Quote:
Originally Posted by Sawdalite
Just curious... MLB does not make a profit? -- I'm assuming you mean with the National televising deals -- That greatly surprises me... the NBA with a dwindling audience I suppose I could see, even though I had thought the TV contracts were insanely lucrative for the League... Not doubting you since I have not searched and studied the numbers, merely surprised.
It is ironic how the NBC/Versus original contracts after the Lockout were scoffed at by all except those who saw them as an opportunity for the NHL to reconstruct itself into a product that could at least slightly profit from a major broadcasting partnership... starting with the 'New' NHL rules that were originally brought about to add excitement and reduce or even eliminate the clutching and grabbing, as well as allow late comebacks and more Third Period wins from behind... They thought the NHL Owners to be insane fools giving their product away for just about free... or even offering it at a loss... With the Post-Lockout growth and increase popularity in more area of the country, coupled with an NBA falling out of favor slowly but surely (IMO), there seems to be a bit of a light at the end of the tunnel... as long as people are not looking for too much too quickly. The NHL will never be the NFL or MLB, but it may hold it's own with the NBA some day... at least in some parts of the USA.
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I've heard through televised sources that this was the case as late of last season. If you think about it in terms of attendance...baseball teams really struggle. I would bet that almost 50%, maybe more, don't come close to selling out (though they may say otherwise). It may not be true though, or may not include other profitable sources, as Internet searches of the most profitable leagues will still have the NHL buried near the bottom.
Who knows. I agree that the NHL has been very successful since the lockout, and the NBA is SURELY dying (though stats somehow say otherwise).