Business Management Skills

As the NHL regular season comes to a close, all is to play for and the various Low Cost Franchise dare to hope about Stanley Cup glory and the chance of becoming champions. We will look at these Low Cost Franchises and find out how they have started from a Franchises For Sale presented across the globve to the giant Low Cost Franchise of the NHL today. The NHL business market has been unequal for many years from many franchises struggling to stay in business to a lot of franchises being able to hand out multi million dollar contracts. At this current period the NHL franchise market is much more equal as massive amounts of money are being conserved as the world financial state has hit the hockey market. All of the Low Cost Franchise are cutting expenditure and functioning with what they have, which is having a great advantage to the proposed idea of Franchise For Sale in the market. Many managers for many years have looked upon their team as a Home Based Franchise, they work with their team on a daily timeframe and they take it everywhere with them. This is much like any Home Based Franchise in the existing market and consequently hugely beneficial to their future backer looking for a Franchises For Sale in the sports market. The backer will have the confidence that the team has been well directed and looked after as if it were a Home Based Franchise.

Here is the history of one of the NHL Low Cost Franchise that has had massive support over the years including success on and sometimes off the ice.

The Flames hockey franchise was truly formed thousands of miles from Calgary. In 1972 a Georgia based group led by Tom Cousins brought hockey to the South, with the Atlanta Flames. The Flames started play in an NHL that was confronting stiff competition from the World Hockey Association (WHA), which was making inroads within the America. The club put forth competitive teams, missing the playoffs only twice in their 1st eight NHL promotions. In 1980 the team were sold for $16 million to Vancouver businessman Nelson Skalbania and his Calgary based associates. And so the Flames relocated north to the oil patch, playing out of the Corral in Calgary.

Cliff Fletcher traded for Doug Gilmour in 1988-89 and Theo Fleury cracked the Flames line-up. They won over Vancouver, Los Angeles and Chicago to face the celebrated Montreal Canadians in the Stanley Cup final. Doug Gilmour would eventually net the game winner and an empty netter to confirm the win, as the Calgary Flames won their 1st ever Stanley Cup by beating the Montreal Canadians at the famous Forum. Just as everything had come together for the team to win the cup, the fabric of the franchise was torn the very next year thanks to a player revolt that led to the leaving of Terry Crisp. Doug Risebrough took over behind the bench but the Flames bowed out to the Edmonton Oilers in the 1st round of the playoffs.

As most of the players from the clubs championship team left, Calgary would find itself in the weird position of being a continually underperforming franchise. With rising salary costs and being a “small market Canadian team” the Flames started to rebuild with young talent as they finished out of the playoffs.

At first the Flames struggled to get several of their young players into the line-up. But a smart trade with Dallas landed Jerome Iginla into Calgary and he would form the core of the Flames squad. Even with the exciting play of Iginla, the club continue to have financial issues as the devalued Canadian dollar, increasing salaries, and not the most robust revenue streams meant that they had to run an extra tight ship. The club have not been able to replicate the success they enjoyed in much of their team history. A Stanley Cup seems even farther away.