Gary Bettman, NHL boss, hates Canada. At least you think that it just might be true. The league did little to protect the Winnipeg and Quebec fanchises from moving to the U.S. yet they seem to be fighting every possible move of a bankrupt U.S. team back to Canada. What are we in Canada supposed to make of this?
How is it that New York can have 3 franchises while southern Ontario cannot have more than one. This fascination with U.S. cities that have no history nor experience with Hockey having NHL teams while viable markets in Canada are ignored. The NHL U.S. Strategy hasn’t, doesn’t and will not work. Bowling on TV will outdraw hockey in most US markets. It’s barely a niche sport in the US. Hockey is an important component in many countries in the world besides Canada, for instance Russia and Sweden come to mind.
The league seems to not want to deal with a Canadian who has the money yet it has dealt with a large number of questionable owners in the U.S.
I find it discouraging that the league rolls its eyes if there is a Canadian team in the Stanley Cup playoffs since they can’t sell the TV rights in the States even though there wasn’t any interest in the first place. Heaven forbid that there is a final between 2 Canadian teams, they might have to outlaw that possibility. It’s like we are second class in the leagues eyes.
It might give us a complex or maybe we should learn to love bowling and invest our entertainment dollars in that sport instead of Hockey. The league won’t miss the Canadian fans at all.
