I have read that Harkimo wanted to sell Jokerit because of Hartwall losing huge value once Helsinki finally gets their arena built. The Russian oligarchs on the other hand despite being "successful businessmen" apparently don't care about boring stuff like economics so they bought Jokerit and brought it to the KHL.
Regarding the CHL I suggest you read up on the subject matter. It didn't just get invented out of nothing, it is the product of maturation from the Nordic Trophy, to the European Trophy to eventually the CHL. It's the product of a slow organic process, unlike the KHL.
Yeap, I know the CHL´s background. You can look at the history since the Nordic Trophy. Who was behind it? Swedes. Let us have a look at founding clubs - Sweden 7 of 12 SHL sides (one Allsvenskan team), Finland 6 of 14 Liiga clubs, Germany/Switzerland/CZ only 4 sides. See? Sweden has the most founding clubs, even the Allsvenskan one. I even remember Briza´s interview where he said: "Swedes were behind it, they proclaimed the CHL will be a success. Just join us, they requested."
Then we can look at the CHL´s bodies - majority occupied by Swedes. It is a clear signal who is running the show.
The NL isn't the most attended league in Europe. The SHL for instance (without AIK, Leksand and other popular teams) had a total attendance of 2,3 million last season while the NL only had 2 million.
The ticket prices also seem to be significantly lower in the NL compared to the SHL? Ticket prices on Viagogo for the next match (note that Bern have their next match in two days while Frölunda's is the 17th december):
SC Bern: 35 euros (lower level)
Frölunda Indians: 43 euros (lower level)
SKA St. Petersburg: 15 euros (lower level)
Regarding the player salary then that's hardly a good thing. The Swiss league is overpaying for their players hence why they don't do well in the CHL.
Ahh, of course, I referred to the average attendance.
The SHL had 14 teams last season, 52 games per team. The NL had 12 sides last season, 50 games per club. I will ask, what league had more games in total? How does this fact affect the total attendance?
If you want to talk about total attendance then the KHL is the most attended European league by far.
And yes, it is SHL´s problem they are not able to play at the biggest arenas. I know, relegation. Therefore this argument is not fair. Germans could complain there is not a team in a big arena in Hamburg.
Ticket prices depend on a market.
The NL has a similar problem as the KHL - overpaying domestic players. The KHL has made moves to solve this problem. As I know, the NL has not.
If I were Swedes, I would ask myself why all Swedes moving abroad, even to "a mess" league called the NL.
I would say Swiss do not well in the CHL because they do not care so much.