mooseOAK*
Guest
Beukeboom Fan said:I think that unless things improve with the way the game is received, Corporate support (especially south of the border) will trickle back pretty slowly. Corporations don't support the NHL because they love the it. They do it either to entertain customers, or as a form of advertising.
One thing to consider - the NHL forced the corporations to spend their money elsewhere this year. Who is to say that whatever they spend their money on instead won't get the $'s instead of the NHL next year?
I remember several articles on Slam about small business owners that were spending the $20K their tickets were on other things, and getting a hell of a lot better return on their investment. Those are the types of things that should make the owner (and ultimately the players) REAL nervous.
That is why, if the Sportsnet story is to be believed, the NHLPA should jump on that de-linked proposal by April 8 and try to negotiate off of that. No, it isn't going to be what they want and a lot less than they had or could have had with previous NHL proposals but it gives all of the financial hit backlash from the lockout directly to the owners. Linked, they suffer also.