Should Carney talk more about hockey?
The goalie ought to save hockey fans some money and grow the game here
Mark Carney is the talk of the federal political town. He’s on track to become federal Liberal leader, and the next Prime Minister. Whoever takes over from Justin Trudeau will have their hands full in a bunch of important areas (trade, housing, climate, etc). But I want to focus on hockey.
Clearly, Mark Carney wants to talk hockey too. He’s used it to contrast himself to PM Trudeau:
He’s a snowboarder, I’m a goalie
I think Carney’s talks hockey to relate to Canadians, especially for someone who spent much of the 2010s being an economic policymaker in the U.K., not Canada. So how could Carney talk more about hockey?
Hockey Populism
Political types love to talk about “economic populism” and how it’s all the rage. I’ll admit, I don’t what the flip that means. But as far as I can tell, it mostly involves cutting highly visible, annoying prices (like vehicle registration fees and tolls), and acting like they’re massive tax cuts. Why not start with NHL ticket prices?
I’d suggest Carney look back to the U.K. for inspiration. ChatGPT tells me Carney’s an Everton fan, a middling team in England’s top league, the English Premier League (EPL). According to The Athletic, last season Mr. Carney could go to all 19 home games for Everton for £600 (~$1075 CAD) in the cheap seats, and a bit more on the pricier end. That’s about $60 per game. Everton is not especially cheap either, most EPL clubs, even top clubs like Manchester City offer season tickets for as low ~$50 per game.
Believe it or not, the Brits complain very loudly about these prices.
In this time of resurgent Canadian nationalism, we ought to make going to our national game more affordable. I’d like to see strict price caps. Something like capping 50% of tickets at $50 or less. You could let the teams decide how to sell those (as single games, packages or season tickets).
This also aligns with Carney’s argument in his book “Values”1, which focuses on how markets should work for people, not the other way around. The NHL doesn’t work like a normal market. Unlike in other industries, price increases don’t bring an increase in supply: stadiums have the seats they have, and the NHL is a private club of owners. There will always be more demand for tickets than seats, so stepping in and preventing pure profit maximization makes sense. The “value” of Canadian families being able to go to a hockey game is worth more than padding owners profits, and there should be more effort to reflect that.
I’d like to compare EPL ticket prices to Canadian NHL ticket prices, but the NHL ticket information is less available. A random website suggests $5,000, or $120 per game for cheap seats to watch the Leafs as of 2021. I’m sure it’s more now. There’s other indicators of a messed up market. The Leafs also have a tactic of bundling other MLSE tickets into their Leafs tickets. The official website mentions a bundle that includes the Marlies, I’ve heard of bundles that required Raptors purchases in the past. Bundling like this is shady - and could be cause for a Competition Bureau investigation (it might not be a mystery where the strategy comes from, telecom giant Rogers owns the Leafs).
The other niche Toronto benefit would be to fix their (lack of) noise problem, which is a symptom of a team that has price-hiked itself into a stodgy, corporate wine-and-dine clientele instead of real fans.
Supply Side
Any self-respecting economist has to also consider the supply side. Its been 13 years since the Jets returned to Winnipeg. I wrote recently about how Halifax is entering NHL viability range, but there are other Canadian cities who could host NHL teams. And even if they cannot, we should pressure the NHL to suck it up. Just as the NHL has tried time and time again to force teams into U.S. markets with much smaller existing hockey fanbases.
With more Canadian NHL teams, it would be cool to see a parallel competition, the Canada Cup, where expanded Canadian teams would compete for their own trophy (FA cup style). At least then we’d win sometimes.
Obviously, this is just a wish list of random moves. But the finance of it all is that despite high prices, NHL teams are not massive money machines. According to Forbes, the Maple Leafs generated $300 million in revenue last season, of which $134 million came from ticket sales. A “devasting” drop of 50% in ticket sales would amount to $65 million per year. Pennies from a government perspective. And a far cry from Doug Ford’s $3bn in $200 checks (which could nearly buy the Leafs outright at their recent $4bn valuation).
Big picture, I have loved finally seeing Canada’s best compete in the 4-nations tournament. But its also insane that the NHL is organizing its own international hockey competition. It suggests a massive void of leadership in the hockey world, a leadership role that Canada, more than any other country, should be taking. It’s our game, and we need more say in it2.
Oh, and one last thing: can we please get Canadian goalie quotas in our junior hockey leagues, we need more Canadian goalies, Mr Carney!3
I admit, I’ve read only a few pages lol
I wonder whether the scandal-related implosion of Hockey Canada has played a role…
Funny enough this might be the one that clearly has federal tools, just deny visas for foreign goalies….
Deny,
Free goalie gear for anyone who wants to play nets in minor hockey across Canada! Mark Carney's first act in Parliment. Harvard would be proud of their goalie ......