NHL Anti-Thread: Bad Business Decision Aggregator

[gosioux76]

10 hours ago, Bmac said:

I said this here a while back, but I'll say it again: the NHL should be focusing on niche markets that will actually support hockey. Bettman's approach has been the equivalent of "get a list of the top 32 biggest cities and put teams there."

 

The NBA and MLS have both proven that placing franchises in deliberate niche markets that will actually support the sport can work extremely well. Portland, Sacramento, Orlando, SLC, even Austin!

 

But wouldn't the risk be a lot higher for the NHL than it is for the NBA and MLS? By the late '80s, the NBA had reached near-universal popularity in the U.S. and globally by the next decade. The MLS, meanwhile, was a niche, much like the NBA in the '70s, that benefitted from operating within only-game-in-town markets.

 

The NHL, though, isn't as universally popular as the NBA. It's also not a star-driven league like the NBA, which can generate enough revenue through TV and licensing deals, plus through global markets, regardless of the size of their markets. In the NBA, the high-profile of Dame Lillard in Portland or Ja Morant in Memphis is far more powerful, value-wise, than the relative small size of the cities they play in. You can't say the same about Connor McDavid and Edmonton. 

[kimball]

20 hours ago, DustDevil61 said:

What is interesting about about the Power District plan on SLC’s west side is that an article (that came out the day before the MLB plan was formally announced) did mention (through “sources,” so take that for what you will) that an NHL-caliber arena is also under consideration

 

Huh. I completely missed that part about the Power District project. 

[GDAWG]

1 hour ago, gosioux76 said:

 

But wouldn't the risk be a lot higher for the NHL than it is for the NBA and MLS? By the late '80s, the NBA had reached near-universal popularity in the U.S. and globally by the next decade. The MLS, meanwhile, was a niche, much like the NBA in the '70s, that benefitted from operating within only-game-in-town markets.

 

The NHL, though, isn't as universally popular as the NBA. It's also not a star-driven league like the NBA, which can generate enough revenue through TV and licensing deals, plus through global markets, regardless of the size of their markets. In the NBA, the high-profile of Dame Lillard in Portland or Ja Morant in Memphis is far more powerful, value-wise, than the relative small size of the cities they play in. You can't say the same about Connor McDavid and Edmonton. 

 

That's not going to last much longer, the way things are going for him currently.  

[spartacat_12]

3 hours ago, IceCap said:

People were predicting the NHL could surpass the NBA in the United States around the time Bettman took over. Just sayin'

There was a brief window in the mid-‘90s when it was a possibility. The league was riding high after the Rangers ended their Cup drought, and Michael Jordan had left the NBA. Of course there was a lockout immediately after which killed all that momentum. 

[OnWis97]

NHL Potential Bad Business Decision Aggregator:

 

Joel Quenneville to meet with Bettman after NHL season about reinstatement

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/joel-quenneville-to-meet-with-bettman-after-nhl-season-about-reinstatement/

[Webhamster]

On 5/17/2023 at 7:59 PM, Sodboy13 said:

The Québec City metro area has an estimated population of 840,000-850,000, putting it on par with metropolitan statistical areas like North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, and Columbia, SC. The Hartford MSA is a shade over 1.2 million, by the way.

 

The Canadian Dollar is worth 74 American cents, which oddly, was also the going rate in May of 1995.

 

The American TV partners probably would not be thrilled trading out Market 10 (even given the current l-o-l state of interest in the NHL there) for a foreign country and language, and those deals are worth a whole lot more real money than they used to be.

 

Short of a bulletproof billionaire coming in for QC like one did for Winnipeg, it all seems like a really tough ask, no matter how much the city loves its hockey and misses its team.

 

Not to mention the francophone issue.  They had a huge problem attracting marquee players to Quebec City because the press and the locals wanted francophones or players who would learn and speak french.  They got unbearable towards english-speaking players who didn't try to learn or speak french.  So that's how you got the Nords tanking so hard and always getting high draft picks that ended up creating the Colorado juggernaut. With a larger pool of international and American-born players the language issue looms large.

 

Montreal is different but kinda the same.  Montreal is a mostly bilingual city whereas QC is definitely not.  The Montreal french press doesn't really like people who speak on behalf of the Habs unilingually, but if you at least make an effort in french you're pretty much okay and they'll tolerate you. 

 

The media market in Montreal is pretty much 50/50 French vs. English.  Quebec has 17 radio stations and 15 of them are french. The only 2 english stations are CBC stations.  They also have no english daily paper.  French is king in QC which is why it's a very hard sell.

 

Show me one non-francophone marquee player from the 80's or 90's who actually wanted to play in QC.  I'll wait.

[charger77]

 

[mcj882000]

6 hours ago, TBGKon said:

Im a little surprised this didnt show up in this thread.

 

 

I think it's worth noting that people dug up this job opening for the team's social media manager position: 

I think this guy knows he's got one foot out the door, and as such no longer has any  left to give. Can't say I blame him honestly.

[mcj882000]

2 hours ago, Webhamster said:

Show me one non-francophone marquee player from the 80's or 90's who actually wanted to play in QC.  I'll wait.

Ron Hextall. Sent to the Nordiques as part of the Lindros trade, actually considered not reporting to the team because he was afraid of the culture clash, but ultimately sucked it up and moved his family there. After the 92-93 season he'd adjusted to the area so well that when the Nordiques traded him to the Islanders as expansion draft insurance, he was reportedly very disappointed to have to leave.

EDIT: also the Stastny brothers, who all defected from communist Czechoslovakia to play in Quebec City.

EDIT #2: not exactly "marquee" but I feel it's noteworthy nonetheless; from the 2021 memoir of ex-Nordique Bernie Saunders, Shut Out: The Game That Did Not Love Me Black:

Quote

It should also be made clear that I felt nothing but love from the fans of Quebec City. The city so deserves another NHL franchise. Quebec is a hockey mecca, and the fans were supportive of me, as most home crowds were. Quebec City is a sophisticated hockey town, and there was a backlash after my demotion [to the AHL]. The fans had disapproved of my unjust reassignment at training camp, and the entire city was abuzz with excitement when I finally arrived. But even that put extra pressure on me. I did not do enough in those six games to maintain the fans' support. 
 

I remember one particular play where I was racing through the neutral zone with the puck. The Sher-Wood hockey stick representative had brought me a new bundle of sticks that day and I put them into play immediately. As I attacked the offensive zone, I attempted to pass to the other winger in a fairly routine play, but the rocker on my new stick blade was a little off and the pass was errant. You could hear a thundering groan from the packed le Colisée fans as they wanted so badly for me to do well. 
 

The fact that they were so receptive is not surprising. I was not the first Black player to skate in le Colisée. In fact, if ever a Black Hockey Hall of Fame were built, it should be erected in Quebec City, a virtual underground railway for Black hockey players. This walled fortress of a city on the banks of the St. Lawrence River welcomed many of the founding brothers: Herb Carnegie, Quebec Aces; Willie O'Ree, Quebec Aces; Stan Maxwell, Quebec Aces; Bernie Saunders, Quebec Nordiques; Val James, Quebec Remparts; Tony McKegney, Quebec Nordiques; Reggie Savage, Quebec Nordiques. Claude Vilgrain grew up there. Anson Carter was drafted by Quebec, and I apologize if there is anyone I missed. 
 

Heck, even Jackie Robinson passed through la belle province.

 

[Gary]

34 minutes ago, charger77 said:

tps://twitter.com/ArizonaCoyotes/status/1659623356335894528?s=20ht

Already at 12k may as well show now 

 

[VampyrRabbit]

I would not be surprised if there isn't a relocation. Never underestimate the power of the Sunk-Cost Fallacy. It has Bettman by the balls.

The Coyotes are going to continue shambling around the Valley of the Sun like a zombie, feasting on bad contracts and yearning for the sweet release of death.

 

[IceCap]

What's funny to me is the idea that the team signed an iron clad lease with ASU for two more seasons, which only makes sense if there was a new arena in the area coming. Like ideally you might maybe make it a year to year thing? In case the vote doesn't work out? 

But no. They pushed everything on the garbage dump plan. 

 

Turns out Tempe prefers the garbage dumb. It's hard to blame them. It's more useful. 

[sky1324]

I feel like the direction this is heading is this: the Coyotes stay in Mullet for a few more years (til the end of their contract at least, maybe an extra year) while they try and get Mesa working. If Mesa doesn't happen, then I think finally they'll be moved. This gives the Yotes another chance (I know, I know) while also giving cities like SLC or Atlanta or whatever an opportunity to put together proper arenas. It's not what I would do if I was in control but the owners of the Coyotes did put big money into them and probably aren't going to give up when there's even a slight chance of them being able to make it work.

[Gary]

1 hour ago, IceCap said:

What's funny to me is the idea that the team signed an iron clad lease with ASU for two more seasons, which only makes sense if there was a new arena in the area coming. Like ideally you might maybe make it a year to year thing? In case the vote doesn't work out? 

But no. They pushed everything on the garbage dump plan. 

 

Turns out Tempe prefers the garbage dumb. It's hard to blame them. It's more useful. 

Funny thing is, it was the opposite, no one came out to vote because they didn’t care. The majority of the voters were 65 plus. It was the blue hairs that turned down the arena.

[LMU]

Falling on your sword for the Coyotes is not the honorable act you think it is.

 

[IceCap]

1 hour ago, CDCLT said:

This gives the Yotes another chance

Please compare this to how Bettman couldn't get them out of Winnipeg fast enough in the mid 90s 

[BrySmalls]

Move the Yotes to Hartford?

[AJM]

 

[WestCoastBias]

12 minutes ago, BrySmalls said:

Move the Yotes to Hartford?

 

No shot

[mcj882000]

23 minutes ago, BrySmalls said:

Move the Yotes to Hartford?

Do they have a plan to replace, and not just renovate, the building that the Whalers deemed too old in 1997? If not then zero chance, and I say that as a would-be Whalers fan.