HabsCast Hockey Blog

Would Southern NCAA Hockey expansion help the NHL?

We all know that the NHL’s Board of Governors decided in the early 1990s on a plan to grow the game in the southern US via expansion in a long-term effort to expose more of the US to the game. The obvious goal is to eventually get a significant US network contract. The board then hired Bettman to carry out this mandate and he himself has seen the league add 4 teams under his watch to increase the league to 24 American teams.

In virtually all the new southern US NHL cities, youth hockey has exploded. Additionally there are now many prospects coming from the South. For example, there are many Californians who currently play in the Canadian Hockey League who have grown up with the game in the post-Gretzky/expansion era.

Now, given the popularity of college sports in the US, and then tie in how many NCAA fans follow their stars when they graduate to the NFL/NBA/MLB - why hasn’t the NCAA expanded hockey into the south?

My thinking (and I am completely ignorant about how NCAA hockey works, so bear with me) is that with an increasing hockey talent pool available in the US, why not expand the number of teams to the south? From what I understand, many Americans do not follow hockey because they simply are not familiar with the game, rules, etc and this is because they have not been exposed to the game. By having more college teams involved, it would expose many college students to the game (in supporting their campus teams) before they become professionals out in the work-force. These former students might be more likely to give NHL/minor-pro hockey a chance due to this exposure, and in following their former college stars. This would help develop a stronger overall hockey market in the US in a positive feedback loop.

Any thoughts to this? I think that the NHL (if they ever discuss such matters together) should be encouraging this. Again, I am not one with NCAA-hockey, so are there any news/talk of expansion? Does anyone else here think that NCAA expansion to the south would help the NHL?

[Topic via HFBoards.com]

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