May 1990

Birmingham will join Los Angeles (CA), Miami (FL), Cleveland (OH), Albany (NY) and Providence (RI) as teams in North America. Canada will have two entries, Saskatoon (Saskatchewan) and Hamilton (Ontario). Plans call for teams overseas to be located in London (England), Lyons (France), Milan (Italy), Rotterdam (Netherlands), Prague (Czechoslovakia) and Berlin (Germany). Two more franchises will be added in Europe and four more in North America at a later date. The GHL is currently in negotiations to place the first professional sports team in Russia with a franchise in Moscow.

Gerry, of Roanoke (VA), has just completed negotiations for use of the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Coliseum yesterday and has returned home to Virginia. "Richard Gerry is pursuing local ownership and will have more to say about the league and the Birmingham franchise when the ownership is in place. He asked us to put out an announcement confirming the franchise because word was already getting out," Salemi said. Gerry was owner of the Roanoke Lancers of the East Coast Hockey League last year and co-owner of the International Hockey League's Denver franchise two years ago. The Denver franchise no longer exists.

The league will try to make their games more attractive to television by having two thirty minute periods instead of three twenty minute periods. Other proposed rule changes are to eliminate the center red line and have a shootout in case of a tie at the end of regular play. The removal of the red line should open up the rink for longer and more daring passes. The GHL also hopes to eliminate the violence and fighting found in most hockey games by awarding penalty shots for high sticking infractions.

The first player draft is set for the first week of June, and each team will have a $2.3 million salary cap.

The GHL's President is Michael Gobuty, who was President of the Winnipeg Jets when they were part of the World Hockey Association.

Gerry said he was contacted by league organizers to become an owner. Once he was convinced of the proposed league's future, he considered Orlando, Tampa, Atlanta and Houston as potential cities to place his franchise before deciding on Birmingham. "I talked to a lot of people, but from what I saw and heard, Birmingham is the best sports town. It had the best facility, and from a business standpoint, it just made sense," Gerry said.

On his failed Denver franchise, Gerry said, "It was a difficult situation. We bought the franchise three days before the season opened and trying to put things together and sell advertising was difficult." He went on to say, "Roanoke was another difficult situation. I'm sure you've heard there are unpaid bills. I am in the process of trying to sell the team in Roanoke. I want to assure the people of Birmingham I am not leaving Roanoke with unpaid bills. I liked Roanoke and the fans were great. But the guy I bought the team from owned the building and that's where the difficulty came from. I'm not here saying, 'Ok, people, hockey's back in town, come on and support it.' I plan to come in with a first class organization from top to bottom and work hard at marketing and promoting it. This is not a a short-term obligation."

On the type of players fans could expect to see, Gerry said, "We'll have some names hockey fans will recognize. They'll also see some of the greatest young Swedes, Germans and Czechs available. You'll see a lot of Baby Bulls-type talent. The game is going to be quite different from what people are used to. Our game is going to be much more geared to the European style of play - a lot of skating and passing and less dumping and grinding in the corners."

June 1990

"I know we had some enthusiasm building and I don't want fans in Birmingham to think they have been burned again. I don't think that is the case at all. I apologize to the fans and hope they put their enthusiasm on hold for a few more months. I don't think anyone was more excited than I was. I would have done anything in my power to play in the '90-91 season. We were ready in Birmingham. But circumstances developed that couldn't be overcome. It was mostly arena availability and scheduling. Something can always come up, but I can't see anything keeping us from playing next year," Gerry said.

"The business people are very strong, they believe in Global, they believe the idea is right. But we could not come together in in 1990-91. We must do this properly and use our business acumen because hockey is a business," Gobuty said.

Murphy was more direct, saying, "We have some major divisions in the house."

Epilogue