Yozhik v tumane
Registered User
- Jan 2, 2019
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I don't know either. But it's mentioned in the parting-ways announcements that he signed a contract with Rogle B.K. so, fair to say that there was money involved assumedly; also I found this in The Hockey News...
I’d be interested in seeing what the contract looked like, but I don’t necessarily think that signing a contract with a team meant signing off on a salary. Theoretically it could just be an agreement that he would play for Rögle and couldn’t switch teams for the duration of the contract. In many cases, the way I’ve understood athletes earned their living back then, a contract would involve a “real job” with time off for practice and games. I agree that there likely were good money involved in the case of Sterner though. Firstly, Rögle’s plainly an odd choice for him immediately after his NHL stint. They played a tier below the top division, was not close to home for him, and his former team Frölunda were reigning champions. Rögle must have given him a good deal. But: a professional salary should have barred him from playing in the national team, I guess? So what was the deal?
Sterner, aforementioned Canadian Des Moroney and American goalie Tom Haugh were called “expensive stars” in contemporary accounts, and important parts in Rögle’s push to advance through the league pyramid.
In Sterner’s case I found two clues of how he made a living playing for Rögle in an interview for Hockeysverige. As I mentioned earlier, he ran a sports goods store playing there. I’m thinking this was his “profession”. He said he made a pretty good buck selling tickets for the team’s games through this shop, earning one SEK per ticket (a US dollar and some change, adjusted for inflation). He also mentioned a promise of a “fribrev” by the team’s big sponsor, which I’m not sure I understand but I think related to his pension with regards to taxes. But the deal to sell tickets through his shop and some kind of tax exemption seem like two plausible aspects that made Rögle a lucrative destination for him, while circumventing the amateur rules.