He and the other IHL owners will be going to the CHL meetings Thursday in Phoenix. These will remain two separate organizations essentially forming a business partnership. There will be inter-league play, an all-star game and playoff formats to be determined. A lot of this is to be determined over the next month.
``The thing you have to understand is that the CHL is a publicly traded company so that goes into what you can and cannot say right now until we get the logistical stuff taken care of. With the Securities and Exchange Commission you can not promote any details until they are final and complete.'
Both leagues will operate under one rulebook, more in line with NHL rules, but the IHL will maintain separate record books, league offices and officiating staffs. Basically, everything will be announced after the CHL meetings this week and the IHL meetings June 21-23.
This was all driven by economics.
``As a board, we felt that reaching out and coming up with some sort of affiliation was very important due to the economic structure of Michigan and the upper Midwest,'' Franke said. ``There's not going to be any further questions or concerns whether the IHL with its midwestern core is going to be able to support itself over the long haul."
As for the ECHL, Franke declined to comment.
``We tried to make the six-hour, the seven-hour geographic footprint work over the last three years, but the bottom line with the way the economy has gone, there are not enough cities right now to create the size of league we felt was necessary and prudent for us to move forward by ourselves.
Comments
very interesting on the ihl website that the muskegon logo has been removed!
Well, now I guess we just have to focus on what these league meetings bring. The announcement came as no surprise. Unfortunately we have as many questions unanswered as we did before.
So....I suppose the best thing to do is sit back and be patient once more. Before we reject the idea of a four team division ( and no one has come out to say that is the case officially ) we should remember that the ECHL has nothing but four team divisions who play amongst themselves 90% of their games.
I am hoping that the league meetings result in more teams for the "IHL" division. Sure, that would be better. However there are so many questions and problems to be resolved that it is probably best to just sit back and let them sort it all out.
Schedule, divisions, salary cap, vet limit, and roster size are pretty important to me personally. I hope there is some sort of comprimise with those issues. Split the salary cap down the middle, play 70 games, and place the vet limit at six.
It sounds to me like everyone wants to have more than four teams within this northern division. That is positive.
Now we have to wait for the details. I hope they take their time, think each issue through, and get it right.
Patience once again.
I think someone wrote on here some time ago that they did not think goalies counted towards the vet limit according to the league rules of one of the leagues we were discussing on here. I don't remember which league the person was talking about, or who said it. However, if goalies did not count, I could very easily be happy with 4 vets. It may help trim some of the fat from the team. I know, I know, we won another Cup and that means that everyone on our team is the best out there and can play hockey forever. I guess the idea of having younger talent coming through and watching the management pick out the best talent from new pools would be interesting and fun to watch to me. It'd change it up quite a bit. I wouldn't want to be without vets altogether, but watching a few teach and work with the young ones throughout the season has always been something I've enjoyed. Just my opinion, of course.
This is just another extension of the Frankes wanting to control things in the league. They don't care about the fans, never have and never will. They put a good fake up front though, I will say that. You will still see the same teams 10-12 times a year so they can keep control of things. They don't go to the ECHL because they can't have that control then. Blake..have a story idea for you. Let's see an article on what the Komets have made money wise since they left the real IHL since we all had to read about it for several years on how they were losing money.
Someone in the I or C needs to sign Steve Martinson, he himself is entertaining.
Holy Toledo. A Private Business owner wants control of something where their business is or maybe. Holy Toledo a Private business owner might make money. I get sick and tired of people bashing someone for making money especially in this crapper of an economy. Some of you don't realize how much money the Komets make the city businesses on game nights which equals tax dollars for the county. Amazing though of what league they play in doesn't mean a thing for any of those businesses. So they aren't going to the ECHL...so what. All the AA leagues have the same talent level with the ECHL and CHL having more speed but the IHL having more experience. They don't care about the fans yet they are trying to work out something with a new league to bring in more teams and try something different that the fans were griping about. I think some that are griping about this would be griping if we were in the ECHL and half the players were called up a week before our playoffs and we dumped in the first round....right?
Right on Charlie I. Too many here just bitch and don't have a clue.
Not to mention how many jobs, both full time and part time, are created by the Frankes. Every wonder what all those people working at the Coliseum on game nights would be doing if the Komets weren't here? I will guess, nothing. Not making money, not spending money in the community, not paying taxes. In fact, they might be on unemployment and we would be paying taxes to support them.
Whoops, just read this....am I supposed to be apologizing for the visa thing? Running Komet, I apologize....I did not understand your comment about that whole thing! If I offended anyone by posting that link and informing anyone, I'm truly sorry. I just was trying to help. I thought someone had a question, and I was trying to answer it for them.
STH and fans create all those jobs by supporting and showing up. Lets stop short of making the Franke's the entire economic structure of Allen County.