Give MSG the boot?

[ThePurpleCobra 0]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3452292

[JR Boucicaut 3797]

I hope they do.

LOL

I hate the Dolans.

[Chadd 916]

I think they had good reason for challenging the league. Their website was better than the league template and I believe they were offering some video and other extras that nobody else was/is doing. It's also pretty scary that the league wants to boot them out for not following the party line. That would set a really bad precedent. If the league does something that is going to hurt your business you can either let them do it or try to stop them. Either way you lose. If this does go through, it pretty much ensures that Balsillie won't keep a team for long, if he would manage to get one.

[JR Boucicaut 3797]

Yeah, in all seriousness, their website was always head and shoulders better than any of the league's cookie-cutter sites. But yeah, it's pretty strange that the NHL can come out and say that they would boot them out of the league. It could get ugly.

I just hate the Dolans. I really, really do.

[RadioGaGa 162]

How do they boot out an owner (or ownership group?) Who would take over the team?

[Chadd 916]

How do they boot out an owner (or ownership group?) Who would take over the team?

Not to mention the fact that the people you're booting out own the arena. That could get really ugly.

[mrusse01 0]

So the NHL is going to kick teams out of the league for 'accusing them' of wrong doing? Nice business model. Challenge what we say and we'll throw you out of the club.

[li7039 0]

this is really BS. As a Ranger fan if the Dolans are booted where will we play? The CAA? Really this could hurt more people than just the Rangers if this actually happened.

[JJ Thompson94 0]

I hate the dolans but the league is wrong here. Kick out an ownership group because of a disagreement. Please, atleast the Dolans TRY to put out a winning team on the ice and don't hesitate to spend millions upon millions of dollars to try to win. Why not try to kick out the Jacobs Bruins ownership that only care about making money.

The NHL is a joke and they run this league like a joke. I hope Gary Bettmen gets run over by his Range Rover ( I know, I've see him at Ranger games). I HATE THAT ASSHOLE.

[chef_ducky 0]

I like how everyone started off by saying I hate the Dolans, well you can put me on that list. As mentioned before, don't the Dolans actually own the rink, so as also mentioned before, they would probably take the rink and screw the NHL. I will also agree that the Rangers have the best website in the NHL, but come on, when is Bettman's super hero saga going to end.

How long does he have left on his contract!

[li7039 0]

Was anyone at opening night when jimmy falon held up a picture of Dolan on Garden Vision.

[DarkStar50 679]

Read between the lines, this is about lawyers being lawyers. The NHL will not be getting rid of the Dolans.

[Ultimus 0]

Why don't the Rangers make an unofficial website?

Bettman probably hopes to boot them out and have the league take over then move them to Las Vegas turn around and sell them;-)

His justification to himself would be for growing the sport and NY already has 2 teams anyway.

I believe it said the owners would actually have to vote them out. So MSG isn't going anywhere.

[JJ Thompson94 0]

Does anyone know if it's possible to take a sports team public. Like Stock. Where the fans own the team and there would be shareholder meetings. There would be of course a CEO & President representing the Ownership (fans that own the team) and a GM and Coach and yada yada yada. The CEO & President would make all immidiate ownership decisions, but after every season there would be an ownership meeting to make their opinions known and vote on all everything that needs to be done.

It would be awsome if the Rangers did that, I would totally buy some Rangers. I don't think it would be possible but I think it would awsome. It would give small market teams more money and would give fans a REAL connection to their team. Again, it would be awsome but I don't think it would work well.

[JR Boucicaut 3797]

See the Green Bay Packers. They are the only non-profit, publicly-owned professional franchise in North America.

[chef_ducky 0]

That would be pretty sweet, but i don't think it is possible. I would definately own a bit of the rangers

[JR Boucicaut 3797]

You can -

Buy Cablevision stock.

You see that in Europe a lot - few soccer teams are PLCs. The fans pool together and buy stock in the company, and their voices are heard as they have a seat on the board of directors.

A good example of this is what Manchester United fans did to block Rupert Murdoch's attempt to take over the team. It worked - then when Glazer tried his takeover he failed the first time. However, he then was able to convince the two other major stockholders to sell him their shares. At that point he had enough shares to delist it from the stock exchange (making it a private company) and force the other minor shareholders to sell.

So, if enough NYR fans were to buy stock and form a group, it could happen and have their voices heard and an impact based on the state of the company.

[Chadd 916]

Does anyone know if it's possible to take a sports team public. Like Stock. Where the fans own the team and there would be shareholder meetings. There would be of course a CEO & President representing the Ownership (fans that own the team) and a GM and Coach and yada yada yada. The CEO & President would make all immidiate ownership decisions, but after every season there would be an ownership meeting to make their opinions known and vote on all everything that needs to be done.

It would be awsome if the Rangers did that, I would totally buy some Rangers. I don't think it would be possible but I think it would awsome. It would give small market teams more money and would give fans a REAL connection to their team. Again, it would be awsome but I don't think it would work well.

Doing it the way you describve would be a complete and total disaster. There is already a problem with fans thinking they're more important than they are and having them think their "ownership" is relevant would make things infinately worse.

[Chadd 916]

So, if enough NYR fans were to buy stock and form a group, it could happen and have their voices heard and an impact based on the state of the company.

Even if a Ranger fan club bought shares, every person wouldn't get a say. The people with the most shares (or proxies) in the club would run things the way they want. The very thought of 10,000 people with a couple shares each claiming to be "owners" and wanting to know everything that goes on would be a nightmare.

[Neal 41]

See the Green Bay Packers. They are the only non-profit, publicly-owned professional franchise in North America.

Soon that will be true, but it isn't now. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are publicly owned and non-profit. There is a plan in place for them to be sold to Izzy Asper though. Some might argue that the CFL doesn't have professional franchises, but the players get paid so they are at least semi-pro.

[JR Boucicaut 3797]

So, if enough NYR fans were to buy stock and form a group, it could happen and have their voices heard and an impact based on the state of the company.

Even if a Ranger fan club bought shares, every person wouldn't get a say. The people with the most shares (or proxies) in the club would run things the way they want. The very thought of 10,000 people with a couple shares each claiming to be "owners" and wanting to know everything that goes on would be a nightmare.

They would have to form a group, like what MUFC fans did. The reason why they did it was to prevent a hostile takeover, not act like "owners" of the team. That being said, given how Dolan's running the show, it's not necessarily a bad idea.

[WhiskeyTango19 0]

I'm all for the Dolan's being given the boot. But seriously, is a group of fans "owning" the team the best way to go? I submit that is NOT!

Can you imagine guys like JJ Thompson94 making a phone call, and having a guy like Jagr benched for 3 games, while having the C ripped off his jersey at center ice mid-game?

There has to be a better owner out there than the Dolans.

[JR Boucicaut 3797]

That's what a board of directors is for.

[JJ Thompson94 0]

whiskeytango, first I don't apprieciate the idea that I"d be a bad owner, I think i'd be a great owner, but more importantly... Every "owner" wouldn't have a say in everything. Clearly like I wrote in my first post: The CEO & President would make all immidiate ownership decisions, but after every season there would be an ownership meeting to make their opinions known and vote on all everything that needs to be done. Owners get a small say, but still a say.

I own some stocks, but I don't call Warren Buffett and tell him how to run Birkshire Hathaway. What your saying is someone who buys a few shares of Microsoft and then demands to create the version of Windows.

As an owner my imaginary ownership group there would be a very small amount of very expensive shares. No more than a 1000. there would be a limit to the number of shares any one person can own. "owners" would have season tickets of course in the "Owner seats" with some sort of small perks. The "owners" would hire a President & CEO who would hire a GM and so on. Think of it like a democracy, the owners pick the president, who then can do anything he wants as an owner, for say 5 years and everytime gets elected. With 2/3 vote of the owners he could be kicked out. At the end of the year there would be a meeting to discuss what the "owners" want to do and if the President wants to keep his job he'll do as much as he can.

Really what does an owner do for a team other than hire the GM who in turn runs the team. The president would be judged more on how much profit his desicions are making for the owners. I'm sure if majority of the owners don't like the way the team is going they would tell the president to hire a new GM and thats it. The "owners" only power is to hire and fire the president, and the president has full reign. He can hire/fire anyone, authorize trades and make financial desicions without asking the ownership group, however if majority of the ownership doesn't agree, they can fire him.

[WhiskeyTango19 0]

whiskeytango, first I don't apprieciate the idea that I"d be a bad owner, I think i'd be a great owner, but more importantly... Every "owner" wouldn't have a say in everything. Clearly like I wrote in my first post: The CEO & President would make all immidiate ownership decisions, but after every season there would be an ownership meeting to make their opinions known and vote on all everything that needs to be done. Owners get a small say, but still a say.

I apologize. I didn't mean that as a shot directly at you, or your "ownership abilities." I was just using your screen name, and the Jagr incident as an example of what could happen, or what some people might want as an "owner".