Not familiar with NHL history myself, but obviously the other league doesn't exist so there was some kind of merger. Was it an equitable merger like the AFL and NFL in our timeline? Or was it more like the AFC being brought into the NFL with two teams only? And, in this scenario where the WHA has a TV contract, would it become more like baseball where the League's are equal and there is one Stanley Cup at the end between the two leagues?
Now for a small scenario.
There has often been talk about the NFL moving to Europe with a team, all of it pretty facetious but there has been one game each year in London and NFL Europe was around even back in the 1980s.
Could the NHL have ever done anything with say one of the Nordic countries getting a team?
It probably wouldn't happen, but just like the NFL with the London Games, it seems like it could be done and would probably be more popular because hockey is at least a popular sport in Europe among more than just a few fans.
Of course, the NHL gets a number of European players anyway so it probably isn't as necessary to have the Oslo Vikings as a team or even to have a yearly game in Copenhagen or someplace but what would have to happen for the NHL to be branching out into Europe the way the NFL has?
Now for a small scenario.
There has often been talk about the NFL moving to Europe with a team, all of it pretty facetious but there has been one game each year in London and NFL Europe was around even back in the 1980s.
Could the NHL have ever done anything with say one of the Nordic countries getting a team?
It probably wouldn't happen, but just like the NFL with the London Games, it seems like it could be done and would probably be more popular because hockey is at least a popular sport in Europe among more than just a few fans.
Of course, the NHL gets a number of European players anyway so it probably isn't as necessary to have the Oslo Vikings as a team or even to have a yearly game in Copenhagen or someplace but what would have to happen for the NHL to be branching out into Europe the way the NFL has?