[FF407]

Anyone remember the link to get around the Spec paywall?

I couldn't read the article but I'd love to have PWHL in Hamilton. I feel like its be all Hamilton. The AHL will always have that attachment to another city. In this case NY.

 

[BCTed]

Anyone remember the link to get around the Spec paywall?

I couldn't read the article but I'd love to have PWHL in Hamilton. I feel like its be all Hamilton. The AHL will always have that attachment to another city. In this case NY.

It will be nice to have net new and to not be a farm team if it happens. And I really hope the team has the Hamilton name and not some Ontario nonsense.

 

[Chris R.]

Anyone remember the link to get around the Spec paywall?

I couldn't read the article but I'd love to have PWHL in Hamilton. I feel like its be all Hamilton. The AHL will always have that attachment to another city. In this case NY.

You can typically read the Spec for free through HPL. Sometimes it take a day to show up, but I'll check right now to see if it's up.

Edit: doesn't seem like it's up yet, but usually is by EOD: https://www.hpl.ca/hpl-online/magazines-and-newspapers

 

[Yorken Bay]

The NHL seems to want about $2 billion (USD) in expansion fees. That is much less than the $7 billion to $10 billion that the NBA seemingly wants. I am not sure that either league is getting any serious bites at these prices right now.

For reference, I think Balsillie's various bids were around $200 million for a team, and he wanted the government to cover a $150 million reno of Copps.

If a prospective Hamilton ownership group were to pursue something today, we might be talking $2 billion for the base fee, maybe a $500 million surcharge for territorial indemnification, maybe a cool billion for a new arena. That brings us to $3.5 billion US or nearly $5 billion Canadian in up-front capital outlay.

Whose door can we knock on?

I don't think the NHL continues to grow. There is a dichotomy in society between the upper levels of rich and the rest of us.

How can anyone agree to Bettemans $2B fee in this economy, where's the return? Are they expecting fans to pay $300 for the cheapest tickets? It doesn't make sense. I do think alot of these sports leagues are bloated and some sort of not collapse, but right-sizing is coming.

Having said that, I've always thought the expansion cost could be mitigated with some creativity. A Hamilton franchise would be the 4th richest according to Betteman.

Any owner could negotiate a percentage of profits go to the league and other teams in perpetuity along with a "normal" expansion fee.

We're not talking about landing humans on Pluto here. It's a hockey team and money, it shouldn't be hard to figure out unless they are forces working against it.

 

[berklon]

Adding a PWHL team would be cool. I'm not into it myself (or the AHL), but there's certainly a market for it.
The good thing is that it'll only take 15 dates away from concerts, plus a few possible playoff dates.

Money is limited, so there may be people who want to watch both - but can only afford one... so that might be a bit of an issue in maximizing ticket sales for either.

 

[BCTed]

Adding a PWHL team would be cool. I'm not into it myself (or the AHL), but there's certainly a market for it.
The good thing is that it'll only take 15 dates away from concerts, plus a few possible playoff dates.

Money is limited, so there may be people who want to watch both - but can only afford one... so that might be a bit of an issue in maximizing ticket sales for either.

If they do doubleheaders with the AHL, then it will be fewer than 15 dates.

 

[Civdis]

I think the GGH could support 3 NHL teams, the problem is that the growth is not all that incremental to the NHL. It is just dividing an already strong hockey market. I know it will never happen but I would love to see an all Canadian pro hockey league to rival the NHL.