Friday, June 11, 1999
Aviators violated WPHL salary cap
By JEFF WALKER
Staff Writer
The Abilene Reporter-News has learned that the Abilene
Aviators violated the salary cap last season and will await punishment
from the Western Professional Hockey League.
“We have been investigating Abilene for some time and
we’ve gotten the information, but the difficulty is that
there is no franchise there right now,” said Brad Treliving,
director of Hockey Operations for the WPHL. “It’s difficult
to go after someone and fine them with the current situation going
on, but we’ve gotten the information and at some point this
is an issue we will deal with.”
After the Reporter-News obtained copies of player contracts
from a year ago, it was discovered the Aviators didn’t report
certain payments to the league.
A contract to Alan May, which was signed by May and former
owner Dave Rounds, stipulated that May was to receive $1,000 at
the end of the season. This is a violation of the league’s
salary cap.
Rounds, however, denied ever giving any illegal money to May
or goaltender Tony Martino.
“I only paid Alan what was in his contract and when we
discovered that the rest was breaking the cap, he made me aware
that it was illegal and we didn’t do it,” Rounds said.
“When we realized what it was, we agreed it wasn’t right
and we went our separate ways.”
Martino was also to receive money and certain bonuses that
were supposed to be reported to the league and count against the
salary cap but weren’t.
Martino’s original contract, effective June 23, 1998,
was signed by former head coach Jeff Triano, former managing partner
Scooter Murray and Martino. An amended contract, dated Sept. 12,
1998, was signed by Murray and Martino. The second contract included
a $5,000 payment to be made to Martino in lieu of the commissions
he was originally scheduled to receive from the corporate/group
sales, summer inline programs and youth/adult hockey leagues.
“The main thrust of this league is to make sure teams
abide by the salary cap,” Treliving said. “In these
situations the penalties and uncovering the infractions are taken
very serious. The penalties are very simple and the salary cap
is very straightforward.”
The WPHL is uncertain what kind of punishment to hand out because
the league terminated the franchise license agreement in April
and, therefore, Abilene doesn’t currently have a team.
The owners — Rounds, Danny Pradon, Jimmy Tindol and Dean
Beeman — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy April 5 and have
been trying to obtain a new franchise license agreement under
a newly formed group with Glenda and Dr. John Slaughter.
Under last year’s rules, a team is fined $10,000 for a
first offense against the salary cap and $50,000 for each offense
thereafter.
This year, however, the penalty will be steeper for teams found
in violation of the salary cap. A first-time offense is punishable
by a $50,000 fine and indefinite suspension of the head coach.
Any violation that follows is subject to a $100,000 fine and indefinite
suspension of the head coach. In all instances, points won while
a player in violation was playing will be taken away from the
team in the overall standings.
The new salary cap rules were amended at the league’s
spring meetings last week in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The Aviators are the third team to get caught breaking the
cap. The Austin Ice Bats were fined $50,000 and lost eight points
late in the season for violating the cap, while the President’s
Cup champion Shreveport Mudbugs were fined $10,000 following last
season for also violating the cap.
The two Abilene contracts in question involved players who
next season will be head coaches for other WPHL teams — May
for the expansion Lubbock Cotton Kings and Martino for the New
Mexico Scorpions.
Jeff Walker can be reached at 676-6711 or walkerj@abinews.com.
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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