NHL

Want to save the NHL? Here’s the plan

Shorten schedule, limit playoff teams, for starters

Jonathan Daniel / Getty Images file

Chicago defenseman Johnathan Aitken, left, fights with Columbus’ Jody Shelley. The Blackhawks, one of the NHL's original six franchises, are also one of its worst teams today. NBCSports.com's David Sweet illustrates five ways to save the NHL and the Blackhawks.

COMMENTARY

By David Sweet

NBCSports.com contributor

CHICAGO - A franchise once best-known for its raucous home crowd and superstars such as Bobby Hull, the Chicago Blackhawks are now simply a metaphor for a league gone haywire.

They play in the sterile United Center, where scoreboard shots of kissing couples and dirigibles dropping coupons have replaced the booming organ and close-to-the-ice seats of imploded Chicago Stadium. On good nights, 13,000 fans show up, about two-thirds of capacity. They have no superstars, haven’t won a playoff series this century, pay for their games to be broadcast on radio and — believe it or not — don’t bother to televise their home games.

This Original Six franchise, ensconced in the third-biggest television market in the U.S., is just like the National Hockey League these days: struggling, backwards, cheesy and lurching toward minor-league status.

The NHL economic situation is abysmal. The majority of the 30 teams lose money, and two declared bankruptcy within the last 2 years. Player salaries have tripled in a decade to nearly $2 million a year on average, while TV ratings are sliding to oblivion. A family of four spends more than $200 in most NHL cities merely to watch a low-scoring game, pay for parking, and buy hot dogs. Oh, and by the way, next season probably will be canceled, whether by strike or lockout now that the collective bargaining agreement has expired — just the ticket to retain sponsors.

The NHL’s response? One proposal suggested teams be awarded three points for a win, rather than the traditional two.

No spike in ticket sales was reported.

A whole generation has grown up believing the NHL is a second-class league. Considering hockey is the most exciting sport in the land to watch live, and houses the friendliest players of any major sport, it’s a little hard to believe. In fact, you only need return to the 1970s — an era marred by leisure suits and oil crises — to find a successful sport with a then-bright future.

The classic NHL cities — Boston, Montreal, New York and Chicago among them — boasted stirring players, from Bobby Orr to Guy Lafleur to Phil Esposito. Many teams played in cozy buildings beloved by fans, where franchises could draw even in weak years (think Wrigley Field and the Cubs) and fathers could show sons where legendary players such as Maurice Richard skated. Nationally broadcast games were shown on free TV all season long.

Then, once John Ziegler was named commissioner, the missteps began. The league struck a TV deal with cable’s Sports Channel, guaranteeing the Stanley Cup would be unseen in a slew of major cities. Expansion took off, meaning scores of former lifelong minor leaguers were playing in the bigs. At one point, 16 of 21 teams made the playoffs, rendering the regular season meaningless.

And now, the prospect of a 2004-2005 season shutdown could be the death knell. Once season-ticket holders find out what it’s like to have an extra $5,000 in their pockets each winter, they may not come back. And the NHL depends on ticket sales more than any other league: National Football League teams, for instance, get about 20 times more in television revenue than NHL franchises.

What can the NHL do to get back in shape and respected? Under the old adage of less is more, here’s a plan:

Eliminate half a dozen underperforming franchises. The Players union will fight it, city mayors will lambaste the league, but let’s face it — there’s no way 30 cities in North America care about the NHL (in fact, did Atlanta ever care?). It’s hard enough to get traditional sites such as New York and Chicago to draw a crowd. Major League Soccer got rid of two franchises a few years back — the NHL can find a way to do it too.

Cut the number of playoff teams in half. This move would make the never-ending regular season meaningful. Games in February would matter. And only the eight most deserving franchises would be skating in May, just like only the eight best baseball teams battle in October.

Lop a dozen games off the schedule. NFL fans go stir-crazy during the one-week break between games. NHL fans sleepwalk through the never-ending season. Back in the days of Bernard “Boom Boom” Geoffrion (why don’t NHL players even have good nicknames anymore?), 70 games were all that were needed to prove a team’s mettle. The season is far too long — the Stanley Cup should not finish on the heels of golf’s U.S. Open.

Before putting on your helmet, put on your salary cap. Nothing upsets hard-core fans more than watching a player, who makes more in three periods than they’ll earn in a decade, dogging it. Obviously, the players’ union has no desire for a cap, so the owners, in exchange for the money they’ll save, should …

Eliminate ads from the rink and cut ticket prices. Here’s a vote for old-time hockey. Scrub the boards of those Southwest ads and cleanse the ice of Molson logos; players are tired of being overshadowed in their own rink. Slice ticket prices in half to introduce a new generation to the game and players to packed houses every night.

It’s a start. If those ideas fail, there’s only one other way to go, judging by that contest in Edmonton before a record-setting crowd:

Hold every game outdoors.

David Sweet is a sports business writer in Chicago. He can be reached at dafsweet@aol.com.