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Originally Posted by WildBill  I just don't get London? Why not a place with a real hockey following like Stockholm or Prague? Further I don't get what one game in a market does to grow that market? People there either like the game or they don't, but how does one game there add that many fans? |
To answer the first question, exposure, if not forget Prague and Stockholm and just play the game in Toronto or Montreal since those are well established hockey markets. As for the second question, hard to say, I'm pretty sure the Super Bowl in Europe would do a lot for the NFL in Europe, then again perhaps not. It's hard to measure that kind of impact.
I'm sure the NHL wont lose fans in London by having the game there but they could certainly gain some. Also, I'm confident season ticket holders wont get too bent out of shape since they have 40 other home games to attend to. The NFL season ticket holders on the other hand might put up more of a fuss and would have more of a legitimate beef seeing as they're only 8 home games.