The XHL

With the National Hockey League ready to finally pull the plug on the season, I thought this would be a good time to discuss one of my long held beliefs. I believe that Vince McMahon and the WWF made a big mistake trying to take on the National Football League with their XFL four years ago but I think McMahon would have been very successful if instead of the NFL he went after the NHL.

The NHL has three main problems:

1. All the clutching grabbing, trap defenses and elimination of fighting have made the sport boring to watch for the average fan.

2. Owners spend way too much on player contracts. Some owners give out contracts similar to baseball or basketball even though the hockey revenues are not close to those other sports. This makes it tough to compete for owners who are trying to be fiscally responsible.

3. The NHL has done a terrible job of marketing their product. Gary Bettman was brought in specifically to market the sport (he admittedly knew nothing about hockey when he took the job). The fact that last year's All-Star game got the same TV ratings as the first game of the season for the Arena Football League is exhibit A in the failure of Bettman to do the job he was hired to do.

An XHL league could have both addressed these problems and fixed them.

When your biggest stars, in this case Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemeiux, both publicly state that all the clutching and grabbing is killing the sport and you do nothing about it you are bound to fail. Even the best players don't care for the current NHL product. The XHL could solve this with just a few rule changes such as:

- Enforce holding and hooking penalties to give players more freedom to skate

- Eliminate the rule prohibiting two line passes. Imagine if the NFL tried to outlaw passes over 20-yards? That's basically what the two-line pass rule in hockey does.

- Eliminate ties and have each game tied in regulation settled by a shoot-out.

- Eliminate the third man in rule on fights. If Vince McMahon is going to run the league the players better be ready to rumble.

In terms of keeping salaries in line while at the same time keeping the players happy, I would suggest the following guidelines for the XHL:

- Have only three "star" roster slots for players who could be paid up to $5 million. The rest of the roster would be comprised of players who make a certain scale (see below). The composition of the star slots would generate interest and controversy. Do you get a center and two forwards to fill your "star" slots and thus create and "all-star" line? Do you spread the stars out evenly by getting a center, a defenseman and a goalie? To you get two defensemen and a goalie? These types of questions would serve to generate fan interest and debate.

- The rest of the players would make salaries based upon the number of years they've been in the league (tenure in the NHL would transfer for salary purposes). For each year of service a player would get $100,000. If you've played 5 years - your salary would be $500,000. If you're a rookie then you get $100,000 unless the team is willing to slide you into one of the three "star" slots. Can you see how this could also generate fan interest and controversy?

- 10% of each game's paid ticket gate gets put into a kitty and the winner of that night's game would get the kitty which would then be evenly split between the players, coaches and trainers. The players and coaches would have something on the line each and every game.

- Players would get 25% of the revenue off sales of their jerseys. This gives the players incentive to become fan favorites whether they be high scorers, goons or lunch bucket players who win the fans' love with their hard work.

The above should provide a basic framework for financial stability for the league.

In terms of marketing - who does better marketing than Vince McMahon (XFL being the exception that proves the rule)? Put it this way - there's no way the XHL could be marketed worse than the current NHL.

If the XHL started four years ago instead of the XFL then it would be hitting its stride right about now and all those NHL players who went over to Europe this winter may have crossed over to the new league.

This idea could really work. Quick - someone get Vince McMahon on the phone.