Canadian NHL Expansion: Divided We Fall

There's been lots of articles over the past six months about NHL expansion/relocation to Canada. 

In the last months of 2009, it was Quebec making all the announcements.  Lately it has been Winnipeg. 

Let's recap the current situation in Hamilton, Quebec, and Winnipeg.

Hamilton

Has everything needed to start an NHL franchise tomorrow except that it is hated by the NHL which wants to preserve the southern Ontario market as a Toronto-Buffalo monopoly.

The NHL continues to not state clear terms for another southern Ontario franchise, though there have been reports of an expansion fee as high as $400 million.  Hamilton continues to be toyed with by the NHL.

Quebec

Has a first class investor, Quebecor, which is wealthy enough to front a bid, but not rich enough to build a new arena. 

Is willing to comply with all of Gary Bettman's unofficial expansion/relocation terms, but is stuck because it can't find enough investors.  The city is willing to throw $50 million towards a new arena.

Currently wasting money on a "feasibility study" which it hopes will attract investors if the result is favorable.

Winnipeg

Currently spreading rumors about the return of the Jets which actually have little substance to them.

Has an unacceptable too-small arena of 15,000.

Have potentially acceptable investors in Chipman and Thomson who are content to remain behind the scenes background figures.

Because of the size of their arena and the status of their investors, the NHL only rates returning to Winnipeg as a "backup plan."

In addition, all three cities face potential opposition from the Canadian NHL franchise owners who don't want to share Canadian TV money.

The only thing that is clear is that Canadians are divided as usual over NHL hockey and that is why there has been little progress towards getting a team.   As usual, Canadians are their own worst enemies.

Let's look at the divisions.

First there is the opposition of Canadian franchise owners to more Canadian teams.  Besides the TV money issue, which has plagued Canadian expansion since 1967, Toronto wants to maintain its monopoly over the southern Ontario market.

When it came to territorial disputes, both Los Angeles and New York were able to settle their differences in a reasonable manner, but not the Maple Leafs, who have put out a mediocre to bad product going on five decades and don't want a competent rival showing them up.

The last five years have shown them more interested in profits than playoffs.  As I've said in previous articles, being a Canadian NHL franchise owner is not the same as being a Canadian hockey fan.

Second, there is Winnipeg megalomania.  When Balsillie was struggling to get Hamilton a franchise, and Quebec was attempting to put a competent investor group together, there were several articles and comments both here on B/R and in the Winnipeg local media that were anti-Quebec and anti-Hamilton.

Moreover most of Winnipeg's arguments about why it should get a franchise again are based on how bad the American teams are instead of how good Winnipeg is.

Winnipeg has done nothing to comply with Gary Bettman's unofficial terms which include an NHL-size arena and is trying convince the NHL that it can run a franchise the same way it ran the Jets before—on the cheap.

But the NHL is not buying it.  They want an NHL-size 18,000 seat arena and competent investors who will front a bid, address the arena issue, and not lurk in the background.  So instead of being front-runners, Chipman and Thomson are merely backups.

Third, there is the usual French-Canadian nationalist/separatist garbage.  It is quite obvious that Quebec needs more capital, but no French Canadian investor has stepped forward to join Quebecor.

Quebec needs to find the money from somewhere and is trying to play up the idea that the arena is needed for a bid for the Winter Olympics and therefore is deserving of Provincial and Federal Government money.

But getting government money for such a questionable purpose is highly unlikely. 

Quebec needs more private investors and since it can't find many within its own province, needs to look outside its boundaries.

But what will the nationalists and separatists say?

Do they want any English Canadian owners?

Will English Canaidan investors even trust Quebec with its anti-English policies and organized political parties pledged to remove the province from Canada?

I've recently read some interesting solutions to the divisions. 

One would be Thomson fronting a bid to bring a team to his native southern Ontario.

Another would have Canadians banding together and boycotting the NHL until more teams are added.  Sadly there is too much greed, apathy, and jealousy to make that a possibility.

Canadians are addicted to the NHL like a drug.  There would be a better chance of success if a rival league like the WHA was around that was offering an equal or superior product.

The obvious solution would be for Thomson to join Quebecor to build an arena and front a bid in Quebec City.

It would be an overwhelming combination, one that would guarantee a long-term competitive franchise.

The very least it would do would be to call Bettman's bluff over Canadian NHL expansion/relocation.

He's been openly encouraging Quebec to build a $400 million arena and a Thomson-Quebecor partnership would be able to do that easily.

Instead Canada remains divided over NHL expansion with Bettman able to play off the different factions against each other with ease.

Five of my first six B/R articles were about the history of NHL expansion to Canada.

But the theme of those articles was not how Americans had stolen the NHL from Canada but how Canadians have been their own worst enemies for nearly five decades.

Sadly, in 2010, that still appears to be true.