Is the Weak Dollar Putting Hockey at Risk?
November 19, 2008 by Jeanne Dupuis
Filed under NHL, News
Will a weak Canadian dollar put our hockey teams at risk? Montreal Canadiens president, Pierre Boivin, seems worried. Despite the fact that the six Canadian of the 30 hockey teams (Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver) bring in more than a third of the total revenue for the the NHL, Boivin is afraid that dark times could really be ahead. It’s not just the low value of the dollar, he says, but also the revenue-sharing deal that’s currently in place.
"We better not return to a 78-cent Canadian dollar because we’ll be in the same position we were before the work stoppage," Boivin told reporters. "It’s a reality for Canadian teams."
That’s a terrifying statement considering the fact that today, at closing, our dollar was at 79.83 US cents.
This whole situation hardly seems fair. Canadian teams shouldn’t have to worry about this. Those six teams are helping pay for those in weaker markets like Nashville and Anaheim (don’t get me started on that one again).
I know the tickets for games in Canadian cities sell out like crazy but it doesn’t matter since a team like Montreal, who has had more than 150 straight sellouts at the Bell Centre, will still have to dish out $18 million this year under the revenue-sharing deal.
I find this extremely frustrating and unsettling and, while I realize there are more important things at stake here, I hope Canadian hockey teams don’t suffer while it is clear that the fans are still finding a way to buy tickets. It’s so wrong, I can’t even explain it.
Image: TSN
