Why not start own canadian pro leagues

[HalifaxforNhl100]

Except Nhl…

Here in Sweden we have division systems for perhaps every team sport where 2-4 teams can go up/down between all divisions in the countries systems like almost all other countries in the eorld in many sports
Who knows if that can be a solution to Canada’s problems to win championship titles nowadays in Canadas/United states first tier ice hockey league
All teams who plays in at least the first or top division could have regular salaries as good hockey players is regarded to have

Its normal for a country to have own pro leagues in the most sports
Canada has maybe one or two leagues with quite few teams with about just 6-10 who can be considered pro leagues for men beside NHL then
Think I’ve read

I think its both awkward and painful infact unfortunatly too see that canadian teams can not win stanley cup anymore……

Click to read more...

 

[McFly2544]

$$$

 

[Nogatco Rd]

Because they want American $

 

[black hawks matter]

I think the gubmint should supply professional hockey playing jobs to all Canadians. Canada should be a single product economy

 

[ottawa]

CHL can maybe figure a way to expand and do this...it won't happen at the AHL/NHL level

 

[Drake1588]

Someone can absolutely go ahead and start up a competing league at any time, but the best players will gravitate to the league with the most money. Attendance would be limited and ticket prices would be a fraction of those of NHL teams. It would likely compete with the AHL, not the NHL.

Relegation and promotion is not something that North America is interested in. At all. Part of the reason an owner is willing to pay $1 billion or more for an NHL team is that relegation is not a risk. The NHL would have nothing to do with that league.

The best team in the Canadian league would simply be the best team in that Canadian league. It would not get the chance for promotion, and it would not get the chance to compete for the Stanley Cup. It would not make the money needed to offer competitive salaries to lure top-end talent away from the NHL, which would heavily depress fan interest.

The CHL fills the local/smaller market niche in Canada nicely, focusing on youth and player development before they hit the pros. They are about to have to compete with the NCAA for young talent, however.

 

[HalifaxforNhl100]

Someone can absolutely go ahead and start up a competing league at any time, but the best players will gravitate to the league with the most money. Attendance would be limited and ticket prices would be a fraction of those of NHL teams. It would likely compete with the AHL, not the NHL.

Relegation and promotion is not something that North America is interested in. At all. Part of the reason an owner is willing to pay $1 billion or more for an NHL team is that relegation is not a risk. The NHL would have nothing to do with that league.

The best team in the Canadian league would simply be the best team in that Canadian league. It would not get the chance for promotion, and it would not get the chance to compete for the Stanley Cup. It would not make the money needed to offer competitive salaries to lure top-end talent away from the NHL, which would heavily depress fan interest.

The CHL fills the local/smaller market niche in Canada nicely, focusing on youth and player development before they hit the pros. They are about to have to compete with the NCAA for young talent, however.

Im always optimistic and positive to good ideas
If some canadian business men or other types of people can make decisions to launch a new league in Ontario Quebec or any place or the country as whole
Make ticket prices in comparison to Nhl prices, it can surely attract anybody from from the NHL also
They can for example be a league with at least 14 or 16 teams from all over Canada, 82 games at least as in the NHL or even 88 if you doesnt have round of 16 before quarterfinals

The problem is though
What will happen to the Nhl draft
Perhaps hockey should think more in reality more right to dissolve drafting
Its a type of ownhand advantage nhl has given themselves above all other leagues in north america and in the 70s the whole world, had since the 60s forced randomly selected teams of their players in the leagues there from also from all over the world
It can of course be considered really fun the thing with and mood with the draft, I agree with that
But is it really morally right
No, I guess not

 

[Goose]

Can't even imagine what this would take.

Look at what the Saudis are trying to do with LIV golf and the depth of pockets required to create a "competing" product that doesn't actually compete, just steals talent and waters down the entire sport.

 

[HalifaxforNhl100]

Ice hockey in North America and the whole world could be about money for player transfers like in soccer

 

[ozzie]

If the WHA couldn't manage it, I doubt anyone really could now. That time has passed unless it was funded by some passionate Saudi Prince who loves ice hockey.

Australia has a very successful Football League (realtive), but it doesn't make anything close to North American Sports, not even close. What's interesting is teams are made up suburbs from across the country, instead of province or state. They share stadiums and locations, but train at their home grounds.

It would be like having teams from North York, Markham, Toronto City, Hamilton etc etc. It would look alot like the OHL really.

Meanwhile the CFL is constatntly on life support with nowhere really to expand.

Who is going to give them the TV deal needed to make a Canadian League work? Most players would go to America or Europe for the money.

And relegation will never fly in BIG time North American Sports, teams identity and security in the league is essential. Unlike European leagues, most owners are Billionares or close to it. It's big boy money.

 

[hirawl]

Can't win on top level? Just create another inferior level for your own pleasure!

Wth is this?

 

[RedRocking]

As much as I hate the NBA In Season Tournament - reading this thread makes me think the NHL should do this, but just for the Canadian teams.

I promise I’m not trying to troll Canada. But with the consternation about not winning Cups, maybe it would be fun to have your own thing every year? I know most will say “we only care about Lord Stanley’s Cup.”

Nevertheless, wouldn’t it be fun to have concrete bragging rights over the other Canadian teams? Now we just have Oilers fans chirping Leafs fans, but they never play each other for anything meaningful.

 

[SirKillalot]

To be fair its quite unprecedented that a nation which is considered the top nation in its sport, doesn't have a pro league. One would think they would be able to establish a league with 8-14 teams and be able to build a following without much issue.

It's possible to attract talent. yes maybe they would initially become competitors of the AHL, but longer term could be a bigger league.

 

[Zenos]

To be fair its quite unprecedented that a nation which is considered the top nation in its sport, doesn't have a pro team.

?? There are 7 of them. And the league could realistically host another two if there was a real desire for it.

Beyond that (Quebec City and a third Ontario team; be it Hamilton, or Toronto 2), the options begin to get extremely thin though. The next-largest un-served cities in Canada are tiny by comparison. Kitchener-Waterloo and Halifax are the next biggest and their (metro) populations are a third of Edmonton or Ottawa. There‘s a pretty big divide between "big“ cities and smaller ones in Canada and it would be difficult to convince the larger centres (needed for sponsorships, viewers, and a TV deal) to get behind a new league that also features teams in markets like Kelowna and Regina. It kind of works in Football, but the CFL has a 100 year history and used to be extremely popular on the prairies. And even it still struggles in big metros like Toronto and Vancouver. The CFL also had less viewing competition as TSN needed to fill their summer programming while other leagues were on holiday. Any new hockey league would have to go head to head with the NHL.

And then beyond all of that, Canadians have overwhelmingly shown that they prefer supporting junior hockey over minor-pro. The AHL used to have a big presence in Canada - especially in the Atlantic, but also in Hamilton and Quebec City. Those markets are now firmly CHL territory.

 

[SirKillalot]

?? There are 7 of them. And the league could realistically host another two if there was a real desire for it.

Sorry, meant no pro league.

 

[cowboy82nd]

As much as I hate the NBA In Season Tournament - reading this thread makes me think the NHL should do this, but just for the Canadian teams.

I promise I’m not trying to troll Canada. But with the consternation about not winning Cups, maybe it would be fun to have your own thing every year? I know most will say “we only care about Lord Stanley’s Cup.”

Nevertheless, wouldn’t it be fun to have concrete bragging rights over the other Canadian teams? Now we just have Oilers fans chirping Leafs fans, but they never play each other for anything meaningful.

Why would the NHL do this? Do you think that it would generate a lot of money?

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

I don't want a canadian pro league

 

[Kimota]

I thought about this for a long time. Esp. with the Nords not coming back for whatever reasons, those managing the Centre Videtron, Quebecor, would have the deep pockets to start their own league if they wanted. You go to countless Canadian cities and even you could even expand to the states to cities that are not in the NHL.

I would got to the matches in my hometown for sure if it was competitive. You could do like the WHA, lure a few big names with a sense of the adventure while making it fiscaly viable.

 

[jetsmooseice]

This could potentially work, if the biggest cities (Toronto and Montreal) got squarely behind it.

But what we know about Canadian sports culture is that pretty well everyone would rather take whatever crumbs they can get from US-based leagues than support domestic Canadian ones. Nowhere is this more evident than with the CFL, where Toronto prefers to pretend that the Buffalo Bills are their home team rather than taking an interest in their actual home team, the Toronto Argonauts.

 

[tarheelhockey]

This comes up every so often and the answer is always the same: it would be a short-lived minor league.

The NHL has a legal lock on the 7 Canadian franchises. The NHL TV contracts still exist. The arena deals still exist. Those aren’t just going to go away because someone wants to compete with them. Go ahead and see what happens when you make a Wal-Mart version of the league. See how many people buy tickets for the Toronto Knockoffs made up of players who couldn’t get an NHL contract, playing in some 5000 seat arena with no media coverage. It’s called the OHL, except the OHL also exists and would also be a competitor for this league.

 

[GordonGraham]

As soon as a player would be decent enough he would leave for ECHL/AHL

 

[qc14]

Sports are too professionalized and existing structures are too ingrained for anything like this to happen in any sport. Even the Saudis -- with basically unlimited money to lose throwing at the problem -- have really struggled with LIV and the Saudi Pro League.

 

[patnyrnyg]

This would simply not work in North America. Remember, the NHL covers the entire continent. If we were set up in a way where each state/province was its own country, it would be a different story. Just like how when they tried to start a European super league (forgive me for not knowing the actual name) with the biggest teams from each country and there was a fan revolt. Or how the KHL never took off in Prague, Bratslava, Helsinki. Cultures are just very different. It works in Europe, won't work here.