Small Market Teams To Get Help

The NHL extended its subsidy plan for three small-market Canadian teams Tuesday, despite a pending complaint before the National Labor Relations Board that the sport's governors left the union out of the process.

The NHL Players' Association filed its protest in New York to challenge the assistance program for the Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa franchises -- primarily because of restrictions like the one that requires qualifying teams to have a payroll below the league average.

"Frankly, I'm not even sure why they would want us to have to change the plan that's been good through the years for the Canadian small-market clubs, so we're resisting their efforts to have the NLRB take action against it," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said during a postmeeting news conference.

NHLPA director Bob Goodenow said Monday the union has nothing against the revenue-sharing concept but dislikes the attachments.

"I think that's a difference without a distinction," Bettman said Tuesday. "If they're seeking to prevent the operation of the plan, then they're against it."

The Board of Governors adjourned without finalizing a proposal that the six Canadian teams stage a preseason tournament among themselves. The governors of the six hoped to strike a deal before the full board meeting, but Toronto president Ken Dryden said it might take another week to work out television coverage and other details.

"Whether it's (TV for) all the games or fewer than all the games, we should know maybe by the end of the week or soon thereafter," Dryden said. "It's all in the sense of trying to create something that has the feeling of a tournament."

Since each NHL team can play only nine exhibition games, the Canadian clubs won't be able to play each other in home-and-home series. The most likely format would be home-and-home for teams against their conference foes, then one game against each team from the other conference.

The Coyotes, a small-market team before moving from Winnipeg in 1996, have been unable to capitalize on the wealth of Phoenix because they play in the America West Arena, designed and built for the Phoenix Suns.

About 4,300 of the 16,200 seats for hockey have only a partial view of the playing surface, and the Coyotes have lost an average of $4 million a season as the second tenant.

The NHL can't award an All-Star Game to Phoenix until the Coyotes have their own arena, Bettman said.

"America West is a terrific arena, but not for hockey," Bettman said. "Fans of the Coyotes deserve sight lines and amenities appropriate for an NHL arena in this day and age."

The Scottsdale City Council may vote next week to form a stadium district that would allow the Coyotes and a redeveloper to recapture sales tax generated at the site. Team officials said there would be no tax increase, a touchy subject in an area where $253 million in public money was recently spent on the Arizona Diamondbacks' ballpark.

The proposed $140 million arena would revitalize a slumping mall, unusual in Phoenix's richest suburb, and could enhance, not hurt, nearby neighborhoods, Bettman said.

"Everything that's being suggested in the plan is a plus for the community," he said. "There'll be a state-of-the-art entertainment center, 14-screen movie theater, restaurants, retail. The arena won't be much bigger in terms of its footprint than a Wal-Mart or Home Depot, buried in the ground so it's no more than 10 feet taller than the Broadway store."

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