REV-G Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Ok, so isn't this absolutely insane?? And you've got to ask, is this what we're going to face every 5-6 years if we follow the NHL? I read an artice earlier today [Toronto Star-sports section] and the writer asked the question, is it time for a group of wealthy businessmen to start another pro hockey league? The reason I've picked up on his question and am rewriting it here is because I think there are many many true hockey fans who right now, and it's difficlut to find the right words here that express everyone's frustration, are so fed up and frustrated with these greedy, uncaring owners that many have been brought to the point of asking, is there anything we can do to get rid of them because it is obvious they are just thinking of themselves and no one else. And perhaps the only way to get rid of them is to start a new league, in places like Quebec city and Hamilton, and start like the WHA did many years ago, only better. If course there are negatives that go along with this idea. It would dilute the talent for sure. Current teams would see some loss of players jumping to the new league. And I'm sure there are numerous other negatives and problems. But would it be any worse than having to deal with what we have to deal with right now? Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe I read that last year the NHL brought in 83% of the NBA's revenue. But now they;ve lost that momentum and they will slide further away again. There have been opportunities for the NHL to move forward and these owners seem to continually shoot themselves in the foot. We lose a year of hockey in the last lockout, the owners get a salary cap and an instant 24% salary rollback for a deal that they again have locked the players out for because they say it's not fair. And coming into this lockout they couldn't sign players fast enough to contracts worth close to $100 million dollars. Insane or what? At the beginning of this lockout by the owners I don't think I favoured a side, owners or players. But I'm beginning to ask what I would do if I was in the players shoes. In the last CBA agreement the players gave in and gave up a lot. The owners were so happy and privately told people how great a victory they had won. And the players had to live with it. But it turned out it wasn't so bad after all for the players. They did much better than they expected. So now at the expiration of that CBA the owners want another immediate salary rollback and more salary cuts. If you're a player would you just give in or would you say, enough is enough, this will never end. So now, I am on the players side and personally, mainly because of all the arrogance and greed, I would support a new league and would look forward to seeing what they could do. Now, I wonder if this idea will get traction?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbp Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 A major problem I see with that is how we cannot find owners for many of the teams currently in the NHL. Many of the southern teams have had problems, Pittsburgh not to long ago, New Jersey now... How many "wealthy businessmen" are there in this economy willing to start up teams, which on average is not a money making venture I'm pretty sure. Plus the only example of this is the WHA which did in the end fail.. not exactly something they could look to for advice. It is true that the talent pool is deeper now.. but I don't see where the money would come from, unless it was similar to the CFL where there would only be like 6-8 teams who pick up cast offs or up and "situation" guys. Still the size of the league would limit the amount of actual pressure they would inflict on the NHL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DON Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Who said it aint absolutely insane? The NHL and pro sports arnt anything serious, it is just trivial entertainment. And anytime you have a union there will be always be push-back from both sides come contract time, no big deal at all. Lots of other great hockey to follow if really need a fix. But to think a 100 year old league, making a ton of cash and profit, run by Billionaires who are quite happy with the toy/hobby franchises,with the 500-600 best players in the world playing for them, making quite nice salaries, would ever even attempt to start another league seems a bit far-fetched for near future anyways. Just my opinion though and the past does tend to repeat itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbp Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Just my opinion though and the past does tend to repeat itself. In the past there has been rival leagues when there are cities who have interest in hockey and do not have a club. Cities like Quebec or Hamilton obviously. But cases have been brought to the NHL for Saskatoon, a 2nd Toronto team, Kansas City, Vegas, Houston, Seattle... None of these have happened but there are cities wanting teams... that has created at least one rival league in the past. I mentioned above that I don't think that there is enough people with mullah to get that started... but if history repeats itself we could see something. (more of a devil's advocate bit tbh) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DON Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Sure, anything is possible, just i think the lock-out will be over within a month and that will be that, till 2018 or so when the bickering will happen again. But like the last one, i cant even remember really missing out on much, we got to draft Price is bout all i rememeber and majority of fans predict the Habs will be lucky to squeeze into playoffs this year and no one would consider then contenders, till maybe some of blue chip kids come on-line. Between on-line, TVA and other bradcasts there will be several CHL/AHL games per week worth watching, which is fine with me if year does happen to get cancelled (and maybe get another Price in draft). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REV-G Posted October 31, 2012 Author Share Posted October 31, 2012 Interesting, today Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette wrote an article suggesting the same thing. He said, ...maybe it's time for us to take our game back and start a new league!! Maybe if enough people started kicking this idea around some wealthy people would start to think about it and maybe some people in charge right now would start to get a little nervous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machine of Loving Grace Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 Haha, won't happen. What arenas would they play in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 (edited) lest we forget... http://en.wikipedia....tion_(proposed) It's a great idea that will never happen... Now the KHL getting on par with the NHL, just maybe. Edited October 31, 2012 by Brett Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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