Topic: The NHL are dolts

[Ian Sane]

So the Nashville Predators are for sale after being a total money pit since they joined the league.  It's not surprising as Nashville is a non-traditional hockey market.  So the guy who owns Blackberry offers to buy the team to move them to Hamilton, Ontario.  He's offering an inflated amount that is nowhere near what the team is actually worth, plus he's willing to pay a fee for relocating to Toronto's and Buffalo's territory.  He takes deposits for season tickets in Hamilton and they sell more of them then Nashville had.  Hamilton is of course in Canada where everyone is hockey crazy so it's pretty much a guarantee that the team will do better than pretty much all the American teams located where it doesn't snow.  This is nothing but good for the league.  Overpaying for the franchise drives the price of the other iffy teams up, Toronto and Buffalo get some free money (and Toronto sells out every night so they're not even losing business to another team in the same area) and the league gets a strong franchise which means that the weaker franchises will benefit from the profit sharing.

But instead the team is relocating to Kansas City.  The Kansas City buyer is offering 50 million LESS!  50 million down the sh!tter for what?  The only advantage Kansas City has is a brand new arena while Hamilton's arena is 20 years old.  But Kansas City doesn't have the same interest and the last time a team was there it bombed.  From a business perspective there is no reason to pick Kansas City over Hamilton.

But I'm forgetting that ego and pride are more important than making money.  To relocate a southern US team to Canada would suggest that *gasp* expanding into the American south where people barely know what hockey is was a dumb idea.  Now everyone except the league itself has always thought it was a dumb idea but that's not the point.  Some Americans don't even consider the NHL to be a true major league and this sort of dumb crap is part of the reason.  This league is so focused on who's not watching hockey that they're willing to crap all over who is.  The NFL is the biggest league in American and I don't think they got where they were by focusing at who doesn't like football and who they can try to make like football.

The league wants a big national US TV contract but I don't think this is how to get one.  Having five or six joke teams that no one gives two sh!ts about sure as hell hasn't done anything.  I think having 30 strong franchises that sellout every night has a better chance of attracting a big contract.  So they won't be located geographically all across the US.  Is that totally necessary?  The league seemed to be a much bigger deal with sports fans prior to Gary Bettman being in charge.  Maybe if the league had 30 strong teams in Canada and the Northern US they could be on ESPN again.  I don't see why they shouldn't try to maximize their proven market first before going off into the unknown.  Neglecting hockey fans to try (and fail) to establish new markets is not a good idea.  And that's been their strategy for over 10 years now.  Admit you f*cked up and make some money because that's the point of a business.  Who cares if you have egg on your face if you're swimming in a money bin?

[oohhboy]

Speaking from NZ, Ice Hockey is fun as hell to watch when I get the chance. It's so violent. I really watch it for the fights. But really I watch it because it has a lot of energy that is lacking in every other Americanish sport.

PS. I know Americanish isn't a word, so blow me.

[Shift Key]

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Originally posted by: Ian Sane
From a business perspective there is no reason to pick Kansas City over Hamilton.

Its nice to see that there are some decisions made on things other than business in American sport

Seriously thought, who cares? If it bombs, it bombs. But don't jump down the league's throat because they are trying to expand the sport and draw in new fans by choosing the buyer that will take the team into new territories.

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Neglecting hockey fans to try (and fail) to establish new markets is not a good idea.

There are hockey teams already established in these regions. Why throw another team in the mix and force them to compete with the existing teams for fans/attendance/income? It could be that people will not go to these games because they are already at another game.

There's a similar situation over in the Australian Football League. For a 16-team competition which has 9 of its teams based in Melbourne, a city of 4 million people, the league itself has thrown millions of dollars over the years to support some of the teams which do not have a significant supporter base. Some of the teams have entertained the thought of moving to other locations but while the league is keeping the clubs afloat they've been happy to stay put.

The teams not based in Melbourne on the whole are financially sustainable. So there is more to the problem than "The fans are here, why are you moving them there?" situation that you see this as.

[Pale]

Man, the Sabres were in trouble until Golosana bought them, and even then, it was iffy.  Luckily they put together a couple amazing seasons.  Getting to close to this area would not be good for our team.

[Khushrenada]

Hey. We have a perfectly good hockey thread already. Nice big hockey thread I started is linked to this sentence. It's the power of technology.

Now admittedly, that thread has a lot of talk and cheering for the Anahiem Ducks but that's understandable. They're winners. Anyways, onto this topic...


First, don't scare me like that. The team hasn't been sold yet.

But it's interesting that two of the three buyers want to re-locate the team. I'd say Nashville's days are coming to a close. Frankly, because of this sale, good players are leaving. Timonen and Hartnell have gone to the flyers. Vokoun went to Florida. Kariya is going to free agency. (I personally think he wants to go to the Ducks and join Selanne again and try to win a cup there.)

So, whoever gets this team is going to have to start re-building again. It won't be the powerful team that was challenging for first place in the west this year. If the team stays in Nashville now, I doubt they'll get more people to buy tickets because the team will be worse. Second, since everyone seems to want to relocate the team, who do you sell it to?

It seems that Leopold wanted to keep a franchise going in Nashville. But now that it seems it won't happen and the team is going to move to whoever you sell it to, how do you decide who to give it to? It seems to me, you may just want to take the most money that you can out of the deal. If so, Balsille should get the team. Like it's been pointed out, Hamilton has sold more tickets already in the hopes of a team coming than Nashville has with a team or Kansas also. Sports commentators say Leopold is a classy guy and likes the league. If that's the case, would he do what's best for the league and send the team to Canada?

Then there's the fact that Hamilton is the location. Teams in close proximity can be good for the league with rivalries. Edmonton versus Calgary for example. But if you cluster too many together, you divide the fanbase. I mean Toronto is close to Buffalo. Heck, it's close to Ottawa and Detroit even. Do you really want another team in that area fighting for fans to come to their games. I think it's worrisome to the league to have that many teams in one area. Not to mention, with more Eastern teams located together, there will be more resistance to changing the schedule of games since the East will have a more cushy road schedule.

I think if the team was going to Winnipeg or Quebec City, the team might have not had so much trouble to sell or get permission to relocate. At the same time, Bettman doesn't seem to want to let the franchis move. However, this offer to relocate to Kansas City may appeal to him instead. And that may be what decides the whole issue. I still think that if they must keep the team in the U.S. though, the best place to try might be Seattle. It's north and close to Canada so there should be quite a few fans that would attend. It's close to Vancouver also so that could start a good rivalry. The problem is they already have a lot of sport franchises there already.

[Ian Sane]

"I still think that if they must keep the team in the U.S. though, the best place to try might be Seattle. It's north and close to Canada so there should be quite a few fans that would attend. It's close to Vancouver also so that could start a good rivalry. The problem is they already have a lot of sport franchises there already."

I think Seattle would be a great place to relocate.  The only problem is that it lacks a decent arena.  The Supersonics are considering moving because the Key Arena is not up to snuff.  If the existing basketball team can't get the place renovated how would a new hockey team be able to do so?  Aside from that Seattle does have a major junior team (indicating hockey interest) and Seattle won a Stanley Cup back in 1917 which gives a new franchise a little bit of history to branch off of.