Increase number of teams in SHL

[OskarOskarius]

By the look of it SHL is superior to all other Europan leagues excluding KHL. Is there any reason why the SHL should only have 14 teams?
Number of games would increase but you could for instance drop the CHL if schedule is a problem.

I’d like the SHL to become more of a ”people’s league” with more local games and the final being between South vs North. If you for instance increased to 20 teams and split them into two conferences you would only increase number of rounds by 4 but spread our hockey across more cities.

Eg if you had a Northern conference the teams could be Luleå, Skellefteå, Modo, Björklöven, Timrå, Leksand, Brynäs, Djurgården, Örebro and Västerås. These teams would play each other four times.

The southern conference could be Malmö, Rögle, Kristianstad, Växjö, HV71, Frölunda, Linköping, Oskarshamn, Färjestad, Karlskoga and these teams would play each other four times.

Teama between the two conferences would in turn play each other twice so you will still have eg Luleå vs Malmö but these games will be less common then today.

Play offs in the end of the season between top 4 of each conference where the winner of each conference battle it out for the LeMat.

I only see positives with this concept as it would shorten distances for most matches and also help spread out hockey to more cities. Money shouldn’t be much of an issue since SHL already is (it seems) to competitive for other European leagues (save for KHL obviously).

What is your take?

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[Albatros]

Yes, even at best it would add little of value but could potentially ruin the Allsvenskan which is now also a good league. Both levels have a fairly good geographical spread right now. Having HV71 and MoDo back up wouldn't be bad for the SHL, but anything else is just going the wrong way.

Regarding money you do have to ask how much is there in the north for an independent conference with so many teams?

 

[Exarz]

There is no way that the annual income per team from TV rights and league sponsorships would increase or even stay the same with that many teams. The quality would also drastically decrease when adding that many teams, just as the quality of Allsvenskan decreased when the SHL expanded with 2 additional teams.

Top players would still choose the money in Switzerland and the KHL, so there is not really any economic incitament at all to pursue a "People's league". A more realistic but still utopian idea would be to merge the Swedish and Finnish top leagues in a similar way with separate conference playoffs and separate relegation playoffs.

 

[Lackhalak]

I agree in merging the Finnish league and the Swedish leagues, i would also filter in teams from Norway, Denmark and the Baltics. it would be a great time to accomplish this as it sounds Jokerit and Riga look to be done in the KHL. Keep relegation and have 3 tiers of 14 teams. it could look something like this:
Top league

	Teams		Arena	Population (metro)
1	Stockholm	Djurgardens	13,850	2,392,000
2	Gothenberg	Frolunda	12,044	1,048,000
3	Malmo	Red Hawks	12,600	730,000
4	Uppsala	Almtuna IS	-10,000	295,000
5	Linkoping	HC	8,500	207,000
6	Stockholm	AIK	8,094	2,392,000
7	Karlstad	Farjestad BK	8,646	180,000
8	Helsinki	Jokerit	13,349	1,671,000
9	Tampere	Ilves	13,455	448,000
10	Turku	TPS	11,820	362,000
11	Helsinki	HIFK	-10,000	1,671,000
12	Riga	Dinamo	10,300	1,100,000
13	Copenhagen		12,500	2,057,000
14	Oslo	Gruner	-12,000	1,600,000

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

2nd Tier

	Teams		Arena	Population (metro)
1	Gavle	Brynas IF	7,909	184,000
2	Orebro	HK	5,316	208,000
3	Jonkoping	HV71	7,000	171,000
4	Vasteras	IK	4,902	200,000
5	Vaxjo	Lakers	5,700	156,000
6	Angelholm	Rogle BK	5,150	143,000
7	Timra	IK	6,000	117,000
8	Oulu	Karpat	6,768	260,000
9	Jyvaskyla	JYP	-7,000	185,000
10	Kuopio	KalPa	5,300	168,000
11	Lahti	Pelicans	5,371	191,000
12	Kaunas	Hockey	13,762	588,000
13	Aalborg	Pirates	5,200	217,000
14	Stravanger	Oilers	4,500	320,000

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

3rd Tier

	Teams		Arena	Population (metro)
1	Uema	IF Bjorkloven	5,400	156,000
2	Leksand	IF	7,650	69,000
3	Ornskoldsvik	Modo	7,600	56,000
4	Lulea	FH	6,300	78,000
5	Skelleftea	AIK	6,001	73,000
6	Sodertalje	SK	6,200	99,000
7	Pori	Assat	6,300	137,000
8	Espoo	Keikko	6,982	282,000
9	Kouvola	KooKoo	6,200	61,000
10	Hameenlinna	HPK	5,360	67,000
11	Lapreenranta	SaiPa	4,820	73,000
12	Tallin	HC Everest	5,840	455,000
13	Aarhus		5,001	350,000
14	Bergen	IK	-8,320	420,000

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Sweden - 20 teams
Finland - 13 teams
Norway - 3 teams
Denmark - 3 teams
The Baltics - 3 teams
Total - 42 teams

What are your thoughts?

 

[OskarOskarius]

Yes, even at best it would add little of value but could potentially ruin the Allsvenskan which is now also a good league. Both levels have a fairly good geographical spread right now. Having HV71 and MoDo back up wouldn't be bad for the SHL, but anything else is just going the wrong way.

Regarding money you do have to ask how much is there in the north for an independent conference with so many teams?

I don’t see how you could ruin Allsvenskan. It would get weaker, as would SHL, by increasing number of teams, however SHL is already pretty supreme in Europe (excluding KHL). HA is one strongest leagues in Europe. Player quality isn’t a problem and won’t be because you add 6x2 teams. The North isn’t very lucrative I agree but sports performance should be the deciding factor who gets to play, not market size.

 

[OskarOskarius]

There is no way that the annual income per team from TV rights and league sponsorships would increase or even stay the same with that many teams. The quality would also drastically decrease when adding that many teams, just as the quality of Allsvenskan decreased when the SHL expanded with 2 additional teams.

Top players would still choose the money in Switzerland and the KHL, so there is not really any economic incitament at all to pursue a "People's league". A more realistic but still utopian idea would be to merge the Swedish and Finnish top leagues in a similar way with separate conference playoffs and separate relegation playoffs.

It’s totally unrealistic to merge the Finnish and Swedish leagues. The Finns don’t want to watch Swedish teams and the Swedes don’t want to see Finnish teams. Regarding media rights if you increased to 20 teams the annual income per team would stay the same as it is today, as the next cycle will pay out ~900 million per season, compared to today’s deal that give about 630 million/season.