cover image Power Play: An Inside Look at the Big Business of the National Hockey League

Power Play: An Inside Look at the Big Business of the National Hockey League

Gil Stein. Birch Lane Press, $21.95 (288pp) ISBN 978-1-55972-422-7

As the vice president and general counsel of the National Hockey League from 1977 to 1992, and as president from 1992 to 1993, Stein was in a unique position to observe behind-the-scenes maneuverings of team owners during the period that saw the league's greatest growth spurt. He makes it clear at the start that there are no poor owners in the NHL, only the Haves and the Have-Mores. He has many secrets to tell, including details of the Canadian Beer War of 1984 between the Molson and Carling breweries for control of north-of-the-border TV hockey broadcasts; the absorption of the World Hockey League by the NHL too late to prevent a dramatic escalation of players' salaries; the various moves to expand into new markets, virtually all proposed to enrich existing teams; and the coup Stein accomplished when he brought Michael Eisen (Disney) and Wayne Huizenga (Blockbuster Entertainment) into the league. He ends on a sad note, explaining that he felt compelled to refuse induction into the Hall of Fame after he was unfairly accused of rigging his own election. The book will interest mainly those hockey buffs who approach it as a business, not a sports, title. Photos not seen by PW. (Sept.)