What do you think of this?

The owners agreed to this in the current CBA, so I'm not sure that the suit has merit.

The whole idea behind the 'partnership' between the NHL and the NHLPA was to ensure that the players received their fair share of the pie. The only way to do this was to streamline the operations of the teams.

This meant that teams would lose control over certain items.

The Rangers cannot operate without the NHL

The NHL can operate without the Rangers.

So, while the rangers would like to do what they want to do (and trust me, all teams would) - they signed away certain freedoms in the CBA.

Given the information that you posted, my impression is that the Rangers are doing what any business would want to do to increase its profitability. While that may seem normal in a system of free enterprise, the sticking point is that they are part of a larger organization. And I think thats what the NHL is pursuing.

If all teams were able to develop revenue streams independent of any type of agreement that is consistent with profit sharing, that would violate an agreement designed to help the smaller market teams stay competitive.

In the NFL there is a well executed agreement that all teams adhere to, but the NHL doesn't have that quite yet. Despite the contested situation between MSG and the NHL, the "haves" were still the "haves" and the "have nots" were still the "have nots" to some varying degrees.

Sounds to me that Bettman wants a small dictatorship of the league so he can have complete control on marketing it. Thank god MSG launched legal action or else hockey would be below lawn bowling in the ratings once he's done. Bettman should take some advice from Saddam and Kim on how to become a dictator.

To me it sounds like there may have been a change in the agreement between the league and teams in this regard. I can't see Bettman suddenly thinking the league had rights to merchandising without knowing for sure. If anything Bettman seems to have a nose for money. My guess is the Rangers were not aware of some recent changes.

What the NHL is doing is stupid. All the websites should be unique, but they're all the same. The Rangers site is the best one only because it's different, it's the only one that's different. All the other ones look exactly the same, it's lame and boring. I applaud MSG for suing the NHL, maybe now the league will see that it's better for teams to have unique, individual, sites.

Its probably a legitimate case, but let's face it...

The Rangers are in the largest North-American market, they probably have the largest operating budget, and never have to fear being in fiscal trouble.

The fact that they are the only team that hasn't conformed to the League's NHL.com "team network" doesn't surprise me. They claim to need control of the website to advertise their team but fail to mention that they have thousands and thousands of established fans and corporate sponsors.

Actually bores me to death. Legal mumbo jumbo. I did however find it funny that a New York Jet fan/lawyer filed a lawsuit against the Pats for consumer fraud. That is just funny.

copied verbatim from tsn. weird huh?