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Post by wgray on Mar 16, 2019 17:51:51 GMT
NIHL are limited to two imports and both cannot ice on the same line. Imports cost not just in wages but fringe benefits and nine would be totally unsustainable. as was said look at the demise of the EPL. Unsustainable for the likes of Telford and Hull?
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iginla
Chick Zamick
Posts: 13,422
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Post by iginla on Mar 16, 2019 17:53:48 GMT
Surely it would be better to have a 20 team top tier league? At which of the two levels? How do you bring a 14 import league and a 2 import league together? Halfway.....an 8 import league. 🤣🤣
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Post by Bagheera on Mar 16, 2019 17:56:25 GMT
Let's just take the sustainable(cough) teams and hope we can join a conference of a bigger European league. Better than messing around with this all the time or bowing to pressure from them. Get the right league with a good tv deal and decent sponsorship that will help cover extra costs. I dont really care if every advert on the ice and new screen is in Russian if it means watching a decent level of hockey.
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Post by Bagheera on Mar 16, 2019 17:59:14 GMT
Sadly this has to have an impact in Guilfors too. Not sure of their financial situation but they have been a great addition to the league. Losing their local rivals may put them under pressure too.
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Higgy
Les Strongman
Posts: 5,292
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Post by Higgy on Mar 16, 2019 18:05:55 GMT
Sadly this has to have an impact in Guilfors too. Not sure of their financial situation but they have been a great addition to the league. Losing their local rivals may put them under pressure too. I think Flames will be ok as they have an owner with deep pockets. Personally I think we may see a return of the conferences next season just to keep the Scottish teams happy.
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Higgy
Les Strongman
Posts: 5,292
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Post by Higgy on Mar 16, 2019 18:08:06 GMT
Or maybe this Leeds teams will test the water in terms of hockey interest in the city before committing to the Elite league in a few years time. Hopefully as soon as the new Hull rink gets signed off I would think the Pirates will step back up. After years of help and handouts playing in front of the same amount of people watching public skating why would Hull ever try to come back up? Big fish in little pond again at the moment. Because their owners have said they want back on the EIHL but are waiting on the rink situation first.
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Post by The Flying Shirt on Mar 16, 2019 18:25:48 GMT
After years of help and handouts playing in front of the same amount of people watching public skating why would Hull ever try to come back up? Big fish in little pond again at the moment. Because their owners have said they want back on the EIHL but are waiting on the rink situation first. They have also said other things completely different
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iginla
Chick Zamick
Posts: 13,422
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Post by iginla on Mar 16, 2019 18:26:35 GMT
Can’t find a current table of this years average attendances,but looking through a fair few game sheets it would seem MK have averaged approx 1700 fans per home game. That’s not far short of Coventry’s attendances,just less than Guildford,similar to Fife,more than Manchester and loads more than Dundee.
If MK can’t afford it then some of the other teams must be sailing very close to the wind and how the heck are Storm and Stars surviving ?
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Post by The Flying Shirt on Mar 16, 2019 18:28:27 GMT
Very poor levels of sponsorship and very little TV. It's a minority sport punching above its weight. So what's MK's incentive then? The EPL finishing.
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Post by The Flying Shirt on Mar 16, 2019 18:31:18 GMT
Can’t find a current table of this years average attendances,but looking through a fair few game sheets it would seem MK have averaged approx 1700 fans per home game. That’s not far short of Coventry’s attendances,just less than Guildford,similar to Fife,more than Manchester and loads more than Dundee. If MK can’t afford it then some of the other teams must be sailing very close to the wind and how the heck are Storm and Stars surviving ? People mistake hockey owners as fans not businessmen. There are bound to be big changes bulldozed through this summer.
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Post by humbucker on Mar 16, 2019 19:06:14 GMT
Over the many years that I have both watched and participated in this sport at a number of levels to include team promotion, sustainability has nearly always eluded the majority of clubs. Sponsorship was always a major headache and achieving sufficient from sponsorship and gate receipts an even greater headache. Trying to avoid the temptation to use a rubber cheque book will always be present but fortunately in my time we avoided this by icing a lesser but committed team, and we remained in the game, whilst others became but a distant memory. Panthers had their lean times and came close to the edge on a number of occasions only just managing to survive. In those dark distant days we initially went with three imports and appeared in front of a packed ice rink at almost every home game but still struggled to keep our heads above water. Times have certainly not changed for many clubs today. As a number may know my interest lies with the Lions as I gave up on the Panthers sometime ago. Perhaps what may be considered by some purists to be rather perverse I actually enjoy ice hockey still and the kids don't give in half measures and that is does it for me. It is of course cheaper as well.
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Post by jdizpt8 on Mar 17, 2019 10:14:11 GMT
All those that want to leave please do, the teams that remain scrap the import/Brit rule and join a European league with other teams who are in a similar position.
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Shaggy
Forum Moderator
Am I a cynical idealist or an idealistic cynic?
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Post by Shaggy on Mar 17, 2019 10:52:44 GMT
All those that want to leave please do, the teams that remain scrap the import/Brit rule and join a European league with other teams who are in a similar position. And do you have any suggestions for the real world? Even if that was practical, even feasible (which, with only a very little thought, anyone can see that it's not)... I flat guarantee that we'd have MORE complaints from fans about the league, not less!
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Jord v4
Ken Westman
Harbinger of Doom
Posts: 2,714
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Post by Jord v4 on Mar 17, 2019 10:53:18 GMT
So what's MK's incentive then? The EPL finishing. So just returning to familiar territory but under a new name?
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Shaggy
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Am I a cynical idealist or an idealistic cynic?
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Post by Shaggy on Mar 17, 2019 11:02:54 GMT
So just returning to familiar territory but under a new name? Apparently not... it would appear that this new upper division of NIHL will retain the 2-import limit that the rest of the NIHL has to use (whether it will retain the only-one-import-on-the-ice rule remains to be seen)... the EPL had a 4-import limit. But the costs will be far lower. So will the skill level, so it remains to be seen whether the possible/likely/certain (delete according to prejudice) drop in fan attendance will negate any of that. Especially seeing as surely they will have to drop ticket prices massively as well... also decreasing income.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2019 11:08:59 GMT
British hockey is once again on its knees.. it must be the worst ran minority sport in the U.K.! it seems whoever finishes bottom of the league pulls out the following year these days lol.
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Post by The Flying Shirt on Mar 17, 2019 11:43:26 GMT
So just returning to familiar territory but under a new name? All about the ££££ and making ends meet
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Post by jdizpt8 on Mar 17, 2019 12:21:51 GMT
All those that want to leave please do, the teams that remain scrap the import/Brit rule and join a European league with other teams who are in a similar position. And do you have any suggestions for the real world? Even if that was practical, even feasible (which, with only a very little thought, anyone can see that it's not)... I flat guarantee that we'd have MORE complaints from fans about the league, not less! Forever bored of moaning about the league expanding then it doesn’t, then it does but then team leave. The whole thing is a mess. As long as team owners are in control of the league one way or another the league will never grow into anything more than it is. I know I should care more about the GB side of the game but I don’t, I just want to see the best possible product on the ice to make it worth the entry fee on a consistent basis. Those that want to leave they can, join the new NIHL Prem and the brits can play there, the teams that stay in the EIHL have no import limit just a wage cap and let them go.
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Shaggy
Forum Moderator
Am I a cynical idealist or an idealistic cynic?
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Post by Shaggy on Mar 17, 2019 14:29:11 GMT
And do you have any suggestions for the real world? Even if that was practical, even feasible (which, with only a very little thought, anyone can see that it's not)... I flat guarantee that we'd have MORE complaints from fans about the league, not less! Forever bored of moaning about the league expanding then it doesn’t, then it does but then team leave. The whole thing is a mess. As long as team owners are in control of the league one way or another the league will never grow into anything more than it is. I know I should care more about the GB side of the game but I don’t, I just want to see the best possible product on the ice to make it worth the entry fee on a consistent basis. Those that want to leave they can, join the new NIHL Prem and the brits can play there, the teams that stay in the EIHL have no import limit just a wage cap and let them go. Wage cap? Oh, you've done it now! That'll be you instantly being put on several people's hit-list! Obviously I can't agree with you on the GB/Brits side of things... but you're not wrong about the state of the league, and the sport as a whole, in this country. It's pathetic. Just removing the import limit is not going to help... they did that with the Superleague, and look what happened to that... crash and burn. Messing around with the import limit is a so-called 'quick fix' which ends up not fixing anything. Great, so let's replace hard-working homegrown talent with yet more imports, half of whom don't give much of a toss and stay for a year or two at most (and frequently less, given half a chance!). The only way to truly improve the sport in this country is to build a proper and efficient governing structure, and make some real effort into developing British players, with imports added. Otherwise it'll just be same old, same old...
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Jord v4
Ken Westman
Harbinger of Doom
Posts: 2,714
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Post by Jord v4 on Mar 17, 2019 14:44:19 GMT
So it's a case of having a go at the EIHL format but preferring yo go back to the lower wages/cost league.
Wonder how much cash they have lost this season, if any at all....
Seems a danger sign to the EIHL to me. A club that can possibly afford to be competitive but chooses not to. Can't be a goo thing surely.
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DJP
Jade Galbraith
Posts: 82
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Post by DJP on Mar 18, 2019 17:20:48 GMT
League attendances over the last three seasons (2016/7, 2017/8, 2018/9 to date - earliest season first):
Sheffield: 4955 - 5352 - 6085 Panthers: 5741 - 5674 - 5732 Belfast: 4616 - 4525 - 4279 Cardiff: 2969 - 2986 - 2955 Glasgow: 3079 - 2993 - 2679 Coventry: 2304 - 2151 - 2069 Fife: 1897 - 1808 - 1564 Manchester: 1352 - 1592 - 1426 Dundee: 962 - 1141 - 1208 Edinburgh: 843 - 662 Guildford: 1776 - 1799 Milton Keynes: 1626 - 1560
Average: 2872 - 2690 - 2875
Source: EIHL website
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2019 17:39:21 GMT
League attendances over the last three seasons (2016/7, 2017/8, 2018/9 to date - earliest season first): Sheffield: 4955 - 5352 - 6085 Panthers: 5741 - 5674 - 5732 Belfast: 4616 - 4525 - 4279 Cardiff: 2969 - 2986 - 2955 Glasgow: 3079 - 2993 - 2679 Coventry: 2304 - 2151 - 2069 Fife: 1897 - 1808 - 1564 Manchester: 1352 - 1592 - 1426 Dundee: 962 - 1141 - 1208 Edinburgh: 843 - 662 Guildford: 1776 - 1799 Milton Keynes: 1626 - 1560 Average: 2872 - 2690 - 2875 Source: EIHL website Interesting figures. If it wasn't for Sheffield removing Ice Sheffield games then the league attendance would be easily down on where it was 3 years ago. Does anybody know if Tony Hand's Edinburgh deal is still on the table? Just wondering if the EIHL would now reconsider that offer as a way to help Dundee and Fife to persist with EIHL hockey. Either way, until there are more arena teams in this country we will always see the odd rink team drop out now and then, I don't think it makes the league a joke, just a consequence of this country having too few venues capable of supporting top quality professional Ice Hockey teams.
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Post by kievthegreat on Mar 19, 2019 17:26:53 GMT
Some interesting stuff in the Star. McKay's lawyers apparently saying if they don't receive payment owed (40 weeks salary) they'll file a winding up petition. Also says lots of agents are due money and fees. Interestingly says that the EIHL blocked MK from signing players because of their cash problems. With link: www.pressreader.com/uk/daily-star/20190319/282531544734962
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Post by kievthegreat on Mar 19, 2019 17:30:56 GMT
Oh and that planet ice want to keep EIHL hockey in MK.
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loupowell52
Robert Lachowicz
Grape Aficionado
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Post by loupowell52 on Mar 27, 2019 7:08:55 GMT
If, as now seems almost certain, Milton Keynes Lightning do drop out of the EIHL then it will be a very sad day for that club, their fabulous fans and the sport in general in these shores. I wonder what checks or assurances are carried out on potential new additions to the EIHL and by whom. Reading an article in the Challenge Cup Final programme written by a member of Guildford's Management Team it seems almost like a 'phone call to Tony Smith is all that is needed to start the ball rolling towards gaining membership. In recent seasons we have lost Edinburgh and Hull and now probably MK. Lots of hot air about possible new teams in London, Bristol, Brighton, Liverpool and Dublin but still nothing has actually transpired. Will a Leeds based team in another Big Blue Tent or an inferior Hull based team really 'cut the mustard' ? Oh woe is me.
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