Don't get me wrong, I'm not completely sour on the concept of the WHA. They have made a concerted effort to build a league that improves on some of the NHL's deficiencies such as building in a hard salary cap, opening the game up offensively by abolishing the red line and having 3-on-3 overtime followed by shootout to decide ties. This is of course the rebirth of the WHA. The initial iteration of the league ran from 1972-1979 and was able to draw top players like Bobby Hull and Gordie Howe with lucrative contracts. In fact Hull was the first ever hockey player to sign a million dollar contract. Now things have come full circle and Bobby Hull is once again associated with the league this time as commissioner.

Financially the WHA is building the foundation of the league on what NHL commissioner Gary Bettman dreams about at night; cost certainty. The league is made up of 8 franchises (Halifax, Toronto, Hamilton, Quebec, Detroit, Florida, Dallas and one other franchise to be named, likely Vancouver). Each franchise paid a $1.5 million entry fee and follows a $15 million salary cap with a $5 million allowable exemption to pay one "franchise player". By having the costs controlled at a reasonable level, benefits can be passed onto fans which include reduced threat of player holdouts, greater parity amongst teams and lower ticket prices. According to the Dallas owner Rick Munro, he plans on pricing tickets between $10 and $65 USD, with the average seat retailing for $30. Based on the average ticket price of $30, teams would need to draw an audience of 13,150 per home game just to match the cost of player salaries if the team is maxed out to the cap; that's no small feat considering ticket sales will be the biggest and almost sole driver of revenue. The WHA does not have a TV deal in place and regional radio deals are a lot like any of Kevin Costner's movie releases in the 90's in that they don't bring in a lot of money. I know what you're thinking, what about merchandise sales? Well, have you seen some of the logo designs thus far?

	It's a splitting image of bad judgment.

The Halifax Icebreakers followed up their horrible moniker with an automatic bid for the worst logo in major professional sports. I get that there's a dual meaning to 'Icebreakers' but it's simply lame. It's something I would expect from the headline writer at the daily sports section. For whatever reason you can always count on that alternative news publication, you know the secondary newspaper that's more concerned with tabloid and gossip than true reporting to provide the lamest titles. Things like "Kicker puts best foot forward." I don't know if the Halifax franchise bought some overstock from the New York Islanders and their old Highliner fisherman inspired logo but whatever the case the Icebreakers have assured themselves little to no merchandise revenue. Honourable mention for horrible logo design goes to the Toronto Toros whose logo consists of a steroid injected bull having a 'roid rage' in a cutoff shirt. Is this really the best choice when there's so much sensitivity with the BALCO investigation and the use of performance enhancing drugs in sport? The only thing less subtle for a logo would be a syringe and urine cup. And while we're on the subject the most popular and best selling logos over time tend to be the simple ones i.e. Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers, Cowboys, Canadiens, Leafs etc. I don't know why teams can't pick up on this notion. I'm sure even kids will show constraint in wearing a Toros or Icebreakers jersey or hat.

	The WHA schedule will be as predictable as the Globetrotters next opponent.

I'm also a little concerned with the 76 games schedule the WHA has decided on. For a league that wants to preach offense it's contradictory to make such a lengthy schedule with so few teams. One of the NHL's problems is the length of their schedule. The WHA could have really made an impact with a 50 game schedule. Plus this league will resemble a Junior B league by about the midway point of the year. You know the saying "familiarity breeds contempt"? Well just imagine what type of contempt there will be when teams have to play each other 9-10 times over the season, and that's not even including the playoffs. Conceivably two teams could play each other 17 times over the course of the year. What is this, the Harlem Globetrotters and Washington Generals?

The WHA draft was another engrossing subplot simply from the standpoint of trying to follow along with the logic of the draft picks. Teams like Toronto were drafting Joe Thornton and Ilya Kovalchuk fully knowing that they were overreaching. The most interesting team of the draft had to be the Quebec Nordiks. All 30 players that they drafted are French-speaking players and most if not all are Quebec-born and raised. The Nordiks are kinda like that guy at the fantasy pool draft who only drafts players from his favourite team. You know the guy. He's typically a Yankees or Leafs fan. I also found it interesting that most teams conducted the draft without a coaching staff or general manager in place. It diminishes the integrity of the league when there are no general managers in place to conduct the drafts and when the inaugural franchise draft exempt players are unaware that they were even chosen until they read it in the papers a few days later like Glen Murray found out when he was taken by Halifax. You would think something like being taken as the first player in team history would warrant a phone call but then again you don't see me calling Markus Naslund when I draft him.

If it sounds like I'm not giving the WHA any respect or in Mike Wilbon's words 'dap' then you're right. I won't believe the promises until I see them. Despite how critical and skeptical I am about the league I do see a need for it. The only way the WHA will survive as a respectable and alternate league is if the NHL goes through with contraction after a new CBA agreement is written up. The NHL's product is watered down beyond belief after a decade in the 90's that was driven by the greed of hefty expansion fees. If the NHL chooses to trim that fat it will be to the WHA's advantage and thus a true need for the league will be established. I look forward to October and I hope the WHA proves me wrong. A little healthy competition never hurts.