Nerowoy nora tolad
Registered User
Idk about NFL/NBA, but the NHL plays an exhibition every few years in australia and the potential for hockey to grow there is surprisingly good. I was downright shocked to find that most 18-40 aussies I talked to knew the sport well enough to have a conversation about it beyond "oh hockey, ice, thats cool".Has the MLB, NBA, NFL played in Australia? MLB, NFL in China? Any major North American league in South America? or Africa ?
Based on what I saw, if Australia were just off the california coast instead of 12 time zones away it would actually make more sense as an expansion target than the inevitable Phoenix 2.0 or Atlanta 3.0 disasters we can all see coming in another 10 years.
By comparison when I brought up hockey with japanese or chinese, the response was usually more like "oh yeah, hockey, whatever".
Because the hard work put in by volunteers at all levels of the sport isnt done for the quarterly financial health of the NHL, its done for the love of the sport.I’m curious why anyone who doesn’t have a financial stake in the league is so concerned about its expansion into unorthodox markets.
The world is a better place when there are more leagues and more owners at local levels. Whenever people harken back to the good ol days, this is at the root of that world they’re thinking of. I really could not care less about the NHL not creating and owning market share for ice hockey in Zimbabwe.
If there ever is a professional hockey league in Mexico, I hope it somehow gets built from the ground up in that country.
Part of giving back to the sport is expanding the ability of people around the world to discover and play the game, and showcasing top-level talent to people who would otherwise never see it is a big part of that.