from Cathal Kelly of the Globe and Mail,
What’s not being considered in this rush to restart is how pandemic hockey affects the NHL next season and beyond. Because once people get a look at this – and assuming it doesn’t collapse midway through – they aren’t going to want to go back. Once the NHL does the same, it won’t want to either, but in a different way.
The most pernicious structural problem facing professional team sports is the size. Success encouraged leagues to embrace a philosophy of constant expansion. More teams, more games, more playoffs, more money.
We had already reached the point where supply was beginning to outstrip demand. Revenues were rising, but audiences were shrinking. We’d reached a crest.
People had started to notice that the NHL is a sports version of The Young and the Restless. You could tune it out for weeks or months and when you rounded back again, not much had changed. Victor was still getting ready to marry Nikki (again).
This is the paradox of the regular season – it takes up most of the scheduling real estate and, in the end, doesn’t matter all that much.
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