Quote:
Originally Posted by Jets4Life
Appearantly the Jets, and the Edmonton Oilers were both looking to place their respective AHL teams in Saskatoon. Unfortunately, the lease agreement with the arena proclaims that the Saskatoon Blades are the sole tenant, and that can only be broken, if an NHL team were to be moved to the area.
There was a "handshake" agreement between the AHL and the WHL years ago, that prevented each league from invading the other leagues territory. However, the AHL broke that agreement by placing a team in the BC Lower mainland (Abbotsford Heat), when the WHL had granted an expansion team to Chiliwack.
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I just moved to Toronto and the Marlies and the 3 CIS teams here are by far the best deal on hockey. It's interesting out west, senior hockey does really great in communities where there is no junior team, but struggles otherwise despite being a far superior level of hockey being played by men.
As the current entertainment landscape evolves I think junior hockey in its current state faces a reassessment in a lot of areas. A lot of what you mentioned fits in line with the establishment of teams in their communities being a known commodity to the market in Canada. The AHL is an unknown commodity with fewer regional rivals. However, junior hockey is barely comparable to junior football if the AHL is comparable to the CFL. AHL is great entertainment that is faster, stronger, and quicker than junior hockey featuring players that are more physically mature with higher levels of athleticism.