Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 30, 1995 TAG: 9510030020
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR.
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Attendance figures are exploding. The league is expanding rapidly, with prospective owners and cities lining up to pay over $1 million in franchise fees to join.
It's got everything most pro sports leagues have, save for the labor unrest and players' strikes.
Well ...
The 1995-96 season might go down as the one when the ECHL paid the price of success. Several owners and players quietly murmur about the possibility of a players' strike this season.
A players' strike in the ECHL?!!
Don't scoff. The players brought a union into the league last season by overwhelmingly voting to allow the Professional Hockey Players Association to represent them in bargaining negotiations with the league.
Everything from salaries to insurance to meal money is on the table. Neither the league nor the PHPA will say how far apart the two sides are, but the chasm is believed to be immense.
The two biggest wants of the players appear to be increasing or eliminating the salary cap and the provision of year-round health insurance. Owners, anticipating a salary cap proposal from the players, agreed last month to raise the cap.
``I don't think we'll budge on that,'' one club owner said.
Some owners are also saying that the nine months of insurance already provided to the players should be sufficient.
The players want a larger slice of the owners' ever-increasing pie. In just seven years, the ECHL has grown from a five-team league that sold its franchises for $25,000 to a 21-team loop this season that is expected to grow to as many as 28 teams by the end of the decade.
If the league reaches that number, the last 10 franchises to join will have pumped anywhere from $10 million to $15 million in expansion fees into the owners' coffers. That's just if the expansion fees remain between $1 million and $1.5 million. They will almost surely be higher than that in a few years.
``The owners are making so much money, it's unbelievable,'' one player said. ``We just want to share in that, since we're the guys who play.''
Owners counter that as the league has grown, so have expenses across the board. Clubs which once operated with only a few full-time employees now employ full staffs. Travel expenses have increased, as the league now stretches from Lake Erie to northern Florida and westward across the Mississippi River to Lafayette, La.
Another club owner said that once the two sides get together, some of the big problems may be ironed out quicker than some people expect.
Other owners are not so confident.
One player said this week that many players wanted to strike immediately after the PHPA was approved by a 246-13 vote. That was in mid-March, just as the playoffs were getting under way.
There almost certainly will be no agreement by the time the regular season begins Oct.13. Whether the players will play an entire season without an agreement is unclear. Quietly, the word ``strike'' is uttered.
Welcome to the big time, ECHL.
AROUND THE ECHL: Sixteen-year pro Scott Gruhl, 36, is back for another tour with the Richmond Renegades. Gruhl, who scored 40 goals in helping the Renegades to the Riley Cup championship last season, says he wants to play for back-to-back champions. All-star goaltender Grant Sjerven (17-6-2) also will be in camp with the Renegades. ... The Hampton Roads Admirals are looking for help after All-Star center John Porco and defenseman Rob MacInnis decided to play in Europe. Admirals coach John Brophy will surely find the players he needs. Two weeks ago, Brophy watched the Washington Capitals in camp and he scouted in Cleveland and Portland. All-star defensemen Ron Pascucci and Chris Phelps are expected to return ... The first-year Jacksonville Lizard Kings are milking their new name for all it's worth. Already touting ``Cold-Blooded Hockey'' as their slogan, the Lizard Kings are referring to the home ice of the Jacksonville Coliseum as the ``Reptilian Pavilion.''
by CNB