Faceoff Factor

Kings Vs. Ducks, The 2007-08 Season Begins Tonight

Matt Bodenschatz | National Hockey League

Sep 29, 10:54 AM | Hype this story!

The Anaheim Ducks, fresh off a Stanley Cup Championship run, tonight will begin the 2007-08 season against the Los Angeles Kings.

But, in a baffling move by NHL executives, the two teams won’t be playing in Los Angeles or Anaheim. In fact, they won’t even be playing in North America.

Instead, the season’s first two regular season games will be in the hockey hotbed of…London, England?

Apparently the die-hard fans in the United States and Canada who have paid big bucks over the years — some of which have been very difficult to watch hockey — aren’t as important as the European fans who, well, have done very little for the NHL.

Sure, the two games at the brand new 02 Arena in London are sold out, but the game also would have been sold out in Anaheim and Los Angeles.

What gives?

Well, I’ll tell you what gives. It’s the bottom line, the money.

If the NHL can extend its fan base to Europe, more money could be had. Nevermind the fact that the NHL frequently overlooks opportunities to improve upon its on-ice product, fails to promote the game effectively on television and otherwise, and uses a second-rate (at best) “Versus” network as its cable home.

Shouldn’t the game of hockey be fixed in North America before the NHL decides to expand its market to another continent?

According to TSN.ca, this two-game series in London isn’t even generating much buzz other than in the ticket sales department.

“For now the focus is here in London, where the NHL hasn’t exactly taken this city by storm – the NFL’s Miami Dolphins-New York Giants game here later in October is generating more buzz. But the two hockey games did sell out and after minimal media coverage earlier this week the local press were out in decent numbers Friday.”

Sounds like a roaring success.

And, yet, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman already is talking of a possible return, though he wants to wait until after the two-game series to make an official evaluation.

‘‘What we’re going do to is debrief once the experience is over, talk to the teams, talk to the players and make sure, not so much today and tomorrow, but next week when they’re back and they’ve re-adjusted to the time zones that everything is OK,’‘ he said Friday at a news conference.

How about focusing on the game? How about bettering the product and bettering the media coverage in North America?

Then, and only then, should the NHL try to expand its horizons.

The loyal fan bases in Anaheim and Los Angeles are limited, but they exist. And this money-hungry stunt proves the NHL doesn’t care about its true, long-standing fans.

It cares about the bottom line.

Shouldn’t NHL fans in North America have the first opportunity to see their teams play on opening night? I would think so, but apparently the NHL just doesn’t care.