3/18.25 for green

There's only one league that can realistically make that claim with 100% certainty and it's the NFL.

I agree with you for the most part though.

NBA in its current state can probably make that claim, too.

But that's just it - the NFL makes so much money that they didn't want a lockout any more than the players did.

The irony, of course, is that the NHL markets that would lose the most from a work stoppage are in the most vulnerable markets who badly need a new CBA.

pretty much any league that's star-driven can count on fans coming back. NFL is star-driven. NBA is way star-driven.

NHL is star-driven in Canada, but MUCH less so in the US. So basically, the lockout hurts the US markets more so than the Canadian markets, and small markets more so than rich markets. which is really a shame, because as much as the small markets would like to talk about revenue sharing in this CBA, they are just there so the big boys can play hardball with the NHLPA.

I was kinda hoping the NFL locked out so more ppl would start watching or paying more attention to the NHL

second

not quite know what you mean by "star driven".

i mean "stars" are mostly just media creations, and yes there is a lot of media coverage of the NFL & NBA in the US, and hockey in Canada. and the NBA is "star driven" by the nature of the game, where as few as 1, and rarely more than 8-9 players on your team matter all that much.

i would argue that in all the examples you gave those sports are demand-driven, in those locations. i mean, what stars are driving demand for the Leafs in Toronto? over their history they've almost never had any superstar type players. people watch bc they like hockey and that's the home team, not bc of star players that have been marketed to them or whatever.

ACCURATE DEPICTIONS INCOMING
NFL on Espn:
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ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO ROMO
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and then they take the **** out of their mouths for a breather
BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY BRADY TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW
UH... ALEX SMITH? TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW TEBOW

what's your point?

i know the media blows QB's all day, every day, but it's a product of Americans loving football. they love pro football, they love college football, they love high school football. i mean it's obv your #1 sport. in some ways it's bigger than hockey is in Canada, or soccer is in a lot of places around the world.

i don't think it's bc of the media tho... (other way around prob)

If you watch hockey state side, you kinda get the feeling the programs don't really know who to latch onto outside Ovie and Crysby. Like, okay, this goaltender's good, but he's a goaltender, so who cares.

I mean they pass up obvious players like Couture because he's not a 50 goal scorer, even though couture can literally carry a team.

I'm generalizing a little, and obvious home crews know who, but national media attention seems to be far and few between.

I've also stated for sometime the usage of the word Canada in hockey alienates American viewers.

yes, stars are media creations, and that's what drives fans to the league. as soon as the NBA lockout was done, everyone flocked to see Lebron, and tv revenue structure is such that small market NBA markets are doing ok even if the fans don't really watch their bad team this season.

canadian media does a lot of hype for all of their teams, with good reason. it's the biggest thing around, without the presence of guys like Eli Manning and Kobe Bryant in their home market. if there are no superstars, they will hype the mediocre stars. when the fanbase is solid,they eat that **** up, even if it's short lived (e.g. Kessel's hot start last season, Reimer). besides the likes of gretzky, sid, and ovie, maybe hockey just can't be driven by a single star.

coming back to what it all means to the CBA.

The NHL's US market is simply not like NFL/NBA at all. if you don't have marketable stars, or your fanbase isn't rabidly loyal, your attendance will suck (Coyotes, Panthers, Jackets come to mind). so you need a solid tv deal, or own your building with all its perks to break even. without that, even winning isn't going to help the team stay solvent in the long-term. the only thing that helps is spending way below the cap, but then it's even harder to build a fanbase.

The league/sport itself is obviously healthy. But someone is getting the shaft, and since the last lockout it really hasn't been the players. they've been getting an increasing share every year. there are teams that are taking it in the teeth, but that's only PARTLY because of increasing salaries. the other part of it is that the New Yorks and the Torontos and the Montreal's and the Vancouvers are eating up a larger part of the owner's half of the pie and are able to bury contracts in the minors, while some other teams are struggling to make the cap floor.

The Flames really should have taken better care of Lanny. 'Stach still looks great though.

Would it be worth it to say part of the problem with star driving power is the whole shifts?
With the other sports, a player is generally only pulled when he's being ******ed. Even in football, you know who the receivers are, and only with the odd change out or injury will you see a substitution.
In hockey, this occurs generally every minute, and the line getting it done can be different every night. Couture may wreck one night, then be useless the next.

KANGZ sign DwKing to 2 year deal, 750k per.

Doesn't sound significant, but LAK will start the season with the exact same team that won the Cup

can't believe he's getting paid that much to play puck

The Toronto Raptors are in action tonight at the War Memorial/ACC, good tickets are still available.



I have a hard time believing a league where 2/3rds of the markets are completely irrelevant in the title chase have that strong of a hold on their fanbase. Maybe Toronto is a bad example because lol basketball in Canada, but no one really gives a **** about the Raptors up here and if you didn't see MLSE propping it up, it would've failed a long time ago.

think that's a big part of it, yeah. i mean hockey is such a team game that even your 3rd line and 3rd D pairing after very important, and can play like 1/4 of the game. over the course of the season you need a pretty solid 25 players to be really good. where the NHL can really (and has tried to i think) market star players is on the powerplay. but as we've seen, those have been dropping since the lockout, and the game has become more of a 5v5 slugfest.

On top of not being able to stop pucks, Pavelec and Khabibulin now have another thing in common:

Pavelec gets a DUI

What a great way to thank your team for overpaying for you.

.2 is four times the legal limit in Manitoba, which is no where near The Czech Republic.

Don't Lindbergh on us Pavs.

We seem to have the drinkiest team.

My point was only that the NBA could reasonably make the claim that the fans would come back after a work stoppage. They were right.

Well, it is Manitoba.

I've played the game "race to .1" with a breathalyzer at a party before, and .1 is definitely drunk.

.2 is absolutely hammered.

.05 to 0.8 is usually the legal limit depending on where you are.