Any talk about KHL changes by FHR ?

[SoundAndFury]

So at first you post a number of great franchises in great hockey markets that should be kicked out and then you list a couple of below 200k population cities where new franchises should be established

Chelyabinsk, Minsk and Khabarovsk - no; Kamchyatka and Sakhalin - yes. Now that's a great plan.

Going by the same logic I think USA should move its capital to Fargo.

 

[Raptor1990]

So at first you post a number of great franchises in great hockey markets that should be kicked out and then you list a couple of below 200k population cities where new franchises should be established.

Chelyabinsk, Minsk and Khabarovsk - no; Kamchyatka and Sakhalin - yes. Now that's a great plan.

Going by the same logic I think USA should move its capital to Fargo.

Yeah some of those should be kicked for a while meanwhile they can build a strong KHL competitive team and return later.
200K population cities have also suburbs you know, Nizhnekamsk has not even 240K and still plays in KHL so demographics is not the case here.

Why it should not be established there can you tell me ?

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[hansomreiste]

Yeah some of those should be kicked for a while meanwhile they can build a strong KHL competitive team and return later.
200K population cities have also suburbs you know, Nizhnekamsk has not even 240K and still plays in KHL so demographics is not the case here.

Why it should not be established there can you tell me ?

Are you serious or trolling? How can Kuzyna or Severstal be more competitive while paying in VHL? They would just cease to exist in one or two years. Those teams are already in KHL. Downgrading them to "improve" is your idea? So, playing against Neva would promise more improvement for Kuzyna rather than SKA? Or going to Krasnoyarsk for a hockey game is much more logical than playing Sibir away? Is this your mindset to develop those teams?

As for the second part, so you say 200K population cities have suburbs but you do not like Nijnekamsk with 240K people which already has an established ice hockey team, playing in KHL for years? I think you should get some good sleep, have a nice breakfast, store energy and come back later to write here.

I can understand if someone says a few teams should be dropped to VHL to make the league more competitive but when you include Minsk, Amur, Traktor in this list and then later say Volgograd, Sakhalin should be added... It just becomes pure nonsense, sorry.

By the way, population is not that important, especially for Eurasian ice hockey where the biggest arenas can hold around 12-15K people. It's not like football where you need bigger crowds to be relevant. I can name you many successful sports organizations based in relatively small cities. Take Villarreal CF, for example. Among the best teams in Spain. Definitely a competitive La Liga team which also plays in European competitions. From Villarreal, a place which has a population of 50K. And this is for football. Let's take a look at hockey: I admit Luleå is not the best team in Sweden but they are very competitive and surely would do good in KHL. Population? 75K. HC Davos, the most successful team in the Swiss history, is based in a town of 10K people. The most recent Extraliga champions, Verva Litvinov, are from Litvinov which is a town with almost 30K people.

So, as long as people are interested in ice hockey, even 20K or 30K would do the job for a team. Moreover, ticket prices are not an important item for KHL. I am sure it doesn't much for Sibir if they sell out or just remain at 5K. More fans make the league better, maybe put some pressure on opponents and that's it. In this sense, hating on Nijnekamsk and asking for a team in Volgograd or Sahalin, especially if you think that Amur and Traktor should be taken out (still can't believe you said that) is... Well, let's say, weird. Sure, you would expect KHL to put emphasize on bigger and more populous regions for marketing purposes, but again, asking Traktor or Amur to leave contradicts with this concept.

 

[Caser]

I think in the long term Medvescak, Vityaz, Yugra and also possibly Severstal, Slovan and Amur might have to go - but only if those are replaced with new franchises. There are a lot of big cities like Perm, Krasnoyarsk, Rostov, Volgograd, Voronezh, Saratov etc. that can offer a better market, but it's all 'bout the money and we can't afford to spend too much of it now.

P.S. About Nizhnekamsk and it's population - it looks much better if you look at the urban agglomeration level.

 

[Acallabeth]

Yeah some of those should be kicked for a while meanwhile they can build a strong KHL competitive team and return later.
200K population cities have also suburbs you know, Nizhnekamsk has not even 240K and still plays in KHL so demographics is not the case here.
Why it should not be established there can you tell me ?

Nizhnekamsk is a relatively small city, but Neftekhimik is a decent team that has been to the playoffs and is in a playoff position now, and they are very close to selling out their arena regularly. I see absolutely no reason to kick them out of the KHL.

The city I'd definitely want to get a KHL team is Krasnoyarsk. But definitely not Petropavlovsk or Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk While it's reasonable to try to create a far-eastern division, aiming to limit their travel, what's the reason for removing Amur just to introduce PPK? Next time you'll suggest to kick Spartak out and create a KHL franchise in Anadyr. I don't undertsand you at all.

And yeah, I don't think KHL should fund Slovan and Medvescak.

One more time: these games with an amount and location of teams means little if the league doesn't intend to create a real parity.

 

[Exarz]

I think in the long term Medvescak, Vityaz, Yugra and also possibly Severstal, Slovan and Amur might have to go - but only if those are replaced with new franchises. There are a lot of big cities like Perm, Krasnoyarsk, Rostov, Volgograd, Voronezh, Saratov etc. that can offer a better market, but it's all 'bout the money and we can't afford to spend too much of it now.

P.S. About Nizhnekamsk and it's population - it looks much better if you look at the urban agglomeration level.

I believe Slovan and Amur are important to keep. Slovan as it is a great team and could be a key stone in order to get other teams from Central Europe, and Amur will be important to create the Far East division with Admiral, Beijing and possibly teams from Japan and South Korea.

Unfortunately I don't see Medvescak as a long term KHL team. At least if you want to get teams from bigger markets like Sweden, Germany, Switzerland and possibly Milano/London/Paris.