And the bad news for Hockey in the US continues

[Asher]

Originally posted by Ming
You are the one being owned... your "love of the game" and 75% comments are a riot...

As far as insults go... you always start them, and then whine when somebody responds... deal with it.

But... continue with the personal attacks and you will be toast...

And enjoy being pwn3d...

Ming...these players aren't going to stop playing hockey when they still can get paid for it, even if it's 75% less.

What you're saying doesn't make sense from a greed perspective nor a heart perspective. They would still make more money playing hockey than doing other things, they would still play agame that they love.

You haven't thought this through, so get over it -- admit you're being stupid again in this thread and move on.

[snoopy369]

Personally I think there's no question that many hockey players would play for 25% of the money - but only after a significant strike and a lot of grumbling. You'd also see a significant loss of 'star' potential to other leagues (like the NBA); while canadians might still mostly play hockey, the top potential Americans would still head to basketball, and euros would either head to basketball, or would stay in Europe.

Look at soccer in the US, for example. Soccer is the most popular sport in terms of youth players, and yet we (America) manage to generate very few star players of the game - because the top kids (and their parents) know they can make more money in football or basketball.

Asher, your comment is a common one in America related to many of our sports (baseball in particular) ... but it's unfortunately an entirely unrealistic one. Marketing and 'big money' are a fact of life in the sports world, and thus the NHL is what it is. Even restricting it to a Canadian league would not fix it - I think you'd find it would go back to the US in a pretty quick timeframe because of the money; Canadians are not any more immune to greed Our time (As sports fans) is better served thinking of ways to improve the sport as it stands, rather than imagining fantasy worlds that will simply never happen ...

[Asher]

Asher, your comment is a common one in America related to many of our sports (baseball in particular) ... but it's unfortunately an entirely unrealistic one. Marketing and 'big money' are a fact of life in the sports world, and thus the NHL is what it is. Even restricting it to a Canadian league would not fix it - I think you'd find it would go back to the US in a pretty quick timeframe because of the money; Canadians are not any more immune to greed Our time (As sports fans) is better served thinking of ways to improve the sport as it stands, rather than imagining fantasy worlds that will simply never happen ...

You misunderstand. Ming is painting a doom & gloom picture about hockey in the US, and I'm saying it doesn't matter to me. He's saying without the US there essentially wouldn't be professional hockey, which is ABSURD.

The hockey players would continue to play for less money if the US for whatever reason didn't have NHL teams. Simple as that.

And I don't think the US' soccer problems has to do with money, it has to do with the level of competition. Soccer is a recreational sport in the US while other sports are competitive.

[Lord Avalon]

If there were such a contraction in the NHL like you're talking about, wouldn't there be a lot of former hockey players - simply because there wouldn't be room for all of them in the new league? Some would go to Europe (either because that's their homeland or that's where the opportunity for them is), but how many of the least talented players would play minor league hockey rather than find some other job?

[Asher]

Originally posted by Lord Avalon
If there were such a contraction in the NHL like you're talking about, wouldn't there be a lot of former hockey players - simply because there wouldn't be room for all of them in the new league? Some would go to Europe (either because that's their homeland or that's where the opportunity for them is), but how many of the least talented players would play minor league hockey rather than find some other job?

Of course there would be a contraction.

Many players would go overseas, there would be less pro hockey players in general, but I think the quality will just get "pushed down" so only the worst players don't play.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Asher
And I don't think the US' soccer problems has to do with money, it has to do with the level of competition. Soccer is a recreational sport in the US while other sports are competitive.

Chicken-egg

I think the point previously was that the top top athletes would not pursue soccer as seriously due to the potential remuneration.


I believe it pushes down further than that. If Mr highschool superjock cann play American football and be a worshipped hero with cheerleaders regularly jumping his bones OR he can play soccer in front of his parents, I know which will be chosen by most.

Bottom line is that rewards for sports start coming at an early age and it is natural for many many top athletes to choose sports that start gib=ving them popularity and rewards.

The US COULD develop more top soccer players but the reality is that many many top athletes are focussing more on other sports