Late start...?

Steve says:

There is a high possibility to a late start to next season. The NHL is looking hard at pushing back the start date for the 08-09 season in order to avoid some American sports TV conflicts such as the World Series in baseball.

This really sucks IMO because once again we are altering our sport to better suit the Americans. I think we (being the NHL) have been plugging away at the southern states long enough for even a blind person to see that hockey is not going to become the "next big thing" down there.

Why the NHL is beating a dead horse at the expense of all the other teams has me dumbfounded.

If you put a team in Winnipeg tomorrow, you would have sold out games every night.

If you put a team in Hamilton (like Balsille offered to do with a 50mil bonus to boot) you would have sold out games every night.

Why keep putting teams into markets where the best you can really expect is between 5-7000 for attendance?

Just doesn't add up.

Chris says:

Just more of the same B.S. from Betteman and company. Apparently the fact that League and the Sport is a cherished Canadian institution doesn't mean crap to them.

Didn't the Sens playoff schedule get severely screwed around last year because of a NASCAR race or something? Who wants to watch playoff hockey in the afternoon.

What really pisses me off isn't that the League seems to have forgotten Canada, its that they go the extra mile to consistently spit in our faces. The death of the Hamilton Blackberries being the perfect example.

If you want to build the brand, try putting hockey clubs in cities, Canadian cities, where the fans actually want to show up.

Put a team in Hamilton, Winnipeg, Quebec City or even on the East Coast. And if the current business model doesn't support that structure, trying paying the players less. Because a sucessful NHL benefits everyone. There's nothing I hate more than watching some game in the grapefruit belt and looking at an arena that's only half full. That's just depressing.

These guys have blinders on and they're systematically ignoring the easy saves in pursuit of a couple American billionares and a broadcast contract.

How about pursuing the fans instead.