The Real Reason Why Canada Doesn’t Have More NHL Franchises

Lyle Richardson (SpectorsHockey.net, Fox Sports, The Hockey News) suggests that the reason the NHL doesn't have more franchises in Canada may NOT be a conspiracy to deprive Canadians of their birthright, engineered by 'The Evil Bettman' after all. His column makes for interesting reading. BTW Richardson is a Maritimer.

The Real Reason Why Canada Doesn’t Have More NHL Franchises Lyle Richardson, Fox Sports/May 08, 2009 | 12:53PM Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie’s latest attempt to land an NHL franchise and relocate it to Southern Ontario and the league’s attempts to prevent him from doing so continued to stoke speculation that the league’s brain trust, specifically Commissioner Gary Bettman, have an “anti-Canadian” bias. They cite the loss of the Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets as proof positive of this supposed bias, claiming Bettman didn’t do enough, or anything at all, to save those franchises. Of course that claim overlooks the stark reality that, while those franchises had strong fan support, they didn’t have enough of it to survive in the expanding NHL market. It also overlooks the fact that Bettman, with his supposed anti-Canadian bias, actually helped save the Ottawa Senators when the club went bankrupt midway through the 2002-03 season. Here’s what Bettman said about the Senators when interviewed during the All-Star Game: 'We want it to stay put where it is. We don't have complete, unfettered control, but we have a fair amount of influence, all of which we intend to use.'' Which, of course, Bettman used, as he and the Board of Governors did what it could to keep the Senators in Ottawa. Lacrosse may officially be Canada’s national sport but it’s really hockey that is the passion of Canadian sport fans, so why doesn’t the NHL have more than six franchises in Canada? It comes down to population. A quick look at the 100 largest metropolitan areas (based on the 2006 census) in Canada reveals only six Canadian cities – Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton – have metropolitan populations in excess of 1 million. Rounding out the top ten are Quebec City (over 715,000), Winnipeg (almost 695,000), Hamilton (over 692,000) and London (over 457,000). Compare that list with the top 25 metropolitan areas in the United States and it becomes clear why there aren’t more NHL franchises in Canada. So why then is Balsillie trying to move a team to Hamilton? Because it is located halfway between Toronto and Buffalo, NY, smack in the middle of the densely populated “Golden Horseshoe”, containing 75% of Ontario’s population and 25% of Canada’s population. In other words, the population demographics are there to support an NHL franchise. So why hasn’t the NHL located a franchise there before? Because the owners of the Toronto Maple Leafs, past and present, aren’t keen about the idea of another NHL franchise operating in the Golden Triangle, which they consider their backyard. So much for Gary Bettman’s “anti-Canadian” bias.

Well then, Gary's a Front Bum being pushed around by the MLSE.

EDIT: Front Bum? Really? We need to work on this filter...

From the sounds of it, Richardson implies a slight amount of cronyism and nepotism to the Toronto Maple Leafs via the NHL.

And maybe he does have a point. God forbid the Maple Leafs, with their domination of the Ontario hockey market, have to field a competitive team to keep people from going a little further east if they want to watch the sport.

I'm not an affluent person in the manners of the NHL's schemes and finances, but it's hard to argue against the idea of relocating a team from a city that has failed to support it -- continuously -- to another location [be it Canadian or otherwise] in an attempt to avoid losing a team to bankruptcy and foreclosure.

shabbs wrote:Well then, Gary's a Front Bum being pushed around by the MLSE.

EDIT: Front Bum? Really? We need to work on this filter...

Come on it's hilarious.

PKC wrote:From the sounds of it, Richardson implies a slight amount of cronyism and nepotism to the Toronto Maple Leafs via the NHL.

And maybe he does have a point. God forbid the Maple Leafs, with their domination of the Ontario hockey market, have to field a competitive team to keep people from going a little further east if they want to watch the sport.

I'm not an affluent person in the manners of the NHL's schemes and finances, but it's hard to argue against the idea of relocating a team from a city that has failed to support it -- continuously -- to another location [be it Canadian or otherwise] in an attempt to avoid losing a team to bankruptcy and foreclosure.

To recap a report of an NHL owner interviewed in today's Globe & Mail:

One owner, who likes Balsillie, says he will side with Bettman because “I support the process. If you don’t,” he adds, “you have chaos and anarchy.”

Besides, the owner asks, if Balsillie wants a team in Southern Ontario so badly, why doesn’t he buy the Buffalo Sabres? “[Owner] Tom Golisano would sell in a heartbeat,” he says.

And if a team in Southern Ontario is worth $300-million, the owner wonders, why should the co-founder of Research In Motion get that market in a sweetheart deal by buying the league’s worst financial basket case? “Why shouldn’t the NHL sell Southern Ontario as an expansion market and cut every owner a big cheque?”


There's much, much more to this than a Jim Balsillie would have us believe.

shabbs wrote:Well then, Gary's a Front Bum being pushed around by the MLSE.

EDIT: Front Bum? Really? We need to work on this filter...

Heh-heh. I was just watching Around the World in 80 Days (the original one). In once scene Fogg buys an elephant for 1,000 pounds and the odl army guys tells him "You've been diddled".

So that is an actual word, then.

apparently there is another investor interested in moving the thrashers to hamilton - as per tsn.

this is getting exciting.

There`s more to being able to support a team than just population