In this past Sunday’s Toronto Star, columnist Rick Westhead reported that the NHL is considering using goalies as billboards to generate more revenue for the league. According to Westhead, there is a “Goaltender’s Club” — consisting of at least Martin Brodeur, Marty Turco, Dominik Hasek and Dwayne Roloson — that has presented the idea of having advertisements from sponsors put on all goalie’s jerseys in the NHL. It is speculated that this advertising could generate up to $30 million in revenue for the league. Can’t you see it now? Dominik Hasek, brought to you by Requip (restless leg syndrome drug)…

The NHL is either really hurting for money, or they are really trying to turn fans off from the game…. Gary “Blue Skies” Bettman always says things have never been better financially for the league because of the collective bargaining agreement that was reached in 2005, and because of the overall health of the game. What Gary Bettman always forgets to mention when being questioned about the league’s financial health and the reason for it, is what Westhead points out in his article: “Consider that while just six of the NHL’s 30 teams are based in Canada, they account for close to one-third of the league’s overall revenue. And since September 2005 alone, the Canadian dollar has surged some 19 per cent in value, from 83.9 cents U.S. to parity. The loonie’s climb may be responsible for as much as half of the league’s revenue gains since the lockout, says one source familiar with NHL finances.” Furthermore, ticket prices are higher than ever this year (wasn’t the CBA supposed to help lower ticket prices for fans?), which is also the reason for greater revenue.

Just like us, we’re sure you are all sick enough of all of the advertising that already exists in the NHL… from the ads on the boards, ads on the ice, ads all over arenas, ads on TV (especially during the games), ads in the newspapers, ads in magazines, ads on our web site and others, etc… but to put ads on our favorite players?!!! That is an insult to fans and to the players, we would think.
We understand the need for the NHL to make money to survive, but we also think there are a lot of better ways that the league could $30 million per year. What about moving the Nashville Predators to Hamilton, where they were going to go if Bettman hadn’t interfered and taken the team away from Jim Balsillie?? There needs to be more hockey teams in Canada! That is where the biggest fan base is, where the game of hockey got off the ground, and right now, where the league is earning its most money! Next, get rid of the teams in the markets that are failing… Tampa Bay, Phoenix, Atlanta, Nashville (move them to Hamilton) and Florida. That would give us 26 teams in the league, and allow each of the teams to play one another more often, creating more rivalries (and bringing back old ones), thus increasing the enthusiasm from the fans. Next… lower the tickets prices so that you start selling out the games more… with the way the economy is, we would guess the reason why many teams aren’t selling out is simply because the average fan cannot afford to go to many games. Lower tickets $5-10 and you might see a higher turnout, and thus, more money if the difference is made up. Plus think of all the extra money these extra fans would spend on concessions, team paraphernalia, and so on. And lastly, reduce Gary Bettman’s salary from $2 million per year, to at least $1 million.

Our idea of lowering ticket prices so more fans come to games also requires the fans to want to go to games… if you start putting more ads on players, this could be a huge turn-off for fans, and keep them away from games. There are a lot of other reasons why fans still might not go to the games, but we don’t have room to cover all of ways that Gary Bettman has messed up the game here.

However, if the NHL does decide to move ahead with this plan to put advertisements of sponsors on the jerseys of all goalies in the league, we would be first in line to put a FireBettman ad on each of the goalies! What would Gary Bettman think of this money making idea then?