the nhl may not exist as we know it in a few years. the collective bargaining agreement is set to expire soon. and millionaire unions aren't the best at negoiating (read: major league baseball 1994).
hockey could save itself by doing something that i think should have been done a long time ago--contraction.
there are 30 nhl teams. looking at just the last 2 years of revenue only 13 teams made money. ottawa broke even and 16! lost money. over half the league is unprofitable. this year the average nhl team last over $4 million.
this year the profit margins went from +$20.1 mil (minnesota) to -$29.4 mil (st. louis).
if the league were to get rid of the six teams that have lost the most money in the last two years (st. louis, washington, phoenix, anaheim, carolina and detroit) the league would go from having lost $123 million to having made $52 million.
ok, there is a lot of history in st. louis and detroit, so sub them out for buffalo and florida and the league will only have made $20 million over the last two years, but that's still in the black folks!
another aspect of contraction is the quality of play will increase. you will weed out 6 teams worth of crappy players. that's quite a lot. all the good players from those teams will replace lower tier players on the remaining 24. this will lead to better competition, more exciting games, and better playoff series.
the league realigns into 2 conferences with 3 four team divisions. the 3 division winners plus 3 wild card teams make the playoffs. half the league makes the big dance. you shorten the first round to 5 games and give the top two seeds from each conference a bye. 7 games for conference semis and finals. 7 for lord stanley's cup.
with the quality of play increasing, more fans will go to games. this will cause even more revenue. this can then be put into the minor leagues to develop better talent which will create a better game which will attract more fans which will provide more revenue which will go in a circle til the nhl is restored to its former glory.
and for worrying about canadian teams getting the short end of the stick, well don't worry too much. toronto is the most profitable team in the league making $38 million over the last two years. and calgary didn't even crack the top ten of money losers at $9.5 mil for two years.
the top six moneymakers for the last two years are toronto ($38.5), minnesota ($32.2), dallas ($11.5), columbus ($9.6), boston ($9.5) and l.a. ($8.5)
so get rid of the bottom six moneymakers and create a better league for all involved is what i say.
all money info was taken from forbes.com, so if the numbers are wrong, yell at him.
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