.jpg)
NHL Commissioner, Gary Bettman, recently told Reuters News Service that the league will not look to relocate teams that are struggling, but will expand into new markets that show interest in the NHL, and will help the NHL grow.
While he says that expansion is not currently on the horizon, a point he put a particular emphasis on, Bettman seems to be a little diluted as to what is going on within his own league.
At least five NHL teams are having significant financial problems including; The Columbus Blue Jackets, Phoenix Coyotes, Tampa Bay Lightning, Dallas Stars, and the New York Islanders. We could add the Florida Panthers to that list as they restructure their ownership group.
We also cannot forget that not all that long ago the Pittsburgh Penguins, Buffalo Sabres, and Nashville Predators were all in significant financial peril and in more than a few of those cases the league itself had to step in and right the ship.
By my count that is a total of nine teams that have had financial problems within the last decade or so, and a little math tells me that this is nearly a third of the teams of the NHL. This seems to suggest that 30 NHL teams are too many, and if that is true more teams would further weaken the NHL product.
Now there seem to be several strong markets where the NHL does not currently have a team, these include Canadian cities such as; Winnipeg, Manitoba, Quebec, and Southern Ontario. We could also argue that Toronto, Ontario could sustain another NHL team.
There are also several US markets that may serve as great NHL host cities including; Cleveland, Ohio, Portland, Oregon, Seattle, Washington, Kansas City and Las Vegas, Nevada.
Now the NHL probably needs a presence in the American South West and if the Coyotes can be sold to a local owner, and a plan is put together to make that franchise economically viable than so be it, let them stay in Phoenix. If that cannot happen the NHL may want to try Las Vegas out.
As much as the NHL should be in the American South West, there is a strong sentiment that they belong in the American North west as well. Since Seattle is so close to Vancouver, Canada, Portland seems to be a logical choice.
As previously reported the Columbus Blue Jackets are tapped out for attendance given the size of the Columbus market. However, there has not been a NHL team in Cleveland, Ohio since the 1970’s. Given the proximity to Detroit and Pittsburgh it seems building another natural rivalry would help the NHL product.
In the end there should be more Canadian NHL teams, not less. However expansion without a legitimate Major TV deal makes little to no sense for this league. As these teams continue to struggle the NHL is going to have to revisit the idea of moving a few teams around to new markets, much as they did in the early 1990’s.
More on the Business of the NHL
Comments