Collective Puck Dropping

It’s October 11, 2012. The NHL’s 2012-13 regular season was supposed to start today. Instead, the league’s 30 arenas are dark and fans are taking their money and allegiances elsewhere.

Me? I’m just as happy to watch NBA games, especially those involving the Toronto Raptors, LA Lakers and Chicago Bulls. Big-time basketball is the definition of athleticism, strength and hand-eye coordination.

Plus, I will head down to the my local arena and catch a minor league game. For about a tenth of what I’d have to pay to see a hyped-up laser show and smoke machine laden NHL contest. Are WHL games one tenth as entertaining or do they feature just a tenth the speed and skill of what the NHL features? Of course not.

As for the NHL shutdown, the point that has only been coherently explained in the last two weeks is this: the profitable teams (lets say there are about 14) and ultra-profitable teams (about 5) refuse to fully subsidize Bettman's raft of weak franchises (at least 10.) They've basically said, "if your operations are losing money hand over foot, too bad. We’re doing just fine and see no reason to prop you up."

The real solution that none of these irrational idiots will even consider is contraction and relocation. The NHL might be able to survive and prosper with about 24 teams. Toronto is ripe for a second club. Quebec City, Hamilton and Seattle make far more sense than Phoenix, Dallas, Tampa Bay, Florida and Columbus ever did.

I was down in Tampa Bay a couple of years ago when Vinny Lecalvalier was making $10-million a season, and 4 tickets, food, drinks and parking cost about $60. The math didn't work then and even with league revenue growth and richer TV contracts, it still doesn't in the majority of cities where Bettman & Co. have decided to set up shop. Never will. No matter how long that team stays in central Florida, the sport itself will remain niche.

Even though most of us (including the players themselves) know that NHL-level players are paid far too much for what they actually do, it's not their fault that the NHL, under Bettman, has decided to enter regions that just won't support hockey. I mean, a sane business model would locate franchises where there's a base and tradition. Even some major Europe cities would be better bets than Florida.

NHL team owners are a rich, egomaniacal, narcissistic lot, who will charge the highest the market can stand. Hey, thats business. That's capitalism. In Toronto, forking out $300 for an authentic Maple Leafs jersey or $600 for a Maple Leafs leather jacket happens everyday. Not so much in Tampa Bay or Miami or Dallas.

Still, for Bettman (at the behest of a handful of profitable and influential teams) to try to repair all his (their) mistakes in one fell swoop is shear lunacy. But then again, it's how tyrants and oligarchs have always run their affairs. 

One solution the rich teams might embrace would be to copy English Football, in which a set number of positions are set aside for a 'Premier' Division (say 16), two teams are relegated each year to the division below (First Division) and two are elevated. Second Division (AHL) and Third Division (ECHL) teams would be in the same boat. Top two elevated, bottom two relegated. 

So, for example, the Winnipeg Jets might start a season in the Premier Division, but drop to the wrung below because of poor performance. As a First Division participant the next year, fans would get to see all new teams with the hope and aspiration of getting back to the top step on the ladder. It seems to have worked out well in the UK and Europe, why not North America and the NHL?

Yes, I know that is unlikely to happen. NHL brass can only focus on one thing at a time, and right now it's saving themselves by breaking their most important staffers, the players. 

So here’s to B-ball and the first regular season NBA tipoff.