CPHL Exclusive Report

[Cheese]

EXCLUSIVE REPORTS

Dayel Peterson
Staff Writer


In yet another blow to its television initiatives, The Calgary Puck Hockey League. has taken a massive loss on its $2.0 billion investment in a trio of North American cable operators, exposing what analysts say is a failed strategy to bring the fledgling Hockey Leagues teams into North American living rooms.

League watchers say the losses aren't just financial - The CPHL also failed to land big wins for its Microsoft FHL software platform in the cable sector either abroad or domestically.
The company last month reported shedding its entire 6.3 percent stake in Fantasy Hockey Leagues International (FHLI) of Amsterdam, a European cable group in which the CPHL invested $120 million in January 2002. The sale price wasn't disclosed, but FHLI's stock has fallen about 98 percent since the CPHL bought in.

Cameron Schuler, Assistant League Commissioner, and Head of CPHL Technical Intelligence and Telecommunications (CPHL TIT) Corp, confirmed the company has taken write-downs on all cable investments, though he would not comment on how much stock the CPHL currently holds.
CPHL will continue to invest in cable companies and other types of network operators in the future, Schuler said.
However, he acknowledged the European cable investments have not panned out the way he had hoped. Schuler blamed the investment losses on the volatility in the cable sector and a total lack of initiative from Fantasy GMs sitting in front of their computers on a daily basis.
"The cable industry has hit major snags with credit problems," he said. "A lot of those stocks have been hard hit over the last 18 months."
The good news for the CPHL is that with $5 billion in the bank, these losses probably won't hurt too much, said Darren Linn, director of research at North Carolina brokerage house Linn, Line and Lyin.
"We would like our General Managers to take a keener interest in the investment of CPHL monies into a new Television deal, a deal for the new Millenium that can take us into the second decade without the need of negotiating a new CPHL CBA."
The OLN Network recently made inquiries about hosting CPHL games for the next 3 years and Linn suggested that CPHL GMs should seriously think about taking this deal.
"If OLN can pick up MLB or NFL games within the next year or so, available weekend windows might become a thing of the past, better to sign now, and position yourself better for the future. OLN certainly won’t have a ton of quality filler for a long time, might as well show some games whenever possible."
All of this possible dealing should make the CPHL confident that Comcast is serious about turning OLN into a sports powerhouse. Having the CPHL as the product to lead the way can only help the league as long as it can stay in the foreground of the station’s plans.
News of OLNs offer is sure to leak out in the next while, the CPHL GMs committee was unsure of what that meant for next years teams as the current Television deal is about to expire. Will GMs become active in securing a solid long term deal for the CPHL and its charter franchises, or will the GMs choose to take a different route and attempt to negotiate a one or two year deal with YTV or MTV to keep revenue at this years levels.

Only time will tell.

[JiriHrdina]

Ummmmmm....er....The Wild are confused.

[Sylvanfan]

Stupid CPHL should have invested that money in good old Casino's and Brothel's. I mean who buys shares in a cable company from Amsterdam when you could own a brothel?

[TaejeonGuy]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

Stupid CPHL should have invested that money in good old Casino's and Brothel's. I mean who buys shares in a cable company from Amsterdam when you could own a brothel?

and don't forget the (legal) drug market!

[Cheese]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Ummmmmm....er....The Wild are confused.

The current TV deal expires at years end. The GMs were supposed to be active in contract demands. So far nada...which means a radio deal for an extra 100k per team a year.

[flambers]

Yikes, if GMs don't understand that part read the rules the first paragraph is pretty interesting.

[Cheese]

I thgink Flam is referring to this...(See blue underlined portion)...the original deal was extended...but reduced for two years. That deal expires at the end of this year.

This would mean that Salary Cap for NEXT year would revert back to 58 million per CPHL team amd 2 mill for AHL.

Salary Cap Rules
The Salary Cap will be 58 Million Dollars for the CPHL (NHL) Team and 2 Million Dollars for the CPHL Farm (AHL) Team. Teams must stay under the salary cap at all times. In the case a team exceeds the salary cap, that team will be fined 100,000 a day after the 24 hour grace period. This will be applied to the salary cap. Example.. Your team exceeds the cap after a deal on Wednesday night, but does not rectify the situation until Saturday afternoon. The 24 hour grace period would take you to Thursday night, after that it's 2 days at 100K a day. Your salary cap would then become 57,800 for that year. In other words, don't get over the cap without a pending deal to bring you back below it. The offending team will also be punished by losing a draft pick in the next draft for every 48 hours they are past the limit. Again using the above scenario, after 48 hours of exceeding the cap (no grace period here) you lose your 5th round pick. After 72 hours you lose your 4th and 3rd place pick....etc. In short, do not exceed your salary cap people. This is a game, and as such, everyone plays on a level field. In the event that a team would lose its 4th round pick and none is available, the next available pick would be taken...regardless of pick. It could be a first round selection if that is all that remains.

Modification as of Dec. 05, 2002: The CPHL was awarded a 2 year Television contract of $7,000,000 for the 2003-2004 Seasons. The amount is shared in both the CPHL and AHL leagues. (65 million CPHL and 3 million AHL total). The TV deal expires at the end of the 2003-04 season and will be modified based on the amount of posts the GMs put on the message board over the course of the year.


Modification as of Feb 14th, 2004. The CPHL Television contract will be reduced by $2,000,000 per year for each of the next 2 years starting at the end of the 2003/04 CPHL Season. The reductions in revenue will only be applied to the CPHL Cap. The Cheese rule takes place. No team is allowed to deal or trade more than 12 million dollars in any one year.

[Sylvanfan]

I still think the CPHL could have made money owning brothels in Amsterdam

[Young Guns]

anyone confused....say "I"!

[JiriHrdina]

The TV deal expires at the end of the 2003-04 season and will be modified based on the amount of posts the GMs put on the message board over the course of the year.

So to clarify...the posts referred to in the above are supposed to be about the TV deal? I thought it was just based on message board activity in general but perhaps that is mistaken?

[Cheese]

TV deal....if anyone had read the rules lately...larf....they would know that our TV deal expires at the end of this year. Without a lot of hype we will end up with nuthin...maybe a radio deal. I mean we lost a ton on stocks and failed experiments in Europe. See above comment from CPHL TIT.

[nyrcrisfer]

No, screw OLN. Our games will be on after a hunting show starring Ted Nugent. Plus they play that damn music during replays, that drives me crazy. We aren't taking their offer.

And screw MTV too, since when does music television air sporting events?

What happened to good old TSN or something? I say we take a cheap deal from a big network.

[JiriHrdina]

Forget TV altogether and embrace the future. Focus on pod and web casts.

[MJK]

HDTV people!

This is the market, we should concentrate on HDTV for our fans!

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Forget TV altogether and embrace the future. Focus on pod and web casts.

Exactly!! Lets face it CPHL players are multi-millionaires with 5 cent heads. These guys get themselves into all kinds of pickles off the ice that the media doesn't report. We need to get hidden camera's filming their antics once they leave the rink. Than we can start a bad jocks website, in which we broadcast the players off ice antics on a pay per view basis. Porno sites are making record profits, and the off ice antics of many CPHL players rival the material that has made this adult sites so lucrative. The CPHL has to realize that the game itself is a done fad. People don't care about pro-sports anymore. But they have never been more into people in the public eye making jerks of themselves. Focusing on this aspect of our game is where the real money is to be made, and is the future of our league!!

[Mango]

Interesting situation - I'm not sure the CPHL will have much of a fanbase of MTV and/or YTV. Unless the young people are showing an interest in the sport?

[Mccree]

As an agent I will say this.

Sign as many deals with MTV, YTV, OLN, playboy,hustler you name it....


More money in the players pockets = more money for me. I want to also suggest the CPHL look into satellite radio and Internet broadcasts as well.

The current cap situation does not allow my players to live the lifestyle they are wanting to.

Perhaps a reality TV show on TSN where teams are followed by cameras ON AND OFF the ice 24/7. There has be big money in that.

Exactly!! Lets face it CPHL players are multi-millionaires with 5 cent heads.

Quan rep takes offence to the statement. Just because our players enjoy the finer strip clubs and the finer adult entertainment sites does not mean they are cheap. Jagr and his new 10,000,000 contract is know to tip "working ladies" a lot more than 5 cents

[the_only_turek_fan]

I am in the same boat as Martin. I want more money this summer!

Lets try and get more people from the main board involved as our "TV audience."

The more interest we generate we will get a lucrative TV deal, not just a TV deal.

One thought would be to have a "OLN Game of the week." I know we have a game of the week already but its in name only.

If we generate some more hype around it as the "national broadcast" and have the winner of that game take home some salary cap money (which would then be payed to the agents or course ) that would generate some more interest. There could be game day threads, game threads etc...

Of course every team would have to be equaly involved. Maybe have this game the only game of the night. Kind of like MNF.

On the flip side we can have one night a week where everyone plays. Saturday would be the best day for that IMO. Saturday winners can take home some salary cap money etc....

I dunno I am just throwing a bunch of ideas out there that could generate some more hyper and some interest which would lead to a more lucrative TV deal.

[Cheese]

We cant control scheduling...its done auto thru the Sim. All would have to work around that.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by Cheese

We cant control scheduling...its done auto thru the Sim. All would have to work around that.

So the SIM is holding us hostage from making more money....

That bitch!!!