Why not start own canadian pro leagues

[Golden_Jet]

I like to think about new ideas
i can think of myself
I may like
If no one agrees
i sooner or later quit such
discussions
But I do not want to give in
earlier than I feel myself
I want to or can manage
to

I guessed I added this while you were typing, so I’ll repost it.

You realize it takes about 8 hours to fly from west coast to east coast in Canada,
It’s 7500km

I should also add, the NHL had the all Canadian division, and fans quickly hated it , in the east , when they realized games were starting close to bedtime.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Nobody will show up to these barns in the middle of nowhere for a second rate mens league what are we even talking about

 

[HalifaxforNhl100]

I guessed I added this while you were typing, so I’ll repost it.

You realize it takes about 8 hours to fly from west coast to east coast in Canada,
It’s 7500km

Ok, for divisions with different numbers of games
British Columbia Alberta Saskatchewan Manitoba could one division, Quebec one Ontario one and the other smaller provinces near the Labrador peninsula
They can have a third division
Maybe 24 teams sounds good, or more if it wouldnt be considered too much

As an example
the Argentinian soccer
league is one the largest
in numbers of teams than
any other, has 28
There are the 5th largest
of any leagues i know in
any country beside the four
major north american
So 32 can hopefully be realistic
then

 

[tarheelhockey]

This is where the conversation ends from anyone willing to take a crack at this idea.

Junior hockey is still a big deal, and any market willing to take a crack at the new league would get dunked on by junior IMO.

Realistically, there probably should be a CFL/CanPL style hockey league in Canada, but it's just never going to happen. The barrier to entry is too big now.

The (ongoing) death of Senior Hockey post-pandemic is really tough to see too for small towns.

The only way it happens is if a broadcaster subsidizes an existing league to try and generate TV viewers the same way TSN did for curling and CFL - But the CFL is summer/fall, curling is afternoons/daytime filler and this theoretical league would be up against every other hockey league already existing.

If we take this in a serious direction, which would be somewhat different than this thread, I would take the following as essentials:

1) It cannot simply be another pro hockey league

2) It cannot attempt to compete with established pro leagues for talent

3) It needs to be a different enough form of hockey to establish its own niche, a la the CFL

4) It needs to pull HARD on cultural/emotional ties to host cities

I would point to Little League baseball as an example of a “big deal” sporting event which was commercialized out of thin air by broadcast networks. LLWS used to be a nothing event, like the national spelling bee. Now it’s a huge TV event every year. Why? Free labor, no competition with the pro leagues (if anything it helps drum up interest in baseball) and it doesn’t look or feel like a worse version of MLB. It’s a totally different product with heavy cultural ties.

Maybe capitalize on the lack of a platform for high-level adult amateur hockey in Canada. Take that annual pond hockey tournament to the next level, establish which teams are the elite-of-the-elite in each major market, and put serious money on the table. People might tune in with enough numbers to create an annual “big deal” thing that lasts a month or so, and draws sponsorships while becoming a big enough cultural deal that it has some staying power.

 

[Fantomas]

Cold, hard economic and geopolitical reality prevents Canada from creating its own thriving professional hockey league. Canada is too subservient to the United States to make this happen and its economy is currently in a bad shape (the exchange rate is bad for one thing, there's a housing crisis and continuing inflation).

Canada has long ego surrendered itself to neoliberal economics, which means that national pride and sovereignty are not factors taken into consideration. They play second fiddle to America in every sense, which includes the business of professional sports. From that perspective, there's little additional money to be made in Canada and the standard of living for professional athletes is lower there. So Canada will continue to decline in relevance in the NHL even though it produces by far the most athletes in this sport. Furthermore, they won't be able to create a WHA-style alternative, because they'll have no money to fund it.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Ok, for divisions with different numbers of games
British Columbia Alberta Saskatchewan Manitoba could one division, Quebec one Ontario one and the other smaller provinces near the Labrador peninsula
They can have a third division
Maybe 24 teams sounds good, or more if it wouldnt be considered too much

As an example
the Argentinian soccer
league is one the largest
in numbers of teams than
any other, has 28
There are the 5th largest
of any leagues i know in
any country beside the four
major north american
So 32 can hopefully be realistic
then

Was Argentina already playing in the best league in the world, when this Argentinian league started up, were there 7 Argentinian teams playing in the Champions league already, and then those 7 went head to head against the new league.

You’re not convincing anyone but yourself, so I’ll just bow out of the convo now.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Alright,
asked and
answered, and
we're doing poetry
now.

Closed.