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Monday, December 6, 1999
Canada still NHL's best bet
I have a word to the wise for the hockey fans in Ottawa: Cool it.
Senators owner Rod Bryden may go through with his threat to move the NHL team to yet another U.S. city where they couldn't give a damn about hockey. That's his problem.
Last Thursday, when Bryden came up with his latest attempt to blackmail the Canadian government into giving him tax breaks, the Maple Leafs played in that hotbed of hockey, Raleigh, N.C., against the Carolina Hurricanes. Playing in a new arena, with all the bells and whistles, the crowd was announced at 9,673. I'm told by reporters who were at the game that at least some of the fans must have come disguised as empty seats.
The New York Islanders drew a pathetic crowd of 6,513 for a game last week against the Calgary Flames. The Islanders franchise is kept alive only by a lucrative cable TV deal. If the team keeps playing to empty seats you have to wonder how long it will last.
The Washington Capitals, who made it to the 1998 Stanley Cup final, played to 7,000 empty seats last week for a game against the Boston Bruins.
Bryden indeed may find a home for the Senators in the United States. Las Vegas (please save us from this), Portland, Houston and New Orleans have been mentioned. Some of these cities even have rinks though none of them compare to the Corel Centre where the Senators now play.
Suppose the Hurricanes continue to struggle at the gate. Wouldn't Ottawa, with a new rink and fans who fill it, look awfully good to their owners? It may sound far-fetched, but "go north" could replace "go south" as the cry for NHL teams on the move.
The NHL, in its mad dash to get quick cash, may have run out of markets. The next cities to get expansion teams are Columbus, Ohio, and St. Paul, Minn. The sport already has bombed out in the latter city and there is no guarantee it will succeed in the former. Columbus is a one-sport town and that happens to be Ohio State football.
Conventional wisdom holds that if the Senators go, the Edmonton Oilers and the Flames won't be far behind. Don't bet the ranch it'll happen.
Remember, the Expos were on their way out of Montreal as soon as they could load up the vans with their equipment. If you believed the doomsayers, it was a done deal. They're still in Montreal because when push came to shove no American city could come up with the ball park to house them. The taxpayers in the U.S. finally were smartening up. They no longer wanted to build playpens for millionaire owners and players.
It says here the same thing could happen in hockey. It's one thing to threaten to move the franchise a la Bryden. It's quite another to find place where the team would be better off.
Hockey is still a minority sport in most U.S. cities. It's relegated to the back pages in the newspapers in all but a handful of those cities. There's no reason to think it will change in the foreseeable future.
That big TV contract is still just a gleam in NHL commissioner Gary Bettman's eyes. The league does have a lucrative deal with Hockey Night in Canada, one that would be jeopardized should teams leave Canada. HNIC needs teams in Canadian cities to keep the ratings its advertisers demand.
The choice for the NHL isn't quite the slam dunk it once was. Does it bail out on Canadian cities where it is assured full houses, and move to U.S. cities where no one gives a damn about the game?
If they are smart, and that's assuming a lot, the owners of U.S. teams might even realize they must find a way to keep the Canadian teams alive. No sport can succeed by playing to half-empty houses as is now happening in so many U.S. cities where hockey will never be the religion it is in Canada.
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