@ EconSports: Commissioner Bettman: NHL Players May Not Be In Olympics After 2010

There's a common theme that undercuts everything the National Hockey League does in the digital space: Of course they're being innovative, what do they have to lose Commissioner Gary Bettman took issue with that idea this morning in a Q&A with our co-editor and EVP Staci D. Kramer. "I don't think we're niche… If you go market by market we're not always No. 4 in the places we're going head to head" regionally with other sports. Not only was.com a platform for the league to make its case directly to fans during the 2004-2005 season-long lockout, it's also become a hub for hockey content that fans can't get elsewhere. "We've got to be reaching them on their terms… It's an opportunity you're going to have to take advantage of or else you're going to be left behind… We hope to do a lot of catch-up by being very forward thinking." The evolution to online hasn't gone off without a hitch, though. The New York Rangers have legally challenged the league's approach and are attempting a go-it-alone approach that's dragging some of the site's momentum's online strategy calls for the 30 teams to provide local content to the site while the league manages the sites features and provides the platform. Bettman: "We're going to have to continue to argue this out."-- Olympics: While the league has committed to participating in the 2010 games in Vancouver, Bettman hinted that players might not appear in the international competition going forward. "Beyond that we really have to go through a balancing act… Stopping the season in the middle is a breaking momentum. It raises some competitive issues… We think that that has an impact on the season." -- Hockey Mom VP candidate: "I'm married to a hockey mom so I'm quite fond of hockey moms. It's interesting, the amount of attention that Sarah Palin has generated" for opening dropping pucks to open recent games. "To me I don't think it was a political statement," he said. "My guess is if the McCain-Palin ticket wins, hockey will get a slightly higher profile." And yet, he was careful to make it clear he wasn't endorsing either candidate. "Interestingly enough, the first time I met John McCain was at a hockey game. He's a hockey fan as well."-- Subscriptions: Bettman didn't give many specifics, but said the league has sold tens of thousands of subscriptions for its new Game Center Live streaming package—and that's in line with the's forecasts. He also said that existing deals with TV and satellite providers prevent the league from making the same content available online through a single subscription. He admitted that the league's own product does generate more revenue per subscription. Lockout: "Our approval rating on the management side never dipped below 60 percent in support of what we were doing." And that's something unheard of in the sports world during a lockout, he added. "Our fans are so connected to the game; they knew why we were doing it and supported it… I don't think there's ever been a business … that's been able to shut its doors for a year … and then come back to record revenues and record customers, which is what we did."-- Switching from ESPN to Versus: As the lockout winded down three years ago, Bettman decided it was in the league's best interest to go another way. "Coming back from the work stoppage we may have lost our place in their rotation… I felt we needed to be more important to whoever our national programmer was." Being careful not to criticize ESPN (NYSE: DIS), Bettman pointed out that the number of games carried by the network was dwindling for years. "We got less and less. In fact there wasn't a game every night." Three years later, ratings have returned to pre-lockout levels. "By the end of last season, our ratings during the playoffs began to look like what we got with ESPN and ESPN2… They've gotten excellent at covering hockey games and fans have been able to find their way to Versus… I think people are respecting the quality of coverage that we get." On October 29 at the Edison Ballroom in New York City, EconSports will delve into everything: the complicated economics of league rights, data business, syndication, exclusivity, premium and more. Register for Econsports: http://econsports.eventbrite.com Source

NHL 09 demo slap shoots the Marketplace

Filed under: News, Xbox Live MarketplaceThere's a new -nhl 09 demo available for download off the Xbox Live Marketplace and it can best be described as "hockey'licious". (They should have totally used that as the demo description.) The demo is said to include the "Be a Pro" mode, but online multiplayer play seems to be lacking. We think EA says it best, "if you love sports video games, you have to try this demo" and if you don't love sports games, turn up your nose and go back to your regularly scheduled gaming habits. -nhl-09.aspx>Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsSource

PSN Europe update: free PSP Media Manager, PS3 demos for Pure, NHL 2K9

Europe's PlayStation Network update this week has is a treasure trove for PS3 and PSP users alike. PS3 owners get the free demos for Pure (as scheduled) and PS3 storeDemo 2K9 Demo, FREEPure PS3, FREEPacksHAZE DESTRUCTION PACK, 3.49Warhawk Triple Combo Pack, 7.99WallpapersSOULCALIBUR WALLPAPER 01, FREESOULCALIBUR WALLPAPER 02, FREESOULCALIBUR WALLPAPER 03, FREESOULCALIBUR WALLPAPER 04, FREEPC storeGameMedia Manager for PSP, FREEPacks (also available via PS3 console download)Go! Explore Map PacksBenelux Map Pack, 14.99DACH Map Pack, 14.99France Map Pack, 14.99Italy Map Pack, 14.99Scandinavia Map Pack, 14.99Spain & Portugal Map Pack, 14.99UK & Ireland Map Pack, 14.99Western Map Pack, 24.99In-GameWarhawk Booster Bundle, 7.99Related articles:Pure demo hits PSN, XBL on ThursdayPSN US August 28 update: The Last Guy, SoulCalibur 4 09 demo, moreSony offers Japan PSP Media Manager for free Source

Jagr says he will regret moving to Russia if Rangers land Sundin

Jagr basically told Hockeyexpressen that he is "cursed" if Sundin plays for the Rangers. He would regret that he moved here (Russia). He also said that he promises he'll be "pissed off" if Mats signs there. Run the article through a translator if you don't believe me. I don't know how serious Jagr was being in that interview. One thing is for sure: Jagr doesn't know where the Rangers sit in cap space. Jagr also encouraged Sundin to keep playing. "Whatever you do Mats, do not stop playing hockey. You are too good to stop now. You can go on for many years." Oh gee whiz. How sweet. Golly. The article also states that the paper's sources claim that Tampa Bay is in the mix for Sundin. Huh.... That makes no sense economically. The original Hockeyexpressen article can be found here.**EDIT**I did some more news-searching about Jagr and found another Hockeyexpressen interview with Jagr. This was more about his decision to play with Omsk in the KHL. It is clear I had a good bid from here, but I am drawn to something new. I wanted to do something different. KHL has become an alternative to the/nhl. If five to ten years, many European players to choose to move here, instead of the/nhl then I am pleased to be part of the development. The reporter said Jagr looked happy. And speaking of the KHL: they are now accusing an/nhl team of poaching players. From John Wawrow at Yahoo Sports: A newly formed Russian hockey league accused the/nhl of poaching two of its players when the Los Angeles Kings agreed to terms with two draft prospects last week.As a result, the Continental Hockey League (KHL), announced Thursday that it was no longer obligated to abide by a moratorium reached in July, when the leagues agreed against signing players that were under contract.In a news release, the KHL said the/nhl violated that agreement when the Kings signed 2008 second-round draft pick, defenseman Vjateslav Voinov, and 2008 fifth-round pick, center Andrei Loktionov, on Aug. 27. The KHL said Voinov is currently under contract with Chelyabinsk while Loktionov is under contract with Yaroslavl./nhl deputy commissioner Bill Daly disputed the KHL’s claims in an e-mail sent to The Associated Press. Daly said the league approved both contracts “on the basis of evidence that the two players were free of contractual obligations elsewhere.The song "Communication Breakdown" by Led Zep is playing in my head right now. This is a finger-pointing war. Who's telling the truth and who's lying? Crazy. T Tags: Jaromir+Jagr+will+regret+moving+to+Russia+if+Sundin+plays+for+Rangers encouragement Source

Crosby Among Players in NHL's 2008-2009 "Is This the Year?" Campaign Again

Those infamous "is this the year commercials will be aired once again during the upcoming season. Don't you MISS those? I sure do!! In fact, it's one of the things that could be added to my "What I Miss / Love about Hockey" list. Sidney's are my FAVORITE, of course, but another one of my favorites is Eric Staal asking "Is this the year we find out who's dad's favorite really is?" [I'm not sure of the exact wording, but you get the picture!] That's the best! But I'm straying from my focus of the post (bear with me -- if I go another second without hockey, I think I'm going to go insane)!! Anyway --For the second year, Sidney Crosby will be one of the 4 featured players in this year's ads which include Henrik Lundqvist Rookie of the Year Patrick Kane; and Dion Phaneuf.MediaPost's MarketingDaily gives a description of this year's take on "is this the year?" campaign: In the spots, which look like still-photos coming to life, the players turn to face the camera and make dramatic statements about the previous year and how they are determined to do even more in the new season.And here's how they describe Crosby's ad:The ad featuring Crosby shows him posing with members of the Penguins team after the final game of the Stanley Cup Final, which the Penguins didn't win. "This is a tough one," he says, "getting this close and not winning the cup. But I know it'll make our team even stronger. I never want to be in this photograph again." It gives me chills just reading it, so I can't imagine what it's going to be like to watch it and I CAN'T WAIT!!!Source

Please Allow Me To Introduce Himself....

I am happy to announce that Kevin Battersby will be one of our new bloggers on Thenhl Arena Program. Needless to say he is not saaaddddd. His fandom speaks for itself but for a little first hand evidence, I have a video of him, the quite famous video that has been seen on Puck Daddy on Yahoo. By the way Greg, he surely isn't ten years old and he definitely has a ton to say. First up...that video! So naturally Kevin will debut with a column called Holmer's Odyssey in the near future. I believe he has a post planned for today as well so stay tuned for that one. This is a person that will bring a unique perspective to the blog....fresh yet just as edgy as the rest (maybe even more so). There will be no dullness and that is a 150% certainty.Kevin also contributes heavily to our Fantasy Hockey parts of the podcast and has been an instrumental part in helping us form our new Fantasy Hockey shows on BlogTalkRadio. He is prominently on Thenhl Arena and yes he is a Flyers Assistant GM on there. Expect the unexpected and I hope you enjoy this latest addition to the blog family.Source

Our NHL?

from Emirates Business 24/7, Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire, has ploughed £578m into Chelsea and seen the Stamford Bridge club rise to the top echelons of the game since bankrolling them five years ago.Skepticism surrounded the 41-year-old’s takeover, but Brady believes significant investment in the Premier League will prove beneficial to the competition.“When Abramovich came in, everybody said it would kill the Premier League,” he says. “But what it did was raise the bar and other billionaires – including the Al Nahyan family behind the Adug – have come in to challenge him. “What we’ll have in 10 or 15 years is something similar to the NHL, where all the clubs are owned by billionaires and are still making money. There is virtually an inexhaustible supply of these people that want to break into football because the one thing you can never get away from is that football’s the world’s game.”more, but it is all soccer (football) talk, but I am wondering if they are referring to the National Hockey League in the quote above. The only other NHL I know of is the National Hurling League. Maybe they meant NFL, I just don’t know.

Report: Frost Not Welcome At Coyotes' Camp

Good. Someone making a strong stance against Frost. I hope all 30 NHL teams take this same stance http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=2485...=headlines_nhl Quote: "I can't be strong enough about this, we don't want any part of David Frost," Maloney told the Toronto Sun. "He is not welcome here. This is the first I've heard about this, but I can tell you without a doubt, I don't want him here, we don't want him here, he will not be allowed here." Quote: "If young Keefe is in any way associated with Frost, he will not be coming to our camp," Maloney told the Toronto Sun. "He's a player targeted to play in San Antonio (of the American Hockey League). He played there last season and we had no problems with him and had no association with David Frost." "This is simple really, if Frost is connected to Adam Keefe, we're through with Adam Keefe. When I was in New York, we had Sheldon for a brief time. And I had a little exposure to this man (Frost). I didn't like it. And I don't want anything to do with him now."

Quick Hitters: Weekend Edition

Good morning folks! I wanted to thank everyone that tuned into the new Rattle The Boards last night on Blog Talk Radio. Go pay William and Erin some nice compliments. They worked hard on that show. Tomorrow we are debuting a new show added to the little mini empire, if you will. Fantasy Hockey Hour comes to Blog Talk Radio with Rick, yours truly, and much more. We may even set up when that Arena Podcast roto draft is going to take place. But of course there will be tons of fantasy hockey talk. A good time will be had by all in this fast paced 60 minute show.Fantasy Hockey Hour will air from 4-5 pm ET and then at 10pm....our normal Thenhl Arena Podcast will hit the internet radio airwaves. This is a special edition where we talk all things hockey as always but we will have a few twists like a Hockey 101 segment where I will take a few topics that dissect them with Rick and a caller or two. Rapid Fire will be with us for the last half hour as we go on our quest to cram as many callers on the show as humanly possible. The Sunday two hour show is always full of many twists and turns and well we are just grateful that people appreciate it so much.On the show this weekend, we will also be making an announcement. It is not anything earth shattering but it is important nonetheless. You will want to tune in to this episode to see what is new and what is going on. I promise we will try not to disappoint you as the announcement will come right in the first couple minutes of the show. What is it? Tune in on Blog Talk Radio to find out.I do have one request....if anyone has Brass Bonanza on an MP3 or wav format, could they send it to my email? I have been trying to find this song in its entirety and needless to say have been unsuccessful. I would really appreciate it.Finally, if there is anyone that is willing to compile a list of top 50 defensemen, by all means let me know. This will be an intriguing list developed in the next week or two for fantasy leagues. Stay tuned on that and enjoy the weekend!!Source

We'll See You In Court!

Mr. Radulov (John Russell/Getty Images)Well...this is close to court...an arbitrator will decide the Alexander Radulov case. A court or binding arbiter will ultimately tell the tale of Radulov although the player (his rights are still with Nashville) does not probably care at this point. The KHL has agreed to drop its claims against several players who signed/nhl contracts...another sign that they want this over with at long last.Radulov's suspension by the IIHF will now be lifted. As I had said previously, this was going to happen sooner rather than later. Keep in mind, that the KHL has acknowledged that whatever decision that is made will be final as far as they are concerned. I wonder if they know something already but only time will tell there. It does seem like some sort of deal was made....if not in writing but in principal.This makes you wonder what else KHL has in the works. Is the KHL trying to come up with a deal with a TV network? Stay tuned on that one. One thing is for sure is that this is all going to come to an end at some point mercifully. Now the KHL is disputing those recent signings of Russian prospects (Voinov and Lohtionev and Mayorov too) but that should be settled in pretty, swift order. I have a feeling this will be a very minor issue in the grand scheme of things.Does this mean a transfer agreement is in short order? Probably not just yet! However, this does pave the way for something that clearly needed to happen. It just took longer and took a few more detours than many people expected. As always with Russia and the/nhl, expect the unexpected!Source

NHL Player Media Tour

Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal were among 14.nhl players taking part in last week's media tour in New York City. The other players included Vincent Lecavalier, Martin Brodeur, Henrik Lundqvist, Rick Nash, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Ryan Miller, Dion Phaneuf, Anze Kopitar, Rick DiPietro, and 2 other Staal brothers – Eric and Marc.“Marketing our players in an authentic manner is of critical importance to the league,” said Brian Jennings, the.nhl’s executive vice president of marketing. “Our aim during this season launch time period is to efficiently use our players’ time to capture key story-lines which create compelling content, and to allow the media to capitalize on that content. Based on this year’s results and feedback, we couldn’t have been more pleased.”[Information taken from article posted on the Pittsburgh Penguins official webpage]Source

Kennedy - One of NHL.com's Top Breakout Players

The writers at .nhl.com.nhl/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=381095">top breakout players in the eastern conference. They pointed out that Kennedy has been overshadowed by the amount of young talent the Penguins currently have on the team and I whole-heartedly agree. Kennedy was amazing last season and he posesses the hustle to match his talent. He also has the gumption to initiate fights hoping to create opportunities for his team. Even after suffering from mono (which is a hard illness to bounce back from), Kennedy returned to the lineup picking up where he left off.The article also provided some interesting stats on Kennedy:10 goals, 9 assists in 55 games during the regular seasonaveraged 12:13 of ice time per game5 goals, 9 points in 10 games with Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Baby Pens when he was sent down after his bout with monoSource

Worldwide PS3 releases for the week of September 7th

Filed under: New ReleasesWe were hoping this "release list" thing would only be a temporary feature at PS3 Fanboy, but those pesky developers just won't stop making games! Another batch is unleashed onto the world this week, including two hockey games for you lucky North Americans. Also, remember Rock Band? Sure, it may be almost a year old, but it's finally getting a European release on PS3. Just in time for next month's release of Rock Band 2 in the US. Aren't regions great? Here's the full release list:US Games NHL 2K9 NHL 2009 TNA Impact!EU Games Rock Band TNA Impact! NHL 2K9Asian Games Double Clutch StrangleholdRelease dates are constantly subject to change. Be sure to check with your local retailer if you're uncertain. If you fancy something from abroad, go ahead and do it. Your PS3 won't mind, but remember that DLC is always region locked, so you'll need to get it from a foreign PSN store. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Thanks

Thenhl Arena Program did a nice feature on us (I can use plurals for real now that Ryan is on board) Friday. Many thanks to the gang over there for that. You can check them out at http://thenhlarenaprogram.blogspot.com or head into the forums.Other news...Fantasy hockey is coming. Stay tuned for that.If you haven't heard, or read this through a feeder, you can now add your avatar to the left sidebar. It's pretty ballin'.Big things poppin. Big. Things. Poppin.UPDATE: As you can see, I made a whole bunch of changes to the site tonight. They're for the better, I promise. Loading time is hopefully faster. There are now three columns and I think that really helps organize things. Comments are also embedded, so now it doesnt open up a stupid Blogger page seperate from the site when you comment. There are also a bunch of new gadgets around, so check those out as well.Source

Stone and Goligoski Ready to Play in NHL

The timesleader.com has an article featuring Ryan Stone and Alex Goligoski being ready to prove themselves at the upcoming Penguins prospects and training camps.Stone and Goligoski represent both sides of the AHL spectrum. Stone has taken the regular route by playing in the AHL and gradually learning and growing into-calibur player while Goligoski took a fast-track establishing himself as a offensive defenseman and playing 30-minute games for Wilkes-Barre / Scranton last season; it also doesn't hurt that the Penguins have a spot to fill that was left by Ryan Whitney after undergoing foot surgery back in August.[Dan] Bylsma said losing players like Stone and Goligoski to the parent club is a good thing because it shows the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton organization is doing a good job.“When a guy gets called up, we take a lot of pride in it,” Bylsma said. “You feel ownership in helping these guys realize their dream.” To read the entire article, visit the timesleader.com webpage.Source