CUTTING SCHEDULE A BOLD MOVE

[diablos]

As per the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE thread here\'s another bold proposition that the league should do but this one will not fly.

How about cutting the schedule from 82 games to 70 - 74 games. I know it would never fly with the owners because of lost revenue. But have they ever though if they can cut the games down they will make a few extra $$$ due to fact that it virtually elimantes those boring sometimes(a game is never meaningless -lol) Jan - Feb games.

This would also open up more dates when needed (OLYMPIC YEARS) and STANLEY CUP would probably end at end of May and not June.

Also for TV ratings would probably go up due to importance of game.

Just a thought a BOLD MOVE indeed and if works watch the other leagues jump on board(NBA)excluding MLB as we all know theres only handful of teams with a shot there.

Just my morning rant---GOOD DAY

[Zorro]

Diablos you deserve a Karma Boost just for the idea, I think it would be wise to shorten the schedule, but I also think they should take out two teams (Florida-TampaBay) and have a dispersal draft. It\'s tough when you have teams playing not bad but the fans still don\'t come out. It\'s sad to see empty seats. If you took the players from those two teams and had a draft that would make the other teams that much better. It would be exciting. Maybe just one team??? But then only the top 6-10 teams drafting would be happy because they would be the only ones getting players that would help their cause.. So here\'s your Karma Boost Diablos... Z..

[smoothfun]

nashville was leading the league and still could\'nt draw a croud , but that\'s business so it\'s up to the owners to decide on profits or losses.what we need is for the league to get our goverment to endorse and help bring teams back home where the fans are.make games affordable , tax breaks , incentives, whatever it takes , it\'s our game!

[Screaming Jawa]

I don\'t like the idea of going all the way down to 70-74 games, but going to 80 would be suitable.

Also, why not cut the first round of the playoffs back to best-of-five?

[goose191919]

cutting playoffs is a bad move. even basketball does best of 7 in the first round (i think because they wanted to copy the NHL).


i do like the idea of cutting the games down to 70-75. less quantity but more quality. give the guys a day or two more of rest between games, less back to backs, less traveling, etc.

it wont happen, but i think it would better the nhl and the longevity of players\' careers.

[butch]

I cant see them cutting it back but what I\'d kinda like to see is the season starting slightly earlier than the first wk of october so that we\'re not watching the cup finals in june .

I\'m a huge fan , but I find myself getting disinterested at times once the finals roll around because its just so damn nice outside .

[richardparknation]

the nhl is completely missing how to market it\'s product.

look at the major sports in the states (football/basketball/baseball), they all have such a massive infastructure and following at lower levels compared to hockey (in the states).

what the nhl needs to do is to market the \'new nhl\' towards the next generation and forget about trying to change people\'s minds who have never had interest in the game.

start from the bottom, build the minor\'s leagues up, create interest in hockey rather than the nhl.

it can clearly be seen. they just need to wake up.

[repenttokyo]

they have that minor league structure in place in Canada, tho. And people from europe and the US often come to Canada to become part of the NHL infrastructure. I don\'t know if duplicating it in the US would be successful. There area lotof successful minor pro leagues in America, but they aren\'t really developmental leagues.

[richardparknation]

i know they have minors in canada, hence the \"(in the states)\"

the nhl needs to improve its minor leagues along with the hockey programs that are currenlty in place. again i stress my point on targeting the next generation.

it\'s a lot easier to create an interest when people are younger. then let them do the marketing work for you.

[Dobber]

Roll back the sched to 80 games and roll back preseason by 10 days. It\'s far too long.

[Zorro]

Whoa JAWA, no way would it be wise to make the 1st round a best of 5 games. That would be horrible. When I agreed to cut the season back I would say 5-8 games max. Don\'t touch the playoffs at all except start them earlier...

[diablos]

First thanks for the Karma boost ZORRO.

It looks like that we all agree that the NHL should do something exciting and make a bold bold statement to its fans/tv exces and to other sports, that will make NHL fresh again(like when we were kids).

Does anybody have any connections to get it started. Anybody know anyone at TSN/CBC

I am from the west so they wont listen to me--lol

Post edited by: diablos, at: 2007/04/26 17:46

[hoopej2]

This is in response to the comment of cutting the number of teams in the league. I agree that it would make for better hockey because that would essentially make the worst 60 players in the league unemployed, or at least sent down to the A or some other league. I just don\'t think that the union would agree to contraction. They want more members, not less.