Madison Square Garden

Lets start with the ugly. The NHL reportedly has threatened to sue Madison Square Garden, removing ownership of the Blueshirts from the MSG corporation. This comes in response to the Rangers suit against the NHL for trying to usurp complete control over promotional elements for the hockey club ( http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3452292). In my opinion, this is the worst thing the NHL could be doing right now. It's no secret that the league has always depended on the success of markets like New York to spur on the ratings of games. For example, game three of the Stanley Cup drew a lower rating in New York than that evenings WNBA match-up involving the New York Liberty. Of course this moment was partially caused by concerns that Pittsburgh would not be able to mount a fight in the series and because of this most fans not living near Melon Arena or in Hockey Town, USA had checked out of the series. However, this is a fact that the NHL cannot ignore. In the post lock-out NHL, when televised games have been relegated to Versus and the occasional Sunday NBC game, the league needs the support of key markets - especially New York. If the NHL wants to pour resources into an endeavour I suggest moving to get hockey back on large networks like the ABC family which includes the ABC network and ESPN. Or, if nothing else, changing their terrible "Yo Momma" adds with Ryan Miller and Jean-Sebastian Aubin. The fact that AMP energy talked the league into this commercial exemplifies why the Rangers should keep control of their own promotions.

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