[Equal]

I agree with one above poster... the ONLY way the NHL is going to develop a fan base in non-traditional markets is buying funding NHL-branded ice rinks, youth leagues, street-hockey tournaments, and using them as a sort of loss-leader or non-profit business to give children and parents affordable exposure to the game. Out of the big 4 sports, hockey is probably 10 times as expensive.

It's a multi-generational long term thing, you arent going to make a football or NASCAR town into rabid, dedicated hockey fans overnight just because Bettman thinks he is blessing the city with the NHL's presence.

There are some current markets that are dying, but yet some possible replacements cities that may do well... obviously Southern Ontario could support one, even TWO more teams but the leafs will take issue with that (say Hamilton and Kitchner), Las Vegas, Kansas City, and Oklahoma City would be very good possibilities, even Portland or Seattle. Even Vancouver could support a second NHL team in a nearby suburb.

Developing a grass-roots system to give kids the chance to actually play and enjoy hockey, coupled with improvements in other areas would go a long way.

Making every game available in HD is a priority but also drastically improving the lighting in a lot of arenas is a MUST.

It blows me away when I watch highlights from many American cities... the footage is so dark and subpar compared to highlights from a Canadian city... the lighting is awful.

There's no excuse for things like this... these are realitively inexpensive improvements that will help a lot.

Hockey, as many mentioned, on TV doesnt do the game any justice - I've witnessed this first hand as I have taken non-hockey fans to games live and most have been blown away by the speed and spectacle of the game - including a rabid NFL fan who'd never seen a game before live. Watching one game live made him a hockey fan.