True, this may be the most un-Canadian statement that I have ever made publicly, but that doesn't make it any less true. I know that a lot of hockey fans around the world will come out swinging on this issue, but I feel it my duty to tell you that hockey isn't real. Yes, my friends, hockey is a work.
Make no mistake about it, one of the purest forms of entertainment is sport. A measure of human performance in a given skill can be a splendor to watch, and I have seen a number of athletic contests, including hockey, where I could really appreciate the human drama. But make no mistake, put the word "professional" in front of any athletic contest and then you're talking about money ... and wherever there is money involved, there is room for corruption and the deals behind closed doors designed to draw the biggest gains for the business men behind the scenes.
Think about this - hockey is Canada's national pastime. Our country is the birthplace of hockey and the game is a staple of the "sports entertainment" choices offered in Canada's major cities. However, a Canadian team has not won the Stanley Cup in more than FIFTEEN years. Think about this a little bit. Every year, in AMATEUR hockey both our male and female teams are kicking supreme ass -- but at the professional level, we have gone more than a decade without a championship. Does that math seem right to you?
While the media and folks that aren't fans of the wrestling business are quick to point out that wrestling as we present it can't be represented as a contest (in Vancouver, the regulatory commission mandated that all advertisements for pro wrestling cards include the word "exhibition" since as early as the 1970's) the media and the public turn a blind eye to the sleight of hand as it relates to hockey. Consider the following:
Was it 1995 that the league was on strike for half the season? When the league resumed, they had a lot of time to make up, so with an abbreviated season, all of the playoff games across the WHOLE league were won in straight sweeps, including the Stanley Cup final. Hmm ... coincidence? Nope. The league was under pressure to wrap things up quickly before Major League Baseball opened that year. Without TV coverage for the final games -- which would already have been sold out in the arena, the league and the teams involved stood to lose MILLIONS in television advertising and endorsements. See what I mean? Decision-making was made considering money, not the pure talent of the players involved. The business wouldn't be the same if they had to opt for pay per view telecasts if they were bumped from their syndicated time slots.
Not sold on this yet?
I laughed this morning as I heard people talking about the performance of the Vancouver Canucks this season, lamenting that they have lost seven games in a row. The fact is, the Vancouver booking office is at no risk of losing season ticket sales, the arena is still full every night and if the franchise can afford to pay players ten figure contracts, you have to recognize that this is only a percentage of the business that the team is doing overall. There is sponsorship, merchandising, and indirect revenue streams that as ticket buyers, you never hear about. It all factors in to an office's success in their market. Vancouver will NOT win a Stanley Cup as long as business is strong -- there's no business case to do it. Same with Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal. The business is strong in those markets and they don't NEED the Cup. (Similar in wrestling that a guy like Roddy Piper didn't NEED to be world champion, he was a big enough draw without a belt). I went to see Vancouver play Chicago last year, and I think the game I attended was the 211th sell out game for the team. The last time Vancouver won the Cup WAS IN 1915! It's safe to say that Vancouver isn't in line for the cup for years to come if business stays like this.
In 2006, the Carolina Hurricanes met the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup finals. Of course, hockey fans in Edmonton were ecstatic that their team might bring home the coveted championship .... NOPE! Here's the business: Carolina was a new franchise in a market which is already heavy with professional basketball, football, and Nascar. In order for hockey to generate attention from the corporate money in that State, they needed to make their mark. (Don't try to tell me that the sporting community in North Carolina appreciates the significance and heritage of the Stanley Cup. It would be like trying to impress upon the independent scene in Canada that the AWA World title is still significant.) Do you remember the angle now? After the Carolina team won the title, the media was quick to jump on the fact that the hockey team was the first professional franchise to secure their league's top honors, cementing support for hockey in that area. Edmonton was never at risk of having ticket sales decline and was never seriously considered for the nod from the top.
The following year, I was at a conference when Ottawa was battling Anaheim for the Cup. I predicted, based on this belief about the business, that Ottawa would not be victorious and shared my theories with a gentleman sitting at my table one night for dinner. Ottawa has a strong hockey market, there's no need for the team to win the championship. California on the other hand has bigger struggles to ensure that hockey maintains its market share. Let's face facts, the initial steam from the Emilio Estevez movie has long died ... and California has professional hockey, baseball, football, basketball and more. That fellow abruptly dismissed my view and got up from the table mid-meal to find another party. He didn't talk to me for the rest of the week. If I (as a devout supporter of my own business) responded in the same manner when someone challenged wrestling, I would be laughed out of the building. For the record, Ottawa hasn't held the Cup since 1927!
The difference between PROFESSIONAL wrestling and PROFESSIONAL hockey is that the media recognizes the dollars to be made from hockey coverage in the paper. Hockey, it's business, it's drama, and its stars sell newspapers, it draws television audiences. As long as it continues to have such a strong emotional connection to its fans, the media will always turn a blind eye to the real business behind the game and promote what they are fed to promote.
Here's the irony of the whole situation -- in order for fans to best SUPPORT Canadian hockey and promote the Stanley Cup to get back to Canada, they need to stop buying tickets, stop buying merchandise, and stop buying newspapers. Once the business starts to see significant declines, team management brings this information forward to the league, who in turn starts to develop a strategy to win back fan confidence. This, my friends, is the strategy which could bring the cup home. A little backwards, huh? But let's face facts -- hockey generates BILLIONS of dollars each year, and it has been almost two decades since the championship came to western Canada.
Fans are easily distracted by dollar signs. If a franchise announces they have signed a marquee player for millions of dollars a year - folks will be quick to jump on the bandwagon to see how that investment plays out. When that player falls short of expectation, it's easy for the franchise to justify a trade and have the ticket buyers support that. Honestly though, what incentive is there for a big money player to perform at his best when he's sitting on a guaranteed contract? None. He's got his money -- you're buying tickets, there is no rationale to support working any harder or producing better. This is why you see hockey players at an amateur and semi-pro level working their asses off. They have something to prove and a goal in mind.
Professional hockey is fake. Want to see some real entertainment, check out your local WHL hockey -- or hey, with the difference in ticket prices, why not check out an independent wrestling card, too? These guys are busting their asses every night too, working like their careers are on the line every time they perform.
Vance Nevada