For an interesting discussion, I give you this story and this related story. Madison Square Garden (owner of the NHL’s NY Rangers) has sued the parent league, the NHL. This is interesting as hell to me, and has a great deal of significance to hockey fans everywhere.
The NHL, this year, took over every team’s website. That is, if you go to www.floridapanthers.com you’re actually going to the main NHL website and you’ll see your URL changed to http://panthers.nhl.com/. The site is designed, run, and maintained entirely by the NHL for the sake of league conformity. It might not seem like a big deal to you as a fan, but it’s a big deal to at least one team. The NY Rangers feel they want to retain complete control over their site. I have to support them. The league may want conformity, but ultimately, it’s the Rangers’ team that should decide how they present themselves to the outside world. Yes, I am down on record as supporting the NY Rangers in this matter*. I do not know what all the Rangers’ beefs are with the NHL sites — though I find them cluttered, boring, and lacking in any depth. If it’s going to be fluff (and it’s the blandest type of fluff, I might add), one might as well let the teams control it.
However, cynic that I am, must assume it’s money. Let me quote an excerpt from the article:
MSG said it filed the suit in U.S. District Court because the NHL would begin fining the organization US$100,000 per day starting Friday (9-29-07) if the company did not give the league complete control over the Rangers’ Web site and other promotions. The league is seeking to control the licensing of teams for all commercial purposes and to stop teams from marketing apparel, merchandise and memorabilia, the suit said. MSG asked that a judge order the league to stop limiting team promotions, and it also wants the court to clarify the boundaries of the league’s rights.
As I said at the beginning, there are significant ramifications as a result of this. On the plus side, if you’re a Panthers fan you’ll be happy. Why? As you well know many very cool NHL items are only available in select teams. The NHL’s intent is to make sure most items are available in all teams’ logos and colours, though some regional items are expected to be exempt. As a Panthers fan, most items I’ve wanted to buy are not available for our team — you all know that. On the minus side, when the team decides it wants to do something “special” for its own use, it can’t. It’s all controlled by the league — including team promotions. So that cool giveaway you get at some games would also, in theory, be affected.
Although I understand the league’s position. I think they’ve gone overboard. But it won’t come down to what we, as fans, think. It’ll come down to the rules that govern what the league can or can’t do with respect to the teams. I suspect merchandising with a logo comes down to a league decision. Ultimately, I imagine it’ll end up being like the NFL/NBA/MLB arrangement — whatever that is.
This case will give us all an interesting insight into how the league is run as well as to how much money is involved with merchandising, though I suspect this will be an unusually big year because of the jersey redesign. Lots of people are buying new, $390 authentic jerseys: at least that’s our in-arena price — less at NHL.com
*It’s quite possible that the fact I agree with the NY Rangers is a sign of Armageddon.