Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaws
JHikka constantly defends fringe US NHL franchises.....I think he may be a closet American (!!) after this last post.
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It's not so much that he's defending fringe US teams. JHikka understands the business of the NHL.
#1 - it
is a business
#2 - overall, there is more growth potential in the US than in Canada (both in terms of number of teams and in terms of revenue)
#3 - An NHL of more than 36 teams is unlikely. It dilutes the talent pool and there would be too many mouths (corporate owners) to feed from advertising and broadcast rights.
#4 - Given this, and given the fact that there is more growth potential in the US, of the "potential" five additional franchises the NHL might be able to support, four would likely be in the US.
#5 - Of the potential additional Canadian franchise, it would either be a second CTA team or a team in Quebec City. Again, there is probably more upside (in terms of business revenue) of having a second GTA team.
#6 - Hockey may be Canada's game, but the NHL is a large business empire run out of NYC, and the owners are more interested in profit and expanding the visibility of the game (to increase profit) than they are in any Canadian nationalism. This is
not an anti-Canadian sentiment; it's just business. The Canadian market is mostly tapped out. Sorry Canada, but them's the breaks........
#7 -
THE NHL IS A BUSINESS (repeated for emphasis). The owners are primarily interested in two things. Increasing revenue streams especially via lucrative US broadcasting deals
and increasing the valuation of each of their individual franchises. Winning the Stanley Cup would be terrific, but nobody wants to go bankrupt doing it.