Staring at the prospect of losing the team, the state agreed to fund a renovation of the Devils' arena.
(meta data) TITLE: HOCKEY; Devils and New Jersey Call Truce and Strike Deal - The New York Times (meta data) AUTHOR: https://www.nytimes.com/by/richard-sandomir (meta data) PUBLISHED DATETIME: 1995-07-14T01:00:00-04:00 Skip to contentSkip to site indexSportsLog InToday's PaperSports|HOCKEY; Devils and New Jersey Call Truce and Strike Deal Supported by # HOCKEY; Devils and New Jersey Call Truce and Strike Deal By Richard Sandomir July 14, 1995ImageCreditCreditThe New York Times ArchivesSee the article in its original context from July 14, 1995, Section B, Page 7Buy About the ArchiveThis is a digitized version of an article from The Times's print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems. Please send reports of such problems to archive_feedback@nytimes.com. The Devils agreed yesterday to play at Byrne Meadowlands Arena at least through next season and for 11 more after that if a renegotiated lease with promises of new revenues from luxury suites and advertising is approved in September. If the deal is not completed by Sept. 15, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority would reactivate its request in State Superior Court in Hackensack for a temporary restraining order to keep the team from terminating its current lease. Both sides suspended their legal skirmish in court yesterday. If the lease is not approved by Sept. 15, the Devils would not automatically leave New Jersey; rather, the tenant and the landlord, happy for now, would revert to battle stations, fighting over whether the authority had breached the lease. Among the terms of the proposed lease is an escape clause for the Devils that would be triggered if another major league sports team were to play in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The clear target of this clause is the Yankees, who have flirted with the idea of moving to New Jersey. "Absolutely, we suggested it," said Lou Lamoriello, the president and general manager of the Devils. "It was very important to us. The focus is not on any one team, but if we're going to create new revenue from advertising and luxury suites, this area cannot sustain more competition. There's just so much the fans and corporate sponsors can sustain." The clause does not restrict the authority from seeking a baseball team in the Meadowlands, but losing the Devils would impose a heavy penalty. And the Yankees, whose lease at Yankee Stadium runs through 2002, reacted angrily to the news. "It appears the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority has decided it would prefer to have a National Hockey League team over a major league baseball team playing in the Meadowlands," David Sussman, the Yankees' general counsel, said in a statement. "However, as a legal matter, it is not clear that an owner of one team (in this case the Devils) and the sports authority can prevent other sports teams from locating in a state." The two sides characterized the 63 days required to turn the agreement in principle into a signed lease as a period when various financial and practical assumptions -- such as ticket prices, luxury suite prices and the precise location of the new club seats -- have to be worked on. "It's a 12-year deal and we have certain commitments along the way," said Robert Mulcahy, the president and chief executive of the authority. The nastiness of the recent months -- during which the Devils continually wielded the threat of accepting a sweetheart deal from Nashville -- was set aside yesterday at a news conference to announce the agreement in principle, which both said was shepherded by National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman, who is believed to have removed much of the rancor between the team and the authority. "The Devils are staying," Bettman said. "This has been a long and difficult process." He added that John McMullen, the Devils' owner, "could have done something else to make more money." McMullen, a native New Jerseyan, admitted that the cash would still be greener in Nashville. "If you did this all with your head, you wouldn't stay," he said, adding that his heart made half his decision. Lamoriello said: "The ingredients in this lease are something we are comfortable with. But there's a lot of work to do." Some of the features of the agreement are these: *A $12 million renovation, financed through authority bonds, of 25 luxury suites, plus the construction of 14 new mezzanine suites, 1,600 lower level club seats and a restaurant. The authority has, for now, rejected as too costly building 30 or 40 new luxury suites in the arena's upper reaches. "But if we find there's a market for 20 or 30 more, we'll think about more," said Michael Rowe, the general manager of the arena and Giants Stadium. Club seats -- which are usually plushly cushioned and feature services such as waiters and access to a restaurant or club -- sell for a wide variety of prices around the N.H.L. But if they sold at $5,000 a seat per season, for example, they would yield $8 million in revenues, of which the Devils would get a high percentage. *Allowing the Devils to sell advertising in more areas of the arena, rights that are currently restricted. *Guaranteeing the Devils a minimum revenue stream from suites, club seats and advertising in which the authority would make up for any shortfall. "But we're not guaranteed break-even," McMullen said. "That depends on salaries in the N.H.L." *An annual incremental increase in the percentages the Devils get from concessions, parking and luxury suites, rising from 34.2 percent of gross revenues to somewhere between 40 and 50 percent by the end of the lease. The two sides also agreed to share revenues from the possible sale to a corporation of the right to rename the arena. The Capital Center in Landover, Md., did this and is called the USAir Arena. Naming rights can fetch at least $1 million annually. "We wanted to enhance the revenues of the Devils to make them competitive with their peers in the N.H.L. and modernize the arena to make it more competitive," aid Mulcahy. The renovations, which will cause the elimination of 500 regular seats, will be ready for the 1996-97 season. Despite the proposed modernization, it is not a new state-of-the-art facility, which McMullen craves. Said Lamoriello: "This makes up for problems in an old arena. But it still doesn't make up for a new one." Although authority officials were not specific, they said the Nets, the Devils' co-tenants at the arena, will also benefit from revenues derived from the sale of luxury suites and club suites. "We can't say anything until we see the agreement," said John Mertz, a Nets spokesman. The most intriguing clause in the proposed lease is the one allowing the Devils to escape the arena before 2002 if another pro team makes the Meadowlands Sports Complex its home. Said Michael Francis, the authority's chairman: "We are not soliciting a baseball team to breach their lease to come here." The two sides characterized the clause as one that protects the Devils' ability to sell more suites, club seats and advertising without competing with the more popular Yankees in a nearby stadium. "There is a concern for how many suites and club seats you can sell in one market," said Mulcahy. The Yankees have agitated about moving to New Jersey, and the authority would like to have them. But for now, the Yankees are still working on plans with New York City that would keep them in the Bronx. The agreement would also shed two current lease provisions, including payment by the Devils to the authority of 5 percent of their radio and TV rights fees, and 5 percent from the sale of the team, if it exceeds $50 million. A version of this article appears in print on , Section B, Page 7 of the National edition with the headline: HOCKEY; Devils and New Jersey Call Truce and Strike Deal. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe ## Site Index ### news ### opinion ### arts ### living ### more ### Subscribe
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New Jersey Devils
History.:New Jersey.:1993–2000: Championship franchise.
Going into Game 6 in New Jersey, the Devils led the series three games to two. Before the game, Rangers captain Mark Messier guaranteed that the Rangers would win Game 6. Messier led his team back, netting a natural hat-trick to help the Rangers overcome an early 2–0 Devils lead and force a decisive contest. In Game 7, the Devils' Valeri Zelepukin tied the score at 1–1 with 7.7 seconds remaining, but the Devils were defeated in double overtime on a goal by Stéphane Matteau. 
 Despite the setback, the team returned to the Eastern Conference Finals during the lockout-shortened 1994–95 season and defeated the Philadelphia Flyers four games to two. They swept the heavily favored Detroit Red Wings to win New Jersey's first-ever Stanley Cup, as they brought the Cup across the Hudson River from New York, after the Rangers had won it the year before. The 1995 Devils team became the first to give the players a day with the Stanley Cup, a tradition that lives on with each Cup winner. Claude Lemieux was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoffs MVP. The success came amid constant rumors that the team would move for the third time in its history to Nashville.