EIHL in 5 years

Thread starter #1
Hey guys time to get out your crystal balls and where do you predict the state of the EIHL in 5 years with the league being so strong with a number of high quality of players but another season with a folded team. Will we see it get better with more quality plplayers and more teams in the league like MK, Hull Leeds London ect or do you see a different future?
 

Devilsatw

Well-Known Member
#2
As fans I think we should Worry.

Unfortunately everything is about money!

teams like stars flyers and even storm won’t compete unless they get taken over like we did.
If anything they must be losing money and not making a profit at all.
Enjoy British hockey whilst it lasts I say
 

mjh

Well-Known Member
#3
If the Eihl can exploit league wide sponsorship and strengthen development of young Brits then I think it will be fine. All about business sense now and maintaining a manageable number of teams.
 

Ibbz9

Active Member
#4
The problem facing the league is, on paper, the top 4 getting stronger year-on-year. This is bad for business in my opinion. It creates two possible problems. The first is the rest of the league try to keep up and end up overspending going bust. The second is that the rest of the league spend within their budget, but the gap in quality between the top four gets bigger and bigger. This could see fanbases drop as fans do not want to watch one-sided games, be it winning or losing.
The "big four" have a responsibility to the league to ensure the others stay close. If they don't and those teams fold or pull out (due to finances/fan reduction) then there is no league.
Nobody wants to go to a game where you know beforehand that the team is going to win/lose comfortably.
 

kingmo19.1

Well-Known Member
#5
If it continues with the big clubs just splashing cash then I can see Dundee, Storm, Blaze and Fife dropping down a level leaving a potential 6 team league. That would mean bad news for the fans as we’d have returned to the Superleague days - and we know how that ended.

GB will also suffer as the top end teams will be reluctant to bring in and develop new blood as there would be so much at stake.

There should be a proper enforced wage cap (nightmare to manage I know) and a reduction in imports by 2-3 to make the league more competitive - and interesting!
 

CaldicotDevil

Well-Known Member
#6
Biggest worry for me is where the next generation of Brits come from. The standard of the EIHL is improving year on year and it’s getting so hard to develop Brits. Look at us trying to develop Rutkis. The standard of the NIHL is a gulf apart from the EIHL so you couldn’t just leave him with Swindon to develop. The EIHL is so competitive you can only play him for prolonged minutes if we’re 3/4 goals up. You can train all they want but to really develop he needs game time.

Me personally I’d cap the wages and drop the import limit. The EIHL standard will suffer but at the minute we’re losing 1 side a year from the EIHL.
 

tim78

Well-Known Member
#7
If it gets to the point were teams are dropping out then the league I'd hope will react.

Lets see how this season goes, the gulf is growing but you can't say the GB team is suffering this early on when it's heading the opposite way.
 

Temme

Well-Known Member
#8
If it gets to the point were teams are dropping out then the league I'd hope will react.

Lets see how this season goes, the gulf is growing but you can't say the GB team is suffering this early on when it's heading the opposite way.
Correct me if i'm wrong, but haven't we been here quite a while already?

Basingstoke Bison
Hull Stingrays
Edinburgh Capitals
Manchester Phoenix
Newcastle Vipers
MK Lightning

All in the last 10 years.

I'm 50/50, I want to see the highest standard of hockey I can irrespective of GB, I don't follow the national team very closely. (however do respect it's importance & loyal fanbase).

However signing top top talent will ultimately limit the league to <6 teams, which is not a 'league' at all. So there has to be a balance.

Over the coming the years the logical solution would be to gradually drop import numbers, but this would just cause the same problem the other way with brits holding clubs at ransom for £££.
 

CaldicotDevil

Well-Known Member
#10
Correct me if i'm wrong, but haven't we been here quite a while already?

Basingstoke Bison
Hull Stingrays
Edinburgh Capitals
Manchester Phoenix
Newcastle Vipers
MK Lightning

All in the last 10 years.

I'm 50/50, I want to see the highest standard of hockey I can irrespective of GB, I don't follow the national team very closely. (however do respect it's importance & loyal fanbase).

However signing top top talent will ultimately limit the league to <6 teams,which is not a 'league' at all. So there has to be a balance.

Over the coming the years the logical solution would be to gradually drop import numbers, but this would just cause the same problem the other way with brits holding clubs at ransom for £££.
Agreed,

Also the problem with wait and see, if Dundee/Fife drop out the league to the SNL (which isn't unthinkable considering their signings compared to the rest of the EIHL) then the other one will follow. Leaving the EIHL with a 8 team league (they'd probably still have a CC group stage to qualify for the CC quarterfinal)

Cap the wages to stop arena teams stockpiling all the best Brits and drop the import limit to develop them. This would encourage more teams to sign up for the EIHL increasing the EIHL market. Then maybe look at moving it to a DEL like structure. However it's a huge risk for likes of Sheffield, Panthers & Giants who rely on a big fanbase to pay for arena hire, buy merch & sponsorship etc. If the standard drops on the ice then the fanbase numbers may drop too, this is going to put huge pressure on the teams with higher overheads. I could see the Giants even trying to join another European league.

It's an issue which will have to be sorted soon. Pre season starts for most teams today, Dundee have 16 players signed up, Fife only have 10 players.

Be interesting to know Steve's view on the EIHL structure, or if there's a better Canadian structure we could adopt. He's always been about sustainability & growth which is what the EIHL main focus should be.
 

Ejercito Rojas

Well-Known Member
#11
I wouldn’t be overly concerned with Fife’s lack of players yet. They always announce players late and usually only have them report in on the weekend of their first friendly.
They don’t have their first meaningful game for over a month!
 

CaldicotDevil

Well-Known Member
#12
I wouldn’t be overly concerned with Fife’s lack of players yet. They always announce players late and usually only have them report in on the weekend of their first friendly.
They don’t have their first meaningful game for over a month!
Crazy business model, most clubs try and get a few big signings in early to encourage ST sales so they can forecast budgets for season and push player & team sponsorship.
 

Gospel

Active Member
#13
You do have to wonder how long the arms race can continue before something breaks and teams go bankrupt again.

Giants and steelers throwing the cash this season but is it beyond what their income is? If it isnt then the only concern is the huge gulf in quality between the top teams and bottom teams. As that grows then the fans of the bottom teams are likely to drift away, income becomes lower then quality of players will drop again.

There doesnt appear to be any new owners on the horizon for other teams so the options are very limited sadly.
 
#14
all teams want to improve year on year, but obviously this comes at a price. Its not just new signings, its also retaining players, they will come at a high price as well.....likes of Martin, Hedden and even Bowns. These players wont be playing for the same wages this season as they were last season. Plus im sure other teams here and abroad were sniffing around, therefore putting pressure on Cardiff to up wages/incentives etc. So although Devils fans think the likes of Sheffield and Belfast have, as some have said, could have spent beyond their means Devils will have spent a huge chunk of cash just retaining players.
Its all conjecture on what teams have spent because only they will know.
 

matbur

Well-Known Member
#15
The gap between the haves and have nots is growing and that's just in our league. Let alone the second tier or growing the number of clubs in the league which is desperately needed. Taking aside the gloss as a Devils fan, the product is very weak and barely sustainable. The league can't even invest in proper recorded stats ffs and homegrown development is an issue which isn't going away. The league is booming right now but will struggle in 5-10 years again.
 

moggy#9

Well-Known Member
#18
Picture of design doesn’t seem to have much seating
It seems an odd decision to build a multi rink facility where one doesn't have a decent capacity in this country. I've been in a 4 rink complex in Montreal of that type, but that's in a place with a huge number of junior and rec teams that need ice.
 
Top