Link.
This would be inredible, and bad. All 30 NHL teams all under the same ownership... I think it would possibly improve the NHL from a business perspective. But I don't like it for two reasons:
- It's bad to put all your eggs in one basket. Geez, isn't there a better alternative phrase than that? Anyway, if the firm proposing to buy the teams folds, what happens to all the teams? Would the league need to round up 30 new suitors? Ick.
- This would hurt fans of teams that have good owners today. Take the MN Wild for example - they've bent over backwards to make the fans a part of the franchise as much as possible and have built a product tailored to Minnesota. I don't believe that those qualities would stay with new ownership.
I hope the NHL board of governers keep rejecting this proposal. The word is that the potential suitors will keep coming back with better offers. It's not worth it to me. The NHL is in bad shape, but not so bad that such a radical action needs to be taken.