Quote:
Originally Posted by Oil Stain
The Canadian junior league compensation is crap for sure.
Capped at $250 per month for players. So we are talking maybe $2500 per player for stipend, and $9000 for a year's worth of scholarship.
So for a 23 man roster, the players are getting compensated a total of $265,000 per year.
http://https://thehockeynews.com/new...ing-to-players
The Red Deer Rebels for example pay out substantially more than that every year for "Management fees".
"Smith’s report cited the Red Deer Rebels as an example. It pointed out that according to the Rebels’ own financial report, the team paid out $1.49 million in “management fees” in the fiscal 2016 year. That compared to $652,600 in 2012, $400,000 in 2013, $700,000 in 2014 and $725,000 in 2015. “Based on the large increase in the fiscal 2016 management fees,” Smith’s report says, “it appears that a significant portion of those management fees may be a distribution of profit.”"
They paid $1.5 million in management fees in 2016. Probably double that now at least.
If the teams can afford those kind of expenses, they can afford better compensation for players. They end up having to only pay out a small percentage of their scholarship fees as well. Anyone that goes to a pro league for more than one year loses their scholarship, and a lot of players just are unlikely to utilize them anyway. If you become a police officer or fire fighter, or a salesperson you end up getting almost nothing from 4 years of service to the team.
If I was a parent of a potential NHL prospect I would be heavily advocating the NCAA route. The value of a full ride scholarship is worth much more than what the Canadian Junior Leagues offer over a 4 year career, and you don't have to worry about trades, long bus rides 2-3 times per week, or being stuck in a one horse town. |
This will impact Canadian University Hockey more than anything. A good chunk of their recruits are due to NCAA ineligibility.
There is also speculation that bigger programs like UNB or U of A could join the NCAA.
Entertainment wise U Sports is also better entertainment value than the CHL, which has an age bracket that NCAA is closer to replicating. Fewer players are starting college hockey 18 than ever before.
The CHL entertainment is also subsidized by their agreement with the NHL to return 18-19 year olds on NHL contracts to their roster.
Without that, it wouldn’t be much different than Junior A.
Junior hockey should be ages 16-19, and players last choice should be to leave their local area, not their only choice.
This would make local junior hockey stronger as people are more likely to show up to watch local kids.
The CHL is an entertainment sham. Go watch a Wranglers & a Hitmen game & it’s immediately apparent which game has adults not children playing.
The CHL is like selling tickets to the Calgary Colts as if they were the Calgary Stampeders.
In smaller centers with no pro, semi-pro, or even senior hockey option the public doesn’t even have anything to compare it with.
Places like Saskatoon, Regina, or Kelowna could easily support an AHL or ECHL team. They could also charge higher prices than the Wranglers.
If the CHL was to fold or wither away, no one would notice. People could get similar or better entertainment value and it could even sanitize some parts of hockey culture by normalizing living at home until they’re 18 like other adolescent sports.