Quote:
Originally Posted by Ahbroody
I think one of the main reasons it has not happened is cost. The league in some areas is barely holding. Add in a lot more travel and it will strain them more. Also I think a lot of teams don't want the travel. The studies on the impact of travel on teams like the canucks a few years ago. Teams look at that and think they don't want that. Especially many eastern clubs.
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Frankly the cost is a non-issue as far as I'm concerned. The only teams that is an issue for are those in the questionable (at best) hockey markets that Bettman advocated/forced expansion into. Capitalism says sink or swim, there are a lot of smaller market cities in Canada that are more than capable of supporting an NHL team and Toronto can easily support 2 franchises + a team in Hamilton. It'd be a novel concept for many of the southern US market teams to move to Winnipeg, Hamilton, Regina, Victoria, etc and actually see sold out crowds instead of $30 tickets still resulting in thousands of empty seats every game. It's nothing against those teams or cities, they're just not hockey markets because the people that live there just have different interests.
As for travel schedules, these guys are big boys that are VERY well compensated for what they do. Their job is to play jockey whenever and wherever the league deems is best for the advancement of the game.....