Wall Street/Canada combine to make 3.5 Billion dollar offer for ENTIRE NHL??

[SirFozzie]

Huh Wha? Interesting that the average team would only be worth $100-$115 million.


TORONTO -- A Wall Street buyout firm and a sports advisory company reportedly made a joint proposal to buy all 30 NHL teams for as much as $3.5 billion.

Bain Capital Partners LLC and Game Plan International, both based in Boston, made the offer in a 30-minute presentation to NHL owners on Tuesday in New York, sources told the Toronto Star. The companies were invited to make their pitch by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

Bain managing partner Steven Pagliuca, co-owner of the NBA's Boston Celtics, and Game Plan, which recently acted as an adviser on the sale of the Ottawa Senators, are betting that many NHL owners would welcome the chance to get out of the hockey business.

The NHL, which because of its ongoing player lockout recently became the first major North American pro sports league to cancel an entire season, has said its teams have lost a collective $500 million over the past two seasons.

It's unclear if team owners, especially those in large markets such as Toronto, Boston and New York, would accept the offer. Maple Leafs officials declined comment, as did a Game Plan spokesman.

NHL executive vice president Bill Daly was cautious in describing the level of interest the proposal received from the governors.

"I'm not going to characterize it," Daly told the Globe and Mail. "I would imagine different clubs had different feelings. The board listened to a presentation and that's about it."

Daly said the league was compelled to listen based on the significance of the offer.

"When someone's offering over $3 billion, we felt we had an obligation to the board to have them, at least, hear it from the proposed purchaser," Daly added.

The purchase would not be dependent on the NHL reaching agreement with the players on a collective bargaining deal, and a sale would not affect the status of the NHL Players' Association as the bargaining agent for players under U.S. and Canadian labor laws.

According to Bain and Game Plan, the sale would bolster the league's revenue because all of the teams would work together to generate more local television, sponsorship and revenue instead of competing against one another. The consortium told the NHL owners it had arranged for a large Canadian-based financier to join its efforts.

[HomerJSimpson]

Genius. Hope it happens.

[Ksyrup]

Would the league then work like (at least as I understand it) the US soccer league works(ed?), where all teams are owned by one entity and all players contract with that entity? How DOES that work, anyway, as far as assigning players to teams?

Would they hire Isaiah Thomas to run the league?

There's no way teams that are worth way more than the average and/or who actually want to keep their teams, would agree to this. I wonder what the league's voting requirements are in a situation like this - unanimous, 75%, or something else? If unanimous, I'd be stunned if it was approved.

[HomerJSimpson]

Would the league then work like (at least as I understand it) the US soccer league works(ed?), where all teams are owned by one entity and all players contract with that entity? How DOES that work, anyway, as far as assigning players to teams?

Would they hire Isaiah Thomas to run the league?

There's no way teams that are worth way more than the average and/or who actually want to keep their teams, would agree to this. I wonder what the league's voting requirements are in a situation like this - unanimous, 75%, or something else? If unanimous, I'd be stunned if it was approved.

I don't know how they'll set it up, but it would be interesting to see. Also, I wonder how many teams they'll contract, move back to Canada, etc.

[ScottVib]

Hmm.. I wonder if this offer strengthen's or hurts the owners case. On one hand the players can say, see your teams are worth 115 Million... on the other hand 115 Million isn't a lot, especially when you consider that Ted Leonsis' group purchased the Capitals in a deal valued at approximately 200 Million in 1999.

[Blackadar]

Interesting, but I can't imagine the Bruins, the Rangers, the Red Wings, the Avalanche or a few others selling their teams for 115m. Seems they'd be worth a whole lot more...

[ScottVib]

Additionally if you look back to the year 2000... ESPN claimed that the value of the average NHL team was 150 million... so this deal implies that the average NHL team has lost 35 million of it's value in the last 5 years.

[Bomber]

NHL Team Value according to Forbes (as of 11/2004):

Rank Team Current Value1 ($mil)
1 New York Rangers 282
2 Toronto Maple Leafs 280
3 Philadelphia Flyers 264
4 Dallas Stars 259
5 Detroit Red Wings 248
6 Colorado Avalanche 246
7 Boston Bruins 236
8 Montreal Canadiens 195
9 Los Angeles Kings 193
10 Chicago Blackhawks 178
11 Minnesota Wild 163
12 New York Islanders 160
13 Tampa Bay Lightning 150
14 San Jose Sharks 149
15 Vancouver Canucks 148
16 St Louis Blues 140
17 Columbus Blue Jackets 139
18 Phoenix Coyotes 136
19 Ottawa Senators 125
20 New Jersey Devils 124
21 Florida Panthers 121
22 Calgary Flames 116
23 Washington Capitals 115
24 Nashville Predators 111
25 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 108
26 Atlanta Thrashers 106
27 Edmonton Oilers 104
28 Buffalo Sabres 103
29 Pittsburgh Penguins 101
30 Carolina Hurricanes 100

http://www.forbes.com/lists/results.jhtml?passListId=31&passYear=2004&passListType=Misc&searchParameter1=unset&searchParameter2=unset&resultsStart=1&resultsHowMany=25&resultsSortProperties=-numberfield2%2C%2Bnumberfield1&resultsSortCategoryName=Current+Value&category1=category&category2=category&passKeyword=

[HomerJSimpson]

Additionally if you look back to the year 2000... ESPN claimed that the value of the average NHL team was 150 million... so this deal implies that the average NHL team has lost 35 million of it's value in the last 5 years.


I would say that is true. They have lost major value the second this strike started, and even more when they cancelled the season. Also, didn't they have a much better TV deal 5 years ago? And now isn't there talk ESPN will pull out of their part of the deal? These guys are trying to buy in a buyers market. No doubt about that.

[Ksyrup]

Quck math (assuming no errors), and I get an average value of $160M based on the Forbes numbers.

[gottimd]

So that would make all the teams combined worth $4.932B and they are offering $3.5B.

[HomerJSimpson]

Interesting, but I can't imagine the Bruins, the Rangers, the Red Wings, the Avalanche or a few others selling their teams for 115m. Seems they'd be worth a whole lot more...

This article says nothing about how the money will be broken down. I imagine that it will be based on team value, and not evenly.

Another possibility is that they have every intention of allowing certain owners to retain a portion of their ownership. So, it maybe the owner of the larger clubs are actually going to become partners in this venture.

[Ksyrup]

See what happens when there's no NHL?



STOCKHOLM, Sweden - A special prosecutor said Thursday she will reopen an investigation involving two Florida Panthers and another Swedish NHL player, saying they may have sexually exploited a 22-year-old woman in their hotel room last month. None of the players have been charged with any crime.

Panthers Kristian Huselius, 26, and Andreas Lilja, 27, and Henrik Tallinder, 26, of the Buffalo Sabres, admitted having sex with the woman at their hotel in the week leading up to the Sweden Hockey Games, but denied her claims that it wasn't consensual. The three were playing in Europe because of the NHL lockout.

Police dropped their investigation on Feb. 11, a day after questioning the players, because prosecutors in Stockholm said there was not enough evidence to press charges.

But chief prosecutor Birgit Thunved, head of a new special unit which oversees violent crimes and sex crimes, said police dismissed the case too quickly.

"I think they moved a little too fast, I think they should have done a little more," Thunved said. However, she added that the players are not suspected of rape, but sexual exploitation, which is a lesser form of sex crime under Swedish law.

"There's no evidence of any violence, so I don't think the rape suspicion holds up," she said.

Thunved also criticized investigators for only questioning the woman once, and not giving her adequate counsel.

The woman has since told Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet that she agreed to follow the players to the hotel room, after meeting them in a downtown Stockholm bar. But she said she blacked out and doesn't remember anything else from the night, other than waking up from the players having sex with her.

The trio left the country's national team squad after being questioned by police, and Huselius and Tallinder were kicked off their Swedish club Linkoping, where they were playing during the lockout. The two have since joined teams in the Swiss league. Lilja was suspended by Mora for the rest of the season.

The scandal has created an uproar in Swedish media, and cast a black eye on Sweden's hockey team, which has long been one of the country's most beloved.

Huselius had the best points-per-game average in the Swedish league with 14 goals and 35 assists in 34 games. He has played 55 games for Sweden, scoring 20 goals. He's a two-time Swedish champion with Farjestad, and won bronze medals for Sweden at the 2001 and 2002 worlds.

Lilja has three goals and eight assists in 44 games for Mora this season. He's played 11 games for Sweden, scoring three goals.

Tallinder has six goals and 10 assists in 44 games. He's played 17 games for Sweden.

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[Draft Dodger]

you think Peter Worrell was involved instead?

[Maple Leafs]

you think Peter Worrell was involved instead?
Brilliant!

[Ksyrup]

you think Peter Worrell was involved instead?
"There's no evidence of any violence..."

Nope.

[HomerJSimpson]

Hey, Riz. You having fun figuring out what the financial model for the NHL is going to look like in your next game? I'm feeling for you, man.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I find this concept to be one of the worst ever. Isn't this the way the MSL works? There isn't much that would turn me off the league, but this would certainly go a long way in doing so. There's just something wrong with the idea of one entity controlling all the teams of a competitive league. Not good. Not good at all...

[HomerJSimpson]

I find this concept to be one of the worst ever. Isn't this the way the MSL works? There isn't much that would turn me off the league, but this would certainly go a long way in doing so. There's just something wrong with the idea of one entity controlling all the teams of a competitive league. Not good. Not good at all...


Totally depends on implementation. We know so little of this plan that we cannot know how it is going to work. My guess is that they might be buying to straighten things out with the league, add value to the purchase, and then sell again. Or they might be buying to sell back shares for team owner control and slowly de-centralize the league. There is just too much we do not know to say this is bad. Actually, I would think any change right now would be good.

[Ksyrup]

Maybe they've decided to implement the Montreal Expos experiment on a league-wide basis - buy the teams at a discount rate and sell them again, individually, for 3 times as much.

[kcchief19]

Maybe they've decided to implement the Montreal Expos experiment on a league-wide basis - buy the teams at a discount rate and sell them again, individually, for 3 times as much. As long as this leads to the Canadiens playing half their games in Puerto Rico, how can this fail?

[Ksyrup]

As long as this leads to the Canadiens playing half their games in Puerto Rico, how can this fail?
Maybe they can borrow Jerry Jones to play the part of Peter Angelos.

[albionmoonlight]

So that would make all the teams combined worth $4.932B and they are offering $3.5B.
It is probably a lowball offer designed to play on the fears of some owners that the NHL may just go away and then their teams will be worth nothing.

I know that if I owned an NHL team right now, I would be tempted to just take $100 million and run. There are a lot more stable places to invest your money right now than an NHL franchise.

[bbor]

Damn!....I left my cheque book at home.Oh well..I'll have to buy the NHL some other day.

[riz]

Hey, Riz. You having fun figuring out what the financial model for the NHL is going to look like in your next game? I'm feeling for you, man.

Well...considering the NHL needs to approve their assets in the game and the latest official financial models were already coded last time around....then yes. Since all this means I can concentrate on other areas.

But I will probably have a few sleepless nights once they come back with a new system for the league...whenever that will be.

[Young Drachma]

this is interesting

[SackAttack]

I'm curious, if a new entity were to buy the teams en masse like that, would they be obligated to continue the collective bargaining process, or could they simply institute new rules and just open the league up to anybody who wants to try out?

[Desnudo]

I'm curious, if a new entity were to buy the teams en masse like that, would they be obligated to continue the collective bargaining process, or could they simply institute new rules and just open the league up to anybody who wants to try out?

If I was running things, I'd relocate all the teams to right-to-work states and crush the union.

[Franklinnoble]

Riiiight.

This will happen. Right after they buy the Brooklyn Bridge.

:rolleyes:

[gottimd]

Oh my god, They are buying the Brooklyn Bridge too!

[Desnudo]

Riiiight.

This will happen. Right after they buy the Brooklyn Bridge.

:rolleyes:

I didn't say them, I said me. I just need to come up with the money.