Tom_Benjamin
Registered User
DownFromNJ said:No, it wouldn't.
California and New York are each richer than all of Canada. New York City is 1/3 the population of Canada. California has 14 million more people than Canada. Canadian teams cannot make anywhere near the potential profit that the Rangers, Kings, Blackhawks, etc can make. Hell, New Jersey is potentially more profitable than any Canadian market.
So how many hockey fans does California have? Does ten times the population translate into ten times the revenue? Do the Kings have ten times the number of tickets to sell?
Vancouver is selling out every single ticket at higher than average prices even after you convert the Canadian dollar to US funds. In addition to the National TV packages, the Canucks have a local TV deal that draws better ratings than the deal in Toronto. Heck, a Vancouver Canuck game draws three times more viewers in British Columbia than ESPN gets on a National broadcast in the US. They have 17 games they sell via pay per view. The subscriber base is now nearly 25,000 per game at $10 a pop. The pay per view games play in pubs and in movie theaters with the Canucks taking a piece of the action.
Vancouver may not be Los Angeles, but we do have corporate sponsors who want to make deals with the Canucks. There is no competition from basketball or baseball or big time football. Heck, the lottery corporation gives them $3 million a year.
They published the King's books through a fan, remember? If you don't believe the Canucks are blowing away Los Angeles in revenues - the Kings have to pay money to get the games on the radio! - then you are nuts.
Tom