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Post by bettmanblows on Mar 2, 2009 19:03:46 GMT -5
In a blog by Bill Simmons of ESPN acourding to a High Ranking NBA Exec 15 N.H.L Teams will go under within the next 2 years. • Oh, and did anybody else catch this line from ESPN.com columnist Bill Simmons last week?
“…(O)f all the wildest predictions I heard (at the 2009 NBA All-Star Game) in Phoenix,” Simmons wrote, “the craziest came from a connected (NBA) executive who predicted that fifteen NHL teams would go under within the next two years (and was dead serious)…”
Fifteen teams! What a massive, unparalleled, disgraceful disaster that would be. On the bright side, at least we’d be able to depend on the current NHL commissioner/honorary Iraqi Information minister to reassure us that nothing was amiss[/b] I couldnt find a link to the Blog but here is a link to The Hockey News site I found the info on www.thehockeynews.com/articles/23952-THNcom-Blog-Playoffs-just-a-mirage-for-dreadful-Coyotes.html
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Post by Ric O. on Mar 2, 2009 19:16:48 GMT -5
This is the link to the blog...it's a blog about the NBA. Way down near the end is the reference to the NHL. Kind of exciting and terrifying all at once. sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090227"So that's the climate for the No Benjamins Association right now: Murky, unpredictable and not so lucrative. And you wonder why I didn't want to write about All-Star Weekend. Looking at the big picture, the league won't struggle even 1/10th as much as the NHL in years to come -- of all the wildest predictions I heard in Phoenix, the craziest came from a connected executive who predicted that fifteen NHL teams would go under within the next two years (and was dead serious) -- and Major League Baseball is about to get creamed beyond belief. Other than the NFL, the NBA will emerge from this financial quagmire in the best shape of any professional sport; not just because its billion-dollar deals with Disney and Turner (inked fortuitously in the summer of 2007) run through the 2015-16 season but because the Lockout That Hasn't Happened Yet will ultimately solve every major league issue except its stupefyingly dreadful officiating."
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Post by Ric O. on Mar 2, 2009 19:33:38 GMT -5
Another really interesting part of the blog titled: 4. The dawning of NBA Franchise Hot Potato. Ohhhhhhhh, it's coming.
"I became obsessed with this topic over All-Star Weekend and solicited input from as many people in the know as I could. Franchise Hot Potato hinges on five factors in all, although only three need to be in play. You need a team with a dwindling fan base and/or bailing sponsors and suite/courtside customers. (I count 11: Indiana, Memphis, Milwaukee, Sacramento, New Jersey, New Orleans, Miami, Orlando, Minnesota, Charlotte and Philly.) You need a team trapped in an aging stadium that can't drum up local money for a new one. (I count three: Sacramento, Jersey and Milwaukee.) You need an owner who purchased his team because he was worth a ton of money ON PAPER … only now, he's worth significantly less and might even be worth $10 for all we know. (Consensus candidates for this list: Phoenix, Hijack City, Jersey, Memphis, Indiana, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Charlotte … and, surprisingly, Sacramento and Cleveland.) You need cities with NBA-ready, modern arenas either finished or about to be finished that would love nothing more than stealing a team. (Definitely Kansas City, Anaheim, San Jose, Louisville, Tulsa and Pittsburgh; possibly Columbus, St. Louis; and just for fun, let's throw in Montreal and London.) And you need a struggling team that can actually extricate itself from its lease."[/i]
I don't know how credible this all is but interesting how many prominent NHL cities are in his list. Putting NBA in KC, Columbus and St.Louis would probably kill them as NHL markets...I don't think those markets would support both - but I could be wrong about that. Pittsburgh...I presume they would play in the Pens new arena. Again would be interesting to see if Pitt would support both...probably could and would.
How about San Jose, Sharksphan? Would you guys still love the Sharks if you had NBA too?
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Post by elf on Mar 2, 2009 21:50:19 GMT -5
Sadly, while the NHL is one of the poorest run professional sports leagues it is not alone. Minus the top 6 in England's Premier League, all the other teams in the Premier League and the three fizzy pop (Football League) divisions are drowning in debt and administration is just around the corner. Norwich City sits 23rd in the Coca Cola Championship, relegation to CC League 1 is almost a certainty and the club is broke even with 25 000 each match. Administration is surely going to happen if we end up in League 1. You just have to look at Leeds United, a big club that plays in the English Third Division because of administration. I read somewhere that Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment were looking at purchasing Leeds but haven't heard anything else about it. It appears that the professional sports bubble has finally burst and I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of carnage amongst these greedy and poorly run billionaire ego leagues. ahem, On The Ball City!
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Post by joelzillmanwpg on Mar 2, 2009 23:17:14 GMT -5
If that many NHL teams go belly up, you can bet your bottom dollar that at least 10 MLB teams will suffer the same fate. Baseball has priced itself out of the American market, and nobody wants an expansion franchise, since it would either likely lose money to stay competetive, or become another Pittsburgh Pirates.
Why do you think MLB had such a tough time moving the Expos? Nobody wanted them.
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Post by edog37 on Mar 6, 2009 12:32:20 GMT -5
Another really interesting part of the blog titled: 4. The dawning of NBA Franchise Hot Potato. Ohhhhhhhh, it's coming.
"I became obsessed with this topic over All-Star Weekend and solicited input from as many people in the know as I could. Franchise Hot Potato hinges on five factors in all, although only three need to be in play. You need a team with a dwindling fan base and/or bailing sponsors and suite/courtside customers. (I count 11: Indiana, Memphis, Milwaukee, Sacramento, New Jersey, New Orleans, Miami, Orlando, Minnesota, Charlotte and Philly.) You need a team trapped in an aging stadium that can't drum up local money for a new one. (I count three: Sacramento, Jersey and Milwaukee.) You need an owner who purchased his team because he was worth a ton of money ON PAPER … only now, he's worth significantly less and might even be worth $10 for all we know. (Consensus candidates for this list: Phoenix, Hijack City, Jersey, Memphis, Indiana, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Charlotte … and, surprisingly, Sacramento and Cleveland.) You need cities with NBA-ready, modern arenas either finished or about to be finished that would love nothing more than stealing a team. (Definitely Kansas City, Anaheim, San Jose, Louisville, Tulsa and Pittsburgh; possibly Columbus, St. Louis; and just for fun, let's throw in Montreal and London.) And you need a struggling team that can actually extricate itself from its lease."[/i] I don't know how credible this all is but interesting how many prominent NHL cities are in his list. Putting NBA in KC, Columbus and St.Louis would probably kill them as NHL markets...I don't think those markets would support both - but I could be wrong about that. Pittsburgh...I presume they would play in the Pens new arena. Again would be interesting to see if Pitt would support both...probably could and would. How about San Jose, Sharksphan? Would you guys still love the Sharks if you had NBA too?[/quote] NBA in Pittsburgh would be a non-starter from day 1....Pitt draws well, but is a perennial power....besides, basketball sucks anyway....
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Post by Ric O. on Mar 6, 2009 19:30:46 GMT -5
Another really interesting part of the blog titled: 4. The dawning of NBA Franchise Hot Potato. Ohhhhhhhh, it's coming.
"I became obsessed with this topic over All-Star Weekend and solicited input from as many people in the know as I could. Franchise Hot Potato hinges on five factors in all, although only three need to be in play. You need a team with a dwindling fan base and/or bailing sponsors and suite/courtside customers. (I count 11: Indiana, Memphis, Milwaukee, Sacramento, New Jersey, New Orleans, Miami, Orlando, Minnesota, Charlotte and Philly.) You need a team trapped in an aging stadium that can't drum up local money for a new one. (I count three: Sacramento, Jersey and Milwaukee.) You need an owner who purchased his team because he was worth a ton of money ON PAPER … only now, he's worth significantly less and might even be worth $10 for all we know. (Consensus candidates for this list: Phoenix, Hijack City, Jersey, Memphis, Indiana, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Charlotte … and, surprisingly, Sacramento and Cleveland.) You need cities with NBA-ready, modern arenas either finished or about to be finished that would love nothing more than stealing a team. (Definitely Kansas City, Anaheim, San Jose, Louisville, Tulsa and Pittsburgh; possibly Columbus, St. Louis; and just for fun, let's throw in Montreal and London.) And you need a struggling team that can actually extricate itself from its lease."[/i] I don't know how credible this all is but interesting how many prominent NHL cities are in his list. Putting NBA in KC, Columbus and St.Louis would probably kill them as NHL markets...I don't think those markets would support both - but I could be wrong about that. Pittsburgh...I presume they would play in the Pens new arena. Again would be interesting to see if Pitt would support both...probably could and would. How about San Jose, Sharksphan? Would you guys still love the Sharks if you had NBA too?[/quote] NBA in Pittsburgh would be a non-starter from day 1....Pitt draws well, but is a perennial power....besides, basketball sucks anyway....[/quote] Yeah, well I'm a Pens fan but don't know your market well...so I would trust you on that of course.
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Post by Darren Ford on Mar 16, 2009 19:43:57 GMT -5
If 15 teams fold, I want St. James to have our own team. I want to play Charleswood in the first round!! In fact, each team could build an arena on either side of the Charleswood bridge along the Assiniboine River and make the bridge a drawbridge to seperate the fans from brawling. Charleswood, you build it on that now vacant Charlie parking lot and we can build ours on the old Birchwood motors (irony ) lot. Ahh, that was fun.
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Post by selannejets on Mar 16, 2009 19:53:23 GMT -5
If 15 teams fold, I want St. James to have our own team. I want to play Charleswood in the first round!! In fact, each team could build an arena on either side of the Charleswood bridge along the Assiniboine River and make the bridge a drawbridge to seperate the fans from brawling. Charleswood, you build it on that now vacant Charlie parking lot and we can build ours on the old Birchwood motors (irony ) lot. Ahh, that was fun. Don't forget St. Vital.
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Post by White-Out on Mar 16, 2009 23:09:37 GMT -5
If 15 teams fold, I want St. James to have our own team. I want to play Charleswood in the first round!! In fact, each team could build an arena on either side of the Charleswood bridge along the Assiniboine River and make the bridge a drawbridge to seperate the fans from brawling. Charleswood, you build it on that now vacant Charlie parking lot and we can build ours on the old Birchwood motors (irony ) lot. Ahh, that was fun. Don't forget St. Vital. Well i'll have no choice but to cheer for the Vics then because I live in St.VVV!!!
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