It's obvious this is happening. Really. Think about it.The USA is growing in population yet the number of sports teams ALWAYS stays the same. If someone wants to start a new sports team in a city it's next to impossible without poaching it from some other city. Their are no various levels of "leagues".I'm living in Uruguay and the system they use for soccer is fantastic(I believe European soccer uses a similar system as well). They have an A, a B, and a C league. The C league is amateur and anybody that has a team, equipment, and a field can join. If they do well and can pay player salaries they can get bumped up to the B league and compete. The good B teams move up to the A league and the ***** ones get kicked down. Suddenly, their is an actual incentive to play well.Could you imagine if the NHL had 3-4 different level leagues going? So even small cities like Minneapolis, Winnipeg, Syracuse, Cleveland, Albany, Saskatoon, and various others could have a team they would route for. Seeing a small town team going to the A league would be cause for celebration meanwhile a big city team that plays like crap gets demoted like it deserves.