Nhl Europe Could It Work?

The best way to found out if it would work is to try it. And believe me the NHL is thinking about it. That's why the Ducks and the Kings are playing in London this season. I think it could work, the NHL needs to do their homework on this and take it slowly and I don't see no reason it would failed. Hockey is more popular in Europe than in the States. There's many countries in Europe where ice hockey is very popular. Maybe our Euro friends could shed some light on this subject.

Hockey is more popular in Europe than in the States.

No it's not. It's probably even more of a fringe sport here than in the US. Especially in the bigger countries. Just like in north america it's a regional thing. In 95% of europe, the word "sport" is the same as "soccer".

There's many countries in Europe where ice hockey is very popular.

That depends on what you define as many.

Hockey is a marginal sport in Europe. Football is 500 times more popular. There's about 50 countries in Europe and hockey is popular in 5 countries (and those countries are small). I.E. hockey is a marginal sport in Russia. RSL average attendance is 3,900.

Attendance in Russia will be gowing up with the economy. In the 60's, 70's people packed every Arena in Russia. Also many stadiums are small, now bigger ones are being built. The problem in Russian sport's attendance is that many powerfull clubs are centered in Moscow, and people in Moscow are oversaturated with sports and have way too many teams to support, which is especially true in soccer, but even in hockey Moscow has: CSKA, SPartak, Dynamo, Krylya, then right outside of Moscow's nearest suburbs, which many consider to be Moscow: Khimik, HC MVD, Vityaz'...In my mind it's fundamentally wrong, but what' fundamentally right back home?
In soccer it's even worse as Moscow has Torpedo, FC Moscow, CSKA, Dynamo, Spartak, Lokomotive, nearest suburbs: Saturn, Khimki, and 10's of teams in lower divisions; therefore, attendance is small.
But hockey is still pretty powerful in Russia, also sad results on international scene killed the popularity a bit...

BTW Russian goverment have big plans on expanding hockey and making sorts of RSL Europe. While the plans are great, it's gonna be very hard to implement. I think the way to do it is not by incorporating existing teams from Finnland, Sweden, Swiss, Germany, Cheh, Slovakia, but by starting new franchises, or buying the ones in lower divisions, since I don't see too many teams in Europe choosing to drop their leagues and playing in some sort of RSL-open, or NHL-open...

The only way it may have a prayer to work, IMO, would be to start franchises in countries where hockey isn't strong right now, but you have big citiies with enough "fringe" people who like hockey and then follow the NHL as their own leagues aren't thought of as top-notch, such as England, France, Italy, and maybe even Spain.

I have a feeling though, that the NHL would be considering getting a couple of Russian teams and maybe a Scandinavian team or two, along with a Czech and Slovakian team on board. Big mistake, me thinketh, as these countries already have a strong following and the clubs have their fans, who are not going to change colors just because the "NHL circus" rolled into town... and no "the quality of play" will not matter.

Just recently, three marginal soccer clubs in Gothenburg (I'm sure I'll get smacked for that descriptive adjective) had the idea of forming a new club that would:

A) Stand up to the powerhouse IFK Gothenburg, and
B) Consistently compete in the top division of Swedish Soccer, and
C) Have the means to compete on the highest level in Europe.

All these fine arguments for why it would be great to come together and put a better product on the field drowned in a lynch mob of angry fans from all three clubs, demanding the firing of the club directors, boards, and their dogs for proposing that they were now going to join forces and share colors with some drunk, leather vested, hoo-boos from across the street for the sake of European glory! Needless to say, the project died 15 seconds into the press conference.

... So, the NHL may be better served starting in less established areas... Why not Winnipeg?

I think the big thing that your missing is the strain on the players. I mean it's a long season and people get worn out travling from Canada to the USA imagine how hard it would be on the players to go one day from a game in Calgary then need to catch a plane to Moscow to play then go to New York to rest for a day then play again. I think it would be cool but the quality of each hockey game would decrese damatically after the first 20-30 games.

I think the big thing that your missing is the strain on the players. I mean it's a long season and people get worn out travling from Canada to the USA imagine how hard it would be on the players to go one day from a game in Calgary then need to catch a plane to Moscow to play then go to New York to rest for a day then play again. I think it would be cool but the quality of each hockey game would decrese damatically after the first 20-30 games.

They would never schedule games like that.

I think the big thing that your missing is the strain on the players. I mean it's a long season and people get worn out travling from Canada to the USA imagine how hard it would be on the players to go one day from a game in Calgary then need to catch a plane to Moscow to play then go to New York to rest for a day then play again. I think it would be cool but the quality of each hockey game would decrese damatically after the first 20-30 games.

that would never happen. What they would od is form a European division where teams would go on a european roadtrip for a couple of weeks. A team may play a game in Calgary and then fly to Moscow the next day, but it won't be to play hockey, it will be to start practicing for a game several days to a week later.

It just puzzles me should the NHL Europe be similar as NFL Europa (closed at October 2007) was, a branch of NHL? The buried NFL Europa had teams from Spain, Netherlands, Germany and UK through it's history, but when it closed down the league consisted of Amsterdam Admirals and 5 German teams. :shakehead

Or is the idea that NHL Europe should be like a division or conference of NHL- meaning that there would be teams with NHL- like names from Europe that would play against the North American teams at some point during the regular season?

There are several problems with these ideas.

Firstly, as mentioned, the hockey is not a big sport outside couple Scandinavian countries (Finland and Sweden), Russia, Czech and parts of Switzerland. Truly big European countries- like France, UK and Germany- are well-known "beer leagues" in European hockey perspective: players who have made their careers in NHL or bigger European leagues go there to get some pension money before retiring. They also lure players who cannot make it in the big leagues: 4th liners from Sweden or Czech make the first line in France. And the audience itself in countries that would have good attendance potential could not care less about hockey. Despite German league (DEL), that has pretty good audiences with some teams, in Central Europe the hockey is a minor sport that draws crowds of maximum couple of thousands. The level of play in these leagues is so low, that the people never got into the game and it would be very hard to change their minds. People from North America can understand this through MSL- and keep in mind that hockey does not have it's own Beckham to sell the game to the public.

Secondly, how many teams would they be getting for NHL Europe? Realistically even having eight teams from different countries would be quite a challenge. German teams even in Super Six- tournaments have sucked big time, and I kind of have my doubts that interest would be very high in country like France to come to see a game that nobody understands nothing about and that has no local players. It's like starting a cricket league in US, with only Indian and British players. Not likely a success.

Thirdly, Europeans did try to form their own "NHL-like" European league, EHL, in the 90's and it failed. The schedule became too hard for the teams participating as they played the league on top of national leagues. Games were often pointless and players were frustrated and tired. And if NHL Europe started, every "big European hockey country" would still like to keep their existing national leagues. They would not approve to discontinue their national leagues and just settle for one or maximum three teams per country. If all top European players who currently play in Europe would join to NHL Europe teams, this would be a huge setback to European hockey as whole- as this would kill the national leagues.

Fourthly, professional leagues are not something people in Europe are accustomed to: there are no draft systems, no closed leagues. European leagues offer a chance of promotion and relegation and it's part of the sports culture. In Finland they closed the Elite division and the level of play in 1st division decreased and spectator levels took a dive in both divisions (Elite and 1st) - in 1st division majority did not want to see teams that had no chance of promotion to Elite league and in Elite league the poor teams had problems attracting audience as their season was pointless after missing the play-offs.

NHL Europe is a nice idea to play around with, but realistically it has no change of succeeding.

I think it would have a much better chance of success than NFL Europe.

Hockey has a grassroots and a heritage in Europe, whereas NFL football does not.

As long as it is a second tier league it could work. Perhaps NHL teams could use the teams as a farm system similar to the AHL.

Start it with new teams in cities that have facilities and interest:

Moscow, Stockholm, Helsinki, Berlin, Prague, perhaps Zurich.

And you could even take a chance on London and Paris, in an effort to grow the game.

I think it would have a much better chance of success than NFL Europe.

Hockey has a grassroots and a heritage in Europe, whereas NFL football does not.

As long as it is a second tier league it could work. Perhaps NHL teams could use the teams as a farm system similar to the AHL.

Start it with new teams in cities that have facilities and interest:

Moscow, Stockholm, Helsinki, Berlin, Prague, perhaps Zurich.
Why in the world would people in Moscow or Stockholm support a team
- with no history or tradition
- whose sole purpose is to develop players for another league (and a foreign one at that)
- whose level of play is weaker than the level of the existing teams ?

Why in the world would people in Moscow or Stockholm support a team
- with no history or tradition
- whose sole purpose is to develop players for another league (and a foreign one at that)
- whose level of play is weaker than the level of the existing teams ?

Maybe because they love the game, who knows. There is no way of knowing until it is tried.

It would be a different game than what the Europeans are used to, played on North American sized ice rinks. That may increase the interest level.

Would the play be weaker than that of existing teams? That depends on how much funding would be available to start and how much talent can be signed on to the new league.

Just recently, three marginal soccer clubs in Gothenburg (I'm sure I'll get smacked for that descriptive adjective) had the idea of forming a new club that would:

A) Stand up to the powerhouse IFK Gothenburg, and
B) Consistently compete in the top division of Swedish Soccer, and
C) Have the means to compete on the highest level in Europe.

All these fine arguments for why it would be great to come together and put a better product on the field drowned in a lynch mob of angry fans from all three clubs, demanding the firing of the club directors, boards, and their dogs for proposing that they were now going to join forces and share colors with some drunk, leather vested, hoo-boos from across the street for the sake of European glory! Needless to say, the project died 15 seconds into the press conference.

And this is a great example on how this would never work. To European fans, following their team is like religion, and their not just gonna roll over and start cherring for whatever team gets relocated to their city or whatever player gets traded to that team. This is not entertainment, this is love. Love for a club they would rather follow to the seventh tier than to start cherring for another one just because, as you said, the NHL circus roles into town. If this happens, I can assure you that the atmosphere in the arenas is going to be even worse than in the NHL arenas.

Against modern football - and now hockey :thumbu:

And you could even take a chance on London and Paris, in an effort to grow the game.

London has had 2 'top' teams in about 10 years, both have gone bust. Also Manchester Storm failed, and it was about 4 or 5 years until a team came back. A team in Scotland had to relocate, and the next season it didn't exist. And in Ireland there would be 3 rinks, 2 in Belfast, and 1 in the republic. Only 2 of these 3 can be used by the public, and 1 is a topic for the local council, for tearing it down and making a smaller, skating rink as hockey is loosing money. From my experience with other countries fans, they most definately would NOT change for the NHL, they are the type of fans that would shout abuse at eachother, after meaningless games. In Austria, for every game a team (not sure which) plays, they have to bring thier own police with them. It could work, but it may only last a few years, and it definately wouldn't last more than a season in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland or Ireland. Good idea though.

The best way to found out if it would work is to try it. And believe me the NHL is thinking about it. That's why the Ducks and the Kings are playing in London this season. I think it could work, the NHL needs to do their homework on this and take it slowly and I don't see no reason it would failed. Hockey is more popular in Europe than in the States. There's many countries in Europe where ice hockey is very popular. Maybe our Euro friends could shed some light on this subject.

No. This is silly. Many European countries have their own leagues, their own teams, their own traditions, history, and customs. Many of the Euro leagues and teams just need an infusion of $$ and more heated competition with eachother, and with teams from the NHL and AHL. There is no need for NHL Europe. The only thing we need is for the winner of the Hockey Euros to play the NHL STanley Cup winner in a meaningful tournament or game.

Well the thing is, only a few countries in Europe are really hockey crazy.

Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czech Republic, and that's probably just about it. I'm no European culture buff.

Then just an NHL Europe in general would be tough to pull off. Would you mean NHL Europe by one team per country throughout Europe? Or teams all over Europe in general? Either way that's not an easy task to accomplish. The former being constantly crossing borders, pretty big travel costs, language barriers, etc. The latters being kinda unfair and stacked since there may be like say, 6 teams in Sweden and one in Spain or something, and everything would be all unbalanced and out of whack.

Well the thing is, only a few countries in Europe are really hockey crazy.

Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czech Republic, and that's probably just about it. I'm no European culture buff.
Don't the Slovaks dig, too? I think it's also doing alright in Switzerland, despite their national team not being that great.

the nhl should jump in and sponsor the new champions hockey league if they want to get into europe. Really work with the iihf to build CHL and the victoria cup into something on both continents. IMO that is the best way for the nhl to be "in" europe.