Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Wednesday Wanderings: NHL in Europe, Economics
by Jes
Once upon a time, I wrote a pretty length post on why I believe the NHL would never work, on a full-time basis, in Europe. Playing an exhibition game or two is one thing, but a full season? It ain't gonna work.
This post is a response to news that the NHL is looking at expanding into Europe ... again ...
Since I can't find my original post, I'll just have to rehash some of my old arguments. Most of my European hockey knowledge comes from the leagues I follow (Czech and Slovak), so I may not be totally right when it comes to places like Finland and Sweden.
1. Ticket Prices
The average ticket price for a European club hockey game translates to about 10-25$ US. Most teams charge very little for their tickets, knowing full well that a. the people simply don't have that much money to spend and b. knowing fans won't spend that much for a hockey game.
European clubs make their money almost primarily through sponsorship. You see it on their uniforms, their arenas, and even their team names, which are often sponsored. The NHL's model of ticket-heavy revenue is the complete opposite of what happens in Europe.
Let's face it, most hockey fans in Russia, Czechia, and Slovakia do not have that much disposable income. I know people in Germany and Sweden could afford $60 tickets, but would they really fork out that much for 30-40 games a season? I doubt it. Once the novelty wears off, you'd likely see a lot of empty seats. I can't see 15,000 people in either city wanting to invest that much on the NHL.
Yes, I realize some European teams get over 10,000 per game, but the ticket prices, like I said, are quite low compared to the NHL.
The fact is that many of the rich KHL owners we hear about are oil robber barons or diamond mine owners, and spend money on their hockey teams as an expensive hobby. There aren't an endless supply of these oil barons, nor are many of them likely to want to spend NHL-level prices for their own pleasure. Yes, there are oil barons owning soccer clubs, but you know they make a lot of money from tickets and merchandise.
2. Travel
In the future, I see travel becoming even more of an issue than it is now. Fuel prices will not go down any day soon, and environmental concerns will only cause sports leagues to look into curtailing travel somewhat.
In my view, fuel prices will cause the NHL to start playing even more intra-conference games, and try to eliminate some of the cross-country road trips that suck up so much gas.
Traveling to Europe? Yeah, that would count as a long road trip, and it's certainly quite pricey if you do it constantly.
3. Rivalries
Having an NHL team negates one of the reasons Europeans go to hockey games: The rivalries. Slavia and Sparta's "derbies" just could not be replicated by a bunch of foreigners playing some team from Toronto or Helsinki. Inter-city and regional rivalries would just not exist in the European NHL.
4. Gary Bettman
D00d screws up everything he touches.
Yes, I am a pessimist. Given how the NHL's short-term thinking has caused them so many problems, and given how many American franchises are far from strong, I think expanding into Europe is something the league just will not succeed at. Let the Europeans have their league and focus on making the NHL stronger, rather than even more watered-down than it is.
----
More stuff to mention
NHL owners have to realize that the current American economic crises is not good for the league. Obviously, people are going to have less disposable income to spend on hockey games, and/or will be afraid to spend big for fears of even more crap happening
If you are an UFA-to-be, you might want to think about re-signing rather than try the open market. Just a thought.
On a side rant, this whole "crisis" is thanks to your lovely US government. For far too long, the US Government has let corporations run the country, including a highly-unregulated bank and finance industry. This, together with people's horrible spending habits, means that there is a lot of "artificial" money in the market that can never be repaid, and you have China owning a monster chunk of US Currency.
Not to sound too much like a smart ass, but I always figured the US was set for a major collapse. No country can take on that much government and personal debt without the whole thing busting up eventually. Until people stop spending money they don't have, and until banks stop lending money they don't really have, the economy is not going to get better. I'm thankful that Canada had a bit more restraint, and isn't spending billions on a bogus war to inflate the pockets of a well-off minority (Do you really think Bush wants to drive down the price of oil? Ha!). That said, when the US economy tanks, it'll hit our country hard.
(If you know basic economics and finance, than you know that a bank can take $1 of deposits and turn that into $7-10 of loans, hence creating a level of "artificial" money)
Over at his Legends of Hockey Blog, author Joe Pelletier goes into Boogie Nights mode and gives us his Top 10 Hockey Moustaches of all time.
Personally, I would have put Harold Snepsts much higher, and would have had Dave Babych on my list. Lanny as #1 is hard to dispute, though.
Once upon a time, I wrote a pretty length post on why I believe the NHL would never work, on a full-time basis, in Europe. Playing an exhibition game or two is one thing, but a full season? It ain't gonna work.
This post is a response to news that the NHL is looking at expanding into Europe ... again ...
Since I can't find my original post, I'll just have to rehash some of my old arguments. Most of my European hockey knowledge comes from the leagues I follow (Czech and Slovak), so I may not be totally right when it comes to places like Finland and Sweden.
1. Ticket Prices
The average ticket price for a European club hockey game translates to about 10-25$ US. Most teams charge very little for their tickets, knowing full well that a. the people simply don't have that much money to spend and b. knowing fans won't spend that much for a hockey game.
European clubs make their money almost primarily through sponsorship. You see it on their uniforms, their arenas, and even their team names, which are often sponsored. The NHL's model of ticket-heavy revenue is the complete opposite of what happens in Europe.
Let's face it, most hockey fans in Russia, Czechia, and Slovakia do not have that much disposable income. I know people in Germany and Sweden could afford $60 tickets, but would they really fork out that much for 30-40 games a season? I doubt it. Once the novelty wears off, you'd likely see a lot of empty seats. I can't see 15,000 people in either city wanting to invest that much on the NHL.
Yes, I realize some European teams get over 10,000 per game, but the ticket prices, like I said, are quite low compared to the NHL.
The fact is that many of the rich KHL owners we hear about are oil robber barons or diamond mine owners, and spend money on their hockey teams as an expensive hobby. There aren't an endless supply of these oil barons, nor are many of them likely to want to spend NHL-level prices for their own pleasure. Yes, there are oil barons owning soccer clubs, but you know they make a lot of money from tickets and merchandise.
2. Travel
In the future, I see travel becoming even more of an issue than it is now. Fuel prices will not go down any day soon, and environmental concerns will only cause sports leagues to look into curtailing travel somewhat.
In my view, fuel prices will cause the NHL to start playing even more intra-conference games, and try to eliminate some of the cross-country road trips that suck up so much gas.
Traveling to Europe? Yeah, that would count as a long road trip, and it's certainly quite pricey if you do it constantly.
3. Rivalries
Having an NHL team negates one of the reasons Europeans go to hockey games: The rivalries. Slavia and Sparta's "derbies" just could not be replicated by a bunch of foreigners playing some team from Toronto or Helsinki. Inter-city and regional rivalries would just not exist in the European NHL.
4. Gary Bettman
D00d screws up everything he touches.
Yes, I am a pessimist. Given how the NHL's short-term thinking has caused them so many problems, and given how many American franchises are far from strong, I think expanding into Europe is something the league just will not succeed at. Let the Europeans have their league and focus on making the NHL stronger, rather than even more watered-down than it is.
----
More stuff to mention
If you are an UFA-to-be, you might want to think about re-signing rather than try the open market. Just a thought.
On a side rant, this whole "crisis" is thanks to your lovely US government. For far too long, the US Government has let corporations run the country, including a highly-unregulated bank and finance industry. This, together with people's horrible spending habits, means that there is a lot of "artificial" money in the market that can never be repaid, and you have China owning a monster chunk of US Currency.
Not to sound too much like a smart ass, but I always figured the US was set for a major collapse. No country can take on that much government and personal debt without the whole thing busting up eventually. Until people stop spending money they don't have, and until banks stop lending money they don't really have, the economy is not going to get better. I'm thankful that Canada had a bit more restraint, and isn't spending billions on a bogus war to inflate the pockets of a well-off minority (Do you really think Bush wants to drive down the price of oil? Ha!). That said, when the US economy tanks, it'll hit our country hard.
(If you know basic economics and finance, than you know that a bank can take $1 of deposits and turn that into $7-10 of loans, hence creating a level of "artificial" money)
Personally, I would have put Harold Snepsts much higher, and would have had Dave Babych on my list. Lanny as #1 is hard to dispute, though.
Labels: european hockey, NHL Economics, NHL in Europe
Monday, February 18, 2008
OMFG, Advertising on NHL Uniforms?
by Jes
Normally, concepts and ideas from Europe (such as legalized prostitution, no-touch icing, not going ape-crap over half of an exposed nipple) show how behind-the-times and small-minded North Americans really are.
There are exceptions, however, to every rule, especially when it comes to hockey.
Anyone who has ever seen some semblance of European hockey knows that the entire experience is littered with advertising. It's not enough that the boards and ice surface likes look a NASCAR car, but the players' sweaters, themselves, make the players into skating billboards.
Instead of prominently feature a team logo, you get sweaters covered in enough advertising to make you sick. Hell, some Euroclubs are even named after a team sponsor (such as Chemopetrol Litvinov, HC MOUNTFIELD (Ceske Budejovice), and HC Energie Karlovy Vary.
Given how much advertising we're subjected to already, do NHL fans really want MORE of that crap?
The one 'sacred' aspect of the NHL, compared to Europe, is that the players' uniforms have remained relatively logo free. Sure, there has been logo creep on the sweaters, but we'll accept a logo on a piece of equipment that belongs to the maker of said product.
I always liked that I could look, or wear, an NHL uniform and have it all about the team colours, design, and logo. NHL uniforms are fairly clean and crisp, and are the one bit of freedom we have from the corporate messaging we are submitted to every minute of every game.
Unfortunately, greed tends to prevail in this society, and now we have NHL goaltenders clamouring to sell themselves as corporate shills.
Oh, cue the rich quote from Dwayne Roloson.
If this should ever pass, I suggest every NHL fan boo the living hell out of these empty souls and endeavour to put their fanship into goaltenders who don't submit themselves to the will of corporate assholes. It's pretty sad that these boys, who are already well-off, would feel the need to pimp themselves out as propaganda whores to the highest bidder.
Normally, concepts and ideas from Europe (such as legalized prostitution, no-touch icing, not going ape-crap over half of an exposed nipple) show how behind-the-times and small-minded North Americans really are.
There are exceptions, however, to every rule, especially when it comes to hockey.
Anyone who has ever seen some semblance of European hockey knows that the entire experience is littered with advertising. It's not enough that the boards and ice surface likes look a NASCAR car, but the players' sweaters, themselves, make the players into skating billboards.
Instead of prominently feature a team logo, you get sweaters covered in enough advertising to make you sick. Hell, some Euroclubs are even named after a team sponsor (such as Chemopetrol Litvinov, HC MOUNTFIELD (Ceske Budejovice), and HC Energie Karlovy Vary.
Given how much advertising we're subjected to already, do NHL fans really want MORE of that crap?
The one 'sacred' aspect of the NHL, compared to Europe, is that the players' uniforms have remained relatively logo free. Sure, there has been logo creep on the sweaters, but we'll accept a logo on a piece of equipment that belongs to the maker of said product.
I always liked that I could look, or wear, an NHL uniform and have it all about the team colours, design, and logo. NHL uniforms are fairly clean and crisp, and are the one bit of freedom we have from the corporate messaging we are submitted to every minute of every game.
Unfortunately, greed tends to prevail in this society, and now we have NHL goaltenders clamouring to sell themselves as corporate shills.
A group of influential NHLers is asking the league and the players' union to consider placing corporate logos on jerseys as a way to generate new revenues, according to a Toronto Star report published yesterday.Do these idiots not make enough money as it is? Do they really have no shame in slapping on some generic corporate logos onto their clothing to make a few extra bucks?
The group which includes New Jersey's Martin Brodeur, Dallas's Marty Turco, Detroit's Dominik Hasek and Edmonton's Dwayne Roloson is proposing the creation of a Goaltender's Club.
The idea is to sell space for ads on the jerseys of the league's netminders.
Hockey marketer Brad Robins and Edmonton player agent Ritch Winter are working with the players and they estimate on-uniform ads could generate upwards of $30 million a season for the NHL.
"This is the wave of the future," Winter told the Star. "The NHL isn't as profitable as other leagues, and we have very little choice but to pursue new ways to create revenue so we can reinvest in our sport. It's just a way to pay the bills."
Oh, cue the rich quote from Dwayne Roloson.
Roloson shrugs off the prospect of criticism from traditionalists.Doesn't take away from the true jersey look?? O.... K....
"I think it's a great way to grow (hockey-related revenue)," he told the Star. "They have (uniform ads) in Europe and it doesn't take away from the true jersey look."
If this should ever pass, I suggest every NHL fan boo the living hell out of these empty souls and endeavour to put their fanship into goaltenders who don't submit themselves to the will of corporate assholes. It's pretty sad that these boys, who are already well-off, would feel the need to pimp themselves out as propaganda whores to the highest bidder.
Labels: advertisements, european hockey, marketing, NHL, rants
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Coming Up For Air
by Greg
Distracted by other things, I've paid less than no attention to the hockey world over the past few weeks, only checking in even now because of the start of training camp. Hard to think much about hockey when it's too warm to wear anything but shorts (and only that much because society demands it). I'm far from regular season form -- I've only just begun to absorb the new uniforms (some ok, but two of the NHL's classiest uniforms -- the Blues and Senators -- have taken an enormous step back), I can't work up any good hate for the Red Wings. There's work to be done.
I've recently been reading a book about European soccer, and that revived something I've asked about before, elsewhere -- why do some sports become big in some places but not others? Why, for example, do Sweden and Finland produce bushels of world-class players, but not Norway and Denmark? Why is the sport enormous in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, but minor in Poland and Hungary? Why doesn't gigantic Germany produce more players? Why is it a fringe sport in the Netherlands and the UK?
In some cases, climate's an obvious contributor -- pre-indoor arenas, France and Italy would have been hard-pressed to find many places capable of sustaining ice for much of the year. But in Central and Northern Europe, there's no obvious reason for the national divide.
I've got no answers -- any thoughts?
P.S. Tomas Kloucek -- still no team.
Distracted by other things, I've paid less than no attention to the hockey world over the past few weeks, only checking in even now because of the start of training camp. Hard to think much about hockey when it's too warm to wear anything but shorts (and only that much because society demands it). I'm far from regular season form -- I've only just begun to absorb the new uniforms (some ok, but two of the NHL's classiest uniforms -- the Blues and Senators -- have taken an enormous step back), I can't work up any good hate for the Red Wings. There's work to be done.
I've recently been reading a book about European soccer, and that revived something I've asked about before, elsewhere -- why do some sports become big in some places but not others? Why, for example, do Sweden and Finland produce bushels of world-class players, but not Norway and Denmark? Why is the sport enormous in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, but minor in Poland and Hungary? Why doesn't gigantic Germany produce more players? Why is it a fringe sport in the Netherlands and the UK?
In some cases, climate's an obvious contributor -- pre-indoor arenas, France and Italy would have been hard-pressed to find many places capable of sustaining ice for much of the year. But in Central and Northern Europe, there's no obvious reason for the national divide.
I've got no answers -- any thoughts?
P.S. Tomas Kloucek -- still no team.
Labels: european hockey, tomas kloucek
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Say, What Happened in Europe, Anyway?
by Greg
Thank God that Ottawa won last night -- they inject a little bit of likeability into what's become (for me) a depressing playoff season. The Ducks aren't as innocent as their name would have you believe, the only way the Wings could get less charming is if they dressed Pol Pot for a game... I'm not going to actually root for the Senators, since the teams I adopt are getting stomped like cockroaches this off-season, but I wouldn't complain too much if they won.
With only clinical interest in the playoffs, and less in the World Championships -- I found myself wondering over the weekend who the hell won in most of the European leagues. I started off following the playoffs over there, then -- as is usually the way -- got distracted by sunlight or whatever, and turned my attention elsewhere.
In any case, a quick roundup:
Czech Republic -- (the only postseason I actually ended up following) HC Sparta Praha, for the second straight year. Jes would have you believe that they're all sorts of evil, but don't believe him. (ex-NHLers: Ladislav Benysek, Jan Hlavac, Michal Sivek)
Russia -- Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Brushback covered the shit out of these playoffs, and you should check that out. (ex-NHLers: Ravil Gusmanov, Alexei Kaigorodov, Igor Korolev, Travis Scott)
Slovakia -- HC Slovan Bratislava. I'll leave it to Jes to weigh in on whether this is good or not. (ex-NHLers: Roman Tvrdon)
Sweden -- MoDo. The team webpage indicates ex-Thrasher Per Svartvadet won the "guldpucken," which I bet is great. (Former NHLers: Svartvadet, Mattias Timander, Hans Jonsson, Pierre Hedin, Andreas Salomonsson, Niklas Sundstrom, Robert Dome)
Finland -- Kärpät. At least, I think so. I can't even laboriously translate Finnish with Babelfish, and the team website is remarkably understated if they did win. Presuming I'm right, they managed to overcome the loss of Petr Tenkrat to do this -- no mean feat. (ex-NHLers: Hannes Hyvonen, Josef Boumeddiene)
Switzerland -- HC Davos. Making my life much easier than the Finns, they helped out by showing the team logo smoking a cigar on the webpage. Personal favorite Josef Marha is on the team, and I can only assume that's why they won. (ex-NHLers: Marha, Alexandre Daigle(!), Petr Taticek, Michel Riesen, Reto Von Arx)
Germany -- Adler Mannheim. Looks like they tore through the regular season, too. Captained by another old favorite, Rene Corbet. (Half the team is ex-NHL -- Corbet, Blake Sloan, Pascal Trepanier, Nathan Robinson, Sven Butenschon, Jeff Shants, Jean-Marc Pelletier, Rico Fata, Colin Forbes, Jason Jaspers)
Austria -- EC Red Bull Salzburg. At this point, we get into the leagues I really know nothing about. (ex-NHLers: Reinhard Divis, Juha Lind, Frank Banham, Darby Hendrickson)
Britain -- Coventry Blaze. Their web page lists only five players on the 2006-07 roster, so either it's a secret who played for the team, or they have very strict roster restrictions over in the UK.
Denmark -- Herning Blue Fox. Nothing to say here, other than that Nielsen fellow on the Islanders used to be a Blue Fox.
Norway -- Vålerenga IF. Judging by their Wikipedia page, they actually win this every year.
Italy -- Breaking a five-year run by Milan, SG Cortina.
That's all I can really scrape together (I've got some other things to do). Anyone have any more insights on these playoffs -- or ideas of who won in Ukraine, Slovenia, France, wherever?)
Thank God that Ottawa won last night -- they inject a little bit of likeability into what's become (for me) a depressing playoff season. The Ducks aren't as innocent as their name would have you believe, the only way the Wings could get less charming is if they dressed Pol Pot for a game... I'm not going to actually root for the Senators, since the teams I adopt are getting stomped like cockroaches this off-season, but I wouldn't complain too much if they won.
With only clinical interest in the playoffs, and less in the World Championships -- I found myself wondering over the weekend who the hell won in most of the European leagues. I started off following the playoffs over there, then -- as is usually the way -- got distracted by sunlight or whatever, and turned my attention elsewhere.
In any case, a quick roundup:
Czech Republic -- (the only postseason I actually ended up following) HC Sparta Praha, for the second straight year. Jes would have you believe that they're all sorts of evil, but don't believe him. (ex-NHLers: Ladislav Benysek, Jan Hlavac, Michal Sivek)
Russia -- Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Brushback covered the shit out of these playoffs, and you should check that out. (ex-NHLers: Ravil Gusmanov, Alexei Kaigorodov, Igor Korolev, Travis Scott)
Slovakia -- HC Slovan Bratislava. I'll leave it to Jes to weigh in on whether this is good or not. (ex-NHLers: Roman Tvrdon)
Sweden -- MoDo. The team webpage indicates ex-Thrasher Per Svartvadet won the "guldpucken," which I bet is great. (Former NHLers: Svartvadet, Mattias Timander, Hans Jonsson, Pierre Hedin, Andreas Salomonsson, Niklas Sundstrom, Robert Dome)
Finland -- Kärpät. At least, I think so. I can't even laboriously translate Finnish with Babelfish, and the team website is remarkably understated if they did win. Presuming I'm right, they managed to overcome the loss of Petr Tenkrat to do this -- no mean feat. (ex-NHLers: Hannes Hyvonen, Josef Boumeddiene)
Switzerland -- HC Davos. Making my life much easier than the Finns, they helped out by showing the team logo smoking a cigar on the webpage. Personal favorite Josef Marha is on the team, and I can only assume that's why they won. (ex-NHLers: Marha, Alexandre Daigle(!), Petr Taticek, Michel Riesen, Reto Von Arx)
Germany -- Adler Mannheim. Looks like they tore through the regular season, too. Captained by another old favorite, Rene Corbet. (Half the team is ex-NHL -- Corbet, Blake Sloan, Pascal Trepanier, Nathan Robinson, Sven Butenschon, Jeff Shants, Jean-Marc Pelletier, Rico Fata, Colin Forbes, Jason Jaspers)
Austria -- EC Red Bull Salzburg. At this point, we get into the leagues I really know nothing about. (ex-NHLers: Reinhard Divis, Juha Lind, Frank Banham, Darby Hendrickson)
Britain -- Coventry Blaze. Their web page lists only five players on the 2006-07 roster, so either it's a secret who played for the team, or they have very strict roster restrictions over in the UK.
Denmark -- Herning Blue Fox. Nothing to say here, other than that Nielsen fellow on the Islanders used to be a Blue Fox.
Norway -- Vålerenga IF. Judging by their Wikipedia page, they actually win this every year.
Italy -- Breaking a five-year run by Milan, SG Cortina.
That's all I can really scrape together (I've got some other things to do). Anyone have any more insights on these playoffs -- or ideas of who won in Ukraine, Slovenia, France, wherever?)
Labels: european hockey
