Kevin's Watch

Not that many people here are in to hockey, but an interesting report got leaked recently about NHL profit revenue. Now there are over 30 teams in the NHL, out of these there are 6 Canadian teams. Apparently 31% of revenuw is generated by these six teams. !!! Which begs the damn question: why won't Bettman allow another franchise to be placed in Canada?!



I'm steaming again.. I won't be able to post an even-handed continuance of this .. however I may rant later...

It's simple. The majority of the fans and the money come from the US. Adding another Canuck team won't do diddley for American fans, ergo there won't be another Canadian franchise in the near future.

It sucks, because there's certainly a market for them.

Agreed. It seems wrong that there's been more teams in places that rarely see ice (Phoenix, Florida etc..) and less in Canada. Haven't the Canadian teams had some trouble supporting themselves in the last 10 years or so? I though that was the reason behind some of the moves - ie Winnepeg to Phoenix, Quebec to Colorado etc....

why won't bettman put the games back on tv where the average fan can see them?

Bettman has nothing to do with it. No one wants to pony up the money on a broken league.

firstly! it's not a broken league. But someone did touch upon part of the issue: in general, people in the US just don't want to watch hockey like Canadians do. So networks don't want to 'waste' good TV time (7-10pm) on a hockey game.
Sh!t, even Tiger Woods' comment on TV about hockey was just the type of view that most US people take. (sad)

And it comes down to money. Not that an arena in Canada won't make money! Heck, the report shows this!!! But the commercial revenue is just not as potentially high in Canada as the US. It's hard to make the kind of TV revenue that can be made in the US (apples and oranges)...
But what bugs me is the fact that you have these lame teams in US cities, you see the game, and there is nobody in the seats! And still they put a franchise in Sunburn-butt Nebraska (or whatever).

OK, I'm renting again .. . and admittedly it's a subjective subject ("I like 'X' sport more than 'Y'), but my point was that Bettman thinks he can do for hockey what he did with basketball and you are talking about oranges and apples, and the man just don't get it.

It's sad that it has become SUCH a business that you can't put an arena in, say, Hamilton, where it will sell out every single game, just because it won't get TV revenue like Toronto or Detroit. And still we have the regular 5-8 year turnover of US cities that get a franchise then loose it....



<shrug> oh well.....

I used to be into hockey, watched it a lot, not enough to really know what was going on with the NHL as a whole but I had a lot of fun.

After taking a decade off I now find it incredibly boring.
A friend of mine told me that there were a lot more rules and regulations in place now, I thought there was too much 15 or 20 years ago!

Ever notice what type of hockey video gets sent around via email these days?
OLD video of some fantastic and now illegal stick handling!
Or some bench clearing brawl.
I've always said, if they make it so that no matter what, if the puck gets into the net it counts as a goal and that then we'd see some awesome hockey or at least be entertained.
Until then wake me when it's over.

High Lord Tolkien wrote:I used to be into hockey, watched it a lot, not enough to really know what was going on with the NHL as a whole but I had a lot of fun.

After taking a decade off I now find it incredibly boring.
A friend of mine told me that there were a lot more rules and regulations in place now, I thought there was too much 15 or 20 years ago!

Ever notice what type of hockey video gets sent around via email these days?
OLD video of some fantastic and now illegal stick handling!
Or some bench clearing brawl.
I've always said, if they make it so that no matter what, if the puck gets into the net it counts as a goal and that then we'd see some awesome hockey or at least be entertained.
Until then wake me when it's over.

fair enough ... but it begs the question? ... if you find hockey boring, what about baseball or (north american) football?!....

Usivius wrote:

High Lord Tolkien wrote:I used to be into hockey, watched it a lot, not enough to really know what was going on with the NHL as a whole but I had a lot of fun.

After taking a decade off I now find it incredibly boring.
A friend of mine told me that there were a lot more rules and regulations in place now, I thought there was too much 15 or 20 years ago!

Ever notice what type of hockey video gets sent around via email these days?
OLD video of some fantastic and now illegal stick handling!
Or some bench clearing brawl.
I've always said, if they make it so that no matter what, if the puck gets into the net it counts as a goal and that then we'd see some awesome hockey or at least be entertained.
Until then wake me when it's over.

fair enough ... but it begs the question? ... if you find hockey boring, what about baseball or (north american) football?!....

Unless I'm at the game baseball to me can be so boring it's unwatchable.
Once you're there though, totally different animal.

Football I'm starting to enjoy more.
It helps when your home team is kicking ass though.