NHL Anti-Thread: Bad Business Decision Aggregator

[The_Admiral]

13 minutes ago, McCarthy said:

One thing that stuck out was the PA guy kept saying "One October". Is that how they say dates in the military? 

Yes. They really do think they're the Army.

[BeerGuyJordan]

9 hours ago, Wings said:

-Seattle expansion

-Arizona to Houston

-Carolina to Quebec City

Houston is probably the only reason the NHL would finally allow the Coyotes to relocate, since it's a bigger market. It makes sense, even by "grow the game" standards.

[The_Admiral]

Houston would be terrible for reasons we've been over several times. Don't be a market-size queen.

 

I was listening to some of those Jim Cornette podcasts on Video Sharing Site YouTube a while ago and someone asked him about Jim Crockett Promotions (EDIT: this was the Charlotte/Atlanta promotion that everyone called "the NWA" and that would later transmogrify into WCW) and how they should have expanded to match the WWF, and his answer was that they shouldn't have: if they had stayed east of the Mississippi and concentrated on Georgia and the southern Mid-Atlantic with a couple outposts (Chicago, Philadelphia), things may have gone a bit better than trying to run towns out west and expecting everyone to appreciate a regional product. And I realized that's basically the NHL, too: they raced across the country to match the bigger leagues, did so hastily and sloppily, and hurt their product. Instead, they should have concentrated on their core constituency and been selective about where else they did business. Funny enough, most of the core territory of the NHL -- New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Pittsburgh, Toronto -- corresponds not with Jim Crockett Promotions but with the old territory of the WWF.

EDIT: here it is and also Cornette makes the point that Crockett had a superior product with inferior marketing and office staff and a reluctance to embrace outsiders, doesn't sound like anyone else we know

[The_Admiral]

Another parallel: hockey and southern wrestling fans both pride themselves on appreciating a grittier, more "adult" product that prioritizes steak over sizzle with occasional bouts of jaw-dropping bloodshed and brutality. Meanwhile, everyone else thinks it's kind of stupid. 

[HedleyLamarr]

3 hours ago, the admiral said:

transmogrify

Such a beautiful word, especially for this month....

[mcj882000]

Here's my alt-history, hindsight is 20/20, "fantasy booking" take: if Karmanos was so intent on moving the Whalercanes to North Carolina in 1997 then he should've went to Charlotte instead of Raleigh. Not only would they not have needed to waste 2 dreadful years in Greensboro but they would've likely played at the old 21,000 seat Coliseum, in a city that had recently proved it actually did like pro sports.

Now you might say, "what about the Hornets?" Indeed, I'm going to just assume this was something the team was worried about at the time, and I believe it's been brought up in this very thread as well. The funny thing is, while the Hornets indeed drew an impressive 23,405 fans per game in 1997-98, the 'Canes first season in Greensboro, that fell to 19,232 per game in 1998-99 due to the NBA lockout. And from there their attendance completely cratered as Hornets owner George Shinn basically alienated the entire city (in 2001-02, their last season in Charlotte, they drew just 11,286 per game) which led to their move to New Orleans in 2002 - just in time, I might add, for the Hurricanes' Cinderella playoff run that very spring. If that happens in a recently-scorned city looking for a new team to cheer for, instead of a city seemingly-apathetic to pro sports (not to mention the 2 seasons afterwards with no NBA team at all to compete with, or the decade they would've gone against the "who gives a " Bobcats after that) and maybe they could've made it work in Charlotte. 

Obviously it's too late now, the Spectrum as it is would be about as good for hockey as Barclays Center is - indeed, even the Checkers moved out a couple of years back - and obviously they would've had no idea any of the drama with the Hornets was gonna happen, but if at some point they decided "Hell, let's take a chance on Charlotte anyways" they might've lucked into some success. Hell, at the very least I'm willing to bet it would've still gone better than it has in Raleigh!

[IceCap]

20 minutes ago, mcj882000 said:

if Karmanos was so intent on moving the Whalercanes to North Carolina in 1997 then he should've went to Charlotte instead of Raleigh.

Agreed. Actual cities are always preferable to overblown suburbs.

[goalieboy82]

8 hours ago, chrysleraspen08 said:

 

 

[goalieboy82]

8 hours ago, chrysleraspen08 said:

 

[The_Admiral]

52 minutes ago, mcj882000 said:

if Karmanos was so intent on moving the Whalercanes to North Carolina

Well, that's just it: the only thing he was intent on was leaving Hartford, and the NHL did nothing to stand in his way, such that he broke his lease with the state before he even knew where where he was going. His first choice was Auburn Hills, which the league did stop, and he poked around some other cities, but settled on Raleigh because he had to go somewhere and it seemed like a good enough idea. It wasn't, of course; the two years in Greensboro were so bad for the organization and the perception of the league that I'm surprised they ever recovered at all. But we mustn't lose sight of what really matters: Jeremy Jacobs getting the New England cable market back to himself.

 

Charlotte would have sucked too.

[Sport]

In 2010 or 2011 when the Blue Jackets were at the height of Not Winning I wrote some long ass fan fiction alternate history about the Whalers moving to Columbus instead of Raleigh. 

[Sodboy13]

Today in Guys, Bill Foley May Have Some Problems, we examine his vision for what will allegedly be tonight's pregame ceremony. Also, there's a Knights blog that earnestly and frequently refers to Foley as "The Creator," so maybe this guy's found his audience.

[LMU]

 

[HedleyLamarr]

Not the momma!

[IceCap]

57 minutes ago, Sodboy13 said:

Today in Guys, Bill Foley May Have Some Problems, we examine his vision for what will allegedly be tonight's pregame ceremony. Also, there's a Knights blog that earnestly and frequently refers to Foley as "The Creator," so maybe this guy's found his audience.

Just as Sir Thomas Malory envisioned.

[Still MIGHTY]

 

 

5 hours ago, Sodboy13 said:

Today in Guys, Bill Foley May Have Some Problems, we examine his vision for what will allegedly be tonight's pregame ceremony. Also, there's a Knights blog that earnestly and frequently refers to Foley as "The Creator," so maybe this guy's found his audience.

 

 

 

 

[wildwing64]

4 hours ago, LMU said:

 

 

Agumon!

 

[BeerGuyJordan]

6 hours ago, LMU said:

 

Looks incredibly off, to me. Even if it is a better mascot than that of my alma mater, good old Gila Hank.

[BeerGuyJordan]

2 hours ago, Still MIGHTY said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

God, it's like a nightmare lovechild of the NHL and Medieval Times. Especially that castle setpiece.

[Cosmic]

2 hours ago, Still MIGHTY said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good to see that the guy who did the Mighty Ducks' opening show is still around...