| NHL - Hockey Central |
| Will the “new” NHL Break Even This Season? |
| by Pete Hogenson |
| The Future... |
Will the “new” NHL break even this season? Doubtful, this writer and longtime hockey fan thinks. It wouldn’t surprise me to see at least four teams fold pretty soon...in a year or two...and maybe a couple more, not too long after.
While the league as a whole is committed to keeping things status quo, for now — for the public relations numbers and all — it’s hard to see how, when the REAL business numbers are added up (the bucks!) some franchises will manage to hang on.
But, let’s not name names or wish ill on any clubs, eh? That’s not the intent, here. No hex put on anyone. Financially, and marketwise, though, i just don’t see the NHL as a 30-team league for much longer. 24, maybe. And that is being highly generous, i think.
Hey, it’s a niche sport, in the U.S., especially TV-wise - and they did that to themselves with the petty, self-destructive haggling of late, when they lost sight of the very slight public focus and all. So i can’t see how they can sustain this “expansion boom” mentality, given the circumstances and lack of commitment to the fans and the overall market during last season’s lockout/loggerhead grumble. Those blooming days are gone.
This sport is near and dear to me, as it is to a lot of you. It can be like a fever, or an addiction, i well know. I’ve played it and coached it for a big chunk of my life. But, business is business, and it looks like “contraction” is gonna come to the NHL, like it or not...i just hope, that if it does, it “births” a more sustaining sports/entertainment product, for the future... |
|
