Wednesday, February 04, 2004
Hoping in Hamilton
A lawyer is trying to bring the NHL to Hamilton. The Toronto lawyer is trying to purchase an existing team and move it to the Copps Coliseum.
This has less chance of happening then an NHL team to Winnipeg.
Copps Coliseum is a huge white elephant that isn't NHL viable. In one report I saw, it has 12 suites. That is far too low for an NHL building. And from what I can gather, it can't renovate to add additional suites.
The other problem is territorial fees a franchise moving to Hamilton would have to pay. Hamilton is in both the territory of the Maple Leafs and the Sabres. While you would think that the relatively poor Sabres would pose a bigger problem then the megarich Maple Leafs with regards to the territory fees, it will probably be the Maple Leafs that will pose the bigger hurdle.
For Buffalo, a Hamilton team will hurt them at the gate but not so much that a figure can't be reached to compensate for this. Buffalo isn't going to have to worry about a Hamilton team taking away its television deals. In some ways it might help Buffalo to have a Hamilton team in their division. It would mean 3 extra games each year where they can draw fans from both teams to their building.
But when it comes to the Leafs, the Hamilton franchise will cause problems. They won't hurt their attendance but their television deals could be a sticking point. There is limited time on Sportsnet and TSN to broadcast regional NHL hockey and even more limited time on local tv stations because of network commitments. A new NHL team in Hamilton would compete not only with the Leafs but also the Leaf-owned Raptors for broadcast time.
As well, it would be nearly impossible to subdivide the Hamilton-Toronto region into distinct broadcast regions because of the proximity and how the local channels cover both markets. Having two NHL teams would fragment the market. As well, the Leafs have shown that they are not particularly interested in sharing their market by refusing to enter into an agreement with the Ottawa Senators similiar to the one the Senators entered into with Montreal that allows each franchise to broadcast in the other's market.
This has less chance of happening then an NHL team to Winnipeg.
Copps Coliseum is a huge white elephant that isn't NHL viable. In one report I saw, it has 12 suites. That is far too low for an NHL building. And from what I can gather, it can't renovate to add additional suites.
The other problem is territorial fees a franchise moving to Hamilton would have to pay. Hamilton is in both the territory of the Maple Leafs and the Sabres. While you would think that the relatively poor Sabres would pose a bigger problem then the megarich Maple Leafs with regards to the territory fees, it will probably be the Maple Leafs that will pose the bigger hurdle.
For Buffalo, a Hamilton team will hurt them at the gate but not so much that a figure can't be reached to compensate for this. Buffalo isn't going to have to worry about a Hamilton team taking away its television deals. In some ways it might help Buffalo to have a Hamilton team in their division. It would mean 3 extra games each year where they can draw fans from both teams to their building.
But when it comes to the Leafs, the Hamilton franchise will cause problems. They won't hurt their attendance but their television deals could be a sticking point. There is limited time on Sportsnet and TSN to broadcast regional NHL hockey and even more limited time on local tv stations because of network commitments. A new NHL team in Hamilton would compete not only with the Leafs but also the Leaf-owned Raptors for broadcast time.
As well, it would be nearly impossible to subdivide the Hamilton-Toronto region into distinct broadcast regions because of the proximity and how the local channels cover both markets. Having two NHL teams would fragment the market. As well, the Leafs have shown that they are not particularly interested in sharing their market by refusing to enter into an agreement with the Ottawa Senators similiar to the one the Senators entered into with Montreal that allows each franchise to broadcast in the other's market.
