NHL and Transfer Fees

[patnyrnyg]

If there was no transfer agreement, I think player like Rasmus Dahlin would have made sure that his contract will expire in 2018 and he won't sign a new one until it's clear whether he can get NHL contract right after the draft or not.

Exactly, or the NHL team would simply wait for the European player's contract to expire with their European Club and bring him over for free.

 

[patnyrnyg]

The reason soccer has those transfer fees is because there are options to choose from. ManU and other English clubs, Barcelona and other Spanish clubs, Bayern and other German clubs, etc. etc.

So if Barcelona and Manchester United both want that Real Salt Lake kid, capitalism takes over. A bidding war begins, not only to entice Real Salt Lake to move the kid, but to have the kid want to play for a new team. Manchester is close to America, same language and such. Barcelona can offer the chance to play with Messi.

Are you familiar at all with professional wrestling? The differences between the way things worked in the mid-90s versus today explains everything.

In the mid-90s, there was the WWF (now WWE after a lawsuit) and WCW. Two major companies, with major television deals, giving top wrestlers the ability to choose. So when an independent wrestler or guy making waves in a smaller company (say a RVD or Taz), they see what both companies offer and make a decision. If a guy wants more money (Bret Hart WWF -> WCW) or more opportunities, (Chris Jericho WCW -> WWF) they wait til their contract expires and move. Much like Ronaldo moving from Real Madrid to Juventus.

But WWE eventually bought WCW, and while attempts were made to build a competitor, WWE controls the market. Thus, when a guy like CM Punk (a former WWE champ) decides to burn a bridge with the WWE, he's left with an embarrassing 0-2 MMA career and not much else.

Should the WWE - which like the NHL is a business that multimillionaires and billionaires want to see profits on - have to pay large sums of money to the Backyard Wrestling Alliance if they want to sign their top star, Thumbtack Tony to a developmental deal? Thumbtack Tony wants to wrestle for the WWE. The WWE wants him. Is the Backyard Wrestling Alliance willing to pay lawyer fees, going up against whatever lawyers the big company has on retainer, in order to extract more money?

You can call it a monopoly if you want, but unless another league becomes as big as the NHL, that's the way it is. The best basketball players play in the NBA, the best baseball players in the MLB. With no alternatives, with no competition, there's no reason for the NHL to negotiate a deal that sends more money to Finland and Sweden. If the KHL was as big as WCW, if players like Dahlin would seriously consider signing long-term with a KHL team over a NHL team, then it would equal a bidding war. A bidding war where Dahlin's Swedish team would be generously compensated by the team that wins the bidding war.

But there's no bidding war. There's only the big league where the Crosbys and McDavids of the world lace up their skates, who feel no obligation whatsoever to send more money overseas because it's the right thing to do.

When the KHL started, there was a belief by some that it would become the equal of the NHL in terms of $, popularity, and talent. Had it ever happened, the economics of the NHL and hockey in general would be different.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

In soccer one such league could surely gather most of the best players, but there's no path to the same kind of abusive monopoly that the NHL enjoys in hockey. The national federations would never ever allow that.

There is a path and it might be closer than you think.

The big clubs have been talking about a super league for a while. If clubs like Real Madrid, Juventus, Barcelona, M. United, Bayern, etc decide to form a league, what could the federations do? Ban the best players in the world from the NT? Ban the clubs from the domestic league and hurt the federation more than it would hurt the clubs? Complain to UEFA or FIFA who do not have power over them uniting and forming another league?

It probably won't happen because these big clubs are already raking all the dough, but they would have the power.to do so if they wanted to.

And then, as a united front, they would dictate the market. FIFA transfer rules... why would they care if they are a separate entity with the biggest brands in the sport?

It will not happen because, at this moment, the big clubs already have all the power, not because a governing body could do anything about it.

 

[VikingAv]

There is a path and it might be closer than you think.

The big clubs have been talking about a super league for a while. If clubs like Real Madrid, Juventus, Barcelona, M. United, Bayern, etc decide to form a league, what could the federations do? Ban the best players in the world from the NT? Ban the clubs from the domestic league and hurt the federation more than it would hurt the clubs? Complain to UEFA or FIFA who do not have power over them uniting and forming another league?

It probably won't happen because these big clubs are already raking all the dough, but they would have the power.to do so if they wanted to.

And then, as a united front, they would dictate the market. FIFA transfer rules... why would they care if they are a separate entity with the biggest brands in the sport?

It will not happen because, at this moment, the big clubs already have all the power, not because a governing body could do anything about it.

Even in such a superleague, the bolded won't happen with transfers, though. They'll outbid each other, just like they do today. In such a united front, where say, ten teams bid the same for one player, there'll be a hierarchy within the league; players will prefer a select few teams within the league and that won't sit well with the rest of the teams in the league.

Just like teams in North America outbid each other for UFA's, those teams will outbid each other both for UFA's and in transfer fees for players under contract. In fact, you're already seeing one league with a lot more resources than anybody else and that's the Premier League. And the clubs just outbid each other there. Outside of that league there's currently only about 10-15 teams in Europe with the same resources.

Also, it's no coincident the rumors about a superleague come up now. They always do when a new TV-deal for the Champions League is around the corner. Slowly, but surely, the CL has more and more teams from the big leagues and those teams get more and more from the TV-deal. These rumors/threats will eventually end up with the CL being a version of the superleague that's been talked about.

The Europa League will then have a lot of teams from 6-10 in the big leagues and top two-three teams from medium leagues, while smaller leagues with their teams will fill out the new club competition that will start in 2021.

 

[Albatros]

There is a path and it might be closer than you think.

The big clubs have been talking about a super league for a while. If clubs like Real Madrid, Juventus, Barcelona, M. United, Bayern, etc decide to form a league, what could the federations do? Ban the best players in the world from the NT? Ban the clubs from the domestic league and hurt the federation more than it would hurt the clubs?

If FC Bayern was to abandon the Bundesliga their own fans would first of all revolt, secondly their youth organization would collapse, and thirdly the domestic leagues would carry on with little damage other than a small drop in revenues. In Italy the situation could look different, but in Germany the DFB and the DFL are not in a position of weakness versus any club.