Just three seasons after the strike that killed hockey for two years, the National Hockey League is back at it again. This time the NHL is loading the gun and spinning the chamber with the New York Rangers. More specifically, the league is in an argument with the Madison Square Garden, L.P. (MSG).
The battle is over whether the Rangers need to include their Web site in the NHL.com. The Rangers are arguing that they will lose money, while the NHL is arguing that according to the contract with the league and collective bargaining, the team has no choice. Both sides have filed suits and the consequences are pretty dire.
The NHL is threatening to terminate of suspend the MSG ownership of the Rangers. This next part is why team owners like to own their team’s home. In this case MSG owns
So if this were to go all the way to court and the NHL were to be given the right, the Rangers would need to find an owner fast or be managed by the NHL (scary, I know) and have to find a new place to call home.
Even Islander fans cannot think this is a good idea. Sure they would be playing as the only team in
Let’s face it. Hockey is entertainment, although many of us would like to make it a minor religion. Ruining the Rangers would be like trying to replace Jerry Seinfeld in Seinfeld. It would just not work. Thursday night comedy on NBC would have been changed forever and so would the NHL.
The Penguins already had a close call with bankruptcy (I know not an original six team, but still a widely regarded one) and the Blackhawks have been slowly eroding the support for hockey in
The NBA held on for years while the Spurs were the best team, but it was not until the Lakers and the Celtics made it back to the finals that many people started caring about basketball past March.
I guess the league is trying to gauge the breaking point for fans again. Thank goodness that worked so well four years ago.
