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Originally Posted by Resolute 14
You're missing the point, Wilder. The purpose of the KHL is not to be profitable. The league has a hard salary cap of about $36 million per team, but there are all kinds of ways around it. Most significantly, the clause allowing each team to poach a player eligible for the Russian national team from the NHL. Nevermind the under-the-table payments. The seven worst NHL teams by attendance in 2011-12 matched the entire KHL last season. The league doesn't release much in the way of financials, but there is no way it is remotely close to profitable.
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I can understand that the Russian teams in the KHL are owned by billionaires who don't care about pouring millions into their teams. But where are the other suckers in Europe coming from? And now talk of expanding into Asia?
Like I said, I'm curious about how much they're getting for an expansion franchise. Either it's a big ponzi scheme or they're hoping to one day be the dominant hockey league in the world by dominating markets in Europe and Asia. They're spending now in the hopes of making big money down the road.
If there are owners like that over there why aren't there more owners like that here in North America? Or maybe they aren't just throwing money away. Billionaires generally didn't become billionaires by being fools.