argument.contraction/expansion.hockey

With it being summer, everyone on the usual hockey sites are all bitching about the usual topics- relocation/ contraction of southern market teams. Here's my response to everyone in general-

The problem with contraction/ relocation is it doesn't make all that much sense.

Hockey has NEVER been a popular sport in the U.S. All this "dilution of talent" argument is crap. I've been watching hockey for nearly 20 years now and the sport, from my point of view anyway, isn't any bigger or smaller than it ever has been in the U.S. You could contract half the damn league and turn the remaining teams into all-star caliber teams and it still wouldn't be watched or carried by most media markets.

Relocation, frankly, is just as stupid. Fans, largely Canadian ones, love to point at teams like Nashville or Florida or Tampa and whine about how there is no team in Winniquehamiltonbecpeg. Like it hurts the league. Honestly, people. Do you really thinking moving the Preds to wherever is going to make any kind of real difference other than piss off the people in Nashville who actually do like hockey and make Jimmy RIM happy? Explain it to me, because from here it's a wash.

The problem with the NHL is it doesn't know how to market itself. There's no reason why a regional niche sport like NASCAR can be this national phenomenon in the U.S. and NHL hockey can't.