I missed this article yesterday, so in case you missed it...

from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

Of course, hockey’s trough has been a crowded receptacle, as players lapped up money their owners couldn’t afford to spend, while owners gobbled up expansion money from a bunch of cities whose presence was supposed to ensure that dream American TV contract that floats all the other big sports.

We know now that a sport that is not indigenous to two-thirds of U.S. states never gets that mega American TV deal with. Simply placing franchises in football states like Texas, Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina doesn’t get you football money, a misguided fourth-down gamble that will surely be Commissioner Bettman’s legacy.

Today, Gary has his teams in Nashville, Anaheim, Dallas, Florida, Tampa, Carolina, Columbus, Phoenix and San Jose. But he never got the TV deal to go with them.

Worse yet, the only way to make most of those markets tenable is to revenue share.

And isn’t that rich?

The collective financial losses of sunbelt teams over the years will one day surpass their sum total in expansion fees gobbled up by Original 21 owners. Perhaps they have already.

Today, a lockout based on forging an economy in which the Columbus Blue Jackets can make a profit is killing the game.

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