A few weeks ago was Christmas and one of the great things about Christmas is young people are starting or continuing their dreams. Whatever they are good at they begin to specialize into something that they can be the best in the world at. In terms of hockey, the most important league is the NHL but to get there is very tough. There are usually 20% of the spots on the team which are for superstars who everyone could pick, the other 80% have varying degrees of skill, and depending on circumstances they could be in the NHL. The path for the 80% is the American Hockey League (AHL). While most people dream of playing hockey in the NHL, the AHL has changed itself from a second tier league to one where young players are trained and veterans on their seemingly last legs mentor the younger ones. In the NHL the base salary is around $500,000 plus; in the AHL the base salary is $45,000 which is why people follow their dreams. One can easily look around to salaries in your community and see which ones are more and less and people work them.

Ted Starkey wrote a book called Chasing the Dream – Life in the American Hockey League published by ECW Press, Toronto, 2016. Mr. Starkey takes us through a tour from the perspective of owners, coaches, general managers, players and support staff – broadcasters. From each of the perspective, people are there for different reasons and in sports change is a key. Although many of the teams in the AHL are owned by a team in the NHL (which has changed the locations for them – being close to watch and bring up and down players is a huge advantage) while smaller towns with long history of a team may or may not lose out. For the support staff, learning and loving the game must go hand in hand; for the players they are waiting and learning for their shot at the big leagues.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, owning a team which is very dependent on ticket sales means you have to be close to those buying the tickets for the big money of  TV and radio money is not in the cards. Each year the teams have to do all the things right including have good players so fans continue to come, it is an interesting business that puts many of the teams on the hometown sports pages on a consistent basis. The business remains the same but the players change every year which the business has to sell to the fans who buy the tickets.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.