Could a professional Hockey League thrive in Canada Independent of the NHL?

[Hank]

What if coming out of the current pandemic the six Canadian teams said ***** Bettman, ***** America, ***** the NHL, and seceded to form their own league? Let’s pretend there were no legal hurdles, could it succeed?

How many teams could a Canadian league support? 12? I’m thinking two teams would work in each of Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Add in Quebec City and Hamilton.  Where else? Halifax? Regina?  

Could a Canadian league get enough TV money from TSN/CBC/Sports Net to support it?

If the league competed with the NHL, could it offer comparable salaries?  Do you think Canadian boys would opt to stay home or cross the border?

 

Thoughts?

[thewookie1]

I doubt it, while they could probably exist for some time it would never be able to grow thanks to a weaker Canadian dollar. 

It would never happen however as besides Toronto and Montreal, the American teams could easily outbid the Canadian teams due to taxes alone.

[PromoTheRobot]

The CFL is in danger of folding if their season is cancelled. I doubt a C-NHL would fare any better.

[dudacek]

Canadians would pay to watch the top Canadians play, but unless the big-market teams subsidized the others through revenue sharing and a cap, the league wouldn’t succeed at all. Moderate success would have to be based on their ability to compete with NHL for talent.

That said, I’m sure the six Canadian teams make more money for the NHL on a per team basis than the 25 American teams, and Montreal, Vancouver and particularly Toronto are three of the NHL’s biggest cash cows.

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

 

4 hours ago, Hank said:

What if coming out of the current pandemic the six Canadian teams said ***** Bettman, ***** America, ***** the NHL, and seceded to form their own league? Let’s pretend there were no legal hurdles, could it succeed?

How many teams could a Canadian league support? 12? I’m thinking two teams would work in each of Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Add in Quebec City and Hamilton.  Where else? Halifax? Regina?  

Could a Canadian league get enough TV money from TSN/CBC/Sports Net to support it?

If the league competed with the NHL, could it offer comparable salaries?  Do you think Canadian boys would opt to stay home or cross the border?

 

Thoughts?

There are 7 Canadian teams.....EDM, CAL, WIN, VAN, MON, OTT, and TOR. Maybe I should post this in the "Pedant's" thread.

[Xzy89c]

No, no and no.

players will go where money is.  Canadian teams outside Montreal and Toronto do not make money.  They take in Canadian money and pay out salaries in USD.  Players pay massive taxes in Canada. 

Where would the teams play?  Existing teams will not leave NHL to take massive risk for no reward.  When your league starts up, and the NHL teams stay in NHL, where will you play?  Bell centre and air canada center are out.  Same with rink in Vancouver.  They are busy every night.  Freeing up 41 nights not going to happen.

Legally, not sure they can leave.

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, Xzy89c said:

No, no and no.

players will go where money is.  Canadian teams outside Montreal and Toronto do not make money.  They take in Canadian money and pay out salaries in USD.  Players pay massive taxes in Canada. 

Where would the teams play?  Existing teams will not leave NHL to take massive risk for no reward.  When your league starts up, and the NHL teams stay in NHL, where will you play?  Bell centre and air canada center are out.  Same with rink in Vancouver.  They are busy every night.  Freeing up 41 nights not going to happen.

Legally, not sure they can leave.

The bolded is flat out wrong.

Vancouver is one of the league’s richer teams and only Ottawa struggles.

[Hank]

6 minutes ago, dudacek said:

The bolded is flat out wrong.

Vancouver is one of the league’s richer teams and only Ottawa struggles.

I think the seven Canadian teams combined bring in about 1/3 of the NHLs revenue sharing income?

[dudacek]

11 minutes ago, Hank said:

I think the seven Canadian teams combined bring in about 1/3 of the NHLs revenue sharing income?

I remember reading something like that as well. I think a Toronto and Montreal account for half of that though.

[FogBat]

On 5/13/2020 at 2:18 PM, PromoTheRobot said:

The CFL is in danger of folding if their season is cancelled. I doubt a C-NHL would fare any better.

Wow. Goodbye Argos.

[SwampD]

Would Buffalo be in this league?

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, SwampD said:

Would Buffalo be in this league?

It's an all Canadian league.  Of course it would be. 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

This could work.

The fans are rabid up here in the Great White North.

Halifax would welcome a team in a heartbeat.

They would have to work in Canadian $.  There is more than enough talent to supply good players that would probably not make it in the NHL.

It would be the CFL of pro hockey leagues, which is OK, because Canadians love there hockey much more than their CFL.

And I am all in on the Buffalo Sabres being welcomed into this new CNHL.

EDIT TO ADD:

There is enough big corporations and rich families that would love to get their hands on a franchise.

Edited May 16, 2020 by New Scotland (NS)
thinking on the fly here, always dangerous for me ...

[mjd1001]

It could work of course, but what level of play are you expecting.

If it was a Canadian league vs a U. S. league..it would be interesting.  Money, of course, is where it is going to be at.  The NHL brings in a really good amount of dollars from the Canadian national TV deal...so that is a plus for the Canadian side of things.  They would AT least be competitive with the American league, if not ahead of it.

As far as total revenue generation outside of a TV deal..if I remember correctly as of 2017, The Rangers were the highest...but Toronto and Montreal were in the top 5. But after that...there were no other Canadian teams in the top 10 in revenue, not even Vancouver (when translated to the same currency, U.S. dollars)

So could it work? Yes  Could it be competitive with the U.S. league? Yes.  But would it exist as the premium league to the U.S. league?  Probably not...and over the long run it may fall slightly to 2nd tier status (eventually).