Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk threw out this surprising figure during an interview with The Fan 590 in Toronto on Wednesday: 40 per cent of the NHL's total revenue is earned in Canada.
If Melnyk is correct, a market one-tenth the size of the United States, with only six of the league's 30 clubs (20 per cent) is bringing home a huge chunk of the bacon, Canadian bacon.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman disputed Melnyk's estimate yesterday. Appearing on Toronto radio, he wasn't specific, but said the right number was "significantly less" than 40 per cent.
Is it 30 per cent? Or is it more? The league won't comment, but the guess here is that Canada's contribution to the total pot exceeds 30 per cent.
More Stories
Less debatable is the dollar-strong Canadian market presenting interesting opportunities to the NHL, starting with the relocation of weak U.S. franchises.
Ralph Mellanby, the retired head of Hockey Night in Canada, has been a long-time proponent of a Canadian NHL division. Hockey Night's Ron MacLean once pitched the idea to Bettman, who said the East-West distribution of Canada's teams would create time-zone and travel problems.
But would it? What if two ailing U.S. franchises moved to Hamilton and Winnipeg? A Canadian division would have four teams clustered in the East, plus four more widely dispersed in the West, where teams already travel long distances.
Establishing a Canadian division would not only capitalize on the benefits of a strong market, but also rid the NHL of a problem: With one or two exceptions, Canadian teams are poor draws in the United States. In this country, the most popular matchups for television and the gate are all-Canadian.
Hockey agent Anton Thun returned this week from a business trip in Europe where he talked to people in Stockholm about a possible European NHL division.
They thought it would succeed.
Despite concerns that NHL franchises would cannibalize European elite leagues, the feeling seemed to be that a single NHL team in each European hockey country would not inflict financial damage to existing teams, yet would be a major attraction for the hockey fan.
In addition to a couple of ailing U.S. teams relocating in Hamilton and Winnipeg, what if six more crossed the ocean to set up in Europe?
Okay, we'll stop now, agreeing that the likelihood of any of this happening is slim to zero.
But if it did, the NHL would have an eight-team Canadian division, a six-team loop in Europe, and two divisions of eight each in the United States. And virtually all the franchises would be in markets where enough people enjoy hockey to make the business work.
The new News
The Hockey News has undergone a redesign that has reduced the size of the weekly publication to a magazine format that includes a glossy cover. "One of the reasons we made the switch was to get better facings on the newsstands," editor Jason Kay said.
Among other changes, the News, which celebrated its 60th anniversary this week, has eliminated its traditional team-by-team statistics section, which is now consigned to the website.
"It's the kind of thing the hard-core fan likes to peruse, but it was the kind of thing that was dated by the time we went to press," Kay said. "We're devoting more space to features."
The News is targeting newsstand sales, which plummeted during the 2004-05 NHL lockout and haven't completely recovered. In 1999-2000, 18,896 copies were sold. In the lockout year, that number dropped to 6,652 and then rebounded to 12,874 in 2006-07.
Subscriptions are strong. The News had its best year yet in 2006-07 with subscriptions of 87,439 for a total circulation of 100,748.
MacLean vs. Boomer
Is Ron MacLean feuding with CBC weatherman and horse racing announcer Boomer Gallant? MacLean complained recently Gallant snubbed him at a function. This week on a Toronto radio station, MacLean said, "Boomer wouldn't know a wet front if he wet himself."
The Queen's Plate is returning to the CBC after several years on cable TV. The CBC, which will begin broadcasting the race in 2008, signed a four-year deal with Woodbine Entertainment Group.
In Toronto, long-time sports reporter Kathryn Humphreys has left City-TV after failing to reach an agreement on a new contract. Has she contacted Hockey Night for a job? "Not yet," executive producer Sherali Najak said.
The Score will shoot the university football Yates Cup tomorrow (Western-Guelph) in HDTV.
13