A Circus Bumped By The Circus

The World Hockey Association had many stories of franchises who got in over their heads when it came to finances and running up debts, but the New York Raiders were supposed to be that one team who was going to be a cornerstone of the WHA. With the team aiming to move into Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Long Island, it seemed like they could have been the major hockey competition to the NHL's New York Rangers had things turned up favorably for the Raiders. Instead, things continually went sideways for the Raiders, from 1972 second-overall pick Al Sims signing with the Boston Bruins to original owner Neil Shayne selling shares of ownership to Richard Wood and Sy Siegel only to have all three run into financial problems. With the Raiders on perilous financial ground, the final blow almost came from the annual Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus show in New York.

As you can see on the ticket above, the Raiders played games at Madison Square Garden. Madison Square Garden was the home of the New York Rangers, and it wasn't a secret that the NHL and the WHA weren't exactly friendly. The Raiders originally tried to secure an arena lease with Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, but Nassau County didn't view the WHA as a professional hockey league so they denied the Raiders from acquiring a lease to play at the arena that would compete with the expansion New York Islanders of the NHL. As such, the Raiders were forced to make a deal with Madison Square Garden, and let's just say that the costs for that ice rental were astronomical.

With the aforementioned Shayne, Wood, and Siegel running into money issues, the WHA assumed control of the team midway through the season. The league's takeover of the team didn't help the squad attract more fans or add more talent, and the Raiders wallowed near the bottom of the standings for the entire season. The team, though, continued to play hard and found itself in a four-way battle for the final two playoff spots. With their focus on making the playoffs, the Raiders found out in March that their home games wouldn't actually be played at Madison Square Garden if they made the playoffs.

Somehow, the contract that the Raiders signed with Madison Square Garden didn't include dates or scheduling for playoff dates. That posed a major problem as the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus was scheduled to set up their production in Madison Square Garden from March 27 through to May 28 from this billboard according to the Facebook post. Outside of Knicks and Rangers games, the circus officially became third in line for dates at Madison Square Garden. This, of course, left the Raiders scrambling.

to host it On March 24, 1973, the Winnipeg Free Press reported that the New York Raiders had reached an agreement with an arena to host its playoff games. The catch? The arena still didn't want them.

According to the article, if the Raiders made the playoffs, they'd only get one round of hockey at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum after both sides settled out-of-court following the Raiders' lawsuit against Nassau County. They couldn't go back to Madison Square Garden, so the New York Raiders were metaphorically flying by the seats of their pants when it came to playoff scheduling and home playoff games.

In the end, none of it mattered as the New York Raiders finished last in the six-team WHA Eastern Division, missing the playoffs by six points. Over the summer, Ralph Brent purchased the Raiders franchise from the WHA and renamed the team the New York Golden Blades. Brent quickly found out that the lease at Madison Square Garden was an anchor, and he also relinquished the franchise back to the WHA who moved them to Cherry Hill, New Jersey with help from Jack Maxwell. From there, the newly-named Jersey Knights would miss the playoffs once again in 1973-74, and the team would be relocated to San Diego. The WHA's New York circus was over.

I find it baffling that Neil Shayne would forget to book playoff dates in his lease with Madison Square Garden only to lose any chance at playoff dates to the annual Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus event. It's hard to understand why the WHA, both before and upon taking over the team, wasn't more diligent in ensuring that its New York had playoff dates prior March 24, 1973. Whatever those reasons might be, it didn't really matter in both cases since the Raiders didn't need those dates anyway after they missed the playoffs in 1973.

It isn't often a circus of a hockey team is bumped from an arena by an actual circus, but that was the WHA in a nutshell in that first year.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!