NHL in Europe - Never Going to Happen ?
Why… There are so many Big NHL and Hockeyfans in Europe. There are so many NHL Superstars from Europe. The Fans in Europe are going crazy in the Stadium. Many of the NHL Players who where here in Europe to play the NHL Seasonopener in 07 and 08 said, that this was a great experience. I think it would happen and it would work with some “European NHL Teams” . Believe me.

Posted by Monty on 10/07/08 at 12:49 PM ET

I don’t think anyone’s denying that there is interest in hockey, or even a degree of pre-existing NHL association with Europe.  But it’s simple logistics.  I’ve never flown to Europe, myself, but I know enough people who have to know you’re going to be jet-lagged up the ass for the first day or two.  So you’ll have huge delays in the schedule going both ways.  Then you have the time difference, which would put face-off for an evening game around noon hour, give or take.  Then there’s the flight times.  For example, there are no direct flights, at least on Air Canada, from Montreal to Stockholm: most go through London or Frankfurt, and many of those also require a stop in Toronto or Ottawa first.  The best you can hope for for a flight time looks to be around ten hours, at a cost of around $900, for just the ticket; then you have all your taxes, etc.  (Slower flights are cheaper, but even more impractical.) Even if the team flies a chartered plane out directly, is it going to be that much faster, or cheaper?  Have you seen pump prices lately?  They’ve calmed down a bit over the last few weeks, but that stuff’s still expensive as hell.

The bottom line is that a transcontinental league, in any sport, is horrifically impractical, particularly given present technology and economic conditions.  Even the world’s game, football/soccer, tends to keep transcontinental matches in the realm of international play, i.e. with national sides, rather than club sides, except for perhaps the odd friendly, like the recent match between West Ham and the MLS All-Stars.

Posted by Doogie2K from Calgary on 10/07/08 at 07:28 PM ET

I just don’t understand how anyone can think a decision the league makes is even remotely based on an application of common sense.

If it’s more money, it’s going to happen.  Sure, the NHL wouldn’t expand into Europe for only a small profit, but if they run the numbers and figure the entry fee for 4-6 European teams and any related growth in domestic franchise values was significant enough… well, that’s it.

At the end of the day if we’ve learned nothing else about Bettman and the rest of the NHL stooges it’s how little they care about the game itself compared to the dolalrs they can make from whoring it out to any number of felons or soon to be such, pulling the plug on a whole season, or just generally sounding like clueless dillweeds every time they crack their teeth on a subject.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 10/07/08 at 09:10 PM ET