The NHL is a big boys business and if individual owners wealth and business is not keeping up to the growth of the game and they can not afford to reinvest into their teams (arenas, upkeep, fan investment, salaries) then the NHL has no choice but to tell the owner - great run but you can’t afford the club fees anymore.
The NHL is in the profit business, not the ‘keep owner afloat’ business like you state.
Owners come and go all the time and it’s no hard feelings, it’s business. If you can’t afford to keep up with the demands of an NHL franchise, they will hey guys in there that can.
That’s business
Did you ever think that maybe it's the Small Canadian Market of Ottawa that keep up with the growth of the game ..... as in rising salary caps, increased bonus money being demanded, plummating value of the CDN dollar vs the US dollar???
Again your
only solution to the issues and challenges that face the Senators is .... bring in an Owner who will spend
their own money on top of the teams' revenues, to keep the team afloat.
Nowhere do you even hint that the market, Ottawa, where the revenues come from, has been tapped for about as much as it can, to support the NHL franchise by it's own revenues.
The current, and PREVIOUS owners tied the operational budget, of the Franchise, to the revenues it generated.
Do you remember the franchise requiring bankruptcy protection???
When Melnyk bought the franchise (and arena) he also acquired the 40 Million in debt, and after sinking about 90 million over ten years, of his own money, on top of the revenues the team generated, he started to use debt to finance the teams shortfalls in revenue ........... to the point of carrying about $200 million in debt.
So your solution is ..... just change the owner, and let him/her sugar daddy the franchise, is just so simplistic.
I’m not saying the market can’t keep up, I’m saying the owner can’t keep up.
The owner is operating the Ottawa Senators in the Ottawa Market.
The revenues that the team generates is what is used to operate the franchise ............ oh and plus the ($200 million US) debt he's incurred, as there is not enough revenues being generated in the market.
Sure sounds like the "market can't keep up" to me, what about you?