The theory of “Too Big To Fail” is one we all can learn from. In 2008, many banks in the United States received a financial bailout based upon the fact that they were all so interconnected to the economy that they could not be allowed to go under.
USA Hockey, the North American Hockey League, and to a smaller extent, the United States Hockey League are putting that “theory” to the test once again.
The NAHL and USHL are just USA Hockey members. They should be nothing more, nothing less. But when you look at the power structure within the USA Hockey Junior Council it all changes. The Junior Council is run and controlled primarily by the NAHL and USHL.
Because the NAHL and USHL are the only current Tier I and Tia II leagues, they make all the rules and standards for USA Hockey without anyone having the ability to make a forceful objection. So why would any “free to play” league want to see more “free to play” competition in the marketplace? The answer is they don’t want the competition. They want to continue to control the market.
They want to dictate the how, why and where of everything impacting free to play opportunity. That includes all the tryout camp money that neither league can survive without. Kind of like OPEC in the Middle East controlling oil production and prices, they try to control the entire free to play junior hockey industry.
The underlying issue is, USA Hockey, the NAHL and USHL, have lost touch with what all the USA Hockey paying members want. They have lost touch with people who pay their bills for them. And, the people are fed up with the “hockey elite” telling the “hockey majority” what the game is going to be.
Without going into the details of the USPHL being denied Tier II status under USA Hockey again, lets be clear, USA Hockey could have made the sanctioning work. They could have done their job and kept everyone playing under one umbrella. The Junior Council made a conscious choice to not do that.
The NAHL and to some extent the USHL are relying on a theory resembling “Moral Hazard”.
The Moral Hazard theory is one where a group gets involved in a risky event believing it is protected against the risk and that another group will bail them out. This usually happens when neither group is working on complete information.
USA Hockey, the NAHL and USHL are all working together simply believing that each will be there to protect the other, and that someone will throw someone a rope if they are drowning.
The bigger problem for USA Hockey, the NAHL and USHL is a theory called REGULATORY CAPTURE.
Regulatory Capture is a form of Political Corruption that occurs when a regulatory agency, created to act in the public interest, instead advances the commercial or political concerns of special interest groups that dominate the industry or sector it is charged with regulating.
I urge you to really think about that for a minute. USA Hockey is empowered by an act of the United States Congress, empowered, not entitled. USA Hockey, by virtue of their internal rules has allowed the commercial and political concerns of the special interest NAHL and USHL to advance their agenda, to the detriment of another group the USPHL.
This Regulatory Capture has also advanced the commercial and political interests of the NAHL and USHL over those that USA Hockey is there to protect. You, the consumer, and the USPHL who are also paying members.
The NAHL and USHL cant be solely blamed for this though. They are only playing within the rules that USA Hockey has established.
Furthering that problem for USA Hockey is the USPHL having more money behind them as a league than USA Hockey has as a governing body. Compounding that issue, USA Hockey has picked a fight with a group that is, according to all sources, very united.
The NAHL and USHL in some respect, should have simply let the USPHL in at the Tier II level in order to be able to make sure they knew what the league was doing and to ensure everyone played by the same rules.
Now you have a well funded, very powerful group of owners who can do what ever they want.
Make no mistake, they will form a free to play league under their own rules. Competition is good for business, but when you don’t know what your competition is doing you are in trouble. It becomes significantly more troublesome when your competition does not have to play by the same rules.
The thing about theories is that they usually are developed by highly intelligent people. Those theories are tested. Much like the left wing lock, the trap, and the one three one were hockey theories.
USA Hockey, the NAHL and USHL are now testing some theories that have the potential to destroy the people that want them tested. If they fail, these entities can be crippled if not killed off all together, and the world will simply move on without them. They are running the risk of becoming a footnote in history.
This is no small issue as some would have you believe. What’s happening here goes to the very heart of what USA Hockey is and what it is intended to be.
Hockey will continue to be played, with or without any of the groups involved. With battle lines drawn, let the games begin.
Joseph Kolodziej – Publisher
