CC, I agree with you on the hope that the lockout will kill so much interest in the South that those teams will no longer be able to survive.
And jamitjames, unfortunately I am disputing your claim of being the only one happy about the lockout ;) The League is SO incredibly screwed up - it’s truly beyond repair, apparently - that a lockout is the only thing possible to get the NHL even remotely back on track. You and I share the same greatest fear - that a crappy deadline deal, worse than the original, would be signed for the sole purpose of salvaging some of the season. Thankfully, that hasn’t happened yet (knock on wood).
Yanny, doubtless American markets can pull in more money because a) the USA has 10x the population of Canada, b) there is much more business in the USA and c) the american dollar is much stronger than the loonie. But I’ve seen Devils games on TV - and the arena looks half-empty (even after a Stanley Cup campaign). Florida’s arena is even worse. Atlanta’s is pretty bad, too. Same with Washington, Buffalo, Chicago, Boston, Nashville, Phoenix, Anaheim … etc. A couple of years ago, the average Islanders attendance was hovering around 6,000!
Sadly, the money is in the States, meaning the true fans - whom aren’t in the South, unless they’ve migrated for the winter (and if that’s the case, they’re weak ;)) - get shafted.
About 10 million people watched Canada beat the USA in the 2002 Olympic Men’s Gold Medal game. I’m 99.9% sure that that number is higher than the American equivalent. If there are “more” fans in the States, why are the ratings and attendances continually lower?
Last night, more than 14,000 people watched the Calgary Hitmen beat the Kamloops Blazers. Back in 1999, a sold-out Saddledome watched the Hitmen beat the Blazers, this time for the WHL Championship (I am proud to say I sat in the front row for that game!). The Islander’s attendance used to hover around 7,000 … our junior team pulls at least that every night!
Perhaps the money is there, but the interest is NOT. Most Americans would not miss the NHL - or even notice if it was gone.
I’ll agree that a successful New York team helps the League - but that doesn’t apply to the NHL only. If the Rangers were to become successful, a little bit of the NE USA would be interested … and the rest of the country couldn’t give a flying … anything.
I just don’t see Nashville becoming a “hockey hotbed”. I maintain that they do have a better chance than most other teams down there, but I still don’t see it happening.
Any attempt by Canada to pull out of an NHL will pretty much result in Canada’s new hockey league being the CFL all over again, with the real players going to the USA.
Ah, Yanny, you have found one of my buttons. The CFL-NFL debate.
If a new professional Canadian hockey league was to exist - with the Maple Leafs, Canadiens, Senators, Oilers, Flames and Canucks - and if this new League played for the Stanley Cup (which it damned well SHOULD, since it’s the only country with any legitimate claim to the Cup!), the League would be incredibly successful in Canada. Player salaries would be higher than CFL salaries, for sure, but compared to NFL/NBA/MLB salaries, they’d be relatively low.
If a new league were to attempt to start up in the States … I’m sorry, I don’t see it working. With no interest, no Stanley Cup, and the difficulty of starting new leagues in low-demand markets, I can’t imagine it being more successful - at least to the extent where a Canadian league would be destroyed.
You see, most of the players who move from the CFL to the NFL have grown up dreaming of playing in the NFL - because they’re American. Yet every hockey fan in Canada has dreamt of winning the Stanley Cup, and has likely enacted it at least once. Countless kids have dreamt of playing for the Leafs, Habs, etc. If the money was decent - ie, on par with Euro leagues - I would bet you that the big-name players would play in Canada (since they are mostly Canadian … etc).
hockey is indeed a major sport in the United States, and that the NHL belongs there more than in Canada.
Once again, I respectfully disagree. “Major” is relative. Compared to the NFL, NBA, MLB, NASCAR, PGA, NCAA, and the Pro Bowling Tour, the NHL is NOT major in the USA.
The four “major” sports in Canada are the NHL, CFL, NFL (sadly), NBA and MLB. The last two are present only in Toronto; I don’t consider them to be as major as the CFL, NFL and NHL. With that said, the NFL is not quite as popular among people as is the CFL, and neither of them even come CLOSE to the popularity of the NHL. You can ALWAYS start a conversation about hockey with nearly ANYONE. Hell, it’s the only thing we talk about half the time!
The NHL belongs in Canada a lot more than it does in the States, because Canadians as a whole deserve it a lot more than Americans as a whole. Not to mention that the NHL started in Canada - in 1917, with the Canadiens, Toronto Arenas (later became Leafs), Ottawa Senators and Montreal Wanderers (who withdrew after 6 games because their arena burnt down). From 1893 to 1916, only Canadian teams won the Stanley Cup. From 1918 to 1927, only Canadian teams won the Stanley Cup. Before 1994, the longest stretch of the Cup staying in the States was 6 years ('36-'41 - Detroit twice, Boston twice, Rangers and Hawks once each). From 1944 to 1969, the Cup left Canada 5 times - 4 of which were with the Red Wings. There was a team from Alberta in the Cup final from 1983 to 1990. Perhaps most telling, out of the 110 years the Cup has been awarded, only 38 of those years has it been awarded to an American team. The Cup itself has actually been awarded 145 times (there were 15 years with multiple challenges) - still, only 38 times to American teams.
Sorry to go off for so long - but the NHL absolutely belongs in Canada more than it does in the States.