What is up with this Russian super league we all have been hearing about?

Question

You know what I'm talking about, the same one that signed Jagr.

Answer 1

Goodenow mentioned back in May that the KHL would have a salary cap of $22MM and Medvedevb mentioned last week it would be closer to $25MM................but a team was free to spend it all on one player if they wish.

As it stands now, there will be 24 teams, that can each sign up to 5 non-Soviet players......which is a total of 120 players............it won't create a huge dent in the NHL talent base anytime soo.

The other fact is that that the rinks are a lot smaller, and the ticket prices will be lower - meaning a lot less revenue.  Only 4-5 of the teams are owned by billionaire Russians like Medvedev and Abramovitch,  the rest are owned by people who can't afford to keep filling the players bank accounts with their own money.

TV deals and other sponsorship will also be less lucrative than the NHL.

Bottom line is that while it may seem like a threat, most experts don't expect the league to last.  Scotty Bowman told Sportsnet that from what he has seen of their model - they'll be out of business within 3 years.

Answer 2

They are trying to jump start themselves as a respectable organization so they can become as big as the NHL, but they dont realize that that is pretty impossible....soon enough they are going to go bankrupt with all the money they are spending on these outrageous contracts.....

Answer 3

Here is a good link that will give you some more information, It's wikipedia, but it has some pretty decent coverage of all of the teams.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental...