Post
by BCRantzilla » Tue Apr 11, 2006 9:55 pm
Unfortunately this is something like this needs startup capital. Nobody involved in any of these entities were willing to put this up. The iihl was doomed to fail from the start because killbreath was looking to scam as many people as possible and run, (I got this from 12 player, coach and manager sources as well as 3 local newspaper reporters that this was what killbreath had done,) and he threw everyone around him under a bus to cover his tracks. (Which is why he is still pretty much in hiding.) The IHA was not going anywhere because of the alliance of Jim Cashman and Joe Kolodziej. Joe was a crook and 4 time convicted fellon heading back to jail, (where he still is now,) and Cashman had no money.
As for a website, it is a very good promotional tool and good for selling people and sponsors on the idea of a league. Sometimes you can tell a league is nowhere based on weather or not they have a professional looking website. The iihl's website was a total joke and guess what? So was the league. The IHA's site was a joke and again, so was the IHA. The CPHL had/has a nice looking site on the surface but the inability to post any stats is a red flag right there. The bottom line is that while a great website probably wont make a league, a crappy one can break it. Look professional and it looks good on you.
As for how they can bill themselves, if there is no money to begin with, you can't really bill yourselves at all. The CPHL was, at best semi-pro. The mistake was having a salary cap smaller than even lower level Quebec senior hockey leagues. In the south or southwest, this can work because there is no other forms of hockey to compare it to but ACHA if you are lucky. In Ontario, Michigan and the surrounding areas there is so much to compete with that a new semi-pro league just can't work if you can't compete with the other leagues in the area. The CEHL has worked because they beat the LNAH's expansion plans by a year or two and they survived a tough start to prove they can survive.
At this point it is hard to say where an A-Puck league can work. I don't think the last crop of enterpreneurs (spelling,) are going to be the ones to pull it off. This off season is going to be a big one for this level of the minors as the CEHL and LNAH could merge, (rumours all over the place but I'd like to find out more about that one,) the SPHL could either expand big or shrink again, the UHL is in a strange crossroads and even the AHL is looking to expand after what has to be considered a pretty bad year for them at the gate and with teams coming and going over the last calender year.
And that is all the people need to know!
