Feds cornered by crafty Bryden

  It must trickle down from the top.

  Senators majority owner and governor Rod Bryden took the next-to-last step in moving the club out of Ottawa Thursday, executing what amounted to a neat boardroom neutral zone trap on the federal government.

  Bryden announced the "for sale" sign is now out on the Northeast Division Champions and unless the federal government comes up with about $5 million in tax relief a season, Bryden said he will move the team after this season.

  "To maintain that option, I must start the process now," an unemotional Bryden told a press conference at the Corel Centre which was broadcast nationally.

  "I'm not going to be a hostage for another year. I'm not going to do that. The team will either be viable here or playing somewhere else."

  Bryden said the team could fetch as much as $160 million U.S. on the open market and he would be interested in either selling it outright or owning it with someone else in an American city.

  That said, he remained optimistic the federal government will see the value of keeping NHL hockey in Canada, but time is running out for a solution.

  Thursday's development was simply the penultimate step in a carefully considered plan Bryden, a former president of the Liberal Party of Canada, has pulled off like the veteran politican campaigner he is.

  It shouldn't have come as a surprise.

  Bryden made it clear earlier this year if he didn't get the Senators' and Corel Centre's taxes reduced by about $12 million by December, he would need to get the process of selling the club underway if he was going to have enough time to get the sale approved in time for the 2000 season.

  So far, he's about three-quarters of the way there. He got about a $3.9 million reduction in property tax from municipal, regional and provincial governments. By having the Senators games sponsored by the club's charity arm, Bryden said he believes the club is exempt from paying a provincial amusement tax, saving about another $4 million.

  Bryden wants the federal government to at least match the $3.7 million the small-market Canadian clubs receive from the NHL to help offset the difference between the Canadian and U.S. dollars.

  The message is clear: if the Senators have to leave Ottawa, it's because the federal government decided NHL hockey in Canada is not worth saving.

  Like a crafty defenceman angling a forward toward the boards, Bryden has put politicians like Industry Minister John Manley, an Ottawa-area MP, in the position of deciding the fate of the club.

  "I don't consider it extortion," said Manley. "I consider it we've got a problem and I hope we can find a solution and I hope we can find it in the right time frame."

  Unfortunately, leadership in the federal government, like goal scorers in the NHL, seem to be in short supply.

  Vision seems to extend no further than the next ballot box.

  What seems to be most important to politicians is how this will play at the polls.

  What hurts their political futures the least?

  Do nothing and let the Senators and perhaps other teams like Edmonton and Calgary leave and incur the wrath of hockey fans?

  Or run the risk of appearing to give federal money to millionaire hockey players and incur taxpayers wrath?

  Which group will make the most noise?

  The feds can pump millions into propping up a Canadian magazine industry which can't compete with its American counterparts and nobody raises an eyebrow, never mind a complaint.

  Bryden said he can't compete with his American counterparts because of federal government policy to keep our dollar low and he's viewed as a rich whiner who should have known the risks he was taking.

  Optics.

  The argument any tax relief will simply be snapped up by greedy players seems to be the strongest offered by those opposing any help for Canadian NHL clubs. Unless the NHL, which spends more than 70 percent of revenues on player salaries - a ridiculous amount - gets its house in order, who's to say Bryden and the others won't be asking for more another couple of years from now?

  But there is evidence NHL owners are making an effort to nip the salary spiral. Unrestricted free agents have have received much less in base salary than what they got last year.

  A restricted free agent like Keith Primeau of the Carolina Hurricanes is still sitting out. There's a least a hint the wild salary escalation of the 1990s isn't going to carry over to the new millenium.

  After months of public pleading, posturing and pondering, this is a backroom battle now.

  The Liberal cabinet will weigh the options.

  Bryden will weight his offers.

  Right now all that's hanging over the Ottawa Senators is a "For Sale" sign.

  Whether it turns into a headstone remains to be seen.

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