Hi, folks...
Just as a heads-up, we may have a new feature for you here at Moron Hockey in the very near future. That is, as soon as I can get out from under the organic chemistry dragon and some other things resolve themselves. We're very excited to do this, and thanks for joining us.
David Stern has openly spoken about NBA contraction in the interest of cutting overhead. No franchises were mentioned by name, but some obvious targets would be Sacramento (they want a new arena, and the city isn't budging), Memphis (you can hear the players rapping on the court during most games), Golden State (depending on the success of their proposed sale), and the Clippers (who can't give away tickets).
So how would that affect the NHL?
There are a lot of folks out there who feel like contracting the NHL would be a good thing. They feel like the talent pool is watered down (debatable, but not ridiculous), and that elimination of the Sun Belt teams would be a good thing (hotly contestable).
Nonetheless, the bottom line (pun unintended) is that though it's probably just hot air, it's still an open acknowledgment of the fact that the NBA is spending money that it doesn't necessarily have. The NHL has had a couple of franchises flirt with folding, although the landscape is substantially different in the NHL.
If the decision were made that any of the Sun Belt franchises were untenable, Canadian cities like Winnipeg, Quebec, Hamilton, and Saskatoon would be sitting there with arms wide open for them to relocate north of the border.
But let's remember something: two Sun Belt franchises have been in enough trouble that they publicly discussed moving. Two "traditional" markets- Pittsburgh and Buffalo- came just as close to moving. The Islanders have a hard time drawing fans to Nassau, and so forth.
Undeniably, franchises like Atlanta and Miami don't draw well at the gate, despite their significant TV markets. Part of that is directly related to their sometimes laughable on-ice product, but an equal problem is the oft-overlooked issue that hockey fans in their markets are often from other hockey markets- not homegrown fans.
So what is the solution?
To my way of thinking, the NHL doesn't do enough in its non-traditional markets to build the sport. Using the Dallas Stars as a model (where they built 7-10 rinks around the D/FW area), you have no equivalent market penetration in Miami, Phoenix, Tampa, Atlanta, or Nashville. In point of fact, Nashville (a previous residence of mine) had a total of two rinks. They drafted their first Nashvillian in the last couple of years (Blake Geoffrion, grandson of Hall of Famer Boom Boom Geoffrion), and celebrated by closing the rink in Franklin, TN, right as I was leaving.
The sport sold well in the early 90s because of aggressive market penetration by its existing franchises, along with a good contract with ESPN. The increased visibility led to the explosion of minor league teams around the country, and you had a boom in USA Hockey registry.
So it begs the question- is it time to abandon Versus and crawl back to ESPN (if they'll take the NHL back)? Under the circumstances, yes.
Opinions?
