Quote:
Originally Posted by DutchShamrock
Travel costs are one issue, but then again alot of the Western teams want more games against Crosby/Malkin and Ovechkin. They want Montreal, Toronto, NYR, Philly and Boston coming into Phoenix/Dallas to draw in transplanted fans from the area.
I think part of their complaints aren't how much they spend on travel but how little we spend on travel.
Basically, the Western teams will pout how the schedule is set up today then they'll cry next season about how it's set up then. Remember, we used to skip playing an entire division of the other conference a few seasons ago. That reduced travel costs, but teams wanted more Pitt/Was visits so they changed the schedule.
30 home and home games with the West
52 East games (4 div games/team=28, 3 out of div games=21, 3 rivalry games/special matchups)
That's a balanced schedule. Or you do 15 West games and increase the division games to 5 and the out of division games to 4.
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The 3 out of div, but in conference games will be hard to work out. Who gets the two home and who gets the one? No different than 5 in-division games, sure... but still. It'll be a balance.
By the way, teams still don't visit 6 arenas in the other conference every year. The Rangers will not be playing in Nashville for the 2nd time in three seasons. I don't really think Pacific division teams could care less what the Rangers spend on travel. They just want to reduce what they spend. The teams in the NorthEast aren't going to change the amount they spend on travel no matter what you do to the alignment of the league short of going to an American/National setup. We know that's not going to happen.