One of the areas the NBA beats the NHL is that there is no downtime for them. They go right from the playoffs, to the draft, then free agency just like the NHL. The difference is the time between free agency and the start of camp. There is really nothing going on with the Edmonton Oilers or the rest of the NHL right now.
Development camps are done, and now there is nothing to do but wait till rookie camp starts. That is where the NBA has a solution to the problem. They have the NBA Summer League. It grabs air time on the sports highlights when it is a slow time for sports it is a good time to get eyes on your league.
Want your voice heard? Join the Oil On Whyte team!
There may not be any of the big-name players playing right now for the NBA, but there is still a sport to watch. The big question I have for Edmonton Oilers fans is, would you rather watch a subpar Edmonton Oilers hockey or a nine-inning baseball game? I assume most will choose hockey.
You wouldn’t have to worry about the NHL players getting fatigued from playing during their time off as they likely wouldn’t be playing. The owners would like it cause they would be able to sell tickets to watch the games as well as TV rights for this event. If there is one thing the owners want is more money.
It would also be a way to grow the game. They could play games in places where there is no NHL team already. A place where they don’t get to high-end hockey live. Take it to the places where they are looking at expanding to next, like Portland or Kansas City.
In my opinion, even though the skill of the players would be much lower than an NHL game I would still tune in to watch the games. I and likely most Edmonton Oilers fans are itching for something Edmonton Oilers to talk about and right now there is nothing going on, we can only talk about Evan Bouchard’s potential new deal so much.