Yes, Mark, I was thinking about that. I cant help but believe the NHL
will trim back to maybe the strongest 16 cities and leave it at that. It
might have large implications for the young kids contemplating hockey
... like maybe the odds would be better in baseball :-)

The hotbed argument is why I chose Boston as an example, say, instead of
Florida .... Boston is minus the Bruins and has a lot of college teams
nearby. I wonder if their attendance, in total , has increased?

Something to think about while Erik is busy scouring the newspaper
archives for 1976 FF articles :-)

Tony Buffa
RPI '64

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Mark Lewin wrote:

>I wouldn't be surprised if minor league and college hockey attendance
>was up slightly this year, although most NHL cities are not college
>hockey hotbeds.  However, here is an interesting point to ponder:
>Suppose the NHL goes out of business. Or more likely, suppose that the
>NHL abandons their expansion plans and actually cuts back on the
>number of teams, trying to consolidate their profit in the cities
>where hockey is popular.  With the resulting decrease in the number
>players that will make it to the NHL, I wonder if the number of kids
>who play junior, prep school or college hockey will decrease. Some
>number of athletes compete at the college level for the pure love of
>the sport with no intentions of ever playing professionally after
>their college careers.  However, there are significant numbers of
>athletes who play college hockey with the intent of being scouted,
>drafted and signed to professional contracts. I wonder if a decreased
>number of roster spots in the NHL would cause these "career minded"
>hockey players to reconsider their choices.
>
>
>