Jim Balsillie believes Canada should have another NHL franchise.

Cleveland's already failed once with the NHL - the old Barons - and minor-league hockey's been pretty much a waste in the city. They've gone from the Lumberjacks to the Barons and now to the Monsters, none of which has drawn all that well.

 

Claude Lemieux?

 

Denver failed with the NHL, too, around the same time that the Barons were going under. But Denver has done well with another chance.

A minor league franchise in a town that's major league in other sports is always a tough sell.

That said, I don't think Cleveland is big enough for both the NBA and NHL.

 

I don't either. Like Pittsburgh, which has the NHL, but not the NBA. Not enough dollars.

 

"NHL" and "business model" is an oxymoron. If it were a first year business essay, it'd get a D minus.

This is a league run by an incompetent ex basketball guy who knows nothing about the game.

To say that teams in Milwaukee, K-C, Cleveland or other secondary markets in the US would be preferable to a team in Canadian markets I've mentioned makes no sense from a business point of view.

It's estimated that 30-40% of non ticket revenue comes from the six Canadian teams. To even think a team in Kansas City would make more economic sense than say a team in Kitchener-Waterloo is ridiculous.

TV revenue in the US is irrelevant particularly when you consider the strength of the CBC, TSN & Sportsnet brands in Canada.

 

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I know, the kiddies go out and skate on the backyard pond and their noses drip and it's all cute.

Find one piece of evidence that Bettman has <i>any</i> interest in putting more teams in Canada or that the NHL owners -- including those in Canada - are pressuring him to put franchises in Canada. Doesn't exist.

You can bitch and moan all you want about Bettman but no league had more success in quashing a players' union. He not only got a salary cap, he got a freaking rollback in existing contracts. Un-fucking-precedented, eh?

 

28% of revenues according to this article:

www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?p=2959118

Not sure if by non-ticket you mean something else. That said, I do think a Canadian team would make more sense.

 

You made the statement that the "business model" dictated that Bettman didn't want any more teams in Canada. How about you cite your sources?

One of the reasons Balsillie didn't get the Preds was he was being too uppity and pissed Bettman and some of the old governors--like that prick Jacobs from Boston---off. .

The CBA is working to the detriment of a number of teams because of the minimum amount teams have to spend.

This is a guy who expanded into markets that couldn't, can't and never will support an NHL franchise. And as any person with any business experience knows, your weak franchises create less value for all the other ones. Oh, and he locked out the players after the Rangers won the Stanley Cup at a time when hockey was on the rise. He has a TV contract with a network shose production standars are inferior to most community cable channels.

Yeah, he's been a great commissioner.

What rankles me is the ongoing idiotic business decisions made by league whose incompetence is only rivaled by the CFL.

Tampa, Miami, Nashville, Atlanta and Phoenix have all been grade A clusterfucks. Period.

There is no business rationale for keeping those franchises where they are and there's every reason to move at least one or two to Canada.

Anybody who claims Cleveland is a better business choice for an NHL franchise than say, Quebec City, is deluded.

 

TV, merchandising, endorsements.

 

If you were going by media market size, Houston's a no-brainer.

(Hey, hockey worked in Dallas.)

But I think Canada deserves one (or more) franchises. The two main obstacles in the past were the Can-U.S. exchange rate and Nielsen ratings that aren't tabulated northa'. The latter still is an issue, but Nielsen ratings have a lot of issues anyway.

Compared to NHL-free U.S. media markets, though, Canada doesn't have a lot left to offer. Winnipeg? Perhaps. Regina or Saskatoon? Longest of long shots. Halifax? Very small, but would have the Maritimes all to themselves. Southern Ontario? I don't think it could support three teams.

 

That's what I thought you meant. The broadcast rights alone must be a large part of that, but I haven't seen any figures, so I couldn't say for sure. I still do think total revenues should be the measuring stick.

No Queen no deal for Winnipeg.

 

Football.
SW Ontario could easily support another team. However, depending on where it's located, it may have an impact on the Sabres. And of course the fucking Leafs would do everything they could to stop it.

Quebec City could work. And you'd have the huge French TV market .