In a prime example of revenue-driven sports run amuck, the National Hockey League is set to embark on a seemingly endless series of playoff games designed to determine the 2017 Stanley Cup Champions.
Sixteen teams out of the league’s 30 qualified. It is tempting to ask, why not just let them all in?
At least all 16 teams that qualified for post-season play had winning records, but considering that many of those wins came against some totally dreadful teams, only the most diehard supporters could claim any hopes of their teams advancing beyond the first round.
We do not mean to single out the NHL. The National Basketball Association also lets in a disproportionate number of teams into post-season play, with some of those teams carrying .500 or sub-.500 records.
In Australia, half of the NRL gets into the playoffs, eight of 16 teams. The AFL is perhaps the most scrupulous of the professionals, limiting their finals to eight of 18.
One is left wondering how many beer, car, male virility, and pharmaceutical concoctions of dubious benefit adverts viewers will be subject to before the champion is determined.
The marathon of playoffs evokes nostalgia for the days of yore when the MLB had one representative from the American League and one from the National League square off in the World Series. MLB has succumbed to the lure of playoff revenues, and now has divisions and wild-card entrants, just as the other leagues do.
