NHL European teams (could be coming)

[JETZZZ]

It would be neat to see, but it dont think the NHL is capable of pulling it off or even willing to give it an honest try. Instead, we will just get preseason exhibition games and a couple regular season trips for select teams each year until the NHL either stops bothering or milks it until all interest is lost.

 

[LadyStanley]

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly believes expansion to Europe will happen
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly believes expansion to Europe will happen

More pushing the story

 

[edog37]

The oligarchs who control the KHL are all firmly in Putin's back pocket. Putin himself is something of a hockey fan.

There's no way the NHL can go into Russia without having Putin's, and with him the KHL's, blessing.

I was referring more to the mistaken belief that people think the KHL is on par or anywhere near the NHL. The NHL could expand into Europe no problem if it so desired....

 

[LadyStanley]

NHL eyes European expansion, the only question is when

NHLPA on board.

The only question seems to be: when?

 

[Kshahdoo]

Quebec City just dropped further down the list.

Move it to Europe then, it should improve their chances to get an NHL team.

 

[Cacciaguida]

I will not watch a single European team game. Just like the WCH.

What's next, relegation?

Sit on it NHL.

 

[aqib]

I suggested this a while back, but why not have a few teams do their training camp in Europe and a few in Asia like how baseball has spring training in Florida. It will build a fan base who don't normally get to see NHL hockey.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

NHL eyes European expansion, the only question is when

NHLPA on board.

The only question seems to be: when?

Of course the NHLPA is on board for it. More jobs, visions of more revenue, chances to extract all kinds of extra benefits for players of European-based teams that could then be dragged to the rank and file. None of the owner-associated risks.

It all sounds great on paper. Once you start trying to figure out logistics [and some of the issues have been noted already], it quickly becomes a non-starter.

 

[Tom ServoMST3K]

This is a post-Bettman initiative.

The Commissioner hire after Bettman will tell us how serious the executives are for pursuing this.

 

[Jussi]

NHL eyes European expansion, the only question is when

NHLPA on board.

The only question seems to be: when?

The answer is: when the NHL changes their CBA and rules to comply with EU laws. Unless their target is the hockey hotbed of UK. Good thing there's no other competing sports there. Oh wait...

 

[gstommylee]

The answer is: when the NHL changes their CBA and rules to comply with EU laws. Unless their target is the hockey hotbed of UK. Good thing there's no other competing sports there. Oh wait...

That would be difficult to do given complying with EU laws might actually violate US law.

 

[Edenjung]

Forget it,
The european Teams (german slang) würden nen Teufel tun, to do that.
even if you find an owner he would not get money from the states for a new arena and the old teams won't share their arenas.
Also Hockey is not that big here.
But on the plus side, the first few years the arenas would be full. You saw what happened in colonge (biggest hockey arena in the world) was sold out. So if we could watch NHl games here in western europe it would fill the arenas.
also the flights would destroy every game here.
You would have to schedule it in a way where ther european fans can watch the games in america. So you have to have very early games (around 12 or 1 am) for us to watch.
Then you have to share some rights with the local Tv stations. The German Ör tv stations have money, because they don't have to pay for teh CL anymore. But the people in germany don't want to pay for sports on TV. thats why the DEL has some problems. I even suggested The ÖRs to get more Del hockey into their Sportsprogramm, but they what to have the most popular sport on: Football.

So even though i would like the idea there are some big problems:
- no arenas
- european legues will not want that
- Football is just to big
- for a niche sport like hockey people don't want to pay (in germany)
- you need a lot of creativity for the schedule
- people do not want to pay 100 bucks for a mediocre seat (for 15 euros you get a good spot on the Nordtribüne in Dortmund)
- won't get that nmuch money from the local TV stations
- infuse a lot of money into the community and arenas to grow the game (at least in germany, Uk, france, spain, italy, Austria, poland, etc.)


+- is there a rule against some things our fans do in the NHL? Chanting, big cheorgraphies?

+ the arenas will be full for a few years
+ Will grow the game

The only way they could do something would be if they would open an only european league like the CL.
But i don't think that would work. Football is just to big in europe.

Just forget it.
Schedule some more games earlier and get some Tv stations in europe to show the stanly cup playoff finals and see what happens.
The Superbowl is known here because you can watch it without paying money and it's in the media. But the stanley cup is not really in the media and most people don't even know the cup.
So you might have to let the europeans watch at least the final series without paying money, to grow the game here. Also the next world cup needs another united european team. That was awesome.

 

[powerstuck]

Would love if the league just said the same about uncovered yet proven hockey markets in their own yard first.

 

[Prntscrn]

Never going to happen. I have been hearing people say this about NA pro leagues for at least 20 years and it is no closer to happening today than it was then. Whether it is baseball teams in Japan, NBA teams around the World, NFL in Europe. It is not happening. Only place it might happen is the NFL going to Europe (London) simply because England does not already have their own pro football league.

The cultures are just too different. Just like a relegation/promotion system like they use in Europe would never fly here in the pro sports.

If it were to happen it wouldn't replace each countries own leagues, or take an existing team away from their own leagues. That would never be accepted by the fans. What could be possible is creating a new NHL team in Sweden, Finland etc. I could see people in each country support such a team like they support current NHL teams in NA, but it wouldn't be with the same passion as their team in the national leagues.

 

[Ducks76]

Forget it,
The european Teams (german slang) würden nen Teufel tun, to do that.
even if you find an owner he would not get money from the states for a new arena and the old teams won't share their arenas.
Also Hockey is not that big here.
But on the plus side, the first few years the arenas would be full. You saw what happened in colonge (biggest hockey arena in the world) was sold out. So if we could watch NHl games here in western europe it would fill the arenas.
also the flights would destroy every game here.
You would have to schedule it in a way where ther european fans can watch the games in america. So you have to have very early games (around 12 or 1 am) for us to watch.
Then you have to share some rights with the local Tv stations. The German Ör tv stations have money, because they don't have to pay for teh CL anymore. But the people in germany don't want to pay for sports on TV. thats why the DEL has some problems. I even suggested The ÖRs to get more Del hockey into their Sportsprogramm, but they what to have the most popular sport on: Football.

So even though i would like the idea there are some big problems:
- no arenas
- european legues will not want that
- Football is just to big
- for a niche sport like hockey people don't want to pay (in germany)
- you need a lot of creativity for the schedule
- people do not want to pay 100 bucks for a mediocre seat (for 15 euros you get a good spot on the Nordtribüne in Dortmund)
- won't get that nmuch money from the local TV stations
- infuse a lot of money into the community and arenas to grow the game (at least in germany, Uk, france, spain, italy, Austria, poland, etc.)


+- is there a rule against some things our fans do in the NHL? Chanting, big cheorgraphies?

+ the arenas will be full for a few years
+ Will grow the game

The only way they could do something would be if they would open an only european league like the CL.
But i don't think that would work. Football is just to big in europe.

Just forget it.
Schedule some more games earlier and get some Tv stations in europe to show the stanly cup playoff finals and see what happens.
The Superbowl is known here because you can watch it without paying money and it's in the media. But the stanley cup is not really in the media and most people don't even know the cup.
So you might have to let the europeans watch at least the final series without paying money, to grow the game here. Also the next world cup needs another united european team. That was awesome.

This is the german view!But for example a finnish team with much finnish players like Aho,Rantanen,Barkov,Granny,Ristolainen etc. could be very interesting. Or the same in sweden.

 

[patnyrnyg]

If it were to happen it wouldn't replace each countries own leagues, or take an existing team away from their own leagues. That would never be accepted by the fans. What could be possible is creating a new NHL team in Sweden, Finland etc. I could see people in each country support such a team like they support current NHL teams in NA, but it wouldn't be with the same passion as their team in the national leagues.

So, why would an owner invest the kind of money required to ice an NHL team if he is going to play 2nd fiddle to the established local clubs in the country's current pro league? Do any of the teams in the Swedish, Finnish, Czech Leagues generate the revenues necessary for the NHL?

 

[patnyrnyg]

This is the german view!But for example a finnish team with much finnish players like Aho,Rantanen,Barkov,Granny,Ristolainen etc. could be very interesting. Or the same in sweden.

Right, but their current teams are not just going to send over their Finnish players.

 

[Nino33]

So, why would an owner invest the kind of money required to ice an NHL team if he is going to play 2nd fiddle to the established local clubs in the country's current pro league? Do any of the teams in the Swedish, Finnish, Czech Leagues generate the revenues necessary for the NHL?

Looking at league revenue (all figures in US dollars) shown on wikipedia List of professional sports leagues by revenue - Wikipedia

• the SHL made $215 million in 2017-18
• the NLA in Switzerland made $213 million in 2013-1
• SM-liiga made $140 million in 2017-18
• the DEL in Germany made $117 million (US)

There was nothing noted regarding the Czech League, but the KHL made $1 billion (US) in 2016-17 (NHL made 4.7 billion in 2016-17).

This Forbes 2017 ranking shows NHL team revenue The Business Of Hockey (bottom ten teams had revenue ranging from $98 to $139 million, top ten teams ranged from $151 to $246 million)

 

[Bonk]

Just my $.02...

-- Since the NHL will have four divisions of eight, like someone else said, at least an entire division would have to come in to make this doable.

-- Seeing how the NHL operates, I think it would go for the biggest cities and not necessarily hockey hotbeds (a la Vegas, Atlanta, etc., at the expense of hockey mad Quebec), so we'd see London, Paris, etc., targeted.

-- I generally don't like the idea but 24 hour a day hockey would be cool.

 

[Prntscrn]

So, why would an owner invest the kind of money required to ice an NHL team if he is going to play 2nd fiddle to the established local clubs in the country's current pro league? Do any of the teams in the Swedish, Finnish, Czech Leagues generate the revenues necessary for the NHL?

Because I believe it could still draw a big interest from people since there is a big interest in the NHL, unlike the KHL and how that attempt failed. A Swedish NHL team wouldn't really compete against other Swedish teams like Swedish teams fight against eachother, it would just be different. While supporting your local team is more a way of life supporting a Swedish NHL team would be more like an entertainment if that makes sense.

Just like the Swedish soccer league is big in Sweden the EPL is probably just as big if not bigger and people support both their local team and a team in one of the big leagues.

 

[patnyrnyg]

Because I believe it could still draw a big interest from people since there is a big interest in the NHL, unlike the KHL and how that attempt failed. A Swedish NHL team wouldn't really compete against other Swedish teams like Swedish teams fight against eachother, it would just be different. While supporting your local team is more a way of life supporting a Swedish NHL team would be more like an entertainment if that makes sense.

Just like the Swedish soccer league is big in Sweden the EPL is probably just as big if not bigger and people support both their local team and a team in one of the big leagues.

But, are people from Sweden attending EPL games. Are Swedish fans going to be willing to pay NHL prices to attend games if it is simply entertainment as opposed to the passion they feel for their team in the Swedish League?

 

[Prntscrn]

But, are people from Sweden attending EPL games. Are Swedish fans going to be willing to pay NHL prices to attend games if it is simply entertainment as opposed to the passion they feel for their team in the Swedish League?

41 games? No. A couple of games for sure. If you have a team that play the majority of games in Stockholm, Gothenburg and possibly Malmö with 1 or 2 games in cities like Karlstad, Jönköping, Örnsköldsvik and Luleå I think they could sell out or be close to sell out the arena in most games. It might not be like that at all but I think there is a legitimate interest among the Swedish people and something worth investigate more in if they are serious about expanding to Europe.

 

[patnyrnyg]

Do those places have arenas with ~18K capacity?

 

[patnyrnyg]

Do those places have arenas with ~18K capacity?

 

[Prntscrn]

Do those places have arenas with ~18K capacity?

Does it have to? MTS Centre for example has a capacity of 15K. Ericsson Globe in Stockholm has a capacity of 13800 (with plans on being rebuild so maybe higher numbers would be possible), Scandinavium in Gothenburg 12K and Malmö Arena 12,5K.

Now I think there are other stuff that will make a European division very difficult, like certain laws and taxes, but I don't think interest would be one of the bigger problems.