NHL Recovery Plan

This column has been driving me crazy for two weeks now. And I think it’s cause I’m probably going to be writing it again next year, but coming up with ways to save the NHL is so damn frustrating because of how the league did this to itself. And really, how did the league do this to itself? How, in the midst of becoming the fifth major “sport,” behind NASCAR (which, remember, is not a sport, look it up in the archives), do you decide to lock out for an entire year? Seriously… God, I can’t do this right now, let’s go to a caller. Rob, in Tempe, AZ, Rob, you’re on Logical Betting, what’s up?

Rob – Hey, LB, love the show. Did you see the Barry Bonds got his felony charges knocked down from 11 to 5? And that Andy Pettite is cleared to testify against Roger Clemens in his perjury trial? Crazy, man, thank God pitchers and catchers are here. I’ll hang up and listen.



See, that’s my point? Rob here is already talking baseball, and those trials are coming up in the Spring. Do you really think we’re going to be hearing anything about the NHL playoffs with the NBA Eastern Conference full of superstars and baseball gearing up? I’ll take “no” on that one. I’m not giving up, yet, though. I’m still in, and never going to let this sport go. And it’s not going anywhere. Hell, I don’t even think the NHL thinks it has a problem. But we who know and love it know it does. By the way, starting this post, and Shawshank Redemption is on TV. Hmmm… Alright, NHL pop quiz, then on to the recipe for success, as we are unofficially brought to you by the Food Network today.

Who holds the NHL record for points in a game? The diest-est of die hards might get this. He played for both your Red Wings and “your” Flyers, though spent most of his career with the Maple Leafs. Answer at the end, of course. The following should all be done after firing Gary Bettman and hiring JB, which is, of course, priority #1.

1. Television/Marketing – My Red Wings opened the Sunday NHL game of the week on NBC with a nice 4-2 win over the Bruins, and, to my shock, they are showing two games next week. About damn time. There’s also rumors they are expanding to two Winter Classic games in the near future. Wise decision. This is totally inadequate. Why are they not offering (read: begging and slipping bags of cash to) ESPN to broadcast one game during the week? They can’t get them to move on NCAA game, or move women’s college hoops off ESPN2 on Mondays (no offense, ladies). This shouldn’t be as difficult as they’re making it.

The real problem, though, is that the NHL has never, even at its height, translated well to television. JB and I hit up a Flyers game a few weeks ago, and the second we got there, I realized that a. this is the best sport to see live, and b. you can see anything on the ice from anywhere in the arena with no effort. TV just doesn’t do it. They need to pay some smart nerds at NASA and/or MIT to develop something that will help make the broadcast anything like seeing it live. When you can see the plays developing all over the ice, you can truly appreciate, learn, and love this sport. This is really not too difficult. Neither is this:

2. Change the schedule – I have lived in Philly for 5 years now. You know how many times the Red Wings have played here? ONCE!!! ONE F***KING TIME!!! We play them almost every year. You know how many times we have played Nashville and Columbus in that time? 30 TIMES EACH!!! Why is that? Why can’t we go home and home with every team? You’re keeping the Red Wings from home and homes with all of the following teams: NY Rangers, Flyers, Boston Bruins (they did this this year), Toronto, and Pittsburgh, just to name a few. Yeah, they play home and home on a rotating basis, but it’s ridiculous this doesn’t happen every year. I didn’t even get into other good fan bases like Chicago, Minnesota, Vancouver. This can be done now, and should be done starting next year. There is no reason not to give up 1-4 games in division to do that. And after they change it, they should fire anyone who was involved in making that decision. Is this that difficult? No, and neither is this:

3. Ticket Prices – At the aforementioned game, JB and I sat in the lower level, about 3 rows below club box level, at the Flyers blue line. Really, really good seats that he gets at a discount. Yeah, you gotta sit with JB for the whole game, but otherwise, it’s a great deal. The Flyers are one of the teams that charges for tickets based on the team. This was a Thursday night game against the lowly Ottawa Senators. Ticket price? $95. Each. That’s not counting what you would pay for servicing and all if you bought it before the season. So before you even go into the game, you have paid over $200 to get in and park. In comparison, you could get a 6 pack of Phillies tickets in the 2nd level, which would have included a premium game (e.g., Father’s Day, Red Sox, Opening Day), for about $180. Kick in the handling fees and parking, and it comes out to about $275-$300, so about $575 for two seats to six games. Not only that, but in Philly, as well as some other MLB parks, you can bring in your own food and non-alcoholic drink.

So if you’re a family of three or four, or a young twenty-something couple, or a group of friends just looking to spend some extra cash on sporting events, what are you about to pay for? Can’t afford to drop them? Median MLB payroll is over $80 million. NHL? $53 million. Fewer home games? Sure. More playoff games? Sure. Also better television contracts, marketing, etc. Do better there, lower the prices, attract more casual fans. Hell, attract the die hard fans who can’t afford your sport. This isn’t as easy, but doable. Let’s move to the real challenge.

4. Contraction – JB and I disagree on this, and he’ll make his case against it when we eventually get around to podcasting this topic. Allow myself to restate from the ‘011 Resolutions Column: start just below L.A., and draw a line heading east, staying north of Phoenix and Dallas. Go just under St. Louis, then head north of Columbus. Head east again, dipping just south under D.C., then head up the East Coast, leaving Long Island east of the line, and to all the way to the North Pole. Any team south of that line gets moved or contracted. Here’s how I’ll do it when JB puts me in charge of franchising.

Contracted – Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Florida, Carolina, Nashville, and Columbus. Do I even need to explain why?

Relocated – Phoenix back to Winnipeg, renamed the Jets (LB Note – there are rumors of a team either being moved or started back under the Jets franchise… stay tuned, this one might actually happen cause Phoenix is always on the verge of bankruptcy); Dallas back to Minnesota and merged with the Wild franchise, disbanding the Wild name and going back to the North Stars; NY Islanders relocated to Hamilton, Ontario, who is begging for a team. Optional move – Move Colorado back to Quebec if/when they can’t sustain the team anymore. By the way, JB hates the Islanders move idea, though he admits they aren’t sustainable for the most part. Too much tradition, he says. I agree on that, but Hamilton will respect and honor it, that’s why you move them there, and nowhere else.

This takes us down to 24 teams. Realign with natural geography (I’m not wasting time spelling that out for you, I’ll figure it out when I get hired), go to 4 divisions of 6 teams, and wahlah, we have a more efficient, more talent heavy NHL. Teams are better, we actually get to see the young superstars of the game playing together and more often (with our new TV deal) in bigger markets than can actually sustain hockey. Doing this would not only improve the quality of the game, but you could also lower ticket prices cause you wouldn’t constantly be feeding cash to dying teams (yeah, sure it doesn’t happen), and you would have a much better product. I would argue you could actually increase revenue by doing this.

Most importantly, the NHL needs to get headlines. Announce this move some time in March, it’ll dominate sports talk and ESPN for a little while. You can call attention to the All-Star backyard pick your team idea that was awesome and no one knew about until the day of. More than anything, the NHL needs the NFL and NBA to lock out. It would be the greatest thing that’s happened to the league since the Original Six. Seriously, it would. If I were the NHL, I’d be spreading all sorts of rumors to both sides of both bargaining tables of those sports, then hold my breath.

Does any of that seem that hard? (A few of you are giggling right now…) I guess the contraction is a tough sell, but I bet some of those owners would want to get out. Like I said, I don’t think the NHL thinks it has a problem, but they do. The first three are no brainers. The fourth is, and will be, debatable when JB and I can make the podcast happen. How many “future post” references was that? Was that a record? Onward.

Pop Quiz answer – Hall of Famer Darryl Sittler scored 6 goals and added 4 assists in a game against Boston for the Leafs, totaling 10 points in a game, a record that still stands.

Alrighty, comments and suggestions here and to me email. Thanks to all for the support. MLB talk is forthcoming, along with quick pick NBA/NHL playoffs, MLB season preview, and a post on an all-bargain team in MLB as well. Until then, thanks for reading. Hasta.