New York ? On the day the Buffalo Sabres became the second NHL franchise in a week to declare bankruptcy, the league signed a $1 million sponsorship deal with the Kellogg Company.

So how bad can things be?

Jim Andrews, editorial director of IEG Sponsorship Reports, which monitors corporate sponsorship of sports, sees the Kellogg buy as a sign of a healthy league.

“In terms of marketers, it takes more than those bankruptcies to disrupt interest in a league,” he said. “The NHL is still a good buy. If you take a three, four, five-year view of its health, there might be serious questions. But most sponsors look short-term.

“Until the ratings plummet and people stop buying tickets — and at this point there’s not a compelling reason to do that — it remains solid.”

Commissioner Gary Bettman endorses that perspective. Following the Sabres filing, he addressed the state of his league.

“Overall, we’re coming off five years in a row of record attendance,” he said. “We have unprecedented exposure and, in fact, we have unprecedented revenues.

“In the last decade, we have managed to grow revenues from a little over $400 million to $2 billion.”

There are other issues, like spiraling salaries, poor business decisions in individual markets, limited revenue streams from broadcasting and perhaps an overambitious expansion to 30 teams. Half the teams reportedly lost money last year.

“In retrospect, the league probably expanded too fast with the result that for an industry without a major television contract, it was probably predictable that in the current economic environment some teams would run into problems,” said Ed Edwards, chairman of the financial and commercial law department at Western Michigan University.

Ottawa Corel Centre employee Alain Lecompte floods the ice with water to cover the Senators' 10th anniversary logo in 2001. Despite bankruptcy filings by the Senators and the Buffalo Sabres, commissioner Gary Bettman said recently he did not think any NHL team would fold because of money problems.

The league has no trouble attracting sponsors with more than 20. Corporate spending increased from $350 million last year to $400 million this year. Eleven of 13 sponsors renewed and five new sponsors have signed on the last two years.

“It’s the No. 4 sport but there are a million fans and it’s reasonably priced,” Andrews said. “You can’t get major league baseball, the NBA or the NFL for anything below $2 million a year and here Kellogg got two years for $1 million.”