Rangers disputes marketing rights with NHL

 

Who should have the rights for the ownership of a team’s website, the team itself or the league where that team plays? Most team owners are agree about the league handling the rights of the site, but there are a few that look at this with indecision.

That is the case of the Rangers, who are struggling with the NHL for the rights of its website, and NHL officials are fighting back in order to get the Rangers management group to accept the terms of the league and deliver the rights to the league. The Rangers are looking to create new revenue streams outside any limitation from the NHL’s market sharing restrictive policy.

The whole issue is being handled at the courts and if the Rangers are considered guilty, they might get punished in many ways, including management destitutions, suspension, fines, a forced sale of the club or even termination of the franchise.

This is not the first time that a team fights on the same kind of issues, as Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones did the same thing back in 1996 since he considered that the NFL was getting the most of the team’s local marketing rights, but planted a suit against the league, but 3 years after he ceeded the power to the NFL.

All four leagues, the NFL, the MLB, the NHL and the NBA have the same policy of owning the digital rights of all teams, so it is a bit hard for single teams to fight against these terms. I think that sooner or later the Rangers will hold back and do what the Cowboys did, probably sooner than one might believe.