The Vancouver Canucks are now worth $211 million, 43% more than before the lockout. Last season the team posted a profit of $12.8 million, after barely breaking even in the few seasons before the lockout. In addition, greater revenue sharing from the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) helped teams like the Pittsburgh Penguins and Edmonton Oilers turn a profit.

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A decision will be made at the governors' next meeting in late November and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said two options are being considered.

One choice is to drop one of the eight divisional games and make that a game against a team from the other conference. Under that proposal, teams from opposing conferences would travel to each city every other year. The current schedule has teams playing only teams from one division in the opposing conference every year, which means stars such as Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins are seen in western cities once every three years.

The second choice will drop the divisional games to six and have full interconference play with a home-and-home series between every team.

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Labels: business

Island residents are clearly passionate Vancouver Canucks fans.

Just how impassioned became evident yesterday when an upcoming intra-squad game at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre sold out in just four minutes.

"Only a Cher concert sold out faster," said Dave Dakers, general manager of the centre and president of the Canucks' ECHL farm team Victoria Salmon Kings.

"It's definitely a record for a sporting event for either the Victoria or Kelowna [Prospera Place] arenas."

The intra-squad game, where the team is divided into two competing halves, is set for Sept. 16 at the 7,000-seat arena.

Dakers said the Internet ticketing system, which can handle 2,500 to 3,000 requests at one time, became full only 10 seconds after tickets went on sale at 10 a.m. The game sold out so quickly over the Internet and phone lines that only about 50 of the several hundred people in line at the box office were able to get tickets.

Single game tickets will go on sale to the general public on Saturday, September 15th at 10:00 am.

Single game tickets are sold on a first-come, first-served basis ONLY through Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.ca/canucks or Charge-by-Phone at 604.280.4400.

A limit of four tickets per game is in place. Please be aware that the most popular games will be the first to sell out of available inventory so it is best to have other game options in mind. Just a reminder to be patient when encountering delays or busy signals during this period as Ticketmaster will be experiencing a large volume of calls.

Labels: business

Labels: business