NHL Expansion back on agenda?

[Takuto Maruki]

Also, the NFL isn't in Canada out of respect for the CFL? C'mon now. The NFL would run the CFL right out of business if there was enough of a gain financially in doing so.

I doubt it , CFL first grey cup was 1909, NFL has always respected the CFL.
They are not in Canada because they do t want to kill the league.

Where will the Americans go, that play in the CFL.

You're both correct, but on opposite ends, and not at the middle.

The NFL I think does believe that the CFL works within their own business scheme because it allows for more labor. Even with the combined spring football league currently operating, there's always going to be a desire for high level, professional jobs. Which is why the CFL has persisted for years now - because it is the gold standard for that second level of football jobs. If the NFL was truly going to kill the CFL, then they would have done so in 2020 when the CFL was effectively on the ropes, having cancelled their season and having the Major Market Question looming as large as it has ever in decades.

The reason why the NFL isn't trying to run the CFL (or really Aussie Rules football, considering that the AFL down under is operating under the same structure of being an effective national pro league in a place that the NFL covets for international dollars) out of town is that the owners of the teams, and the commissioner really, would run to the feds the instant they heard or got a whiff of the NFL actually going into the process of taking bids for an expansion team in Toronto. And no matter what government is actually in power, there's an expectation to protect Canadian cultural interests (of which the CFL absolutely is) alongside the jobs that are present from what can be spun as the conquering American horde looking to do damage. Even with the resources Goodell and the NFL have to put up a case in that scenario, why would you bother going up against the whims of a government who's going to be intent on muzzling you, and nationalist fervor whipped up by the opposite party?

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

No, nobody has put into place a worse system than "8 teams have on average a 1-in-8 chance of playing for the championship, the other 32 teams have on average a 1-in-32 chance of playing for the championship," The European Super League tried, and even their best effort wasn't as ludicrous as that.

As a Cleveland Cavaliers fan, I can say that the play-in games are easily the worst thing the NBA has done. The play-in games kept them from making their first LeBron-free playoff appearance since 1998 during the 2022 season. They finally broke through the following year, but my point still stands.

 

[dj4aces]

As a Cleveland Cavaliers fan, I can say that the play-in games are easily the worst thing the NBA has done. The play-in games kept them from making their first LeBron-free playoff appearance since 1998 during the 2022 season. They finally broke through the following year, but my point still stands.

"My favorite team missed the playoffs in 2022, therefore the system sucks" isn't exactly a good argument against it. The fact that they improved the following season and made the playoffs says the system is actually working as intended.

Just a little food for thought.

 

[hangman005]

You're both correct, but on opposite ends, and not at the middle.

The NFL I think does believe that the CFL works within their own business scheme because it allows for more labor. Even with the combined spring football league currently operating, there's always going to be a desire for high level, professional jobs. Which is why the CFL has persisted for years now - because it is the gold standard for that second level of football jobs. If the NFL was truly going to kill the CFL, then they would have done so in 2020 when the CFL was effectively on the ropes, having cancelled their season and having the Major Market Question looming as large as it has ever in decades.

The reason why the NFL isn't trying to run the CFL (or really Aussie Rules football, considering that the AFL down under is operating under the same structure of being an effective national pro league in a place that the NFL covets for international dollars) out of town is that the owners of the teams, and the commissioner really, would run to the feds the instant they heard or got a whiff of the NFL actually going into the process of taking bids for an expansion team in Toronto. And no matter what government is actually in power, there's an expectation to protect Canadian cultural interests (of which the CFL absolutely is) alongside the jobs that are present from what can be spun as the conquering American horde looking to do damage. Even with the resources Goodell and the NFL have to put up a case in that scenario, why would you bother going up against the whims of a government who's going to be intent on muzzling you, and nationalist fervor whipped up by the opposite party?

As a New Zealander I just call it that stupid sport Australians like for some reason, they aren't going to sucker me into saying those words that easily That said Personally I think the NFL would be more interested in the NRL, League is much closer to American Football than that stupid sport Australians like for some reason.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

"My favorite team missed the playoffs in 2022, therefore the system sucks" isn't exactly a good argument against it. The fact that they improved the following season and made the playoffs says the system is actually working as intended.

Just a little food for thought.

Look, I know how unfair my proposal is. But sometimes, things in life aren't fair, like each time a 10-6 NFL team missed the playoffs while another team won their division with a losing record.

 

[ponder719]

Look, I know how unfair my proposal is. But sometimes, things in life aren't fair, like each time a 10-6 NFL team missed the playoffs while another team won their division with a losing record.

Then why do you keep proposing it as-is, instead of looking for refinements that get past the most obvious objections? You have yet to come up with any sort of logical explanation for why 80% of the league would vote to make themselves second-class citizens, when all they would need to do to avoid that is simply... not do it. I happen to agree that eventually, the league will reach 40 teams (I'm a maximalist, I think every league will get at least that far if not farther someday) but nothing about a 40-member NHL suggests that it would be rational for teams to cut themselves off at the knees like you suggest, when you're dealing with highly competitive, highly greedy people who want to see all the benefits that come from winning the big prize at the end.

A realistic plan to get to 40 teams (at some distant future point, I may well not live to see it) is 4 conferences of 10 teams, split into two five-team pods for scheduling purposes. You can approach your "boost Canadian postseason representation" plan by concentrating the 4 Western Canadian teams into one pod, if you like (though I think you're more likely to get something like VAN/CGY/EDM/SEA/EXP, probably Portland, in the North Pacific, and WPG on their own), and 4 Eastern Canadian teams into one pod: MTL/QUE/TOR/OTT and one of BOS/BUF/DET, depending on how the rest shakes out. That is the kind of thing that might reach the realm of plausibility, because it sets the odds that at least a couple Canadian teams make the postseason every year about as high as they can go, but the idea that teams are going to let the Canadian Club function as an eight-team league, while the American teams function as a 32-team league, you might as well ask the Stanley Cup Champions to defend the title against the winner of the KHL or PWHL.

 

[dj4aces]

Look, I know how unfair my proposal is. But sometimes, things in life aren't fair, like each time a 10-6 NFL team missed the playoffs while another team won their division with a losing record.

Lemme put it another way for you. For my birthday one year, my dad took me, his best friend, and his son to a drag race. During the event, every so often, there'd be this old clunker, a beat-up white 1976 Chevy Van, that'd roll up to the line. The van would get a 15 second handicap. It won every race it was a part of except for its last race.

Your "North Division" idea is just like that. It's not that it's an unfair proposal. It's that you're basically providing a bye for one lucky Canadian team that may or may not be good enough to hang with the rest of the league otherwise.

Try refining your idea instead of bringing the same tired old clunker of a van to the line. It was funny the first couple times watching it win, but as the afternoon turned to evening, much like this idea, it just got old and stale.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Besides, anyone who is a fan of a Canadian team yet doesn't want my proposal implemented is not really an NHL fan.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Your "North Division" idea is just like that. It's not that it's an unfair proposal. It's that you're basically providing a bye for one lucky Canadian team that may or may not be good enough to hang with the rest of the league otherwise.

If you're concerned about rust, then the top four Canadian teams can play a round robin (how many games TBD) to determine the final seeding for when the North Division semifinals begin. It would be similar to something done during the 2020 playoffs.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Besides, anyone who is a fan of a Canadian team yet doesn't want my proposal implemented is not really an NHL fan.

Probably 95+% of Canadian fans reject it, since they’ve lived it.
It’s worse than a terrible idea.

So far you’re the only one who likes it.

Lemme put it another way for you. For my birthday one year, my dad took me, his best friend, and his son to a drag race. During the event, every so often, there'd be this old clunker, a beat-up white 1976 Chevy Van, that'd roll up to the line. The van would get a 15 second handicap. It won every race it was a part of except for its last race.

Your "North Division" idea is just like that. It's not that it's an unfair proposal. It's that you're basically providing a bye for one lucky Canadian team that may or may not be good enough to hang with the rest of the league otherwise.

Try refining your idea instead of bringing the same tired old clunker of a van to the line. It was funny the first couple times watching it win, but as the afternoon turned to evening, much like this idea, it just got old and stale.

Canadian fans hate it as well, but every year resubmits idea lol.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Probably 95+% of Canadian fans reject it, since they’ve lived it.
It’s worse than a terrible idea.

So far you’re the only one who likes it.


Canadian fans hate it as well, but every year resubmits idea lol.

But my proposal would create a very healthy inventory of games between two Canadian teams for Canadian TV. Those games tend to rate higher on Canadian TV than games involving at least one American team.

 

[redwings86]

Between one and four new teams to the league. 36 teams or better now? I like Atlanta as 33. I like also 32.

Favorite:

Atlanta

2nd:

Quebec

3rd:

Cleveland

4th:

Houston

 

[dj4aces]

If you're concerned about rust, then the top four Canadian teams can play a round robin (how many games TBD) to determine the final seeding for when the North Division semifinals begin. It would be similar to something done during the 2020 playoffs.

Rust? Yo. No one is concerned about "rust". It's the fact that they're getting an unearned trip to the Cup final. Much like how that guy in the white van kept getting unearned trips back to the starting line lol.

All the proposal really does is takes the seven teams and segregates them up until the Cup final. That's never happening again.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Rust? Yo. No one is concerned about "rust". It's the fact that they're getting an unearned trip to the Cup final. Much like how that guy in the white van kept getting unearned trips back to the starting line lol.

All the proposal really does is takes the seven teams and segregates them up until the Cup final. That's never happening again.

There is no such thing as an "unearned trip to the Cup Final".

It's a fact that if an American team really wants a Cup win so bad, they should have to go through a Canadian team every single time.

 

[Golden_Jet]

But my proposal would create a very healthy inventory of games between two Canadian teams for Canadian TV. Those games tend to rate higher on Canadian TV than games involving at least one American team.

Putting icing on something bad, doesn’t make it good.

 

[redwings86]

Atlanta like 33 troops or like today 32 troops.

 

[Blue and Green]

I don't want more teams. I liked it better when there was a few less teams.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Putting icing on something bad, doesn’t make it good.

More games between 2 Canadian teams is actually good - again, these games are the highest-rated on Canadian TV.

 

[Golden_Jet]

More games between 2 Canadian teams is actually good - again, these games are the highest-rated on Canadian TV.

Like has been mentioned, a year ago, and currently, Canadians don’t like it, neither does anyone else.

 

[Headshot77]

There is no such thing as an "unearned trip to the Cup Final".

It's a fact that if an American team really wants a Cup win so bad, they should have to go through a Canadian team every single time.

This is an opinion

 

[Golden_Jet]

There is no such thing as an "unearned trip to the Cup Final".

It's a fact that if an American team really wants a Cup win so bad, they should have to go through a Canadian team every single time.

You made that up,

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Wanting something isn’t an argument.

Plus, it’s all a moot point. It’s readily apparently that the NHL, both north and south of the border, isn’t interested in a permanent Canadian division.

 

[razor ray]

Its too bad Cleveland wont get a team due to the proximity to Columbus. They would regularly sell out. Also, Milwaukee is a good hockey town. Neither will get teams though.

As crazy as it sounds I believe Omaha would get great support. They love their sports in that region and several companies are headquartered there.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Its too bad Cleveland wont get a team due to the proximity to Columbus. They would regularly sell out. Also, Milwaukee is a good hockey town. Neither will get teams though.

As crazy as it sounds I believe Omaha would get great support. They love their sports in that region and several companies are headquartered there.

Columbus having Cleveland AHL and Cincinnati ECHL would really sweeten the deal. But don't count out Milwaukee yet.

Wanting something isn’t an argument.

Plus, it’s all a moot point. It’s readily apparently that the NHL, both north and south of the border, isn’t interested in a permanent Canadian division.

Again, Canadian media might not see it their way come time for TV deal negotiations.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

The key word there is “might.” I don’t recall this ever remotely being a pressing demand by Canadian broadcast partners. And if it was it that was, it doesn’t seem like there’s enough muscle to sway the NHL into a major realignment.

Push comes to shove, someone will (over)pay for an NHL deal north of the border.