So tired of hearing this nonsense.
Forbes estimates the value of the bottom 6 teams in the NHL at between 130 and 167 million each. How do you propose that they just "get rid" of them?
Does someone just go to each owner and say, "I understand you have a $150 million asset, but there are a bunch of fans in Canada that think there are too many teams in the league, so we'd like you to pack up your team and move it to Helsinki" ?
Give your head a shake.
So tired of listening to posters who dont actually know anything about hockey spew your kind of crap with a condescending attitude.
No, you move the teams. San Fran, Quebec, Hamilton etc. Got it now?
He's right though. There is no way they fold teams. The most feasible way is to move a few teams. Take the bottom teams and move them to better markets. Seattle, Quebec, southern Ontario.
Seattle has established hockey roots there. WHL teams in the region. Over 3.5M people live in the Seattle Metro Area alone. Not to mention potential fans all over the state and as far as Oregon(another established hockey market).
We don't need to sell the virtues of a team in Quebec.
Between Hamilton and Toronto there has to be a suitable place to put a franchise. The protectionism that is going on at MLSE seems pointless from a Hamiltonians perspective. There is 2 kinds of hockey fans in this area, Leaf fans, and Leaf haters. They claim to like BOS, MTL, PHI, NYR or whatever, but the truth is they aren't fans of their teams like we are. The only time they are passionate is when their team is in the playoffs or they are playing the Leafs. Don't get me wrong. They're passionate about hockey. They go to JR games, grew up playing it. They are just sick of a losing team being crammed down their throats. I don't blame them. It's all you hear on the radio and on TSN around here. Leafs leafs leafs. They hate it more then they love their own team. They need a team they can follow on TV regularly.
The league should really consider tapping into this portion of fans. I think they could bring about a whole other very healthy franchise, all the while eliminating a poor team. These fans will never be Leaf fans. Ever. I have no doubt about it. They will watch CLB vs NAS as a fix instead. It's a whole hockey market that really doesn't touch the Leafs. It'd also be one less poor team to support.
Move two or three teams to healthy markets with a history of hockey already there, instead of eliminating teams all together. I really believe there is a way to move the 2 or 3 poorest teams and make them nearly instantly healthy teams showing some sort of profit.
