Russian economy has grown, from utter distraction of the SU break up, to dependence on natural resources, which Russia has in abundance. For the vastness of those resources, the country and the league should be a lot better of, than they are. Ridiculous teams in the league, that keep falling in and falling out, ridiculous scandals within KHL itself (Player's union being a big one), unfair refereeing, and constant rule/rink, budget changes are not playing for KHL here. When the league has started, I was excited, thinking if done right, having teams from near-abroad, and some developing hockey nations would sustain itself and be a great place to grow players and marketability. This was terribly butchered by the organization, to my regret.
If my Russian is correct, the Russian federal budget is not as dependant on the natural gas/oil as it was five years ago or a decade ago. As of now, if I know, 70% of the federal budget comes from other sources than gas/oil. The various Russian economy sectors have been developing, they are more & more independent (so, not dependant on Western technologies etc).
And the KHL has been doing the same. Teams going in & out. That is a normal process. The NHL did it as well, of course, not in the 2010s but in 1970s or so. But they went through the same process. Perhaps, they had better PR campaigns, but the process was the same.
Refereeing. It is all about skills. You can buy the players (foreigners), but you can not buy the referees (or you can hire one or two foreigners, but it is not enough for all league). And if you look at the KHL refs, they have made huge progress & all department has improved.
What with rule/rink? Do you mean the rink size? You say "constant "? I need to disagree. What I see is that the league chose a route, they wanted to go with narrow rinks. So, now they are doing it, basically, all teams have already switched. You may disagree with that, it is what you prefer. But the league has reasons for it, they voiced it multiple times the years before the switch.
Budget changes? Do you mean the salary cap? If so, it is a result of the process. Btw, the argument of 900 million is not correct because the system works in another way. To quote the league, "where once the best paid earned seven times more, now it is a fourfold increase. On average, clubs are spending 24% less on player salaries." So, the results are here. Plus, the salary floor will increase in upcoming seasons. Btw, all hockey leagues have decreased the players salaries this year. But just the KHL predicted the development, other leagues reacted to COVID.
I do agree for your NHL assessment, and it's not that they can't pay the fair value, they can, it's the fact, that they can get away without doing so, because every player will do anything possible to play in the NHL, including waiting their contract out and leaving without any compensation at all. European hockey dug its own grave here.
Here I agree with the principle, but still, it is not a business in a way I see it. The prosperous business entity should take a huge investment into the system (so clubs developing the players).
Not too mention VHL became a dumpster league, MHL and JHL ideas were aslo butchered, and VHL-B was essentially killed off, due to so many teams going belly up. Hockey centers such as Togliatti, Novokuznetsk, Voskresensk, Saratov, Samara, Perm and so on, were pretty much put on their death bed.
The KHL operates just the MHL. The other leagues are under the jurisdiction of the FHR. All complaints need to be addressed to them.
EDIT:
1.Smart pucks. The KHL implemented it for all venues & all season even before the NHL. Did anybody say "good job guys?"
2.Infrastructure & venues. For the last decade, if I know, the KHL clubs added 5 new arenas over 10,000 seats & building other 5 venues with that capacity. And I did not count Jokerit (over 10,000 seat venue) & proposed venues for CSKA & KRS. Within a few years, we will have just 3 or 4 venues with 5,000 seats in the KHL and it is still questionable if those teams stay in the league at the time. Now, if looking at other European hockey leagues, they not even close. The KHL standards for venues are world-class, even tougher than IIHF.
But I agree that Discovery is pretty garbage. Not only the studios but there are way too many technical difficulties with their apps and the app overall is just horrible.
