The long-standing Commissioner of the NHL has had an interesting run the last few years. I could discuss the absurdity of an entire season missed due to a lockout in an apparently futile attempt at keeping player salaries under control (Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, Daniel Briere, and Brian Campbell for nearly $50 million a piece? Ron Hainsey for $22.5 million? Really?), but the past summers have been strange in many ways. Time for a little reflection.
1) The continued clusterfuck in Nashville
Recent NHL news indicates that the tentative deal transferring ownership from Predators owner Craig Leopold to a local group of businessmen has reached some troubled waters, including the fact that the NHL neglected to do due diligence in their investigation of an owner that seems to be a tad bit of a criminal. What a shocking development. The truth is, this lingering issue regarding the sale of the Nashville Predators has become such a bullshit gumbo that it was inevitable things wouldn’t work out with the most recent group of fools eager to sink their cash into the blackhole-like money pit known as the Nashville Predators. The first issue: Hockey doesn’t fly in Nashville. 10 years later, and the Nashville market still doesn’t give a shit. The team has lost giant sums of cash every year, is under supported by the local business community, and in a league dominated by gate revenues, doesn’t spin the turnstiles nearly enough to get out of the red. The second issue: League interference (by league I mean Gary Bettman) in the sale. When billionaire Jim Balsillie made a giant offer to purchase the Preds, while making no bones about his desire to move the team to Southern Ontario, Bettman freaked, intervened in the sale, and urged Craig Leopold to reject the offer in favour of a local offer, the one that just had a lit stick of dynamite shoved up it’s ass, worth approximately $60 million less. Thanks Gary! It’s bad enough the team loses money every year, but then the Commissioner asks team ownership to bite the bullet and take a lesser bid. Can anyone explain how this makes any sense?
2) The NHL’s stubborn insistence on keeping teams in poor markets and devaluing the economic viability of the league as a whole
Outside of Predator-gate, other failing markets include Phoenix, Atlanta, Florida (Miami), and Tampa Bay. Notice any similarities here? Formerly thriving markets that have gone the way of the Atlanta Flames include Chicago, Boston, and Long Island, where incompetent ownership and poor on-ice performance have neutered the fan base (although Chicago and Boston have shown signs of life as of late, such as the Blackhawks embracing the novel concept of televising their product). To make matters worse, Tampa ownership, relatively fresh off a recent Stanley Cup victory, has decided to bail, selling the franchise to an ownership group that appears determined to collect forwards and refuses to shore up the areas (goaltending, defence) that have plagued the success of the on-ice product. Losing a lot of 5-4 games will sure help stabilize things. At least Doug McLean wasn’t part of the ownership group as initially rumoured; that guy crippled Columbus for almost 10 years but somehow avoided unemployment, thus earning the nickname (from me anyways) of Doug “Genital Herpes” Mclean, as he had the staying power of, well, genital herpes.
I wonder why bids such as those from Jim Balsillie are sabotaged and derided. Was he arrogant and obnoxious in his approach? Yes. Does he provide the financial acumen, savvy, and competitive edge to own a successful franchise? Absolutely. Moving a team to Southern Ontario makes so much sense that it just won’t happen in a league where the NHL stubbornly insists on keeping teams in markets where they lose enormous sums of cash every year. Having strong teams in strong markets is what makes a professional sports league successful and profitable as a whole. Look at the NFL for evidence.
3) Rumours of NHL interest in expansion
Ugh. I’ll just echo the choir of common sense expressed from around the hockey world. Don’t expand. Move a team to a new market instead. The talent pool cannot support 32 teams. I live in a city where I have to watch teams like the Wild and the Canucks all the time. Don’t encourage this style of play by diluting the talent pool even further. Please.
4) NHL games in Europe
Given that fan interest and widespread media coverage in the United States ranks below that of NASCAR, you might think the NHL might be more interested in shoring up their domestic market. Well, you might think that, but apparently you would be way offside. Instead, 2 puff games were played in London last year, with 2 more planned for Prague this year. Well done! “Exposing” the game to overseas markets might seem like a swell idea, but to do so when roughly a third of your franchises have a hard time giving tickets away seems more than a little self-indulgent to me. Put in perspective though, this makes perfect sense, as when Gary Bettman became the commissioner the NHL threatened the NBA in popularity and had a decent piece of the North American sports pie. Now, the NHL is a David Letterman punchline and would have a hard time selling liquor and drugs to Amy Winehouse. Bravo NHL!
In Conclusion:
Well, I guess you might see where I sit on the Idiot/Genius debate. It shocks me that Gary Bettman keeps his job after years of failure and backwards steps. He must hang out with Doug McLean and discuss office politic strategies on justifying an unequivocally disgraceful job performance. The NHL will continue to sputter as long as this clown reigns supreme, stubbornly forcing the league into the Triple A status of professional North American sports leagues. The steps to building a stronger, more profitable NHL seems obvious:
1) Find viable hockey markets for franchises, and abandon those markets that are clearly failures. Hint: a decade or more of losing money and flat-lining attendance numbers are pretty good indicators you might want to pull up the anchor.
2) Build independent financially viable franchises. Focus on helping clubs build their local markets and fill their buildings.
3) Promote stars and successful franchises nationally. A return to form for the Original 6 franchises would be helpful here. Get back on ESPN and lose the bogus network that currently broadcasts your games.
4) Fuck overseas games. Get your shit together domestically first.
Those are my thoughts. I might be crazy, but frankly, I don’t think Gary Bettman could organize a shag at a cathouse. Can the league recover? Yes. Is new leadership required? Undoubtedly.
JB
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