NHL PROVIDES CULTURE, BUT NO ECONOMIC BENEFITS

The NHL needs to engage in more revenue-sharing agreements among its teams, and senior government has to decide if it wants to subsidize hockey or not if the NHL is to remain in Canada, says sports economist Dr. Colin Jones. "The economic benefit of professional sports is very limited but [federal industry minister] John Manley has said that hockey amounts to Canadian culture, so the government is building a case for subsidization just as they do with other cultural organizations," says Jones, who prefers that the NHL take responsibility for its faltering Canadian teams. "The NFL has a whole raft of revenue sharing programs among its teams. They share the gate, they share product revenue. The NHL doesn't do any of this." [PP]

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