NHL after the Strike

Do you remember how attendance at Major League Baseball games dropped off after the 1994 strike? What do you think will happen in the NHL?

My friend, Rico, and I both think things will be different in the NHL, but our reasons are different.

Rico says that with the salary cap, teams in lesser markets will be able to attract better talent and generate more interest in the game.

I don't disagree with him. Rather, I get a feeling (good science, eh?), a sense (sounds like socionomology, perhaps) that most fans are eagerly awaiting the start of the season. They have forgiven everyone involved, if only they will get back to playing again. But maybe that is just a feeling one gets, living in Canada.

I have to wonder, though, whether the lockout at the CBC will affect interest in the game. Of course whether it will depends on the extent to which other networks pick up the games in Canada. The value of the NHL contract could, in fact, be the major reason the CBC labour dispute gets settled soon; or .... losing it to other networks in Canada could be the reason the CBC dies a worthy death.