Marek on NHL in Europe

[LadyStanley]

Click to read more...

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

 

[Takuto Maruki]

People seem to once again believe that American sports leagues should fight god (in this case, time zones and time differences) in order to chase the dragon of more potential European or international fans, when it reality what we have now is probably going to be the best for at least three decades, until technology makes continental Europe flights from North America, especially the west coast, like, two hours max.

Guarantee that if the NHL tried the idea the QT of Marek's tweet suggests, this board, and the vast majority of the peanut gallery would lambast Bettman for making it.

 

[eojsmada]

Can't see the NHL owners, nor the PA being a fan of this. How many home games does each team lose out on? What I mean is that all of the staff, concessions, and building being dark creates a larger problem going forward. Two teams losing out on a home game a piece, for the regular season, seems already a bit too much.

Maybe have one division, every year, have their training camps and the all but one preseason game in Europe with the final ones being in their respective home arenas so the players and staff have a game to get ready and adjust back to North America.

 

[dalewood12]

I anticipate a lot of backlash from the local team's city government and business community. That's a lot of lost local revenue for bars, restaurants and hotels.

 

[GKJ]

An outdoor game in Europe seems like the natural next step.

 

[gstommylee]

An outdoor game in Europe seems like the natural next step.

and where is that suppose out door game suppose to happen especially in the middle of European football/soccer season.

 

[bleedblue94]

An outdoor game in Europe seems like the natural next step.

NHL would basically be printing money

 

[Albatros]

and where is that suppose out door game suppose to happen especially in the middle of European football/soccer season.

European teams play outdoor games too. And no, the NHL shouldn't get involved.

 

[Jumptheshark]

The IIHF head office is in Zurich. Due to Olympics and other things the nhl realized they needed more presence there. They had a satellite office in Sweden for a few years but it was just two secretaries doing stuff

 

[vorky]

An outdoor game in Europe seems like the natural next step.

Do not do this in Prague with these guys They managed to took money from fans for two (or three?) Winter Games events (2022, 2024), but the games have never happened

 

[Felonious Python]

NHL Europe doesn't make sense as an expansion to the league, or as an AHL style development league.

As pointed out, time zones are a killer here. A 7pm east coast start is 1am in Berlin. As a development league, what's the point? It's not NHL level, so it'd just be elbowing in on the existing IIHF ecosystem, and NHL teams can loan players to Europe already.


The Irish national team can't compete in IIHF events, and hasn't in more than a decade, because they don't have a suitable rink anywhere in the country. 5 million people.

Florida, the US's third most populated state, has 17 local rinks. Something like 1 rink per 1.35 million Floridians.


There's a financial issue with the high costs of hockey that has to really get cracked before the game (league revenue) can significantly grow.

 

[JMCx4]

Send Marek to Europe, and he can tweet when the League arrives.

 

[LadyStanley]

Can't see the NHL owners, nor the PA being a fan of this. How many home games does each team lose out on? What I mean is that all of the staff, concessions, and building being dark creates a larger problem going forward. Two teams losing out on a home game a piece, for the regular season, seems already a bit too much.

Maybe have one division, every year, have their training camps and the all but one preseason game in Europe with the final ones being in their respective home arenas so the players and staff have a game to get ready and adjust back to North America.

That allows another event to happen. Concert, etc. Some of which brings in more $$ than hockey game.

 

[qc14]

That allows another event to happen. Concert, etc. Some of which brings in more $$ than hockey game.

Not every owner also owns their building. For those that do any concerts or NBA games or whatever else they put on there doesn't count as HRR so the PA wouldn't be able their 50% of it anyways. NHL is still a gate-driven league, don't understand why teams would voluntarily just give up 10% of their gate revenues for the season so that what in reality would be a couple hundred very wealthy fans can have a fun vacation in Europe.

As others have said I just don't understand chasing Europe, where there's already multiple well-established competing local products. Go back to Australia or Japan or China, or finally go to Mexico instead.

I get why guys like Marek are such big proponents though -- I too would want an all-expenses paid trip across the pond for a couple of weeks!

 

[LPHabsFan]

One of the things you have to look at as well is how much it would cost to make it worth it for the home team to have one of their games in Europe.

I know for the Rangers, unless something has changed, they're not allowed to have games outside of MSG otherwise they lose something like a 100+ year old tax advantage for MSG.

Some of the bigger market teams will make over a million dollars profit per game, meaning it would cost several million to buy the teams out, on top of needing to pay for all the travel expenses.

If you look at the history of the NHL games outside of NA, outside of what I see as three exceptions in the post cap world where revenues skyrocketed, all of the home teams were of smaller market, or footprint, which would require less to buy out.

 

[Voight]

Realistically not that many fans are going to travel to Europe just to see their team play. & I dont know if such. drastic change in schedule is worth it for the NHL, you'd have early afternoon games (less viewers) and for what?