The Hartford Whalers Are Going Going ...
The Hartford Whalers are in a very tough situation at this time. When
Peter Karmanos bought the team in May of 1994, he inherited the worst lease agreement at the smallest arena in the NHL. The Hartford Civic
Center lease agreement creates profit for private companies; however, the lease causes the Whalers to lose money. The mall is owned and operated by Aetna; therefore it has nothing to do with the Whalers. The city of Hartford owns the coliseum, parking garage, and exhibition hall. The state of Connecticut pays a
1.6 million dollar annual leasing fee to take control of the coliseum, parking garage, and exhibition hall. The state hired Ogden Entertainment Services to run the coliseum, and Ogden receives all of the revenue from luxury boxes, the coliseum club, advertisements, rental fees and the exhibition hall. The state also hired Kinney Systems to run the parking garage and Service America
Corporation to run the concessions. Both companies receive all revenue from the service they run. After all of this, there is no money left for the Hartford
Whalers (Swift & Arace, 1+).
The reason why these three companies keep all of the revenue from the
Civic Center can be blamed on Richard Gordon, the former owner of the Whalers who did not want the city of Hartford to run the Civic Center. In 1993, the state decided to negotiate a new lease with the Whalers. The state of
Connecticut did not want to run the coliseum so they hired three private companies to take this job. These companies would only run the Civic Center if they could keep all of the revenue from the service they controlled. Richard
Gordon accepted this lease because this agreement would repay him for an additional ten million dollars in loses and he sold the team a year later (Lang
53-69).
The Hartford Whalers is the only major league team in Connecticut and at the Civic Center. They currently have a bad lease which causes them to lose money. The Hartford Whalers play all exhibition, regular season, playoff games, the training camp, and some practice time rent free at the Civic Center.
However, the Whalers get no revenue from concessions, luxury boxes, parking, and the coliseum club. The Whalers get sixty percent of the revenue from advertisements along the boards but no revenue from all other ads around the coliseum (Swift, 1+). The Whalers can leave Hartford after the 1997-98 season if they lose a cumulative thirty million dollars from 1994-95 through 1997-98.
They must also pay a five million dollar penalty to leave Hartford.
The building and naming of Fenway Park goes back to 1912 with the help of John Taylor. Fenway Park was built by a wealthy man named John Taylor. He was the owner of the Boston Braves at the time and needed a ballpark to play in while the Boston Braves' was under construction. He found a small piece of land called "The Fens" at the time and decided it would be perfect, "The new ballpark was constructed for the 1912 season and was named by then Red Sox owner John I. Taylor. He said, 'It's in t...
Shortly before the deadline Larry finally signed with the Boston Celtics for $650,000, making him the highest paid rookie in NBA history. Larry's collegiate rival Earvin 'Magic' Johnson had also entered the NBA with the Los Angeles Lakers. Not only did they fight for the National Championship a year before, but their rookie seasons they were both in the run for Rookie of the Year. Magic may have taken the NCAA title but Larry took the Rookie of the Year award and was voted into the Eastern Conference All- Star team in the 1979- '80 season.
Another good example of the “richest team winning” did not occur to long ago. Just back in 1997 the Florida Marlins spent over sixty million dollars for their roster.(Weiner, 1) They had all-stars like Kevin Brown, Gary Shefeild, and Bobby Bonnila on their team.
The teams owner had forced the players to take a salary cut because of the declining attendance. On average they were paid between three thousand and six thousand dollars. The players involved were first baseman Chick Gandil, Eddie Cicotte, Lefty Williams, “Shoeless Joe Jackson,” Fred McMullen, Swede Risberg, Happy Felsch, and Buck Weaver. (“Bankston, Carl. L”) Joseph Sullivan was a gambler from Boston and Arnold Rothstein was from New York City. Chick Gandil approached Sullivan and offered to t...
Cano left for Seattle because he felt he was not profiting from his services at Yankee Stadium for the Bronx Bombers.
Before Earvin “Magic” Johnson and his group of investors took over the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Dodgers organization was in one of their darkest times. During the time Frank McCourt and his ex-wife, Jamie, the fans appreciation and attendance was at it lowest point since 2000. The attendance for the Dodgers plummeted 17% from the year before. They also lost 200 million dollars that McCourt used to bankroll his lavish lifestyle. During the whole divorce between Frank and Jami, fans were calling for them to leave and sell the team. Before McCourt finally decided to sell the team, fans were playing to boycott McCourt during the season. On the day the fans found out that McCourt was selling the team, fans were joyous with approval on a number of fronts. One fan and lead sports columnist of the Los Angeles Chaves said “Take a hike, Frank. Don’t let Chavez hit you in the Ravine on the way out” (Moore, 2011). The buzz in Los Angeles after the team was sold changed so much after the team was bought. "Now we're here. And now, everyone is wearing caps again," Johnson said. "The jackets. The T-shirts are out. I work out at Gold's [Gym]. I'm there at 5 or 6 in the morning, and everyone is talking about the Dodgers. We want this to be the happening place again. We want people to come out. Well, you can't do that unless you win, and now everyone's coming" (Bryant, 2013).
extra $10,000 if he won 30 games. The offer of this sum of money appealed to Cicotte and he
Stewart, Nikita . Fenty spends more than $1.8 million in two months to fend off Gray. Washington Post, The [serial online]. n.d.:Available from: Regional Business News, Ipswich, MA. Accessed November 12, 2013.
mistake to have committed since Slemmons was not what they expected. In fact, money nearly
From the years 1917 to 1919 the Chicago White Sox were by far the dominant team in baseball. It is speculated that they could have “gone on to become one of the greatest teams in history” (Schwalbe 2). However, despite having the most talented team around, Charles Comiskey paid his players considerably less than any other winning team (Durst 2). Due to the oppression they were under, the player’s morale began to decrease as their need for money increased. They considered going on strike, but were talked out of it by their manager, “Kid” Gleason. They remained desperate until first baseman Chick Gandil met with a notorious gambler named “Sport” Sullivan.
... but with Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews scoring over sixty homers. And Spahn and Burdette getting 42 pitching victories the Yankees still pulled through and won the world series by one game. Sadly Hank Aaron barely missed his opportunity to get the triple crown, leading baseball with 44 home run, and an RBI rating of 130. In a feat of old age that same season Warren Spahn won 23 games at the old age of forty two. As no surprise the team was sold, this time to a millionaire named William Bartholomay. and he had something in his sights, the city of Atlanta, their present home, for a larger television market for the team. He contracted the construction of the new stadium and announced the move to Atlanta, but the city of Milwaukee wasn’t losing them without a fight. They filed several lawsuits to attempt make them stay, but only managed to get them for one more season.
everything he owned. He took refuge in criminal activity, and was sent to prison. His
...o the Reds' media outlet. Schott used the team as a business and only cared about the total profit and not winning. This is seen all the time in baseball and contributes to baseball being more about business then the play on the field.
But he was disappointed by the behaviour and poor attitudes of his players. Then he decided to impose some strict rules on his team members in terms of contract and tell them about his clear expectation from his team like maintain the GPA of (2.3), dress code, attending classes regularly, seat in front bench of the class and respectful behaviour towards your team and Coach because he also call his team members as “Sir”, and he requires them to do the same. Also encourage a team ethic by telling them not to use the “N” word because it’s an insulting word for him. Ken Carter ensures that contract is signed by his t...
So, along came the Jordan Era in the 1980s, 1990s, and the 2000s when Michael Jordan dominated the court offensively and defensively. With being widely known as the great player he was, he received many endorsement deals form widely known brands and companies. LaFeber discussed how Michael Jordan “earned about $25 million… and only $3.8 million came from his Bulls salary” in 1992 (79). The rest of the money he received was from endorsements including, Illinois State Lottery Commissions, Nike, Guy Laroche, McDonald’s, Gatorade, and Bugs Bunny. His success in the global market set him apart from the other earlier commercial triumphs. Products associated with Michael Jordan’s name “conquered the United States and spread across the mass cultures of Europe, Asia, and Latin America, made newly accessible by cable and satellites” (LaFeber 81). American sports reached its all-time high of potential buyers from around the world.