How to save the NHL

[E36M3]

This is genius. It would make me (and I suspect MILLIONS of others) into full season hockey fans, and not just playoff watchers:

I know that nobody ever reads a full post, let alone a link, but this one is worth it. Trust me.

http://www.slate.com/id/2175024/pagenum/2/

-- from the article

The English Premiership, where teams like Manchester United and Liverpool play, is the big leagues. There are several other leagues below it. At the end of each season, the three worst Premiership teams are kicked down to the league immediately below them. The best two teams from that lower league move up; the third team gets promoted after winning a thrilling playoff series.

--

How smart is this? Imagine how exciting the REGULAR SEASONS would become! It would get rid of so many shitty teams and make hockey 1000x more exciting.

Thoughts?

[slick2404]

I don't know...i think its fine the way it is....theres not that many shitty teams anymore, everyones got a chance.

but looking at it from the premiership angle, it sounds good but I'd imagine we'd need alot more teams first.

[E36M3]

Read the article. It is the opposite. We need *less* teams for it to work.


Originally posted by slick2404
I don't know...i think its fine the way it is....theres not that many shitty teams anymore, everyones got a chance.

but looking at it from the premiership angle, it sounds good but I'd imagine we'd need alot more teams first.

[Impreza]

I agree with many of the points, however, I also see many problems with the Premiership. Often times in the NHL, teams need to rebuild for various reasons such as star players retiring, etc. When they are in rebuiding phase, they are surely to be relegated, this is fair. The problems exist in trying to get back into the Premiership. The teams that are lucky enough to be promoted have an extremely difficult time staying in the Premiership, and are often relegated the next year. Take into account other issues such as relegation release clauses, etc, and it makes for a lot of headaches and struggles for team that are on the bubble. In addition, players that shine in the lower leagues are quickly looking to leave their teams in hopes of joining a Premier division club. Div1 teams would never be able to keep any star players. In the Premiership, you always see the same teams at the top of the table and the same teams being promoted and relegated. Also, Div1 teams may have a harder time attracting an audience. Hockey is already struggling enough in the states, teams won't be able to fill arena's to watch second-rate hockey. Sure, the New York Rangers could be playing in Hersey, PA, but if there are relegation release clauses in players contracts, who want to watch a NYR with no notable players (ie, no Straka, no Jagr, no Drury, etc).

EDIT: The attendance numbers that the author in the link mentioned are very, very generous IMO.

If these issues can be worked out, I am all for a system that sees teams being relegated since it does make for more exciting hockey. Not only if there a playoff race, there is a competition to not be kicked out of the league.

[slick2404]

I did read it, i guess what i mean is more divisions with more teams. since more and more teams will end up leaving the nhl each year.


So, five teams leave the NHL that first year. Five teams leave the second year. But in the second season, three teams are promoted from the lower division, making the 2010-11 NHL a 22-team league. Do the same the following year—cut five teams, promote three—and you've whittled the league down to 20 teams.

fair enough tho, good article

[calgarys_finest]

and who says the nhl needs saving. in alot of citys its doing great. its other places that are making it seem worse.

[E36M3]

Please read the damn article before commenting. I am not going to quote it because you are too lazy to read. There are clearly negative trends (which are detailed in the article) that indicate that the NHL is not doing as well as it could be.


Here is another source in case you don't have enough data. If you need to understand financial terms, try google or a dictionary:

http://andrewsstarspage.com/NHL-Business/05-06forbes.htm

hint: negative numbers under "operating income" are a bad thing



Originally posted by calgarys_finest
and who says the nhl needs saving. in alot of citys its doing great. its other places that are making it seem worse.

[HuMz]

Very unrealistic and theres no way I could ever see it working.
With the new CBA and equal playing field teams can go from flopping to being a contender over the course of one offseason. Not too mention the fact theres such little disparity overall between the 30 teams.

You can't be paying a team of NHLers to play in the minors. Fans wouldn't show up to watch them beat up on on the other shitty teams. Therefore any team who gets demoted would immediately fold and every player would demand a trade or have some sort of a wavior draft to get back in the NHL.

Cities have there NHL teams for a reason. Very few markets can support one and surely not a single AHL or ECHL could aside from maybe Hamilton.

For an outsider who doesn't follow the game this might seem like a good idea, but I don't see how anyone knowledeable in the sport could see this ever happening.

[E36M3]

I've had season tickets and/or a box for many seasons, and this is the first in a long time that I won't be watching actively (mostly because I am not going to be in Canada very much).

You don't have to pay "NHL" salaries if the teams are not in the NHL. Once you get demoted, you aren't at the same level, and the teams may lose some of the key players unless they buck up. This system works incredibly well in europe for the premiership. I suspect you didn't read the article, particularly the reasons why it would make it so much more exciting for the fans.


Originally posted by HuMz
Very unrealistic and theres no way I could ever see it working.
With the new CBA and equal playing field teams can go from flopping to being a contender over the course of one offseason. Not too mention the fact theres such little disparity overall between the 30 teams.

You can't be paying a team of NHLers to play in the minors. Fans wouldn't show up to watch them beat up on on the other shitty teams. Therefore any team who gets demoted would immediately fold and every player would demand a trade or have some sort of a wavior draft to get back in the NHL.

Cities have there NHL teams for a reason. Very few markets can support one and surely not a single AHL or ECHL could aside from maybe Hamilton.

For an outsider who doesn't follow the game this might seem like a good idea, but I don't see how anyone knowledeable in the sport could see this ever happening.

[HuMz]

Originally posted by E36M3
I've had season tickets and/or a box for many seasons, and this is the first in a long time that I won't be watching actively (mostly because I am not going to be in Canada very much).

You don't have to pay "NHL" salaries if the teams are not in the NHL. Once you get demoted, you aren't at the same level, and the teams may lose some of the key players unless they buck up. This system works incredibly well in europe for the premiership. I suspect you didn't read the article, particularly the reasons why it would make it so much more exciting for the fans.



Thats because all over Europe soccer is religion. Lots of people will still pay to see 2nd tier talent. While I agree this would increase attendance in the short term for the league, any team that gets demoted would essencially fold.

You can't have Hershey PA and Springfield with 10 000 seat arenas supporting a professional team....Winnipeg is pretty much unfeasible at 15,000 right now. (Which is bigger then any AHL arena to my knowledge).

You would have some of the most sucessful and biggest franchises folding if they sucked for a year.

The league revenue isn't directly related to performance so why punish a team that is a great hockey market and contributing to the total revenue of the league just because they didn't have a good year?

The NHL needs to have as many strong financial teams as possible for suceeding, and demoted the largest fan base in the league (toronto, NYR etc) would be suicide to the league as a whole.

And yes I've read the article.

[anarchy]

Originally posted by HuMz


Thats because all over Europe soccer is religion. Lots of people will still pay to see 2nd tier talent. While I agree this would increase attendance in the short term for the league, any team that gets demoted would essencially fold.

You can't have Hershey PA and Springfield with 10 000 seat arenas supporting a professional team....Winnipeg is pretty much unfeasible at 15,000 right now. (Which is bigger then any AHL arena to my knowledge).

You would have some of the most sucessful and biggest franchises folding if they sucked for a year.

The league revenue isn't directly related to performance so why punish a team that is a great hockey market and contributing to the total revenue of the league just because they didn't have a good year?

The NHL needs to have as many strong financial teams as possible for suceeding, and demoted the largest fan base in the league (toronto, NYR etc) would be suicide to the league as a whole.

And yes I've read the article.

Exactly. This hits it right on.

The reason it works in Europe is because Soccer is a religion, and fans will go out and support any team. If a big market team here was relegated...who would pay to go see that? And what owner would risk purchasing a team only to have it generate less revenue one season and possibly fold.

[98type_r]

how about we just get rid of Gary Bettmann?

[Oz-]

You guys keep talking about the silly prem, look at Serie A where you had Juventus relegated (yes they cheated) and won out Serie B to get promoted back to the Serie A.

The thing that happened with them was:
- sell off some of their higher priced players for transfer fees (Iba, Canna, Zambrotta, etc)
- keep key players (Buffon, Nedved, Trezeguet)
- backfill with youth squad players or some "undiscovered" talent that doesn't cost as much

I wish more NA leagues were setup with relegation (especially the MLS). Saying that futbol is religion for the rest of the world is correct, but isn't hockey religion in most Canadian cities? Only difference is that apart from the Maple Leaf fans, I don't see many fans being die hards for their team. Would you cheer for the Flames if they got relegated to say the AHL or IHL or whatever league is below? Futbol fans will support their club no matter how shitty it does.

The excitement generated in the final 5 games for a club that are must win or you get relegated is amazing. Even watching the final few games of a team attempting to gain promotion is wonderful.

On the flipside I see the player contracts/trades as a big obstacle. For many teams the contracts are not that "big" for playing, most of their money is generated off marketing revenue and the player gets a %.

Hockey also has a limited pool of players, you don't have as much talent out there as futbol, where every country in europe, south america, africa, asia has numerous clubs/teams.

With all that said, I would support relegation for all pro leagues in NA. Doubt it will ever happen, because the way it is "works".