Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 16, 1994 TAG: 9412160034
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO LENGTH: Medium
While the NHL lockout drags on, the rapidly expanding International Hockey League is thriving. This week, the IHL awarded a franchise to Orlando, Fla., and unveiled the San Francisco Spiders.
Founded 50 years ago, the IHL has 17 teams this season, seven more than it had at the start of the decade. The league plans to add two franchises each year through 2000 and start a six-team European division.
More than 3.5 million fans attended IHL games last season, and attendance is expected to top 5 million this season. League policy dictates that at least half the tickets to each game be available to fans for an average of $10.
But IHL teams such as the Las Vegas Thunder, the Peoria Rivermen and the Cleveland Lumberjacks don't want to be labeled the NHL's scrappy little brothers.
``We are a major league in all ways except ticket prices,'' said Bob Ufer, the IHL's commissioner.
Fred Comrie, owner of the San Diego Gulls, explained it this way: ``We have created a niche. We're like Wal-Mart. There's room for Neiman-Marcus, and there's room for us.''
Ufer likes to emphasize that unlike the NHL, the IHL has a collective bargaining agreement with its players. The deal includes salary disclosure and a taxation agreement, as well as revenue sharing.
Following the signing of two NHL players, the IHL placed a moratorium on further signings while there is a lockout. Ufer has not decided whether the league will bid for NHL players should the NHL season be canceled.
He said it was unlikely there would be a flood of NHL players to the IHL, because he doubts NHL players would settle for the IHL's average salary of about $65,000.
And owners might not want to sign a big-name player who would play only until the labor dispute was resolved.
``Most of the teams have their 23-player rosters filled, or they have anywhere from 20 to 21 players. So there really isn't a place on the roster to be inundated by NHL players,'' Ufer said.
``So we may very well say, `Teams, do whatever you think is in your best interests.'''
Although 10 of the IHL teams have working agreements with NHL teams, Ufer said he does not believe his league should necessarily serve as a farm system.
``The term `affiliation' is really no longer applicable to our league,'' he said. ``I think it is more of a baseball term. Affiliation would mean that the major-league organization sends down players, coaches and trainers. You're aligned - affiliated - with the major league. ''
Ufer said only one IHL team would fit into the ``affiliation'' category. The other nine have contractual agreements with NHL teams.
``The arrangement the vast majority of the teams have is that they will contract with NHL teams, take some of the different players and trade players back and forth,'' he said.
by CNB