The NHL's Misleading Stance on the Decline of the Canadian Dollar

By Chirag Gandhi

As the Canadian dollar has dropped over 30% in the last three years against its U.S. counterpart, National Hockey League (NHL) executives and NHL team owners have complained about its negative impact on the league. Gary Bettman, the commissioner of the NHL, quantified the financial impact on the league to Sportsnet in May 2016 by stating that “if the Canadian dollar were still at par, we’d be $100 million or $200 million higher".

Furthermore, this summer, the NHL decided to discard  Quebec's City's bid for a team. Gary Bettman explained the decision to the long awaiting fans of Quebec City by saying that "the fluctuation of the Canadian dollar throughout the process, including its decline to a low of 68 cents earlier this year was a factor”. Yet, Quebec City was a strong candidate for expansion  by offering the 500 million dollar expansion fee and having an 18,000 seat stadium ready for hockey. NHL executives repeated time and