WILLIAMS: Developing a European audience – the AHL has eyes on Spengler Cup
Could we see the AHL playing games in Europe soon?
AHL president and chief executive officer Dave Andrews held talks earlier this year with Spengler Cup organizers about the possibility of AHL involvement. The two sides were not able to implement a plan for this year’s event, but they remain on good terms and plan to resume the discussion later this season.
“We are committed to further conversation on both sides,” Andrews said. “We’re going to pursue it again.”
HOCKEY IN THE ALPS
Hockey’s oldest invitational tournament, the Spengler Cup dates to 1923. Swiss club HC Davos hosts the annual holiday six-team event inside the picturesque ski town set among the Swiss Alps. It brings teams from across several top-tier European leagues to Davos, and Hockey Canada sends a national team to the event each year as well.
This year Czech entry HC Oceláři Třinec takes on KHL opponent Metallurg Magnitogorsk on December 26 in the afternoon undercard at storied Vaillant Arena. That night HC Davos hosts Team Canada. Joining those four teams will be Liiga club KalPa Kuopio along with the DEL’s Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers out of Nürnberg. That makes for a deep field. While Davos and KalPa each have struggled this season, Třinec leads the Extraliga, Magnitogorsk is in contention, and defending tournament champion Canada always puts together an experienced roster.
EUROPEAN RELATIONS
But if arrangements can be made, AHL teams could be filling some of those slots next year. For the AHL, such a venture presents an opportunity to expose the NHL’s top developmental league to a European audience and further existing European ties.
“I think that building international relationships is good for us,” Andrews said.
The AHL has a limited European history. The Rochester Americans, the AHL’s second-oldest franchise, participated in the Spengler Cup in the 1996 and 2013. In 2014, the SHL sent Färjestad BK to North America to face the AHL at the AHL All-Star Classic. Last season, Eisbären Berlin of the DEL had winter trip to Southern California to play the Ontario Reign, their AEG entertainment empire brethren. The Syracuse Crunch, Utica Comets, and the former Binghamton Senators all have visited Lyon, France for training camp in the past as well.
MAKING THE LOGISTICS WORK
To make the plan work, Andrews will have to overcome at least one significant obstacle, especially as the holiday break also represents the unofficial start to the league’s traditional second-half upswing in attendance. With families looking for holiday entertainment, most teams are eager to fill their late-December calendar with as many home dates as possible.
Logistically, sending a team to Switzerland means carving out the better part of 10-plus days from the already-tight AHL schedule. The tournament runs each year between December 26-31, and travel and acclimation time need to be put in place both before and after the event.
So, if he can sell it to Spengler Cup organizers, Andrews would like to see two AHL teams go to Davos in the same year.
For example, the Spengler Cup game between the two AHL teams could count in the official standings. The teams would also play a second game elsewhere in Europe. Each team being able to check two games off the schedule could ease some of that schedule burden.
“There are a lot of interesting things that we could do there that would help in the process,” Andrews said, acknowledging that the idea remains “really preliminary.”
Despite the additional travel that participation would bring, Andrews said that he has interested teams.
“I think for [AHL] teams, it’s an opportunity to do something really special for their players, Andrews explained. “It is a really unique experience for a player. When we have gone over there in the past [with Rochester], we had exit interviews with the players to see what they thought about the experience. Because they’re giving up Christmas, it’s hard travel, they’re playing at altitude, they’re playing on an international surface.”
“But it’s a really unique tournament and really special. The feedback from our players was basically 100 percent. ‘If you had the chance to do it again, would you go?’ And the answer has been ‘Yes.’”
“I think that in some ways it might help in recruiting players to your team if you’re looking at free agents, knowing that they’re going to get a chance to play [in the Spengler Cup]. There is no shortage of teams interested in going, I can tell you.”
So, yes, logistics and other hurdles remain. That said, Andrews has spent the past 25 years putting out fires, keeping owners at both the NHL and AHL levels satisfied amid a growing NHL emphasis on player development in the AHL, and bringing in six teams from the former International Hockey League in 2001. Andrews and the AHL also managed to pull off moving five teams to California in one year back in 2015, and a parade of ensuing affiliation changes around the league. So, this is a president, a league, and a front office with experience in engineering solutions.
“I know that we would have two teams that would do it if the financial circumstances were right,” Andrews stated. “The Spengler Cup has to want us, too. We have a long way to go, but that concept is really interesting to our guys.”
ON THE AIR
On any given night, Andrews likes to settle in, fire up his big-screen television, and take in a busy slate of games.
Apparently, he has a lot of company.
In September the league unveiled its new digital streaming product for fans, AHLTV. The league partnered with HockeyTech to develop AHLTV, which replaced its former webcast, AHL Live.
Andrews likes to use Apple TV, but complementing the standard webcast and mobile options are several other over-the-top choices.
The league also took control of the product and cut prices as much as 66 percent from last season. Fans can choose from several packages, including league-wide and team-specific offerings, and it also is not rare at all to see scouts along with team and league personnel from the NHL and AHL in a press box using the service. All games are presented in high-definition. HockeyTech also has partnered with the USHL and several Canadian junior-A leagues in similar projects.
The venture has paid off for the AHL. Viewership has more than tripled from where it was last season, Andrews reported.
Each Friday night the league also broadcasts its AHL Game of the Week on Facebook Watch, meaning that fans across the league can have access to at least one free game weekly.
“The feedback has been terrific,” Andrews said. “We’re really, really happy with how that has unfolded so far this year. That was a huge transition. HockeyTech, our partner, has been terrific.”
“The most important thing is that our fans are happy. When you get right down to it, that’s what we want. We may generate less revenue because [of the price cut], but we’ve got the price point to a place where our fans are happy, and the quality of the product is better. There is not much not to like.”
“What I am really happy about is that when I go into buildings around the league, the feedback from fans is great. The feedback from our hockey operations people with the teams has also been very positive.”
“It really has been a home run for us, and hopefully we will continue to build our audience.”
