for even the archangel Gabriel."
In other words, you're still the best game in town for the owners? "Well, that's one way of putting it," Campbell said, laughing. "But I didn't say it. You did." In other league business, the finance committee reviewed the situation in Kansas City, where the financially- troubled Scouts are expected to complete their second expansion season. "They asked for consideration first and then they changed their mind," Campbell said. But there's not a chance while he's still in office of the NHL taking over the franchise if it cannot operate next season.
"We've been through that route before," Campbell said, noting that the league lost $11 million operating California Golden Seals before the franchise was sold to Mel Swig last summer. You'd never go that route again? "No, never." But he said the NHL has an emergency fund to help the Scouts complete their season "if it comes to that, which I don't feel it will."
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Post by JETStender on Jan 13, 2009 19:09:16 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1976
Saints granted another reprieve
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Fighting Saints managed another reprieve from bankruptcy late Friday night when the players agreed to be paid on a game-by-game for their scheduled World Hockey Association g a m e s this weekend and those in the future.
A Saints spokesman said team members decided 'at a meeting Friday night to go to Cincinnati for a game tonight and to play Houston at home Sunday night. The spokesman said he did not know how many players had agreed to play.
It was learned that the WHA had formulated a schedule which would have had Houston playing at Cincinnati on Saturday night if the Fighting Saints had folded. A source told The Associated. Press that a list of all Minnesota players and their salaries had been sent to each member team in case a dispersal draft were to he needed.
"The money's been taken care of," said club president Wayne Belisle, adding that team members agreed to he paid on a single game basis. Earlier Friday, it had been reported that Belisle was negotiating with two local investors who had offered to pay $1 million for the team.
However, a Saints spokesman said Friday night he did not know who was involved in negotiations to find a new owner or the team. The earlier report had named prospective purchasers as Donald Began, a St. Paul banker and president of the St. Paul and Suburban Bus Co., and Schoen Production, Inc., Minneapolis. Among players who have pulled out are centre Mike Walton and goalie John Garrett.
TORONTO (CP) — Vancouver Canucks may balk at matching the salary Mike Walton was being paid by Minnesota Fighting Saints until the World Hockey Association team ran out of money.
The $140,000 a year Walton was earning with the Saints is twice what any player with the Canucks is making, Greg Douglas, assistant general manager with the National Hockey League team, said Friday in a telephone interview from Vancouver.
Walton left the Saints along with goaltender John Garrett and centre Paul Holmgren after the club missed its second payroll this week. He must clear the WHA's 72-hour waivers before he can switch to the Canucks, who own his NHL playing rights. Douglas said the earliest Walton could join the Canucks is for Wednesday's game with New York Rangers.
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Post by JETStender on Jan 13, 2009 19:09:43 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, MONDAY, MARCH 1, 1976
Saints no longer in St Paul; status of players unsettled
ST. PAUL, Minn. CAP) — Minnesota Fighting Saints, who held off financial defeat for two months, gave up the ghost Saturday afternoon at Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport.
Fourteen surviving players voted not to play a scheduled game in Cincinnati on Saturday night after being offered money to cover salaries for the Stingers game and for a scheduled game Sunday against Houston Aeros in St. Paul.
"It comes down to this," said general manager Glen Sonmor. "Everything went down the tubes this morning." Title to the World Hockey Association franchise is still held by John (Jock) Irvine of White Bear Lake, Minn. Irvine was in Boston on Saturday, attempting to sell the title to a group headed by Bill Putnam, former president of Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League. P u t n a m and his group would start a new team this fall in Hollywood, Fla., where a 15,900-seat building is being completed to house the team.
The only certain thing coming out of Saturday's events is that St. Paul no longer has a professional hockey team. Status of the players and ownership of the franchise still remain unsettled. Saints' president Wayne Belisle, who made several valiant last-ditch attempts to keep the team in St. Paul, announced he was giving all players their unconditional releases. This gives them free agent status rather than making them subject to a possible WHA draft.
"The players' contracts have been breached," Belislo said. "They have received only two of the last five cheques due to them. The league has no right to control them unless it is willing to come up with their back pay." The league, however, refused to allow the club to fold and issued a statement Saturday afternoon in Toronto saying the franchise' had been temporarily suspended.
Bud Poile, the WHA executive vice - president, announced the league position by reading a statement from Ben Hatskin, the league's thief executive officer, which said negotiations were continuing for the sale of the team.
Another league official said t h e temporary suspension gives the WHA lime to find new owners. If the team had folded there would have been no way of selling the franchise. Saints' coach Harry Neale may have already found a new job. Sonmor said he expected Neale to be coaching the England Whalers of the WHA in their game. Saturday night. But in Hartford, Conn., Ron Ryan, the Whalers general manager, denied reports that the team had hired Neale. Ryan, said in a statement that Don Blackburn "is the coach of the team and will be coaching the team when it plays the Racers." A spokesman for the Whalers said he "had no knowledge" of any long-term plans for a coaching change for the Whalers.
Lawsuit threatened
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)- A lawyer for two Minnesota Fighting Saints players says he will sue the World Hockey Association if his clients arc nut given their releases from the league.
But the l e a g u e itself claimed in a statement in Toronto Saturday afternoon that (he franchise had merely "temporarily suspended" operations, and had not folded. "Take Billy Butters," Hanzel said. "He's a good player and probably would go high in a dispersal draft. But that would mean a team low in the Sunday, however, Ben Hatskin of Winnipeg, chief executive officer of the league, said in a telephone interview from Palm Springs. Calif., a dispersal draft of Saints players will call.
He said the draft will be be conducted by conference held Tuesday or Wednesday. It was not clear which of the Saints would be affected. After the team disbanded, president Wayne Bclislc said the players had been given their unconditional releases. "Their contracts have been breached," he said. "If the league wants to claim them, they'll have to pay their back salaries."
Hatskin said only players not selected in the dispersal draft will be free to make their own deals. However, Keith Hanzel, lawyer for players Bill Butters and Pat Wrstrum, said Sunday he will file suit lo ensure his client's free agent status
standings would draft him, and he could negotiate only with that club. He'd go from a contender to a nobody, with no chance to do anything else."
Hanzel said National Hockey League president Clarence Campbell had told NHL general managers to leave Saints players alone until they had been waived through the WHA. "This is a case of anti-trust violations," Hanzel said. "I'll sue both leagues il I have to." Officials of botli the NHL a n d WHA could not be reached Sunday for comment on Hanzel's charges.
No matter how the fate of the players is handled the league will have lo revise its schedule for the second lime this season. The firsl revision was required when Denver folded. A committee including Bill Slceman of Calgary, Bill Hunter of Edmonton, Howard Baldwin of New England and Bill DeWitt. Jr. of Cincinnati will handle the required changes.
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Post by JETStender on Jan 13, 2009 19:10:39 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 1976
WHA attendance up 85,493
TORONTO (CP) — Attendance at World Hockey Association games reached 3,197,392 during the 21st week of the schedule, an increase of 85,493 over the same period last season, it was announced Monday.
Leading the league in attendance to last Sunday's games are Quebec Nordiques. The club has attracted 296,838 fans for 30 home games for an average of 9,895. New England Whalers have played to 287,501 fans at 31 home games for an average of 9,276. Winnipeg Jets have played 32 games at home with an attendance of 280,605 and an average of 8,769. Houston Aeros have attracted 263,007 at 30 games for an average of 8,767.
New England showed the largest increase over last season— more than 59,000. Houston's attendance increase is more than 55,000 and Indianapolis Racers, who have attracted' 264,571 home fans, have an increase of over 29,000. There have been 425 games played so far this season and the average attendance has been 7,523.
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Post by JETStender on Jan 13, 2009 19:11:07 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 1976
EDMONTON (CP). – The collapse of Minnesota Fighting Saints is expected to be the major topic at a World Hockey Association executive committee meeting which opened here Monday night.
The Saints ended a two month struggle for survival that included three missed payrolls when the players voted not to fly to Cincinnati for a Saturday night game with the Stingers. Minnesota was the second WHA to fold tins season. Denver Spurs went under in January after a move to Ottawa failed to solve their financial problems.
The death of the Saints leaves the WHA with the problems of rearranging the remaining portion of the regular 80-game schedule and possibly the playoffs and dispersing Minnesota players. Committee members are Ben Hatskin of Winnipeg, the WHA' 3 chairman of the board, Bill Sleeman of Calgary Cowboys, Bill DeWitt Jr. of Cincinnati, Bill Hunter of Edmonton Oilers, Harold Baldwin of New England Whalers and WHA legal counsel Telly Mercury. A spokesman said an any statements from the committee meeting are not expected until today.
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Post by JETStender on Jan 13, 2009 19:11:31 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 1976
REYN DAVIS Surely, Ben Hatskin has no intention of surfacing as one of the owners in a Hollywood, Fla., franchise in the World Hockey Association ... Recently I have begun to suspect a yearning on Ben's part to be back in the fight with a club of his own, rather than play the role o£ the impartial bystander behind the two-fisted title of chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the league .. . Undoubtedly, he has access to inside information that could formulate some solid theories on the destiny of major league hockey And that includes recognizing a potential gold mine when he sees one, as may well be the case in Florida where a 16,000-seat facility is being built, close to the mink trade of Miami ... Of course, a the community owned Jets should be unable to meet their next payment in June a ready-made team would be available to the previous owner, who is Hatskin ... * * * Of all the Fighting Saints available in a dispersal draft, the one who interests the Jets most is forward Paul Holmgren, 21, a 6-3, 215-pound American, born and raised only a few blocks from the Civic Centre in St. Paul ... He is presently earning $35,000 and is on first year of a four-year contract .. . The Jets are not the only team interested in Holmgren . . . Philadelphia Flyers would like him and so would Calgary Cowboys, whose aggressive coach and general manager Joe Crozier told Holmgren he would gladly double his salary ... If a dispersal draft is conducted, as expected, the Jets will have last choice because the order will be a reverse of the present standings of all league teams . .. One Saint who would love to come to Winnipeg is Wayne Connolly, a small but clever rightwinger with excellent speed and puck sense . . . But the Jets want someone who shaves with a chain saw.
How long wi*ll t he St. P*au l facility* sit empty? Already two WHA teams are snooping around ... San Diego Mariners and Phoenix Roadrunners are apparently tempted to move back into hockey country . . . Indianapolis Racers have been embarrassed by Minnesota players who decided at one of their meetings on the weekend to ask the league to spare them of the chance of being drafted by Indianapolis ... They have been appalled at the number of players — believed to be 15 — who have been given their outright releases by the Racers who defy them to sue ... I£ one of the Saints should be picked by Indianapolis then they predict it will soon rise to 16 as another is released to make room . .. About 4,000 season-ticket holders in Minnesota were robbed of 10 home games with no apparent recourse.
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Post by JETStender on Jan 13, 2009 19:12:00 GMT -5
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1976
Saints on the loose
By REYN DAVIS Free Press Staff Writer
Between calls from agents Rudy Pilous was trying to locate general manager Glen Sonmor, late of Minnesota Fighting Sainls. But it was a case of being unable to raise either, Wednesday afternoon . . . Sonmor or the money the agents were asking. Sonmor was missing, presumably looking for work. So were his players, all of whom were signed by him at great expense ... so Pilous and Winnipeg Jets have discovered. When the Saints were "temporarily" folded the other day, a list of players and their salaries was quickly dispatched to every team in the World Hockey Association.
The would-be president of a Florida franchise, Bill Putnam, has met with the Minnesota players. One player who has apparently run out of patience is Dave Keon, easily the best of those who remain. "No more Mickey Mouse stuff for me," Keon reportedly said. "I'm going." And he left. Putnam has promised to try to find jobs for ' the players for the, balance of the season ... with, of course,, the understanding that they would become available should the league give him a franchise.
Agents, like unemployment officers , are desperately looking for teams willing to hire their clients. But the Jets are tight. Damn tight. It's not unlike the Jets to offer a player a job for half the money he was making. A case in point is speedy left-winger Rick Morris, now of Edmonton Oilers
Meanwhile, on a saner plane, the Jets were working out early Wednesday morning for the first time since Sunday's horrendous 11-7 loss to Toronto Toros. It marked the first time this season the Jets allowed more than six goals. One a season isn't bad," coach Bobby Kromm said, noting the team had gone 66 games without a bombing. High now, Kromm expects Ulf Nilsson will be back in the lineup Sunday night when a six-day break is ended and the Jets meet Calgary Cowboys in the Arena at 7:30. "But if I have any doubles at all about his health, I certainly won't hesitate to sit him out," said Kromm. "He means too much to us.
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