Globe and Mail reports that NHL may be loaning money to Phoenix Coyotes

(c) All of the above.

 

Zero chance of that.

 

No doubt.

The problem for the NHL is this -- OK, say the team goes to Quebec. Fine. But what about all the other troubled teams? Where are they going to go? Kansas City and Milwaukee are nonstarters. Houston? Maybe, but the dwindling interest in Dallas doesn't portend well. Back to Atlanta? HAHAHAHAHAHA. Seattle? Who's building the arena, and who's going to make a peace offering to the Canucks?

The trouble the NHL has -- the trouble every league has, except for the NFL with Los Angeles open -- is that there are no to few markets left that can support a team in the manner of which the leagues are accustomed. So far, that hasn't dinged the value of franchises as far as I can tell, but on the other hand those franchises can't stick up their home cities anymore with the threat of going somewhere else.

It's worse for the NHL because losing markets like Atlanta and Phoenix means the door is closed on expansion or moving there. So those are large, dead markets.

 

I agree. Which is probably why Bettman and company have bit the bullet to stay in Phoenix. They can use Hamilton, Quebec, etc. as decoys if someone else doesn't pony up to build an arena.

As for another team in the GTA. I have no doubt it would be successful. I also suspect the people at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment will do everything in their considerable power to block it, so as to maintain their exclusive hold on the market and drive up prices.

 

The Devils lost $20 million during the regular season with the league advancing the team $10 million. $80 million loan due July 1.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/story/Los-Angeles-Kings-New-Jersey-Devils-Stanley-Cup-finalists-for-sale-AEG-Corporation-Staples-Center-Jeffrey-Vanderbeek-053012

And people say Phoenix isn't a good hockey market.

 

The issue isn't so much attendance -- which has never been spectacular -- but the crushing debt the owners took on to take over the team and build the new arena.

 

How does attendance compare at the Rock compared to the Meadowlands? Does having three teams in metro New York hurt? The Devils have been one of the most successful franchises in the past decade, can't be a good sign for other struggling teams.

 

It doesn't seem to have made a big difference. The worry was -- and it might be true -- that there are white suburbanites who went to the Meadowlands who want no part of being in Newark after 10 p.m.

The thing is, the Devils aren't even the biggest basket case in the Tri-State area. That would go to the Islanders.

 

The area around the arena is too bad at night. Plus, it's a short walk from Newark Penn Station to the arena.

 

The Devils had a hard time selling out Brendan Byrne, too, this isn't a new problem.

 

That's something that hasn't been touched on in a while - who's to say that l'equipe en Quebec n'est pas les Islanders?

 

No, that would go to this guy.