Baseball did it. So did pro football and pro basketball. The wonder is that it took hockey so long. In comparative terms, hockey has long been the most popular and profitable of all pro sports.
There has not been an empty seat at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens for 20 years, and the Boston Bruins, who have finished last in the National Hockey League for five straight years, regularly outdraw the Boston Celtics, who have won seven straight National Basketball Association championships. So the N.H.L. decided last week to expand from six to twelve teams, granting new franchises to Los Angeles,...
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