Thinking Arizona(and St Louis) Cardinals what if but the most recent one are either 1998(manning) 2004(the other manning), 2007(AP)(with repercussion till 2008) and 2014(Palmer never got injured, we limped to the playoffs with Ryan Lindley of all Qbs and almost win against an anaemic panther team...irony next year both team were on fire), ideas?
Sports What Ifs.
- Thread starter Dave
- Start date
How far back would butterflies need to flap their wings to help the World League's initial setup of teams in both North America and Europe and stop the NFL owners from pulling the plug too soon?
I feel like the two years that went without any games hurt the momentum that teams like the Monarchs and Dragons enjoyed having exceeded attendance expectations in 1991.
I feel like the two years that went without any games hurt the momentum that teams like the Monarchs and Dragons enjoyed having exceeded attendance expectations in 1991.
It would have to flap its wings back to 1945 and have bored GI's setting up football competitions with the locals in every city they liberated. And even then the butterfly would have to flap real hard in order to not just have he English import rugby in their sphere of influence and slowly pushing the Yankee sports out. Honestly I see Rugby displacing American Football even in the USA before I see Football gaining traction outside of the US.
Add to this the unspoken truth that one of the main attractions of American Football in the US is that it is the last sport that is purely all-american. No José Altuve or Pau Gasol there like in baseball or basketball. Not even a third-generation American called Morales. I believe that right now the NFL itself is simply unwilling to expand into European or even Latin-American territory because it is afraid that within ten years the game will be dominated by 'foreign' stars like in all other sports.
Here's a sports two-fer (impacts MLB, the NHL, and almost certainly the WHA):
On July 10, 1970, Charlie O. Finley, owner of the Oakland Athletics, completed the purchase of another Oakland based sports franchise- the Oakland Seals of the NHL -for $45 million.
Now, as sports fans, I'm fairly confident most of you know the story for both of these franchises; the A's would have a three year run (1972-1974) where they'd threepeat as World Series champions. At the end of the 1977-78 NHL season, the Cleveland Barons (who had begun their life as the Oakland Seals, in 1967) folded- the only NHL franchise to fold during the NHL-WHA rivalry. Also in 1977 and 1978, two of the cornerstones of that A's threepeat team (Catfish Hunter and Reggie Jackson) would win a fourth and fifth World Series...as members of the New York Yankees.
The $45 million dollar question (that's $286 million in 2018 dollars): What if Charlie O. Finley had just kept the $45 mil. and invested it back into his baseball team, rather than buying a hockey team that had basically traded all their first round picks through 1973 (IIRC) to the Montreal Canadiens, thus, rendering them a bad joke and embarrassment to major league sports in general? With that money in the bank, collecting interest, he probably could have at least 3 (is not all 4) of the following players:
Catfish Hunter
Reggie Jackson
Vida Blue
Rollie Fingers
...to long term deals, thus making the A's a force to be reckoned with for the rest of the decade probably picking up at least 2 more Series wins, seas of fans for home games, and all the glory that goes with it.
Couple of major league sports franchises impacted by this the most:
The New York Yankees: Without Catfish, but especially without Reggie, the Bronx Zoo is probably still a lively place...but without the championship rings to make the whole thing worth it, UNLESS, they can find alternatives to Catfish and Reggie. (Could the Yanks have made plays for Nolan Ryan or Tom Seaver to bolster the rotation? Who fills Reggie's mighty big shoes?)
The Oakland Seals: If Finley doesn't buy the team, they're gone. They tried to move to Vancouver after only two seasons in Oakland, but the NHL blocked it. Without a maniac like Finley to throw $45 million into that mine fire of an organization, the league's got to find another owner, and that owner is, in all probability, NOT located in Oakland, and is going to move the team elsewhere...like, someplace that had a hockey market in 1972, not 1992.
So, Charlie Finley keeps his money, what happens?
On July 10, 1970, Charlie O. Finley, owner of the Oakland Athletics, completed the purchase of another Oakland based sports franchise- the Oakland Seals of the NHL -for $45 million.
Now, as sports fans, I'm fairly confident most of you know the story for both of these franchises; the A's would have a three year run (1972-1974) where they'd threepeat as World Series champions. At the end of the 1977-78 NHL season, the Cleveland Barons (who had begun their life as the Oakland Seals, in 1967) folded- the only NHL franchise to fold during the NHL-WHA rivalry. Also in 1977 and 1978, two of the cornerstones of that A's threepeat team (Catfish Hunter and Reggie Jackson) would win a fourth and fifth World Series...as members of the New York Yankees.
The $45 million dollar question (that's $286 million in 2018 dollars): What if Charlie O. Finley had just kept the $45 mil. and invested it back into his baseball team, rather than buying a hockey team that had basically traded all their first round picks through 1973 (IIRC) to the Montreal Canadiens, thus, rendering them a bad joke and embarrassment to major league sports in general? With that money in the bank, collecting interest, he probably could have at least 3 (is not all 4) of the following players:
Catfish Hunter
Reggie Jackson
Vida Blue
Rollie Fingers
...to long term deals, thus making the A's a force to be reckoned with for the rest of the decade probably picking up at least 2 more Series wins, seas of fans for home games, and all the glory that goes with it.
Couple of major league sports franchises impacted by this the most:
The New York Yankees: Without Catfish, but especially without Reggie, the Bronx Zoo is probably still a lively place...but without the championship rings to make the whole thing worth it, UNLESS, they can find alternatives to Catfish and Reggie. (Could the Yanks have made plays for Nolan Ryan or Tom Seaver to bolster the rotation? Who fills Reggie's mighty big shoes?)
The Oakland Seals: If Finley doesn't buy the team, they're gone. They tried to move to Vancouver after only two seasons in Oakland, but the NHL blocked it. Without a maniac like Finley to throw $45 million into that mine fire of an organization, the league's got to find another owner, and that owner is, in all probability, NOT located in Oakland, and is going to move the team elsewhere...like, someplace that had a hockey market in 1972, not 1992.
So, Charlie Finley keeps his money, what happens?
He might not leave unless a trade, George promise Reggie that if he jumped ship he would make him the face of the team with all the endorsement money that come from ( that was what convice him to go NY)
According to this Wikipedia entry, roller derby magnate Jerry Seltzer put in a bid along with Finley:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Seltzer
Apparently, he had a better offer, but the old-line establishment voted in favor of Charlie.
Bill Torrey, the ex-Seal and Islander GM, said that the league made a big mistake picking Finley, and that Seltzer and Wayne Valley (part owner of the Raiders) would have made it click:
http://www.nytimes.com/1977/02/27/archives/how-finley-sealed-barons-fate.html
Severely delayed reply, but, better late than never, so...
Read the article (back when you posted the reply, then re-read it more recently) and...I found an even bigger what if scenario going by what Torrey said about how difficult it was to get Finley to actually pay his players.
What if the World Hockey Association had a cohesive, league-wide, strategy to get even with the NHL for putting the Islanders in Nassau Coliseum, thus keeping the New York Raiders (guh...what a crap name), the franchise they needed most for a national television deal, out of The Colie?
The Plan:
Instead of holding a draft of unrealistic expectations, where signing rights for players with NHL experience were taken by each respective franchise (irrespective of whether or not said franchise could possibly sign the players), the WHA went on a 'Whatever It Takes' path to utterly destroying the Seals, and strangling the Islanders and Flames (the NHL's two 'Area Denial' expansion franchises) in their cribs.
Finley's paradoxical view of his hockey team (he wanted to own one, and yet, he didn't want to pay anybody to play for it) made it difficult for Torrey to get a roster signed for the 1972-73 NHL season (and yet, he still managed to do it, which is probably why, after Finley fired him for, well, doing his job as a GM and actually signing the team's players, he had no problems landing a job with...the Islanders, not long afterwards...) should have made the Seals roster an all you can eat buffet for the WHA.
Take a look at just the good to decent players from that team that Finley didn't feel like paying:
(Courtesy of prosportstransactions.com and hockey-reference.com)
D Dick Redmond
G Giles Meloche
LW Joey Johnston
RW Reggie Leach
C Walt McKechnie
LW Gary Croteau
LW/C Pete Laframboise
D Bert Marshall
RW Craig Patrick
As it stood, the Golden Seals lost a whopping NINE players to the WHA. Had the WHA played 'Let's Kill an NHL Franchise!', they could have signed Finley's team out from under him- it wouldn't have taken much, but, more than that, it's a checkmate move; even if the NHL steps in and gets other owners to try and trade for those players- owners who were, y'know, actually willing to pay the players -what could the Golden Seals have realistically expected in return?
If the WHA went daggers out, they'd have made it open season, not only on the Seals roster players, but also their 1972 Amateur Draft picks as well.
If the WHA had been REALLY smart, they would have made it open season on anybody whose rights were held by California, the Isles, or the Flames- especially the Isles and Flames draft picks. (Then again, smarter money than the ludicrous contracts that some NHL players got from WHA franchises *COUGH* Derek Sanderson *COUGH*, would have been a strategy that saw the WHA sign as much young, NHL experienced talents to contracts with performance clauses, and then force the NHL into bidding wars for draftees- sort of an enhanced version of what the AFL did.)
There were other teams that left themselves wide open to be plundered- and of HOF talent at that; Gilbert Perrault wasn't locked up by the Sabres until September (IIRC), Rogie Vachon could have been pilfered from the Kings (along with Butch Goring and...well, most of their roster), and the Blues and Flyers had a LOT of players to sign, and, had the WHA just gone 'Open Season', they could have killed at least one franchise for sure (I don't see how the Golden Seals don't end up folding by the end of summer '72 had the WHA engaged in a concerted effort to sign away their roster.) and more than a few in DEEP trouble (Flyers, Blues, Kings, Isles and Flames).
See, that's where the WHA screwed the pooch in the worst possible way: They didn't go out of their way to literally destroy vulnerable NHL franchises. Had they strangled the Isles in the crib, for example, they get to move their New York franchise into Nassau Coliseum- with leverage, as they can say "Unless you'd like to take your chances with another NHL franchise...but we'll just do the same thing to them, so...")
What does the NHL/WHA war look like under such conditions: WHA makes concerted effort to kill vulnerable/expansion NHL franchises, and focuses on signing 'The Stars of Tomorrow' both by signing away solid looking young players coming off their entry contracts from the NHL, and by stealing the NHL's future through aggressive draft warfare?
Does the NHL win a Pyrrhic victory? Does the WHA win a white peace? Do both leagues bleed each other white to the point they have to have a true merger, as an entirely new league? (Perhaps with twenty teams at most in 1980?)
Wow! This is a wild scenario.
If the Seals fold, and if the two expansion teams (Isles and Flames) cease operations, the NHL would be down to 13 teams.
If the WHA kills another established team (the Blues would have been a better candidate than the Kings and Flyers) on top of the other three that were killed off, the NHL owners would have a serious problem on their hands.
That probably would have led to a much sooner merger, unless a player would have filed the same lawsuit that Oscar Robertson did in 1970:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robertson_v._National_Basketball_Ass'n
When I think about the WHA, I always go back to one move that could have, by itself, changed everything about the WHA/NHL war, and it's what I call 'Wrong Bobby'.
The best shot the WHA would have had to really force an AFL style merger at the end of the war was in making Bobby Clarke, rather than Bobby Hull, the highest paid player in major league hockey.
Ideally, the Raiders would have signed Clarkie, at which point, I think Nassau County chooses the Raiders over a team they could have rightfully expected (in that era) as 'Just Another Expansion Franchise that The Habs Will Use as a One Stop Shop for High Draft Picks, and Talented Prospects'. (The Isles story, considering how the Original Six treated expansion franchises almost as if they were from a competing league, really is quite remarkable...)
The Raiders get Clarkie and The Coli, the WHA gets national television. The WHA gets national television, and a guy about to explode into super stardom as the face of their league, the NHL is in HEAP big trouble by spring of '73. (And that's even if all else stays the same, although, I think Clarkie signing with the WHA probably sends a few more high profile defections- and perhaps convinces some high '72 draft picks -to the WHA.)
Where things might get interesting, is that, obviously, Bobby Clarke is going to make the Raiders a contender. If the Raiders get a serviceable goalie to sign with them, the right coach, a solid defenseman to sign with them...they're going to be an early TV draw for the WHA, and that's Mothra right there. One thing that could be interesting, however, is if the New England Whalers still manage to win the inaugural AVCO Cup.
They did so, historically, with no real super star talent on the roster- they really were just a damn well built and coached team, with just the right amount of talent, grit, and game to win that championship.
Thing is, it still wouldn't change the fact that they play in Boston, and Boston belongs to the Orr-Espo Bruins. There was no way they could stay in Boston, which is why they went on the road, until finally settling in Hartford in '75, when The Mall opened.
Thing is, in a world where a North American television audience watched them win that championship, I can't help but think that it gets the gears moving a LOT sooner in Hartford, and sees a much stronger (and more stable) ownership group buy the team; the kind of ownership group that spends big bank for a top flight front office, top flight talent, and an overall top flight organization.
If all of that happens, I think they win another championship (especially if they still manage to land The Howes) and, perhaps, The Whale wind up the sort of institution within the city of Hartford, and the state on the whole (and western Mass- I-91 Club Forever!) that makes them a sort of 'Green Bay Packers of Hockey'; the small market doesn't matter, because the fanbase is fanatically devoted to the club, and supports them no matter what. Hell, they aggressively market to western Mass., and really build a following there (if they'd been smart, they'd have gone for Springfield as their AHL affiliate from the beginning), they could have effectively cut New England into two NHL (or whatever comes out of the war) markets: Whalers Nation vs. Bruins Nation.
Nothing is assured, but that's one scenario I tend to ponder whenever I feel nostalgic for my beloved Whalers...stolen by that greasy pimp, lo those many years ago, now owned by a Texas oilman, based in North Carolina. (Why can't I shake the feeling that they'll be the Houston Aeros before the end of the next decade? Oh, yeah: Because they won a f***ing Cup and still couldn't do better than 15th in the league in attendance in NASCAR Country...and The Whale has a well established lineage of scumbag owners, that's why...)
Switching gears, what do you think about Leighton Vander Esch, Sigma?
I wasn't surprised that Dallas went LB, although I thought that SMU WR Courtland Sutton would be the pick.
As for Denver, I wasn't surprised that they took OLB/DE Bradley Chubb after the Browns passed on Ward. Chubb will be a pretty good one, but some think they made a mistake passing on Rosen. I don't think Case Keenum is a long-term answer.
If this happens, it would have exposed the NHL owners for their stupidity even more (a subject that we have talked about before). I wonder if G Bernie Parent would have joined Clarke on Long Island. If so, there goes the Broad Street Bullies and their championships (which would have been a good thing. Maybe hockey doesn't get gooned up in the 70's as a result).
That would have been nice if it meant that they stay in Hartford to this day. Carolina is an inferior hockey market. I would like to see that team contracted. The Coyotes and the Panthers should be contracted as well. And, if the Golden Knights suck for years, that experiment will end up being a failure.
I wasn't surprised that Dallas went LB, although I thought that SMU WR Courtland Sutton would be the pick.
As for Denver, I wasn't surprised that they took OLB/DE Bradley Chubb after the Browns passed on Ward. Chubb will be a pretty good one, but some think they made a mistake passing on Rosen. I don't think Case Keenum is a long-term answer.
If this happens, it would have exposed the NHL owners for their stupidity even more (a subject that we have talked about before). I wonder if G Bernie Parent would have joined Clarke on Long Island. If so, there goes the Broad Street Bullies and their championships (which would have been a good thing. Maybe hockey doesn't get gooned up in the 70's as a result).
That would have been nice if it meant that they stay in Hartford to this day. Carolina is an inferior hockey market. I would like to see that team contracted. The Coyotes and the Panthers should be contracted as well. And, if the Golden Knights suck for years, that experiment will end up being a failure.
I'm done with football.
Let's just leave it at that.
Parent was willing to sign with the WHA (and did, playing the '72-'73 season with the Philadelphia Blazers), but as an even nastier twist, I ponder a Raiders team, in The Coli, with Clarkie at the fore, and, after negotiations with his NHL club break down in '73, Kenny Dryden between the pipes.
Y'know, just to imagine the look on Clarence Campbell's face when he realizes his league's in deep shit.
Hell, if they get the right supporting pieces- in a wide open market, anything's possible -the Raiders could end up as the best major league team in the world.
I'm an Isles fan, but, if they're going to be run this poorly forever, I'd rather they retire that wreck too. (JT really let me down. There's a part of me that would rather see him leave, and let the club start over with a team built around Matty Barzal- God-DAMN that kid impresses!)
As far as the Seals are concerned, I have another angle:
What if the NHL only expanded to two teams in 1967 instead of six?
I know that they were trying to fend off the Western Hockey League (they were thinking about turning into a major league). So, as a result, LA and Vancouver would have been the best candidates for that round of expansion.
Lots of talk about rounders and rugby league for softees aka gridiron that I don't really understand ;-) So lets talk about real football!
It is 1990 and Alex Ferguson is in trouble with his Manchester United side struggling at the wrong end of the table. 8 games without a win means the club are facing the possibility of relegation. The football on the field is dull and the team beset by injuries perhaps exacerbated by the drinking culture Fegie has yet to conquer. Ferguson's cautious style has only delivered a best of 11th place in the league. The fans are restless. They show the infamous banner "Three years of excuses and it's still crap... ta-ra Fergie" . Articles appear in the papers entitled: 'Fergie the Flop!'. The board are twitchy as the fans vent in their direction. It is 23 years since the club last won the league. This isnt what he was brought in to do.
It is Christmas now and form is terrible. A 0-0 draw with QPR that sees the team and manager booed of is the final straw. United have won just 9 of the last 35 games. That's it. The board have had enough. Lose to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup and you are out they say.
Match day at the City Ground. 7th January 1990. FA Cup round 3. It is tense. The pressure is palpable. The football is dull and dire. 0-0 at half time. Early in the second half comes the chance. Lee Martin keeps the ball in play and feeds Mark Hughes, who strikes a fantastic pass with the outside of his right boot across the box to the waiting Mark Robins. Robins, who had only just turned 20 and was making only his third first-team appearance nodded wide with the goal at his mercy. That was as close as The Red Devils would come, with the misery compounded when Nigel Jemson scored a late winner for Brian Clough's Forrest side to knock United out of the cup and send Alex Ferguson reeling towards the exit.
With that Ferguson was gone. A swing of the axe by chairman Martin Edwards changed the history of British football. What did that future look like?
It is 1990 and Alex Ferguson is in trouble with his Manchester United side struggling at the wrong end of the table. 8 games without a win means the club are facing the possibility of relegation. The football on the field is dull and the team beset by injuries perhaps exacerbated by the drinking culture Fegie has yet to conquer. Ferguson's cautious style has only delivered a best of 11th place in the league. The fans are restless. They show the infamous banner "Three years of excuses and it's still crap... ta-ra Fergie" . Articles appear in the papers entitled: 'Fergie the Flop!'. The board are twitchy as the fans vent in their direction. It is 23 years since the club last won the league. This isnt what he was brought in to do.
It is Christmas now and form is terrible. A 0-0 draw with QPR that sees the team and manager booed of is the final straw. United have won just 9 of the last 35 games. That's it. The board have had enough. Lose to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup and you are out they say.
Match day at the City Ground. 7th January 1990. FA Cup round 3. It is tense. The pressure is palpable. The football is dull and dire. 0-0 at half time. Early in the second half comes the chance. Lee Martin keeps the ball in play and feeds Mark Hughes, who strikes a fantastic pass with the outside of his right boot across the box to the waiting Mark Robins. Robins, who had only just turned 20 and was making only his third first-team appearance nodded wide with the goal at his mercy. That was as close as The Red Devils would come, with the misery compounded when Nigel Jemson scored a late winner for Brian Clough's Forrest side to knock United out of the cup and send Alex Ferguson reeling towards the exit.
With that Ferguson was gone. A swing of the axe by chairman Martin Edwards changed the history of British football. What did that future look like?
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Maybe they would have been more receptive to a larger complement of teams from the WHA, assuming the WHL doesn’t make the leap or can’t.) Maybe a smaller version of he AFL-NFL merger under the NHL banner.
That's exactly what I was thinking of. After the 2-team 1967 expansion that I propose, the league wouldn't expand again until around 1974 (another two-teamer, with the Minnesota North Stars and Pittsburgh Hornets joining the NHL).
Then, in 1977, Harold Ballard's voice is ignored, and the six-team merger that was blocked in OTL is approved in my world. The Cincinnati Stingers, Edmonton Oilers, Houston Aeros, New England Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, and Winnipeg Jets would join the NHL, bringing the total to 16 teams.
Who knows? Maybe they would have been included in that merger (unless their WHA team would have still failed as in OTL).
I think they have to expand to at least ten teams, with plans to expand by 2 teams every 3-5 years, starting in 1970, otherwise, I don't think they get a TV deal in The U.S., and they'd have to expand evenly, so, how about this...
They expand by four teams in '67:
Buffalo Sabres (Fun Fact: The Knox brothers were originally going to get one of the original six expansion teams...until the Norris brothers were persuaded by their horse racing buddy, Art Rooney, to put a team in Pittsburgh instead.)
Philadelphia Flyers
Thus creating:
NHL East Division 1967
Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres
Montreal Canadiens
New York Rangers
Philadelphia Flyers
And in the west:
NHL West Division 1967
Chicago Black Hawks
Detroit Red Wings
Los Angeles Kings
Toronto Maple Leafs
Vancouver Canucks
In 1970, ideally, the league would expand by two teams:
NHL East in 1970
Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres
Montreal Canadiens
New York Rangers
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
NHL West in 1970
Chicago Black Hawks
Detroit Red Wings
Los Angeles Kings
Minnesota North Stars
Toronto Maple Leafs
Vancouver Canucks
In 1972, things get tricky, as there may, or may not be a WHA forming. If The WHA forms, the NHL's got a very difficult decision to make:
Expand a year earlier than planned, and put an area denial franchise out in Nassau County, at the expense of conceding a prime expansion market to The WHA, or, peel off two prime markets from the WHA:
Quebec Nordiques join the East, Calgary Broncos (this assumes the WHA ownership group that originally was supposed to join that league gets an NHL franchise instead) to join the West. The Quebec and Calgary owners would have an edge here, as they could (foolishly) demand immediate admission to The NHL, to begin play in fall of '72, or, make the smart play, and wait that extra year, and join the league in fall of '73.
I think the fans in Quebec, and especially Calgary, (whose entire bid would hinge on a guarantee that an arena built within 3-5 years, as The Stampede Corral was nowhere near a major league arena) would keep, and the extra year gives the owners, and the cities, time to prepare for 'The Show'.
If Montreal still manages to use the expansion franchises as high draft pick ATMs, I think you till end up with a WHA in 1972, but things get interesting in new ways:
The WHA will have a national television deal in The U.S., as they'll have franchises in the 'Must Have' New York and LA markets- The Raiders (kinda hope they'd go with Islanders with no NHL Islanders around to take the name. They'd be smart to adopt the Isles logo as well. They already chose the same colors, so...), playing in The Coli, and Sharks playing in the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (good seating capacity, not Forum sized, but enough to sustain a well run club, until larger accommodations could be acquired), and a league that looks something like this:
WHA East
Chicago Cougars
New England Whalers
New York Islanders
Ottawa Nationals
Philadelphia Blazers
WHA West
Edmonton Oilers
Houston Aeros
Los Angeles Sharks
Minnesota Fighting Saints
Winnipeg Jets
This might actually be better for the WHA in the long run, as, starting with a ten team league, with a national TV deal in The U.S., gives them two things they didn't have in our world:
National TV revenue
A smaller league, would be easier to manage, in the beginning, and give them a much clearer picture of how the North American hockey market's going to shake out; The Blazers aren't going to compete with The Flyers, especially if the Flyers are built like they were OTL. However, Gabe Poulin's got that sweet arena deal in Landover, MD brewing, and, with the NHL expanding to Quebec and Calgary in '73, and not due for another expansion until '76, Gabe might just buy The Blazers after the '72-'73 season, and move them into The Cap center in the fall of '73, as...The Washington Capitals.
I think Ottawa still ends up in Toronto in 1973, so, let's say Gabe Poulin buys The Blazers, and The Nationals still become The Toros in 1973:
WHA East
Chicago Cougars
New England Whalers
New York Islanders
Toronto Toros
Washington Capitals
WHA West
Edmonton Oilers
Houston Aeros
Los Angeles Sharks
Minnesota Fighting Saints
Winnipeg Jets
While the NHL in 1973 looks like this:
NHL East
Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres
Montreal Canadiens
New York Rangers
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
Quebec Nordiques
NHL West
Calgary Broncos
Chicago Black Hawks
Detroit Red Wings
Los Angeles Kings
Minnesota North Stars
Toronto Maple Leafs
Vancouver Canucks
If The WHA is smart, they'll jump on any of the following two from 'The New Arena Class of '74-'75' as new homes for the Toros and Cougars (who both had terrible arena situations):
(Opening Date in parentheses)
Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, IA (September 15, 1974)
Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO (September 30, 1974)
Richfield Coliseum, Richfield, OH (October 26, 1974)
McNicols Sports Arena, Denver, CO (August 22, 1975)
Riverfront Arena, Cincinnati, OH (September 9, 1975)
...before they even consider expansion, in fall of 1975 at the soonest, and then, only by two franchises, one in each division.
There's actually a sixth arena in that class, The Hartford Memorial Coliseum, Hartford, CT: January 9, 1975, but The Whalers shrewdly moved in ASAP, so, that takes care of itself in January of '75.
Perhaps Toronto and Chicago can move/be sold to ownership groups in Indy and KC, in summer 1974, putting The WHA in the 1974-75 season at:
WHA East
Indianapolis Racers (formerly Toronto or Chicago)
Minnesota Fighting Saints
New England Whalers (Whalers move into Hartford Coliseum, January, 1975)
New York Islanders
Washington Capitals
WHA West
Edmonton Oilers
Houston Aeros
Kansas City Scouts (formerly Toronto or Chicago)
Los Angeles Sharks
Winnipeg Jets
Which would set them up to expand to Denver and Cincinnati for the 1975-76 season:
WHA East
Cincinnati Stingers
Indianapolis Racers
Minnesota Fighting Saints
New England Whalers
New York Islanders
Washington Capitals
WHA West
Colorado Rockies
Edmonton Oilers
Houston Aeros
Kansas City Scouts
Los Angeles Sharks
Winnipeg Jets
In which case, if the WHA is getting things right, the national TV deal helps create greater interest in the league, making them competitive with the NHL (of the same size, TTL), things could get REALLY interesting in the mid 70's.
The WHA could hold a big edge in the expansion wars by making their expansion fee cheaper than the NHL, in order to win Denver and Cinci.
Question is, does the NHL expand in 1976, as they're at fourteen teams (which may be two teams too many), competing against a rival league of twelve teams that's actually competitive in all the ways that matter?
If so, do we see Seattle and Milwaukee get teams?
Or, do Seattle and Milwaukee become relocation destinations for struggling WHA or NHL teams?
The Aeros were consistently good, but they just didn't draw. That could change with national television, but if it doesn't, they've got to move or die.
The Fighting Saints had the 16,000 seat St. Paul Civic Center to play in (more seats than The Summit, in Houston, AND hockey is to Minnesota what football is to Texas), yet, they couldn't draw.
Could we see one become The Totems, and one become The Voyageurs?
In the event of a merger between the two leagues, what becomes of The Duplicates: Rags/Isles, Kings/Sharks? 1980 is probably still a decade too soon for the WHA Sharks to become what The NHL Sharks were OTL, so...
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That was one of the conditions? I am not sure. I do know that CBS wanted them to put a team in the Bay Area before they would give them a deal. I just think that the NHL expanded too much in the late-60's and 70's. A lot of those teams either folded (Seals), moved (Stars, Scouts), or almost moved (Penguins, Blues).
Another fun fact: In 1966, there was someone who wanted to put an NBA team in the Steel City. This person was told to go to the Kentucky Derby to get approval from Art. Unfortunately for that party, Rooney told him that he wasn't allowed to give Pittsburgh an NBA expansion team, and it went to Seattle instead (I think). I guess that Art liked hockey more than basketball.
I don't recall if a minimum number of expansion teams was a condition, but I think expanding by four teams, to a ten team league, in 1967, would have been more attractive to the networks; with ten teams, they could have two five team divisions, with two expansion franchises in each division, regional alignment, etc..., I think it makes a more attractive package for the networks.
If it was 1966, the franchise Pittsburgh didn't get was The Bulls.
Yeah. Think about that.
I know that there's lots of butterflies off such a POD, but, just for a moment, consider a Pittsburgh in the late 80's, early 90's, where the Pengos are still the Pengos...and Pittsburgh has OTL's Bulls.
Jordan and Pippin, AND Lemieux and Jagr, in the same city.
The Igloo could be replaced by 1995 with all the revenue The Sports & Exhibition Authority of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County would be taking in by selling out every game night from October to June. Yearly.
If The Pirates can find a way to max out their 1990-92 teams (ie; make that a threepeat or back-to-back team)...Pittsburgh would be the sports mecca of the country.
Also, I just realized that, in my previous post...I forgot to factor in The Hated Rangers! (Which bothers me, as I've never let my bias against The Smurfs wreck a hypothetical hockey scheme before, not sure how I could have forgot them this time.)
So...I have to go back and make adjustments...