If I wanted to start a new Pro Ice hockey league

[MDE3 0]

If I was in a political/financial position to do this, how would I go about to set up a new World (read intercontinental) Hockey League (understood that acronym is taken)?

A) I would have to find say 20 - 25 owners who believed this version of Professional Hockey would be a good business on both sides of the Atlantic

B) I would need a ready source of top players

C) I would need a game plan that assured me that my costs for salaries and operations would not skyrocket out of control.

E) I would need to get access to players from both Europe and North America and have a workable salary level that would allow players to feel they were getting equal compensation on either side of the pond.

D) I would need some sort of new wrinkle(Olympic surfaces and a more wide open style of hockey) that would give me a carrot to toss to the Televison Marketing exec's. to rekindle their interest in the sport.

E) I would have to orchestrate events to insure that the major status quo would not act to impede my venture....

Hmmmm how would I go about doing this????

[Jim Bob 0]

The two biggest issues would be finding solid owners in each market you wanted to move in to and finding a suitable venue and gaining a lease deal at that venue in each market.

Once those two things were accomplished then you'd have the major hurdle of building up brand recognition.

Honestly, I think that building a sustainable alternative to the NHL will be next to impossible (original WHA) And a league that is going to try to fill a niche just below the NHL will be tough as well in the long run (IHL).

The killer for a league that doesn't generate NHL-type revenues will likely be bad lease deals and travel costs that get out of control, along with unsustainable player salaries.

If anyone can figure that stuff out, then they might as well apply to be the next NHL commissioner. :D

[Fire0nIce228 1]

Getting it on TV would be tough too, nationally or getting a lot of exposure for a new league is always tough. Dont want something like the XFL to happen, haha.

[MDE3 0]

From your responses and I would tend to agree with both of you....The major obstacle to solving those problems then would appear to be the existance of a functioning NHL.....If it is removed, the options of current owners and players would be limited to the only viable alternative....a new league....or nothing, and under some different rules governing salaries..ie "the cap"...and I would expect that cap to be considerably lower than what is being proposed at present.

Travel costs, could be limited by having only one "month long" cross-Atlantic road trip for each team during the regular season..the rest of the games would be played inter divisionally. Plus the play-offs. With the current costs of IC flights...that part of the travel cost would be incidental

Of course this is all speculation, but IF I was trying to accomplish something like this, the scenario might not look too different from what we are now seeing.

The big problem would/will be if the current owners who are not selected or invited to participate in the new league, ever got wind of this "cabal", then there would be legal hell to pay...if it could ever be proven that the current scenario was orchestrated to sabotage the existing NHL. Hence it must look like a natural progression of events in a labor dispute that was responsible.

I think that nobody at the top of the feed chain here is really as naive or as foolish as these past months would like to make us believe....why would they be...they know all the alternatives, from market studies, to TV negotiations....they have far more information at their finger tips than we do. Maybe there is a collective accord within the leadership on both sides of the table, that a fresh start is necessary to re-kindle interest in hockey as a media viable sport...certainly a major key to any long term financial success. In order for this to occur, then certain processes must be allowed to go on....

Based on the media attitude towards the NHL in the past few years, I could be sympathetic to this....the media has been very very unkind to hockey whenever they could be. From the nature of the game mechanics...stoppages are much farther apart than other sports...This does not permit as much advertising opportunity as football or baseball or basketball....If I am an unbiased media analyst, trying to figure out what programming should be used to garner the maximum available time slots for pushing out the ads...hockey falls way down the list as one of my choices..simply due to the reduced number of time slots.

I am just saying that if it has been decided that a "fresh start" is necessary for the long term success of professional hockey, then the scenarios we have been witnessing would make a lot more sense.

.

[Chadd 916]

I'm sure that a cross-atlantic trip would really benefit the TV ratings. US fans and advertisers would really get behind the 1 or 2pm weekday starts almost as much as the European advertisers would like the 2am games over here.

Seriously, it's just greed on the part of the owners that is causing this, not some vast conspiracy.

[prenny207 1]

Seriously, it's just greed on the part of the owners that is causing this, not some vast conspiracy.

no offense chadd, but how can it be greed on the owners part, when most of them are losing money with the current situation of the league.

[Chadd 916]

Seriously, it's just greed on the part of the owners that is causing this, not some vast conspiracy.

no offense chadd, but how can it be greed on the owners part, when most of them are losing money with the current situation of the league.

The hard cap they are proposing will not help the smaller market teams in any meaningful way. It will ensure that the large market teams make more money and not "fix" the problems in the NHL.

If Piittsburgh can't make money with a $23M payroll, how can they make money being forced to spend $30M? It doesn't make any sense to me how they can make a profit without real revenue sharing.

[prenny207 1]

If Piittsburgh can't make money with a $23M payroll, how can they make money being forced to spend $30M? It doesn't make any sense to me how they can make a profit without real revenue sharing.

the way i look at a hard cap, is that it puts each team on a level playing field... if detroit can only spend 30 mil, they will only afford so many players of higher caliber... then there would still be players available for the pittsburgh's of the league.

i would like to see a hard cap, and a per player cap, but im probably dreaming with that though. don't allow a player to go over 5 mil, then the teams can really have a chance to get the better players.

[Chadd 916]

If Piittsburgh can't make money with a $23M payroll, how can they make money being forced to spend $30M? It doesn't make any sense to me how they can make a profit without real revenue sharing.

the way i look at a hard cap, is that it puts each team on a level playing field... if detroit can only spend 30 mil, they will only afford so many players of higher caliber... then there would still be players available for the pittsburgh's of the league.

i would like to see a hard cap, and a per player cap, but im probably dreaming with that though. don't allow a player to go over 5 mil, then the teams can really have a chance to get the better players.

Sure Pittsburgh would get better players for their money but they still won't be able to afford them. Not to mention the fact that no other top-level sport has a strict hard cap. The NHL could easily fix their problems in a manner that the NHLPA would accept if they moved off the hard cap that will not address the real problems.

[MDE3 0]

I'm sure that a cross-atlantic trip would really benefit the TV ratings. US fans and advertisers would really get behind the 1 or 2pm weekday starts almost as much as the European advertisers would like the 2am games over here.

Seriously, it's just greed on the part of the owners that is causing this, not some vast conspiracy.

Actually if you read what I wrote about the one month overseas road trips, the interlocking games we would see here would be the games between the Euro teams over on their one month trips and the remaining US/Canadian teams in this theoretical arrangement. These one month long road trips could be staggered over the course of the season..so that there would always be some prime time intercontinental action going on.....

Certain cable networks would probably grab the rights for the non prime time Euro games....

This "vast conspiracy" would not actually have to involve many individuals the way things are structured....I prefer to think of it as "Plan B". Logic dictates that the current stus quo makes little sense, not just in the light of the battle between the primary combatants, but in light of the declining media support for the sport. If someone really wants to "kick start" the whole sport, then a fresh look may well be the answer....something along the lines I have proposed.

[Chadd 916]

Actually if you read what I wrote about the one month overseas road trips, the interlocking games we would see here would be the games between the Euro teams over on their one month trips and the remaining US/Canadian teams in this theoretical arrangement. These one month long road trips could be staggered over the course of the season..so that there would always be some prime time intercontinental action going on.....

Certain cable networks would probably grab the rights for the non prime time Euro games....

This "vast conspiracy" would not actually have to involve many individuals the way things are structured....I prefer to think of it as "Plan B". Logic dictates that the current stus quo makes little sense, not just in the light of the battle between the primary combatants, but in light of the declining media support for the sport. If someone really wants to "kick start" the whole sport, then a fresh look may well be the answer....something along the lines I have proposed.

The hometown fans would be missing their team for a month during the season, that's not very good for business. It's also a hard sell to the local broadcasters. How do they get advertising revenue for games that are played while everyone is at work? Most hockey fans are fans of their team and not of the sport in general, polls and ratings history prove that. Unless there is some compelling reason to watch, most fans start doing other things once their team is eliminated.

What you propose would take away half the star players in the league except for their 30 day visit to North America. Again, not a good way to promote the game over here. For this type of setup to be a plan B, you would have to have the ownership on board and ready to go should the NHL situation collapse. With a large number of people in the loop, there would be leaks. It just really isn't realistic.