Cancelled NHL Season Would Have Canada Missing Goals

The Wall Street Journal ^ | October 3, 2012, 9:29 AM ET | By Karen Johnson

[RitchieAprile]

For many Canadians, the prospect of a lost–or even delayed–National Hockey League season is heartbreak enough. Now it turns out, it also might high-stick the country’s economy.

Associated Press Montreal Canadiens’ Colby Armstrong, left, and Ryan White take a break during an informal training session last month at the team’s training facility in Brossard, Quebec.From his desk at one of Canada’s big banks, economist and hockey fan Doug Porter has been crunching numbers, as labor strife between players and owners threatens to scupper the NHL season. Mr. Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, figures a canceled season would shave 0.1% off Canada’s annual gross domestic product. A shortened, condensed season with fewer games–like last year’s NBA season–would pare about 0.05% from GDP, he figures.

[RitchieAprile]

A sad winter for hockey fans without Ron and Grapes..

[Buckeye McFrog]

I always thought Canada’s Gross Domestic Product was Poutine.

[C19fan]

I am highly skeptical of this. Canadians who are not spending money on NHL games are likely to spend these recreation dollars on other uses for example dining out.

[PGR88]

I just can’t believe both the owners and players would allow this to happen.

Another cancelled season or season with an asterisk will just be awful for the game.

[BuddaBudd]

Will 0bama bail out Canadaa?

[Squawk 8888]

Canada Ping!

[Roccus]

ICBW, but I’ll bet the teams have had the money from season ticket holders for months now.

[ken5050]

That WSJ headline writer must have been hung over when he came up with that one..

[Kolath]

Never fret Oh Canada....you always have curling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curling

[Alberta's Child]

It’s not the fan spending that’s the issue here ... it’s enormous sums of money earned by Canadian hockey players in the U.S., with much of it coming back into Canada.