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The Clubhouse Bar
Rugby VS. American Football
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<blockquote data-quote="AM_Bokke" data-source="post: 874923" data-attributes="member: 76028"><p>yeah, I remember in the 90s all of the best players were always in the Stanley Cup playoffs and the trade deadline was like the beginning of the "real" season. While the trade deadline still matters the teams don't have the financial flexibility anymore to make sure that all of the best players are always in the playoffs, which is bad because there are great players like Jonathan Huberdeau at the panthers that I have never seen play because his team is not good enough to make the playoffs and he has a large contract so can't be traded easily . I still like to follow the Stanley Cup playoffs though. I think that it is very compelling when one of my teams make a deep cup run. </p><p></p><p>But hey, I saw your post about the NFL - AFL merger a few weeks ago and I was thinking that the better comparison for rugby union league structures and finances going forward is the NHL and WHA in the 1970s. The NHL was a very well established but small league in terms of teams and markets and the WHA was created because the sport was seen as a growth opportunity. New arenas in the 70s are sort of the equivalent of broadcasting deals in the early 2000s in that investors were just trying to throw enough sporting content at them to see if people would attend (now watch). Hockey, like rugby, is a sport that most people at least know about but have very little playing or cultural relationship with. But in the regions where it is big, it is pretty big. </p><p></p><p>Some WHA teams survived and merged with the NHL but most went out of business. In the current professional rugby landscape of financial losses (England, Oz, France, SA, probably more) I can't really see all of the professional teams surviving. I think that sports broadcasting has peaked financially. Fewer people are watching pretty much all leagues - NFL and English Premier League included. ESPN is laying people off. An interesting broadcasting deal up pretty soon in the states is college football's Big Ten and we will see how it goes. </p><p></p><p>Yeah, I see sports broadcasting contracting and I think that will lead to investors leaving the market and a further contraction of the total number of professional teams.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AM_Bokke, post: 874923, member: 76028"] yeah, I remember in the 90s all of the best players were always in the Stanley Cup playoffs and the trade deadline was like the beginning of the "real" season. While the trade deadline still matters the teams don't have the financial flexibility anymore to make sure that all of the best players are always in the playoffs, which is bad because there are great players like Jonathan Huberdeau at the panthers that I have never seen play because his team is not good enough to make the playoffs and he has a large contract so can't be traded easily . I still like to follow the Stanley Cup playoffs though. I think that it is very compelling when one of my teams make a deep cup run. But hey, I saw your post about the NFL - AFL merger a few weeks ago and I was thinking that the better comparison for rugby union league structures and finances going forward is the NHL and WHA in the 1970s. The NHL was a very well established but small league in terms of teams and markets and the WHA was created because the sport was seen as a growth opportunity. New arenas in the 70s are sort of the equivalent of broadcasting deals in the early 2000s in that investors were just trying to throw enough sporting content at them to see if people would attend (now watch). Hockey, like rugby, is a sport that most people at least know about but have very little playing or cultural relationship with. But in the regions where it is big, it is pretty big. Some WHA teams survived and merged with the NHL but most went out of business. In the current professional rugby landscape of financial losses (England, Oz, France, SA, probably more) I can't really see all of the professional teams surviving. I think that sports broadcasting has peaked financially. Fewer people are watching pretty much all leagues - NFL and English Premier League included. ESPN is laying people off. An interesting broadcasting deal up pretty soon in the states is college football's Big Ten and we will see how it goes. Yeah, I see sports broadcasting contracting and I think that will lead to investors leaving the market and a further contraction of the total number of professional teams. [/QUOTE]
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