MWC
Don Corleone
Posts: 1,824
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Post by MWC on Apr 22, 2009 10:32:37 GMT -5
More games on TV
Maybe not a smaller playoff system, but a shorter one. Have the first round and maybe the second round be 5 games and then the rest 7 games.
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Jazzman
King Koopa
Trombone Shorty > Your Favorite Musician
Posts: 11,231
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Post by Jazzman on Apr 22, 2009 11:50:13 GMT -5
Ok, this post may be long winded, but I feel a need to address all concerns in the NHL.
I agree with everyone who is saying that the game needs more marketing on a national scale, but perhaps take it a step farther to a local scale. The problem with hockey teams in established markets is that most often than not, they are the third or fourth choice of the sports fan. Now, I'm not saying that teams from NY, Chicago, Philly, Pittsburgh, Boston and Etc need to be moved, because those teams have made in-roads into the local sport culture.
What I am saying is that a team like LA is 4th choice and really will not get a lot of fan support. You need to move teams that aren't succeeding into smaller markets that are either no sport or one sport towns that can get behind a hockey team. A decent example of this is Columbus right now. A team far enough in the northeast that the fans enjoy hockey, and no other competition from another 'big 4' sport. The Blue Jackets drew roughly 637,000 people. Now, some might point toward their new found success for part of this rise, but it should also be noted that the Devils were 25th in attendance this season enough though they had another good season.
So, what to do? Well, you either outright contract certain teams, or move others. My plan would be to contract 6 teams from unsuccessful markets and move a few others. My contracted team list is as follows.
Tampa Bay Atlanta Nashville Los Angeles Florida Phoenix
Now, most everyone will note that I got rid of the 'Sun Belt' teams. Well, it's hard to provide a reason they should stay. Over the last 5 years, the average stats show that all of these teams, with the exception of Nashville, have lost fans against the average gate of the NHL. The reason Nashville had to go in this group was that the Predators haven't had much success in their short existence. Some may wonder why San Jose and Anaheim were saved with LA getting the boot. Well again, it's recent success and the Kings haven't had any.
So now onto the moves, these will be very few, but enough to give IMO, better hockey markets a chance to get it's own team. First a team needs to go back to Winnipeg. That team is the Colorado Avalanche. Colorado has lost quite a few fans since the Sakic-Forsberg glory days at the turn of the century, losing 14.32% of fans compared to the NHL average. The other obvious move is to bring a team back into the northeast, either in a market like a Hartford or a Concord/Burlington. Well, I know this may make some New Yorkers upset, but even with the history, you need to move the New York Islanders. Let's face facts here, they will always be 2nd class citizens in NYC with the Rangers being a original 6 team, but moving them into hockey crazed New England would turn them into celebrities in that town, remember the success of the Wild when the NHL went back to Minnesota, well, same deal. Other moves could be Buffalo or Columbus moving to another Canadian city as they are the two smallest markets in the country with a pro team.
So, with the teams that got contracted, we hold a supplemental draft with the new talent moving throughout the league to new markets, really bringing interest among the fans. Now, the next step in the process is a move to a dual conference, 2 divisions each structure. 6 teams to a division and only the top 2 from each division get to play in the postseason. We then break it down into a 8 team play-off with w/ Western Side and a Eastern side, just like baseball. Best of 7, all rounds. Winner raises the Stanley Cup.
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Post by Bang Bang Bart on Apr 22, 2009 11:56:07 GMT -5
Bring back the f***ing Jets.
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Post by Mr Ismaeal Naji on Apr 22, 2009 11:58:11 GMT -5
leave the "message sending" the way it is I actually like it, and cant remember when the last time the playoffs were this Intense
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Post by Vice honcho room temperature on Apr 22, 2009 12:03:36 GMT -5
You don't contract a team that won a Stanley Cup. Do you know how embarrassing it is for a league as old as the NHL for that to happen. Also with contraction what are you going to do for the owners of those teams? You probably have to pay them market value for that team and that would be close to a billion dollars to do that. Also why would you move the Aves so quickly. A bad season usually means lower attendance and you can't lose your head over a bad season or two of low attendance.
Also if you can get the Islanders arena deal done they are a viable franchise like the past 30 years have shown. Do you realize how embarrassing for a fanbase that won a Cup with all this talk of relocation.
If you want to move a team move the Florida Panthers because you really don't need two franchises down there. Also open to moving the Coyotes.
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Jazzman
King Koopa
Trombone Shorty > Your Favorite Musician
Posts: 11,231
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Post by Jazzman on Apr 22, 2009 12:20:59 GMT -5
You don't contract a team that won a Stanley Cup. Do you know how embarrassing it is for a league as old as the NHL for that to happen. Also with contraction what are you going to do for the owners of those teams? You probably have to pay them market value for that team and that would be close to a billion dollars to do that. Also why would you move the Aves so quickly. A bad season usually means lower attendance and you can't lose your head over a bad season or two of low attendance. Also if you can get the Islanders arena deal done they are a viable franchise like the past 30 years have shown. Do you realize how embarrassing for a fanbase that won a Cup with all this talk of relocation. If you want to move a team move the Florida Panthers because you really don't need two franchises down there. Also open to moving the Coyotes. I agree with you on the the fact that some of the reason for the Aves poor attendance would be poor results. But to lose nearly 13 percent of fans over 5 years is just not a good recipe for financial success. This is a league that is hemorrhaging money in all markets, so what makes a market where you lose a ton of fans any more important because they have Stanley Cups? I get the history argument, but this is a league that needs to stop looking back and instead move forward. Too much of hockey is about the giving teams a shake because of how they performed in the past. Major League Baseball talked about contracting the Twins and they've won World Series, why is this any different? In Denver, the Aves are probably rated as the third most important team behind the Broncos and The Nuggets. It's night like they were clamoring for a team when the original team moved out. But again, those are just my ideas, and I'm laying them out there. I enjoyed reading your feedback and this little back and forth with you. It just appears we have two different ideas on who to make the NHL stronger.
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Post by Vice honcho room temperature on Apr 22, 2009 12:27:20 GMT -5
And Chicago and Boston had terrible attendance when they were terrible. 5 years is not enough time to make a judgement that the Aves are not working out. Also with the Islanders I'm just saying is try to get them a new arena deal before you move them (as someone who follows what's going on that answer should come in a year.) Also I thought it was stupid when MLB entertained the idea of contracting the Twins.
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Post by Premier Blah on Apr 22, 2009 13:44:57 GMT -5
To me the main problem with the league is audience reach. Obviously Canada doesn't have that problem where hockey is a religion and devout fans skate around the center ice seven times in worship, but not in the US. To me the League should play up its competition with the NBA, who is also having its postseason playoffs right now if you haven't noticed. They could make some sort of friendly competition promotion between themselves. (Is this the year where amazing happens?) You can have 'wacky' commercials where, say, Ray Allen point guarding for the Bruins at the same time as Tim Thomas is shooting hoops for the Celtics. Or that State Farm commercial where Lebron James QBed for the Browns, but have him relocate to Columbus and lead the Blue Jackets to the Stanley. Or Steve Nash and the Great One trying to improve Shaq's stick-handling. Maybe Chris Bosh actually making the Maple Leafs a good time with his balling skills? SPEAKING of Lebron, there was some small big deal about him meeting Ovie and getting one of Ovie's jerseys. I may be wrong and be shown that not all hockey peoples are basketball fans and vice versa, but some promotion on both sides about their superstars going on some sort of date would have been some welcome and fascinating bit of news. Or something. However, I don't think it would be good for the League if they made a second Toronto team. It would either A: suck as bad as the Maple Leafs, or B: do so well as to make the Maple Leafs suck even more. Either way, sucks to be a ML person. >< If you really want to make a seventh Canadian team make one in Hamilton. Or bring the Jets back to Winnipeg, fat lot of good they're doing over in Phoenix. Even with Gretzky, who's about as effective as Michael Jordan with the Charlotte Bobcats.
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Post by The Summer of Muskrat XVII on Apr 22, 2009 14:44:09 GMT -5
Just as a side note, to all those who said trim down the playoffs I think that would actually be a step backwards due to the fact that playoff season is about the only time people seem to get interested in the states.
During playoffs NHL is on ESPN everyday, and the crappier markets usually pick up in business. Look at Carolina, they gained alot of momentum with their 2002 loss in the finals and alot of the fans have stuck by.
Playoffs are a great time to help build fanbases, so making them smaller I feel would be a mistake
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Post by VenomFang on Apr 22, 2009 15:40:29 GMT -5
My ideal NHL would only have 24 teams. 8 Canadian teams and 16 American ones. 6 4 team divisions. Only teams in colder weather places where they actually care about hockey.
Montreal Quebec Toronto Ottawa
Winnipeg Calgary Edmonton Vancouver
Buffalo Boston New York New Jersey
Philadelphia Washington Pittsburgh Cleveland
Detroit Chicago Milwaukee St. Louis
Minnesota Portland Seattle Colorado
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Post by The Summer of Muskrat XVII on Apr 22, 2009 16:04:18 GMT -5
Another thing that helps, and they've focused on it alot more in the playoffs this year, is building/hyping rivalries.
Boston/Montreal, Pittsburgh/Philly, Carolina/Jersey, have been hyped pretty well this year. Rivalries make people care.
You may not like the Yankee's or the Red Sox but when they meet in the playoffs you know its a big deal
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Post by Koda, Master Crunchyroller on Apr 22, 2009 16:07:11 GMT -5
Move the Oklahoma City Blazers from the minors and make it a NHL team.
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Post by Biggtone23 on Apr 22, 2009 16:08:01 GMT -5
sports.espn.go.com/nhl/attendance?year=2009Yeah heres some attendance figures for the NHL from the last decade. For everyone trying to get rid of the Lightning since the strike there home average has been 2nd, 3rd and 8th before falling to 22nd this year. On the flipside cold weather city Chicago had been in the bottom half every year until leading it this year. So weather doesnt matter its how good your team is. As for what changes I would make. Better marketing is the main thing. As bad as it is to admit they have to kiss and make up with ESPN. When they got dropped from ESPN and went to VS and NBC, ESPN pretty much completely dropped the coverage of the league. Its sad to say but a pro sports league can not thrive in this country without ESPN. So get back on ESPN and Sportscenter for more than just the playoffs. Right now I would actually try to put a moratorium on franchise movement for the next five years or so. I think part of the NHL's problem is that there has been too much franchise movement. Fan bases cant be built when teams are constantly looking for new arenas in new markets. Also with the economy the way it is right now it would be hard to get any new markets to build new arenas for the teams. Okay so better marketing/exposure and franchise stabilization would be the main things I would work on fixing if I was Bettmann.
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Post by HMARK Center on Apr 22, 2009 16:14:58 GMT -5
Bring back the Nordiques, Jets, and Whalers. Hell yes. Two things: marketing and officiating. The NHL playoffs blow the NBA playoffs out of the water. Almost every year, you essentially know who's going to make the NBA Finals, or at least you can project the two conference finals. And don't get me started on how pathetic the Eastern Conference is. Awful. Very few undeserving teams make the NHL playoffs, largely thanks to league parity. It's grueling, it's long, and whoever wins has to go through hell for it. MARKET THE HELL OUT OF THIS. Put it up against basketball, which is in the skids in a LOT of markets right now. As for officiating, this has more to do with the league office than the refs themselves, who are just doing their jobs. But Bettman and his boys have basically done everything they can in the past few post-lockout years to turn every game into a glorified, extended power play. As many Devils fans were bemoaning last night, the refs now call every minor, stupid, harmless infraction, and miss the truly important calls. It's largely thanks to the idiotically high amount of minor penalties they have to dish out now. Stupid, stupid, stupid. People like physical hockey, let them have it.Oh, one other thing: GET RID OF THAT STUPID TRAPEZOID, YOU PHILISTINES.
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Post by Vice honcho room temperature on Apr 22, 2009 16:21:51 GMT -5
See the things I want out of the play or the stupid clutching and hooking where they ride the offensive player like a skateboarder riding a car bumper but if you can shoulder someone in a 50/50 puck they shouldn't call it. And yes the trapezoid is the stupidest thing in every league.
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darthalexander
Hank Scorpio
I have a feeling I may end up getting banned soon.
Posts: 7,030
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Post by darthalexander on Apr 22, 2009 16:25:47 GMT -5
Ah man, I would LOVE to see the Nords back again. That was one heck of an awesome rivalry in Quebec.
The idea of 2 Toronto teams is awful...shudder.
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Post by Supersmark is a Troll on Apr 22, 2009 17:53:33 GMT -5
Phoenix moves back to Winnipeg. Move all southern teams to Canada.
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Post by Drillbit Taylor on Apr 22, 2009 19:03:41 GMT -5
Move the Oklahoma City Blazers from the minors and make it a NHL team. They are not even AHL. LOL
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Post by Vice honcho room temperature on Apr 22, 2009 19:09:01 GMT -5
Ban digital ads on the glass.
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Post by Drillbit Taylor on Apr 22, 2009 19:16:22 GMT -5
Just a question, what is so bad about people in the South wanting to watch Hockey? Can we not enjoy the sport too?
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