Everyone knows there are a bunch of NHL teams wasting away in American cities that seem reluctant to pay to watch a foreign sport. Hockey doesn't mean much in the home of country music or an artificial desert oasis. But those (and other) cities are the creation of NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman's vision. He sees the spread of hockey into all large American markets. Unfortunately, the fact that those cities won't support hockey doesn't seem to mean much to him.
The latest news is that the struggling Phoenix Coyotes, who've been borrowing money from the league to pay its bills, have filed for bankruptcy. And, connected or not, Research-in-Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie has taken another shot at bringing a second team to Southern Ontario. Bettman has shot Balsillie down before, ostensibly because Bettman likes to support NHL teams in their current markets.
So why has Bettman remained so steadfast in his dedication to failing teams? Because those teams are his babies. Letting Balsillie take one of those teams to Canada means Bettman's vision is blurred. Never mind that everyone can already see that's true, in Bettman's mind, there's no real evidence that his idea is a bust. A moved team would be that real evidence.
There is no other explanation for why Bettman would consistently bet against the sure thing that Balsillie offers. A billionaire buyer who's putting money up-front (and whose business is still growing in a contracting economy) and who wants to put a team in the most under-served hockey market in North America seems like a safe bet. Another team in Southern Ontario would increase revenues for the league, thereby helping Bettman's other struggling babies. But Bettman apparently misses that point.
Why, logically speaking, would the NHL put a team in a city that is missing the two key ingredients for hockey? No cold and no water to freeze anyway! Because, for Bettman, there is media money, corporate money, and a large population base there. Forget that Phoenix media, corporations, and people don't really care about hockey.
Why is Bettman telling Balsillie to buzz off? Because Bettman isn't interested in another Canadian team. He's got his eye on the city of sin and lights.
This year's NHL Awards Ceremony is being held in Las Vegas. Various teams have been rumoured over the past few years to have been talking about relocating to Vegas. It is the fastest growing city in the United States and its specialty is entertainment. Never mind that the city has never had a successful major professional sports franchise (the city currently has 3 minor-pro teams, only one of which is more than 6 years old, and the list of failed professional sports teams is surprisingly lengthy). It seems Bettman is blinded by the lights of the Strip.
Bettman has improved the game, no doubt about it. The new NHL, with no tolerance for clutch-and-grab hockey, is a vastly improved product over that of the slow '90s. But the league is now bogged down with struggling franchises in weak hockey markets. Why not bring another team into Southern Ontario (K-W, Hamilton, Toronto...), Winnipeg, or Quebec City to help stabilize league revenues, then look into expansion into promising American markets (Kansas City, Milwaukee, Seattle...)? After all, there is rumour that Bettman wants a 32 team league.
Give Balsillie his Hamilton Coyotes, then put teams in Winnipeg and Kansas City (or Seattle) by 2015. This gives the NHL another strong franchise to prepare for expansion, then levels out the temporary east-west asymmetry.
What do I think will really happen when Bettman gets his way? The Coyotes stay in Arizona, and the league expands into Las Vegas and Kansas City within 10 years.
