Less than two months after settling a dispute with one superstar-turned-owner and his agent, Bob Goodenow is confronted with another dispute, this time involving the National Hockey League's other superstar-turned-owner-turned-superstar and his agent.
The status of this second dispute is rather murky. Goodenow, the executive director of the NHL Players' Association, says there has been a settlement in the conflict-of-interest matters involving Mario Lemieux's ownership of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Lemieux's relationship with his agents, Tom and Steve Reich, and his return as a player.
"As far as the Reichs are concerned, they are no longer dealing with Mario," Goodenow said. "Yeah, they will formally sever their relationship. I'm satisfied these issues have been dealt with."
However, Tom Reich said the only issue that has been settled is that he will not negotiate a contract for Mario the player with Mario the owner or with Penguins general manager Craig Patrick. Everything else, such as Reich organizing Lemieux's annual charity golf tournament and representing him in other matters, is still under discussion.
"This has not been resolved, this is being worked on," Reich said last week. "We take the concerns of the players' association fairly seriously and we're working on them.
"The association has concerns about [Lemieux's]owner-player status. There are assurances they want. But you should understand we are not acting for him in the matter of his contract."
In any case, Mario the player has agreed to play for something around the NHL's average salary of $1.4-million.
Reich refused to discuss who will replace him as Lemieux's agent in contract negotiations or if he intends to sever all hockey-business ties with Lemieux as Mike Barnett was forced to do with Wayne Gretzky.
"When this is settled, I will have a comment," Reich said.
These issues first became public a couple of months ago, when Barnett was trying to decide whether he wanted to remain a player agent or join his prize client and friend Gretzky in running the Phoenix Coyotes. At the time, Barnett was the talk of the hockey world.
Many of Barnett's fellow agents were not happy about what they saw as a conflict of interest between his loyalties to labour, the players who make up his long list of clients, and NHL management. This from a group that has more than one member who still quietly does work for current and former NHL management figures while representing players.
The talk grew to such a volume that Goodenow had a meeting with Barnett and a couple of his minders at International Management Group. Goodenow, a man unburdened with a reputation for benevolence (which makes him such a good union leader), told Barnett to make up his mind, and fast. He could be an agent or a general manager but not both.
Barnett had been taking his time because Gretzky and his partner, Steve Ellman, did not have the scratch to simply buy the Coyotes outright. He wanted to see which way the deal was going to go before committing himself, which was the logical thing to do. Barnett was less than happy about making a decision before he was ready.
Once the Barnett issue was settled, other agents returned to squawking about the relationship between Lemieux and the Reichs. Lemieux, with considerable behind-the-scenes help from Tom Reich, got involved in the Penguins bankruptcy case and wound up as the owner of record more than a year ago.
Incidentally, Lemieux was in this position thanks to his agents. Tom Reich negotiated a personal-services contract with huge deferred payments for him and several other Penguins with former owner Howard Baldwin. This was the subject of much controversy concerning how they conformed with NHL rules. It soon became clear the only way Lemieux was going to get the $32-million (U.S.) or so he was owed was to become an owner.
The NHLPA cut the Reichs more slack than Barnett because outside of their involvement in the bankruptcy issues, they were not going to be involved with operating the Penguins. Once Lemieux was confirmed as the owner, the agents withdrew from the Penguins picture.
"Wayne and Mike [Barnett]had a different dynamic," Goodenow said. "[The Reich brothers]did not have any involvement with the Pittsburgh hockey club."
Incidentally, Goodenow cannot be accused of playing favourites in this matter -- his relationship with Barnett is much warmer than it is with Tom Reich.
While Goodenow is far too discreet to say so himself, those in the know say he was less than happy with Tom Reich's posturing during the 1994-95 owners' lockout. Reporters sentenced to cover the mess became used to seeing Reich appear in the corridors to offer much unsolicited comment.
Goodenow was not impressed with the free advice, and his ire grew when he noticed the chummy relationship between Lemieux, Reich and Baldwin. It looks as if relations have not improved much since then.
Unfortunately, Goodenow and others in the hockey business will have to get used to such disputes. Athletes are making so much money these days that it is inevitable more of them will become owners, sparking more arguments about agents representing both labour and management. dshoalts@globeandmail.ca