Why does the NHL schedule seem to make more logistical sense than the NBA?

[IslesFan2017]

I don't know if this belongs more in the Business of Hockey forum but this is something I've wondered for a long time. It seems like the NHL schedule has logistical patterns that make sense. I'll give a few examples. When an eastern conference team makes a trip through California, they will play the Kings, Ducks and Sharks together. Similarly, when those teams visit western Canada, they will play the Oilers, Flames, Canucks and maybe the Kraken together on that trip.

On the other hand, when a western conference team makes one of their eastern trips, they'll often play the Rangers, Islanders and Devils consecutively. Another pattern would be that they will play several teams in the "southeast" region together such as the Panthers, Lightning, Hurricanes, Predators etc. Even eastern conference teams usually play the Lightning and Panthers consecutively when flying to Florida.

To contrast, I'll use the Knicks as an example. Last season, they had a trip where they went down to Miami for one game in between home games. It seemed like a waste to travel south for one game since they could have played another nearby team like Orlando, Atlanta, Memphis, or Charlotte.

Considering that there are 32 teams with different arena availabilities due to concerts and sharing with an NBA team, it seems like the NHL does a pretty good job of limiting one-game trips to a nearby city and making sure that the schedule makes sense. It's not totally perfect but it seems to make logistical sense most of the time. Does anyone have any insight into why this is? Does it have to do with the fact that the NHL schedule usually is released before the NBA schedule?

Obviously, this is excluding seasons that were affected by the pandemic or games that are re-scheduled due to extreme weather.

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[DistantThunderRep]

Only thing I can think of, is in the NBA, big market teams want their home games to be on the weekends and shift the schedules around that.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Part of it might be that hockey is more equipment intensive and moving all that equipment around is a logistical puzzle of its own. But the scheduling didn't always take advantage of those kinds of trips. Just look at the logistical nightmare of the old Smythe Division.

 

[yeaher]

I don't know about that, seems like just an unsubstantiated opinion.

 

[Sky04]

I don't know about that, seems like just an unsubstantiated opinion.

No it doesn't, he provided logistical examples of how they do. Yours on the otherhand is completely unsubstantiated, try again.

 

[Golden_Jet]

One example of one game from one team, isn’t really showing a trend.

 

[Minnesota Knudsens]

I was actually surprised when I just looked this up, but only 10 NHL teams share an arena with NBA teams. Would’ve expected that number to be a lot higher. Therefore to answer your question, I’m wondering if performers tend to prefer NBA arenas when booking? I’d of course have to somehow do the research to prove that.

 

[westc2]

I think it's because hockey teams have to travel with all of their equipment, while basketball players can fit everything they need in a small duffel bag, so it's much easier for them to travel.

 

[Golden_Jet]

I think it's because hockey teams have to travel with all of their equipment, while basketball players can fit everything they need in a small duffel bag, so it's much easier for them to travel.

Not following, they travel on private jets,

How much equipment the trainers have to drop off at arena would have no bearing at all.

 

[StreetHawk]

I was actually surprised when I just looked this up, but only 10 NHL teams share an arena with NBA teams. Would’ve expected that number to be a lot higher. Therefore to answer your question, I’m wondering if performers tend to prefer NBA arenas when booking? I’d of course have to somehow do the research to prove that.

Markets that have both clubs but do not share:

NorCal - SJ/GS - Now, likely GS gets more as their arena is better designed for concerts.
Heat/panthers - more events in Heat arena because it's downtown.
Minny and St. Paul
Phx and Coyotes with PHX Suns one getting more events when coyotes were in Glendale.

 

[Pablo El Perro]

The Knicks example isn't that strong. The Panthers and other NHL teams have similar one off trips in conference where they'll have a road game in Pittsburgh or whoever, come home for a game, then go to Boston or wherever. It looks like a one-off.

I'd be interested in an example like the West Coast trips you mention for NBA teams. This year, for instance, the Knicks had a couple of those that jump out. In March they played Portland, Sacramento, Golden State, then Denver. In December, Utah, Phoenix, the Clippers, then Lakers.

 

[Mickey Marner]

The NBA season starts later and ends sooner. A more condensed schedule has more hectic travel.

 

[tarheelhockey]

The Knicks example isn't that strong. The Panthers and other NHL teams have similar one off trips in conference where they'll have a road game in Pittsburgh or whoever, come home for a game, then go to Boston or wherever. It looks like a one-off.

I'd be interested in an example like the West Coast trips you mention for NBA teams. This year, for instance, the Knicks had a couple of those that jump out. In March they played Portland, Sacramento, Golden State, then Denver. In December, Utah, Phoenix, the Clippers, then Lakers.

I was going to say the same thing. Eastern Conference teams make one-off road trips all the time.

I’m just glancing over NBA schedules and they look very similar in structure. I’m not sure OP is seeing something substantial here.

 

[a mangy Meowth]

No it doesn't, he provided logistical examples of how they do. Yours on the otherhand is completely unsubstantiated, try again.

Gotta say I disagree. OP said "seems like" this is a thing and then provided exactly one data point.

I have no idea why you wrote "logistical examples" (lol) as if there was anything more than one Knicks road trip mentioned.

 

[a mangy Meowth]

I think this whole discussion can be answered quite easily with a couple google searches actually. Let's learn together @IslesFan2017 !

Both leagues play 82 game seasons over roughly the same time period, over roughly the same geographical area - but as the NHL extends further north into Canada I think we can agree the NHL teams will probably have to travel just a bit more on average.

If the NBA has much less efficient road schedule planning, looking at the distance traveled by teams on average or in total would tell you pretty completely if you're right, yes? Here's what I found.

Looks like you were wrong. Seems about the same if you adjust for the extra Canadian distance. NBA also appears to have been pursuing strategies for reducing travel for years now, and this was the first result.

 

[a mangy Meowth]

MLB plays 162 games a year and also average about 40,000 miles per season.

Obviously NFL teams only play 17 games in a season, but they still manage to rack up 25,000 miles a season on average which surprised me!

 

[Voight]

MLB plays 162 games a year and also average about 40,000 miles per season.

Obviously NFL teams only play 17 games in a season, but they still manage to rack up 25,000 miles a season on average which surprised me!

With MLB tho, most of the divisions have teams that are close geographically (AL East minus Tampa, AL Central minus Kansas) and due to the way baseball is played (i.e. series of 3/4 games) once three in a city they stay there a while, or in some cases, still play multiple away series in a close area.

 

[a mangy Meowth]

With MLB tho, most of the divisions have teams that are close geographically (AL East minus Tampa, AL Central minus Kansas) and due to the way baseball is played (i.e. series of 3/4 games) once three in a city they stay there a while, or in some cases, still play multiple away series in a close area.

Yeah and that's something every league is in control of and can/should do in order to reduce travel, assuming that's the priority.

 

[IslesFan2017]

I've been a little busy so I haven't had time to respond until now. I don't want to go through every team's schedule but I wanted to pick a couple of teams and their schedules from this past season to show what I mean.

First, the Canucks. Here are their road trips in order:
10/14~10/24 @EDM, @PHI, @TB, @fla, @NSH (southeast teams together)
11/9~11/12 @OTT, @TOR, @mtl (eastern Canada teams together)
11/22~11/25 @COL, @SeA, @sj
12/16~12/21 @MIN, @CHI, @NSH, @DAL (central teams)
1/4~1/15 @STL, @NJ, @NYR, @NYI, @pit, @BUF, @CLB (New York area teams together)
2/6~2/13 @car, @BOS, @DET, @Wsh, @CHI (a little bit messy but seems like the other eastern teams they hadn't visited yet)
2/19~2/22 @MIN, @COL, @SeA
3/3~3/7 @Ana, @LAK, @VGK (southern California)
4/2~4/6 @VGK, @Ari, @LAK (southwest region teams together)

Their one game one-off trips were 10/11 (home opener) vs. EDM, 11/2 @sj, 11/15 vs. NYI, 11/16 @cgy, 12/2 @cgy, 4/13 @EDM and 4/18 @WPG.

Next, the Hurricanes. Here are their road trips in order:
10/14~10/24 @LAK, @Ana @sj, @SeA, @COL, @TB (California and northwest)
10/30~11/4 @PHI, @NYR, @NYI (New York metropolitan)
11/10~11/11 @fla, @TB (Florida)
12/4~12/14 @WPG, @EDM, @cgy, @Van, @OTT, @DET (western Canada and a couple of northeast teams)
12/30~1/5 @TOR, @NYR, @Wsh
2/13~2/17 @DAL, @Ari, @VGK (southwest region teams together)
2/25~2/29 @BUF, @MIN, @CBJ
3/16~3/19 @TOR, @OTT, @NYI (Ontario teams together)
4/9~4/16 @BOS, @STL, @CHI, @CBJ (midwest teams together)

Their one game one-off trips were 10/11 (home opener) vs. OTT, 11/7 @BUF, 11/28 @PHI, 12/21 @pit, 12/23 vs. NYI, 12/27 @NSH, 1/24@BOS, 3/9 @NJ, 3/21 vs. PHI, 3/22 @Wsh, 3/24 vs. TOR, 3/26 @pit, 3/28 vs. DET, and 3/30 @mtl.

I'll admit that I'm surprised how many one-off trips the Hurricanes made. However, look at the Canucks schedule. It's pretty well-organized and the majority of their one-off trips are to Alberta or San Jose.

 

[Crow]

The Knicks example isn't that strong. The Panthers and other NHL teams have similar one off trips in conference where they'll have a road game in Pittsburgh or whoever, come home for a game, then go to Boston or wherever. It looks like a one-off.

I'd be interested in an example like the West Coast trips you mention for NBA teams. This year, for instance, the Knicks had a couple of those that jump out. In March they played Portland, Sacramento, Golden State, then Denver. In December, Utah, Phoenix, the Clippers, then Lakers.

I know the bulls used to have a long west coast trip every year when the circus was in town. Not sure if that’s still a thing.

 

[Golden_Jet]

I've been a little busy so I haven't had time to respond until now. I don't want to go through every team's schedule but I wanted to pick a couple of teams and their schedules from this past season to show what I mean.

First, the Canucks. Here are their road trips in order:
10/14~10/24 @EDM, @PHI, @TB, @fla, @NSH (southeast teams together)
11/9~11/12 @OTT, @TOR, @mtl (eastern Canada teams together)
11/22~11/25 @COL, @SeA, @sj
12/16~12/21 @MIN, @CHI, @NSH, @DAL (central teams)
1/4~1/15 @STL, @NJ, @NYR, @NYI, @pit, @BUF, @CLB (New York area teams together)
2/6~2/13 @car, @BOS, @DET, @Wsh, @CHI (a little bit messy but seems like the other eastern teams they hadn't visited yet)
2/19~2/22 @MIN, @COL, @SeA
3/3~3/7 @Ana, @LAK, @VGK (southern California)
4/2~4/6 @VGK, @Ari, @LAK (southwest region teams together)

Their one game one-off trips were 10/11 (home opener) vs. EDM, 11/2 @sj, 11/15 vs. NYI, 11/16 @cgy, 12/2 @cgy, 4/13 @EDM and 4/18 @WPG.

Next, the Hurricanes. Here are their road trips in order:
10/14~10/24 @LAK, @Ana @sj, @SeA, @COL, @TB (California and northwest)
10/30~11/4 @PHI, @NYR, @NYI (New York metropolitan)
11/10~11/11 @fla, @TB (Florida)
12/4~12/14 @WPG, @EDM, @cgy, @Van, @OTT, @DET (western Canada and a couple of northeast teams)
12/30~1/5 @TOR, @NYR, @Wsh
2/13~2/17 @DAL, @Ari, @VGK (southwest region teams together)
2/25~2/29 @BUF, @MIN, @CBJ
3/16~3/19 @TOR, @OTT, @NYI (Ontario teams together)
4/9~4/16 @BOS, @STL, @CHI, @CBJ (midwest teams together)

Their one game one-off trips were 10/11 (home opener) vs. OTT, 11/7 @BUF, 11/28 @PHI, 12/21 @pit, 12/23 vs. NYI, 12/27 @NSH, 1/24@BOS, 3/9 @NJ, 3/21 vs. PHI, 3/22 @Wsh, 3/24 vs. TOR, 3/26 @pit, 3/28 vs. DET, and 3/30 @mtl.

I'll admit that I'm surprised how many one-off trips the Hurricanes made. However, look at the Canucks schedule. It's pretty well-organized and the majority of their one-off trips are to Alberta or San Jose.

Now you need to do a couple of basketball teams, as one game, doesn’t show a trend.

 

[GKJ]

The NBA season starts later and ends sooner. A more condensed schedule has more hectic travel.

The NBA is also a more condensed league. No one’s gotta plan to go to western Canada. Traveling throughout the south and southwest is much easier.

In the NHL, the closest trip Dallas has to make is to St. Louis.

In the NBA, Dallas has 5 teams closer than that, including one who isn’t even in their own division.

In the NHL, Chicago has division rivals in Denver, Arizona/Utah and Winnipeg.

In the NBA, they’re in the eastern conference with 4 division rivals closer than St. Louis.

 

[LightningStorm]

A big part of it is the NBA designing their schedule to have marquee matchups on National TV much more than the NHL does when making their schedule.

 

[BTO]

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the suggestion that the NHL schedule makes logical sense.

 

[Machinehead]

Do you have an example of, say, the Knicks going out to California and playing only one team? I don't recall that ever happening.

Even in the WNBA, where there's only 12 teams, it's rare for a team on the east coast to go out to Vegas, LA, Phoniex, or Seattle, and not play at least two of those teams.

The NBA has a wider Eastern Conference, extending out to Chicago and an extra team down south with Atlanta, but traveling within your conference is nothing crazy. At most, you change timezones once and jet leg is minimal. Traveling down to Florida and coming back isn't a huge deal at all.

When it comes to cross-continental trips, I don't see any difference.