Sporting Fools
Sporting Fools
Sporting Fools

Sporting Fools

The frequent and occasional humorous musings behind two of the World's greatest underappreciated sports minds.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Bettman Has New Competition...

Former NYC mayor Rudy Guiliani is sick and tired of the NHL lockout and has joined forces with Canadian politician Maurice Strong to investigate the possibilities of starting a new league.
According to a 71-page business plan reviewed by the newspaper and circulated to prospective Wall Street investors, the new league - tentatively called the International Hockey Association - would rely on Giuliani’s New York consulting company to help raise as much as $5 billion in seed money.

Giuliani became known as “America’s Mayor” after he held New York together in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

NHL Players Association senior director Ted Saskin has confirmed that several groups have approached the union proposing alternative options.

“Most of these groups have made these proposals on a confidential basis and the NHLPA will not be commenting on them,” Saskin told the Toronto Star. “Our primary focus has always been to reach an agreement with the NHL on a new CBA.”

This is interesting because without any TV money the NHL is worth less than the MLS. Guiliani used his celebrity from 9/11 to get into a lot of baseball games for free and he's a good friend of George Steinbrenner, who would also invest in this project as an owner and with his YES network.

I don't think anything will come of it but the NHL is extremely vulnerable right now and if the right person with the right idea comes along, the league's chance of survival drops considerably.


Guiliani Eyes New Hockey Organization [Sportsticker]

Posted by TPrincess 3:44 PM ||
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