I have become a KHL fan this year since laola1.tv have been showing games. I am from New Zealand originally, but have been living in the USA for the last seven years or so. In the NHL I am an LA Kings fan, not quite sure who to support in the KHL yet. So hard to decide when you have no links with any of the cities.
Was hard for me too. Well, some things to consider:
- is the team run professionally and not a complete mess
- marketing in your language or one you understand
- nice arena (in case you want to go there for a game)
- good players (not necessarily stars like Kovalchuk or A. Radulov)
- do local fans even care? if the arena is always empty its not fun to watch
- has the team a long history?
- are their games exiting to watch?
- geography (its easier to relate to a team if it is closer to you and you know more about the home town, e.g. St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Riga, Bratislava, Zagreb are the teams I mostly follow, especially as 4 of these places are from our supra-national EU; have no clue about places like Khabarovsk, Novokuznetsk or Khanty-Mansiysk at all). It's just easier to understand rivalries and what wins against certain teams mean if you know culture and history of a hockey town.