Hockey Civil War as Rangers Sue NHL

The NHL has faced several problems since returning from the lockout two years not the least of which is a lack of a respectable television contract has meant that its national exposure has been significantly curtailed. As a result, it is more important than ever that the league's flagship franchise, the New York Rangers compete successfully on the ice and become a major topic of conversation around town once again. Let's be nice and say that decisions of MSG leadership over the last couple of years haven't exactly been helpful in that regard. Although signings like Chris Drury give reason for hope for this year.

To add to that mix, Friday, Madison Square Garden filed suit against the NHL in US District Court alleging that the league was acting like an illegal cartel in seeking control of the Rangers website and in threatening to fine the club $100,000 a day starting yesterday if the club did not turn over control of the site and the club's merchandising, licensing and advertising. Now, without knowing the details of the league's constitution or governing documents, I don't know the merits of MSG's position, but I will point out that probably the single most important and positive contribution of Bud Selig's time as Commissioner of baseball was the creation of Major League Baseball Advanced Baseball, which owns and operates all of the clubs' websites, MLB's game streaming operations and other digital and technological operations for the baseball and other customers. It has become extraordinarily valuable, far more so than anything that the clubs could have created on their own.

Control over licensing is something that leagues generally hold centrally. Merchandising however is often done on the club level. Surely, level heads would be able to work out some compromise without the spectacle of a club as significant as the Rangers suing the league in federal court. This is not Al Davis we're talking about and is one more example of poor leadership in the commissioner's office. Something needs to be done about Bettman and the sooner the better.