Not necessarily true. That's a saying people repeat, but the fact of the matter is that the NHL's value has grown game multiple folds over, and did so with a straight line trajectory with lockout bumps. I do think the world has changed considerably in how they will leverage infrastructure going forward. The NHL will never compete with the NFL in terms of viewership, but when you're a multibillion dollar industry unto yourself and the dollars have steadily gone up, you're doing something right. And we know about those real estate deals don't we now?
I do think that there is significantly more dollars to be made, and the league is lacking a bit when it comes to new monetization streams. Innovation moving at the pace of large industry might as be called a welfare state imo. Like there shouldn't be content gaps. A guy in his basement is crushing a couple of national institutions from his basement (straight kudos son). You see some signs, but it's not enough... and guess what you have precedents in the BAM model, and other leagues who have capitalized on platforms with a greater globalized reach. Emulating ESPN isn't going to work. Sportsnet made their changes, I think a lot of their talent is great when they can free form and just have a chat. TSN is smartening up their content.
