Atop the list of income winners is the Maple Leafs, who nudged out the Montreal Canadiens to lead the league this past season with $1.9 million worth of ticket revenue per game. Based on 41 home games, that’s $77.9 million a year – not counting revenue from pre-season games. A year ago, the Leafs generated $1.5 million a game, according the report obtained by the Star from several league sources.

The report goes on to say that the league, taking out the six strongest Canadian teams, is only growing at about a 2% percent clip. It also showed that:

…eight U.S. teams – the Coyotes, the Florida Panthers, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Islanders, Atlanta Thrashers, Washington Capitals, Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues – generated less than half the amount of ticket revenue this season of the Edmonton Oilers and Ottawa Senators. At $1.2 million in ticket revenue per game, the Oilers and Senators garnered the least amount of ticket money among Canadian clubs.

I wrote a while back about ways that the NHL could and should manage some of the issues that they have as a league. I think what these numbers support is a reduction/contraction in some of the teams. What I don’t think would be wise, at least for the game in the U.S., is to expand North of the border. But I guess one would have to ask, if there is money to be made in Canada why not move more teams there?

I think the NHL is at a very big crossroads. As a league that, as the Star report points out, is a gate receipt league, they have very little room for expanded revenue streams. They have to decide how and where they are going to market their product.

Canada, is not the answer for a bigger and better revenue generating league. No offense to my neighbors up North but I think if the league wants to be a top tier league they have to figure out how to generate revenue in the U.S. That has to start with a better TV deal than the current one. One of the reason that the NFL took off was because of its lucrative television contracts. It allowed all of their teams to share in a larger piece of the pie…drawing in fans, but also making middle market teams more viable.

Whatever the solution is, the league needs to figure it out quickly. A 2% growth rate with a very limited TV revenue deal does not bode well for the future of the sport. Bettman needs to act now if he is serious about returning hockey to its rightful place at the sporting table.

What are your thoughts? Should the NHL move more teams up North or should they contract and start building a stronger U.S. base?

For those of you who don’t live in the greater Indianapolis area, or Indiana for that matter, the Indy 500 isn’t just a one day thing, it’s not even a weekend thing. It is a month long festival, sporting event, PR campaign and more. And one of the more intriguing stories has been Sarah Fisher and her fight to not only qualify for the race, but also in her attempt to keep her team solvent.

She had a few sponsors lined up, however, her main potential sponsor ResQ Energy Drink has yet to deliver on their promise of cash money. Fisher has started her own team with her husband and has pretty much sunk all of her own money into the venture. In the meantime they have been looking for sponsorships to help get her through the month of May and continue the IRL season.

Racing is all about money - the well funded teams have definite advantages. They are the ones who can afford to go into the wind tunnels and other speedways and test. They can afford to try different set-ups with multiple cars. They are the ones who can bring back up cars, letting the drivers go all out during qualifying. The less funded teams are the ones who have to raise their foot off the gas in the corners during qualifying, trying to ensure that they don’t wreck and ruin any chance of running in the race.

Fisher, in my mind, is a solid driver, she has had a second place finish, and a few other top ten finishes all while driving for mid-level teams.

So what does this all have to do with sponsorships? Well, Sarah isn’t a sex symbol like Danica or even the newcomer Milka Duno. Racing is not only about driving well, it is about selling the driver to push the sponsor’s products. Fisher may not have the sex appeal of Danica but she has that down home goodness that so many in Indiana, the Midwest and elsewhere, really appreciate.

I think someone will eventually step up and give Fisher a shot…but I can’t help wonder if she had that sex appeal, showed a little boob, would a sponsor be stepping up sooner?

What do you think -is Fisher worth the sponsorships? If she were “sexier” would she be getting more sponsor love?

While the tapes are a little less important than say the Zapruder films these could have a lasting impact on the NFL. SpyGate, as this has been so cleverly named by the media, is not all that surprising. Teams are consistently looking for an edge in a game where a few plays here or there can mean winning a Championship or not.

So why is this going to be so important? Because the league is very much a copycat league. Teams, coaches, GM’s etc., willingly and openly borrow from other successful organizations. Whether it is an offensive/defensive style/scheme or how teams handle free agents, organizations watch what each other are doing and mimic one another.

So my guess is that the Patriots are not the only team doing this. In a league where the coaching trees branch from a few successful coaches and teams, you know that others have known or are practicing the same type of behavior. I am not saying it is right, but my guess is that while this may be going on in other organizations, the Pats were caught because they have a mark on their backs being a successful franchise for the past few years. Also, because I think Belichick is not as popular as other head coaches amongst his peers.

So, if the league determines that the Patriots were in fact stealing signals in such a habitual and systematic way, they are going to come down harder than the first time around. They will have to send a signal that if other teams are doing it, that they will pay the price.

I wouldn’t be surprised if news slowly trickles out that other teams have been doing this and that it is more prevalent than we want to believe.

What do you think - is this going to be important and do you think other teams are doing the same thing?

I wouldn’t put it past Bud Selig and his cronies to come up with some nefarious plan against Bonds and other “marked” players in the league, I have stated before how I think Selig is a rat, yet I think this one might be actually what it appears to be.

Could it be that no owner wants to take a chance with Bonds? Never mind his pending legal troubles and his alleged steroid use. I think the real issue here is the type of teammate, or at least the reputation he has, that could be hurting Bonds. Baseball is a long grueling season that requires the players to be around each other nearly every day. Bonds has long been known as a prima donna that requires his own personal space in the clubhouse…hell, he had his own leather lounge chair brought in for his locker in San Francisco.

Maybe owners and managers don’t want to upset the chemistry of their teams by adding Bonds? Maybe if a team and Barry could figure out a deal where he was a DH, showed up five minutes before his at bat, and had his own locker room it could work out - I am sure he would enjoy that set up.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but my guess is that it will be a non-story in a few short weeks.

What happened to just being a really damn good athlete? What happened to having the drive to be the very best in your sport, for your team, your city and your fans? When did it become normal for every decently gifted athlete to decide that they needed to be all things in all professions?

I am most certain that it is not a money issues. I mean I know you have to feed your family, right Spree, but can you not live on a couple million dollars a year? I know that some will argue that they need to set themselves up for life after sports and I partly agree with that. I know that in the, what have you done for me lately, world of sports you are only as good as your last season. So many of these athletes may be looking towards retirement but I don’t buy that is the case for most.

It may be that we just live in this 15 minutes of fame culture. Where even some dude who can barely sing, like William Hung, can be a star, but these guys (and gals) are already famous. At what point does your ego get so big that you need to pitch every product and star in movies before you get tired of seeing yourself?

I know that this is a bitchy rant and maybe it’s showing my age (I’m only 29, come on) but I like my sports stars to be stars because of their sport, not because they can barely act or sing or produce. Sometimes when you are really good at one thing it doesn’t translate well to another. Just ask Michael Jordan about baseball, or Shaq about acting…or rapping.

I know you all think that you are on the roads to stardom, and you are, but it is from what you are good at. Your sport and your athletic ability. So please, PLEASE just stop. I want our athletes back, untarnished and unsullied by the likes of Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and Nashville.

No other professional sport take the time to do it. Sure some football players run to the middle of the field and exchange pleasantries with guys they know, but no other sport makes an effort to go through a line and shake each others hands - congratulating each other on a well-played series.Losing teams will actually wait for the winning team to celebrate, even in the finals to shake each others hand. It isn’t a huge kumbaya moment, all rivalries aren’t forgotten and feuds forgiven, but it is a show of respect between teams. A chance for grown men to show that sportsmanship in one of the toughest sports is still alive.

It’s a small act, but one that should be celebrated and covered as often as the fights and slap shots.

The problem is that there are thousands of years of history in play and we are asking the largest nation in the world to turn on a dime and become something that they have never been. If China did anything tomorrow would we believe that this was anything other than a simple show, a facade, built to insulate themselves from protests leading up to the games? Would we really think that once the camera crews and the athletes left that there wouldn’t be more issues with Tibet?

The problem here is the IOC (International Olympic Committee). They had to know that this would be an issue, and yet they still chose to reward China with the games. It’s my belief that it wasn’t because they wanted to award the games to one of the largest nation’s, rather it was a simple marketing play. At the time of the decision everyone was hot on China. Every marketer was trying to figure out how to get the eyeballs of billions in one of the fastest growing economies. The IOC knew how much this would be worth to their partners and how many dollars were at stake.

If anyone wants to protest they should be protesting the IOC. It wasn’t good will or good faith that the games would give China a moral responsibility to change, like IOC President, Jacques Rogge likes to tout, it was a simple marketing and money ploy. People should be asking tough questions of the IOC and it’s committee, but they aren’t. China was thrust into this position without being ready to answer the bell. Even before the human rights issues, questions were raised about the air quality, the ability of the host nation to protect their workers, and more. The IOC took a chance that people would look beyond these issues but that hasn’t happened, and they need to share, if not take the brunt of the blame.

If anyone is going to have an impact it is going to have to come from the athletes and not the public. The Chinese Government, in my opinion, will only become more defensive and isolated during the public protests. However, if the the athletes started taking a stand then both the host nation and participating nations would have to figure out their positions pretty quickly. I know that the IOC has already stated that they would not tolerate political statements within the venues and podiums, etc. But I do think that the athletes can make simple statements to create awareness. It was one of the most simple gestures, two fists raised in the air, by Tommie Smith and John Carlos in Mexico City in 1968, that made an impact still discussed today. The athletes need to be the ones to make a stir, but I am not sure that any of them will. It’s not that they don’t care but its that no one is an amateur anymore. There are still too many corporate dollars tied up in these athletes for anyone to make waves and potentially create controversy.

So, what do we have left? We have a stalemate. The protests may make you feel like you are making change, but true change has to hit the games where it hurts. In the pocketbook. And the only way that is going to happen is if the athletes themselves decide that these issues are worth taking a stand for. Short of that, any pressure and any reaction is going to be a farce, a sham, that will be made to appease the public while Tibet simply waits for the NBC camera crews to go home before they once again have to start fearing for their lives.

1) He puts fans in the seats. A team that needs some love from the attendance figures would be wise to sign Barry. The Giants had the 8th best attendance figures last year despite having a 71-91 record. He is also a draw on the road where fans either come to see his ability to hit home runs or to heckle him.

2) Barry provides a great villain. Face it, we love our villains and Barry is one of the biggest in all of sports. Fans love to show up (see above) to heckle him and make funny signs or throw syringes. Sure A-Rod is an easy replacement, but he’s not surly and angry like Bonds. Bonds was polarizing long before BALCO because of his moodiness and ego, and will only carry on his surliness if he comes back.

3) It gives us a reason to hate Pedro Gomez. Pedro Gomez was one of the main reporters from ESPN who consistently covered Bonds during the many investigations and throughout the home run chase. He is to sports reporters as ambulance chasers are to lawyers. Gomez did everything but hide in Barry’s trash cans during the BALCO investigations and during the Grand Jury testimony. I am sure he is just doing what ESPN tells him to do but his incessant “breaking” reports during Sports Center make him look slimy and creepy.

4) Bonds is electric. I have seen the pre-steroid Bonds hit homers in Candlestick (thanks Grandpa!) and I have seen the post-roids Bonds hit homers at Pac Bell, AT&T park, or whatever you want to call it now. Every time Bonds came up, no matter the situation, it seemed as if the ball park came alive. You could literally hear the buzz in the stadium and it felt as if the fate of the world rested on each swing of the lumber. His ability to hit the ball - juiced or not - is simply amazing. I am not making excuses, but Bonds was likely a first ballot HOF candidate before BALCO and he still has that electric ability.

5) He makes Bud Selig squirm. I don’t like Selig. I think he is a rat that was/is just as complicit in the whole steroids era than any of the players. He needed the Sosa/McGwire home run chase after the strike, he needed attendance to rise around the league and he needed his legacy to be intact, and he did it all knowing, or at least not asking, about steroids. If you watched the home run chase last year you most likely saw the cut-away shots of the commissioner as he squirmed in his seat, having to stomach his way through each game as Bonds got closer and closer to Hank Aaron’s record. You know that Selig wanted nothing more than to see Bonds pass the record just so that it could all be over. If Bonds were to come back he would have to start answering questions again about Barry and I think it would help people to keep realizing that Selig was in charge during this whole mess!

Contract, Contract, Contract: Yes, it is blasphemy to take away money from owners but this needs to happen. Hockey, like baseball started expanding in the heyday of ESPN and big TV contracts. It started with moving the North Stars out of Minnesota and moving them to Dallas. Since then we have seen teams pop up in Florida (Lightning and Panthers), Nashville, Atlanta, North Carolina, Phoenix and Columbus. I’m sorry, I know some of the southern teams have had recent success, but hockey is not a sport that transplants well. Not only have you spread your talent thin you have created a league in many middle markets where fans are fickle, regional TV is smaller and it has taken several years to educate the fans on what hockey is all about.

Get a Real Television Contract: Versus is best known for its Sunday turkey hunting and fishing shows and the Tour de France. This is not the station for a professional sports league. Yes, you have a deal with NBC but it is not an every weekend affair, consistent coverage is only for a few weeks in January and February. It is like its a second thought to the network and its coverage shows. Last year, I can’t remember which game, the station cut coverage of the hockey game that was going into overtime, and went to a rain delayed horse race. Seriously? You need a TV partner who is going to showcase the league, not treat it for filler between the end of Notre Dame football season and before the second half of NASCAR season.

Showcase ALL of your Talent: One of the great things about mid to late 90’s hockey was that there were so many characters in hockey. ESPN and the NHL did a great job of showcasing the likes of Chelios, Roenick, Hull, Gretzky, etc. Now the NHL is hanging their hat on Sidney Crosby, he is a great player, but you cannot market one player to a whole nation of fans. There is a ton of talent in the NHL that needs to be showcased. Someone needs to work with the teams and the league and identify the top talent and figure out ways to market them.

Shorten the Season: The NBA can go till June because they have three stations that carry their games. The NHL does not. Shortening the season would allow the NHL to be more center stage during the late spring. As it stands now the NHL playoffs and finals are going when NASCAR is in full swing, baseball is starting to pick up steam, the NBA is winding down, and Golf is well underway. It would also make the regular season more meaningful. No one wants to watch in October when it really doesn’t matter until April and June!

I would also shorten the first series of the playoffs to five games. This would push up the finals to before the first week of June and give the first round some added drama.

If you were commissioner what would you do?

Davidson is This Year’s George Mason: Behind Stephen Curry’s combined 70 points in two games Davidson beat Gonzaga then upset the mighty Hoya’s of Georgetown. This peppy little upstart from North Carolina is the 10 seed in the Midwest Region and will now face 3 seed Wisconsin. We will see if the slipper still fits after this weekend but they have put on quite a show thus far.

The Big Ten is Better Than the Experts Suggested: Sure they only received four invites but two of them are heading to the the Sweet 16. Wisconsin has won using their tremendous defense and their consistent offense. Michigan State, the Big Ten’s most Jekyll and Hyde team, is probably the biggest surprise after beating the Big East champ Pitt, who many of the experts (including your truly) had going pretty deep in the tourney.

IU was a disappointment losing to Arkansas. But Purdue, the year’s surprise team, played a much bigger, stronger and experienced Xavier team, and played them very tough and showed that they will return a very good team next year.

The Big East Ain’t So Big: Largely regarded as one of the deepest conferences top to bottom the Big East is looking pretty average. Big names like Georgetown, Pitt, Notre Dame, and Marquette all failed to make it out of the first weekend. Marquette played Stanford pretty tough but Notre Dame looked terrible in its loss to Washington St. It is surprising Villanova, who is making the biggest noise now for the Big East. With big wins over Clemson and Sienna, they are on their way to the round of 16.

All four #1’s Took Care of Business: You can say that UCLA looked beatable, but they won, and that’s all you need to do. They may win ugly but my bet is that they continue to win. North Carolina, Kansas and Memphis, all look to be as good as advertised…could we be on a collision course to have all 1 seeds in the tournament?

The action starts up again on Thursday - what are your predictions for the weekend?