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[QUOTE="Cusefan95, post: 4918399, member: 173"]
I think you’re simplifying the situation.  In 1993, NBA revenues were around $925MM, NHL was around $753MM.  (There’s a reason why SI ran a cover story that the NHL was HOT, the NBA was NOT).  But in 2019, NBA revenues were around $10 Billion, NHL around $6 Billion.  The NHL was catching up and in the early 90s was close in popularity to the NBA.  Then the 1994 NHL strike happened - any hope of catching the NBA was lost.

Since then the NHL owners have constantly prioritized short term revenue opportunities over long term growth - and they’ve kept falling further and further behind the NBA as a result.

“Player movement” plays a part, but the overarching issue is sports that can’t cooperate and prioritize long term growth grow more slowly than those that do.  The Giants agreeing to the idea to negotiate TV rights league wide was a huge turning point for the NFL - it was not in the Giants short term interests but has paid off many times over in the decades since.  On the opposite side,  the lack of cooperation between conferences and individual schools, with all of them looking to maximize short term opportunities (which is how the MLB has historically been managed) doesn’t bode well for college athletics in the long run.
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