Wondering if any Chelsea supporters (either in the UK or US) have heard anything about the following. According to last week's Hockey News, Roman Abramovich has contacted the National Hokey League about purchasing an existing NHL franchise. several NHL teams have been for sale over the past few years, notably the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (owned by Disney) and the Dallas Stars (owned by Tom Hicks, who recently decided to keep the team). It's not odd that he would want to buy a franchise in the US, but what he wants to do with the team once he acquires it is rather bizarre. Abramovich plans to field a team entirely of Russian players. I guess somebody talked him out of an all - former Eastern Bloc lineup at Chelsea. I couldn't find the exact link, but here is one to The Hockey News website: www.thn.com
I would venture to say that based on his business dealings he would not be approved for ownership, although if they let the Wirtzes own a team, maybe that doesn't apply in the NHL.
Here's two links with more details: http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/89/358/10973_abramovich.html http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/030925/6/utna.html
I enjoyed the fact that Pravda referred to the NHL as the IHL, but the fact that he was trying to buy Dallas makes me a bit queasy.
queasy? What, you don't want an owner who will spend anything to win? Ha. Well, tell him to come to Chicago. We'd do anything to get rid of ownership who will not spend anything, provided they make money. You north London boys just don't get it yet, do you? Roman buying is the greatest thing that could ever happen to a team. The russian version of George Steinbrenner. You spend a dollar, he'll spend 2. You spend 100 million, he'll spend 200 million. Very difficult to combat a guy like this.
I think it would be impossible for him to buy a team and stock it with the best Russian players at any price because a) how do you trade a bunch of players making big money for Russians when not every team can afford the expensive players on the roster that would need to be traded and b) the CBA expires Sept 15, 2004 and there will be some form of salary cap imposed, so Roman A would not be able to spend like a drunken sailor. I also heard the Vancouver Canucks were his initial target.
According to the Yahoo.ca article, he was negotiating with Tom Hicks to buy the Stars last spring, and when that fell through he shifted his focus to Vancouver.
Re: queasy? True except that George is a New Yorker through and through. The same can't be said of Roman. He may come to love Chelsea, but he'll never be London, through and through.
Re: Re: queasy? No, he's not. He's from Ohio and made his money in shipping in Cleveland and Tampa. He's only NY from the standpoint of his high profile job. His other business interests keep him out of NY.