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The crux of my argument is that an NHL with more Canadian teams is a weaker, poorer NHL, and it would be more likely that more Canadian players would have to look elsewhere to make a living playing hockey. Fin. Quote:
In other news..... ---------- OneSoccer to air exclusive coverage in Canada of 2021 and 2023 Concacaf Gold Cups MEDIAPRO Canada has secured exclusive broadcast rights in Canada to all national team tournaments organized by Concacaf, the continental confederation encompassing the 41 soccer associations in North and Central America and the Caribbean, from 2020 to 2023. The Concacaf package of national team tournaments includes the prestigious Concacaf Gold Cup, the men’s national team competition, in 2021 and 2023, and the women’s equivalent, the 2022 Concacaf Women’s Championship. https://us6.campaign-archive.com/?u=...&id=977c00884d |
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New 3 on 3 summer hockey league?
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They average around 20,000 for basketball. |
I see the benefits of both models. Expanding into the unconventional markets or expanding into traditional hockey markets. From my perspective I could have done without the Sunbelt teams. There's just this element of sentiment I like in my sports. I don't lose sleep over these things but I know I'd enjoy the sport more if it were not in far flung exotic locations. But I know the reasons why they do it.
The Spanish Cup (Copa del Rey) was just held in its new format. Instead of league champ vs cup champ to kickoff the season, they just took the top 4 finishers from last year and had them do a mini tournament in Saudi Arabia. Only 300 Barca fans bought their team's allotment to travel and go watch. If I were to watch, I don't think I'd like the experience live or on TV. Sometimes you can just tell the game is not being held in a soccer hotbed, even if it were in a full stadium as weird as that sounds. For instance, the best WCs I can remember are Italy '90 and and France '98. Germany and then Brazil I'd rank after that ahead of Japan/Korea, Russia, South Africa and USA, which felt very similar to me. CFB and F1 along with soccer are the three sports I've been the most passionate about. CFB and F1 went way downhill for me. A big part of both declines for me is the geography. The conferences re-aligned for the sake of the almighty dollar. The Big Ten is supposed to be traditional midwestern football. Now Rutgers and Maryland have been in the for the past few years. Two places close to the ocean. Sure, they are just another team like the other members, but you just know when you're watching or following the games and the season that they just don't feel right. Especially Maryland which was in the aptly named Atlantic Coast Conference and played against schools that just felt more appropriate like the four NC schools including Duke and UNC. When Nebraska moved from the Big 12 North to the Big Ten West it did not feel off at all because Nebraska fits both geographic profiles. They can be viewed as Heartland or Midwest. Texas A&M left the Big 12 South for the SEC. That didn't feel as bad because College Station actual has that Gulf coast vibe like in Houston and SEC has tonnes of teams in states bordering the Gulf. Mizzou, in a midwestern state, also made the same conf. move but that it doesn't fit as perfectly. It's not too bad since Missouri does border the South and the SEC is the Southeastern Conference. Many, many more examples in college. One that almost happened that seemed illogical was Boise State going to the Big East, which started out as NE schools. For F1, Europe is their base. Then you have some traditional hotspots in various locales around the world we were used to and had some kind of motorsport culture like Brazil, Japan, Australia, USA and Canada for example. Then Bernie started to take some of these races away, especially in Europe because they couldn't pay what non-traditional Motorsport countries would pay for hosting fees. Azerbaijian, Qatar, Bahrain, Korea, Russia, India, China, Malaysia, Singapore is what I can name off the top of my head. This isn't as bad now that there are 22 races instead of the 16 like when I grew up, but too many of these races has just brought the good feels I had about the sport way down. I had a more sentimental connection to the NHL before the Sunbelt teams came in. It's not just because I grew up watching that NHL and now I'm an adult. I feel the exact same way about the NBA now as when I grew up watching it. If these leagues start putting teams in London or even crazier, Tokyo, I am pretty sure I'd start to feel differently about them. Doesn't have to be logical, but that's just how it is for me and that's part of the human condition. |
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Thing is, Bernie kept chasing TV money and hosting fees. He kept accepting millions from increasingly sketchy countries and hoped for increased international TV broadcasting fees as a result. India was a really good attempt but ultimately flopped, but a success in that country would have of course provided more eyeballs. Conversely, Liberty came in, opened F1 to social media and the 21st century, introduced F1TV, increased streaming and video playback and connectivity, and as a result F1 has generally just became a better product since their ownership began. Near the end of the Bernie days stands were worringly empty at a lot of major circuits but now they're jam-packed just about everywhere they go. |
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The turmoil in the (general) vicinity of the tournament, though unrelated and largely inconsequential, conveniently added even more fuel to the fire. |
The Dakar rally (originally known as the Paris-Dakar and still referred to as such by many) was held entirely in Saudia Arabia this year.
Though they've been moving it around quite a bit (including South America), and I think it's been decades since they actually ran it on the Sahara Desert route from Paris to Dakar, Sénégal. It's a pretty big deal to Europeans. |
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I'd go see a run-of-the-mill Bears or Packers team before I'd go see the first-place Jacksonville Jaguars. And seeing Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea play Nouméa, New Caledonia in Aussie rules football is going to turn my crank a lot less than seeing two historic Melbourne clubs battle it out. No matter how good the Indian Wells tournament gets it won't outshine the four grand slam tennis events. |
My bad, LOL, I meant Abu Dhabi instead of Qatar.
Liberty from the get go said they were trying to make F1 better, which was a thinly veiled shot at Bernie. They kept Bernie on a for a while as consultant or something but then told him to go away. I'm not enthused about the Miami race idea but yes, Liberty has definitely pointed F1 in the right direction. Now for me to actually start watching races again and not just highlights, and to go back to Montreal for first time since 2012 (have been to 9 races), they need to bring the engine noise back. The pitch I grew up hearing and to me is the best sound in the world. This is where the atmosphere part comes in for me. The atmosphere I discuss so often, probably ad nauseum! The ear blistering sound was orgasmic and added a visceral component that is sorely missing for me now. God I loved stepping out from Jean Drapeau station and hearing those cars during practice off in the distance. See Canadian GP from 2006: See Aussie GP pre and post engine regulation change: |
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Meanwhile, the big European soccer leagues all put teams where the demand is and not in non-traditional locations in the hopes of "growing the game". They're just as big as the NFL per capita, so I don't buy the argument that the NHL's model is the only or best way to grow the game. Most of the NHL's biggest money losers are sunbelt teams. And the NHL hasn't grown at all relative to its competitors. Quote:
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Some of the sunbelt teams are approaching 30 years old. They're not new. Quote:
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Gary Bettman's job is to make the current owners richer. I fail to see how a league with a few more Canadian teams valued at less than $400 million accomplishes that. We can talk about what someone personally feels is right for the league regarding legacy or whatnot, but the simple fact is that Bettman's expansion has created the most valuable league to date. |
Nordiques 2.0 would be owned by Quebecor who have about 10 billion.
The head of Quebecor PKP himself has a personal net worth around 2 billion. They're good. |
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If the hypothetical Nordiques 2.0 limited themselves to simply repeating what the Nordiques 1.0 did in terms of market impact, they'll become the go-to team for between a quarter and a third of hockey fans in the province. They certainly wouldn't be limited to the Greater Quebec City metro. That means a market of 2 to 2.5 million or maybe a bit more even, easily twice the size of the absolutely maxed out market potential for the Jets. Another thing they'd have that the Jets don't is for all intents and purposes their "own" sports network. The Jets compete for coverage in higher order sports media with the Leafs, Oilers, Flames, Canucks and Habs. If the Nords ever came back, one network out of RDS or TVA Sports would put the Habs front and centre, and the other would put the Nords front and centre. Having a mainline TV sports network (and associated magazines, newspapers and media platforms) talking up your team 24/7 is a huge asset. The Nordiques 1.0 succeeded in developing a fan base all across the province due to the media and marketing tools of the day - and they didn't even have the powerhouse Quebecor (likely owner) behind them back then. They'll also do well in terms of corporate sponsorships. As it stands now there can only be one official beer associated with an NHL team in Quebec, one official bank, one official restaurant chain, one official dépanneur chain, one official snack food, one official insurer, etc. Tons of potential sponsors shut out by exclusivity deals the Habs have with their competitors would support the Nordiques 2.0. You can be sure of it. Source: what things were like when the Nordiques 1.0 were there. These sponsors don't even have to be based in Quebec City. Nothing prevents or prevented the Nordiques from getting sponsors based in Montreal as most of them operate across the province. |
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