bill (Login billybeee) from IP address 217.35.44.156
Sheffield are in the BNL next year along with London but Belfast though may well struggle to be admitted unless they are able to pay the opposition flight costs.Nottingham are apparentely not welcome because of their owners(Neil Black)attitude and recent comments.The league could be divided into conferences,North and South in order to keep costs down. All rumours at present but in my opinion positive for the future.
ps. £300,000 wage cap (probably)!!
Maybe play the teams in your confrence 2 or 3 times home and away and play the other confrence teams once home and away. Its also good because then we will have two confrence champions and eventually the playoff champions who will be the overall british champions.. the way hockey should be IMO
What now for the future? Well here’s a few of my thoughts: -
1. Ice hockey
The sooner we stop kidding ourselves that ice hockey is anything other than a very minor sport, the better chance we have of survival.
I think the success of the Steelers and later the Storm lulled many into a false sense of security regarding the popularity of our sport. Because of the big crowds at these 2 clubs the ISL was set up as an all import/professional league with all the associated costs that come with it. However, with such costs also come increased admission charges and this is where I think the ISL failed.
The sport isn’t/wasn’t as popular as many would have us believe, fans were just not willing to pay anything more than £7 to £8 for tickets and as soon as the admission went above this we started to see a substantial drop in crowds. Smaller crowds = reduced revenue = increased ticket charges etc….and so the circle goes on until the club can no longer afford to continue. That’s what appears to have happened in the case of Manchester, Sheffield (in the past) and to a lesser extent the Eagles.
For ice hockey to succeed it needs to attract the casual supporters, that will only happen if the price of tickets is comparable to the cinema, bowling and many other similar forms of family entertainment.
Therefore I propose the following
2. Admission
I’d make the admission for a new league £7 - £8 adults, £3 - £4 children (and concessions) and £20 for a family ticket of 4 (2 adults and 2 children).
Although clubs may lose out on the money made on individual tickets, the likelihood is that attendances will start to increase as the casual supporters return. The clubs will then benefit from all the knock on effects that increased attendances have (ie. Increased merchandising, advertising etc).
3. Costs
To safeguard the owner’s investment and limit potential exposure to losses, the clubs will have to significantly reduce their costs. The arena rents are set, so this would have to be through the playing staff.
My proposal would be: -
5 Imports per team with a total wage cap of £100,000
5 British born and trained full time professionals with a total wage cap of £80,000 and
10 Semi-professionals who are paid a maximum of £100 per game (works out at £50,000 for a 50 game season)
Not only does this work out at £170,000 less than the current ISL wage cap, but there would also be substantial savings on flights from Canada, housing, hire of cars etc.
I’m not sure if the above is legal under current EU legislation, but if it isn’t, then just make it a gentleman’s agreement and not a rule of the league….let’s just hope they’re all gentlemen.
4. The legue structure
I would propose splitting the league down into regions to save on travel costs and increase the number of local Derbies: -
a. Northern Ireland and Scotland
Ayr
Belfast
Glasgow
Fife
Dundee
Edinburgh
b. Central and North England
Sheffield
Manchester
Nottingham
Hull
Coventry
Newcastle
c. South England and Wales
London
Guildford
Basingstoke
Cardiff
Bracknell
Milton Keynes
Each team would play a team in their own conference 4 times (2 home and 2 away) and a team from an opposing conference 2 times (1 home and 1 away). That would be a total of 44 games.
There would be an overall league champion (most points) and individual conference champions.
I would also suggest resurrecting a cup competition on the lines of the B & H cup, aswell as a Challenge cup type event and an end of season play-offs….similar to what we have now.
My final proposal is quite radical and possibly a non-starter for a number of reasons, but here goes anyway.
To try and even the league out if it looks like certain teams are running away with it, how about letting the bottom 6 clubs employ 2 additional imports at the start of the New Year and the middle 6 clubs 1 additional import. This would have to be reflected in a new wage cap figure for these teams.
Sorry for the long post, but this last week has been really trying for all ice hockey fans and I just wanted to put a few thoughts forward.
I have a simple message for all owners of ISL and BNL teams……United we stand, divided we fall.
Concessions for £4 being a personal favourite of mine
Local confrences are the way forward. A new fan coming to a game with substantial away support and thus a better atmosphere is far more likley to get hooked!
.......But you're only going to pay the 5 British professionals £80,000, that's £16,000 each AND expect them to provide their own housing and cars.
Sorry, but I can't see you making hockey an attractive career at those salary levels. Far better for them to stay in their proper job and collect their £100 per game (£3000 per season) as semi-pro's.
Doom you have some really good ideas, but you're obsessed with reducing the entrance costs to those of 10 years ago. Face facts hockey is subject to inflation much the same as everything else, nothing costs the same now.
The biggest problem with Hockey in the UK is lack of Marketing. Get the marketing right and the crowds will come back, probably not to 92/93 levels but certainly above those we are currently seeing.
A bit premature. Until there is official confirmation of this then I think it is reasonable to say there is equally a chance that Sheffield could be twiddling their thumbs doing very little.
Bracknell have only given the ISL their notice of their 'intent' to join FBNL. Basically, it is upto the FBNL whether they want us back so it is in the lap of the gods.
A continuation of the ISL poaching a few BNL clubs is also an option.
It's still all underdecided with ideas flying around. I am just waiting and watching.
.