Quote:
Originally Posted by troutman
We of all people should appreciate what Bettman is doing. He should give every market, every reasonable chance to make it work. This could be us one day.
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This reasoning has been used for years now. Everytime someone says something about what's going on in bad markets, and Bettmans stubborness towards them, someone throws out the, 'Well if it wasn't for Bettman, Calgary and Edmonton wouldn't have teams right now.'
I take a bit of exception to this argument.
I do agree that he did a lot for our team. You can't disagree with that. However, like with every situation, they are different and should be judged differently.
1. Our biggest problem was the Canadian dollar. Not the fan support, not the business dealings, but the dollar. Which neither the fans or the business could do anything about. And if you let all the Canadian teams disappear from the league because of something which simply cannot be helped, well, it would be devastating for the league. Canada provides the most players, the most viewership, and the most income, not only per capita, but close to hands down. Helping save Canadian franchises was far more important, ESPECIALLY after he was so quick to move Winnipeg and Quebec City.
Which I also agree, needed to be moved at the time. But it would have been nice to see the same fight for them as for these Sun Belt cities.
2. As mentioned in number one, while attendance number were low, they were nothing compared to the problems we are seeing in these southern cities. There is a HUGE difference between 10,000 and 6,000. Or 4,000. The people aren't supporting their team so why should the league?
If people were going to the games and the team was still losing money because of a bad arena or bad dollar, then fine, I understand that. But the local community IS NOT SUPPORTING their teams. So move on.
3. The experiment didn't work. We all know that these teams, and their locales were mainly picked for the possibility of TV contracts. Well, we are still waiting on those. Guess what. It's not going to happen. So if you make a business decision and your number one reason or income source doesn't show, maybe it's time to rethink the decision.
4. Lastly, yes we do owe Bettman thanks for helping save Edmotnon and Calgary. But it's hard to gush when he was part of the problem to begin with. Whether or not he was in charge when most of the expansion plans were made, he was there for some of it, and wholly endorsed it and moved to make it work. The rampant expansion into bad markets watered down the talent of the league cause of the need for new players and was a big part if not the biggest part of driving salaries through the roof. The main problem for the small market teams. So sorry. He didn't save us, he just helped fix his first mistake.
Which is what I'm saying to him right now. Continue to fix this mistake or get the heck out. The league is still not doing great. It needs money and successful franchises. Stop being so proud and admit some of these locales were a bad idea and will never work.
EDIT: Or don't be so high and mighty over these teams and fans when you clearly weren't in Winnipeg and Quebec.
Sorry, I'm in an fiesty mood today. But the point stands. Don't feed us all this bs and expect us to swallow it. It has nothing to do with Glendale, or the Coyotes fans, and it has everything to do with his vision of the league, wanting to hit the home run, and his pride.
And now it's just becoming bad business. The funny thing is every single day this drags, the Balsillie deal looks better for the league and for the city of Glendale.
Looks good on ya Bettman.