Thursday, June 19, 2014

OH BOY........

Well, it's been quite an interesting week and a half since I last post, somethings have been put into perspective and some drastic measures have been taken.

First we must say goodbye to a beloved member of the Sharks broadcast family, Drew Remenda was not offered an extension on his current contract that expires on June 30th of this year. In his interview with Greg Wyshynski and Jeff Marek, Drew explained that the decision came from the upper management, more specifically the final decision was with new Sharks COO John Tortora.1What really disgusts me is the fact that a man who has been in the COO position for less than 18 months is making a decision on a broadcaster who has been with the Sharks in some capacity for over 20 years! For newer fans of the Sharks (myself included, I started watching games religiously in 2009) Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda have been the only dynamic duo of broadcasters we have known. I'm am so upset about this latest slap in the face by Sharks management that I'm considering the idea of starting an online petition to have him reinstated. From the Twitter, Fan, and Mass Media reaction its safe to say about 80% have viewed this as a massive negative mark on the Sharks organization.

The second bit of shocking news for the day is that the San Jose Sharks may in fact be in financial trouble. According to Mark Purdy of the San Jose Mercury News the Sharks are trying to renegotiate their Television rights deal with Comcast Sports, which they signed in 2009. Apparently the deal is only good for $7 million dollars a year, compared to markets like Los Angeles and Anaheim which come in at about $20 million dollars plus. It's to the point where the Sharks could threaten to leave and is so perilous that Gary Bettman the Commissioner of the NHL has personally stepped in to help negotiate.2 Before we all start to panic at possibility the Sharks could relocate we must realise that the city has a vested interest in the team (the team bears the city name), Comcast Sports has a binding contract, and the Sharks have leased the SAP Center; these factors alone will by sometime to hammer out a fair T.V. deal for the team. In addition, I find it incredibly hard to believe that the other owners and governors would allow the NHL to vacate from a major media market namely the greater Bay Area.

Blow after blow this summer is turning into nightmare, what will we have to deal with next? All i know is that the most volatile time of this franchise's history will be in the next week leading up to the draft where are beloved team could be dismantled.

1 MvsW Interview with Drew Remenda
2 Mark Purdy article San Jose Mercury News     

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