European Hype!: The VHLE is Coming!

[Hex Universe 253]

It was Friday, May 21st. The year is 2021 and in the middle of S78. At 5:22 PM Central time in the US, Beketov dropped a bomb on the entire VHL community.

A new league is on the way and it's bringing on massive changes.

This new league will be called Victory Hockey League Europe, or the VHLE. As the name suggests, the league will be based entirely on the continent of Europe. Teams that were once thought to be gone to the passage of time in the VHL and VHLM now have a chance to be reborn in this new league. The VHLE will act as a middle league for the VHL and VHLM, with players ranging from 200 TPE to 399 TPE. These would be players that in previous seasons would likely be going into the VHL, but would have mediocre at best seasons with the TPE numbers they are at. The VHLE gives these players a chance to sign amongst peers of a similar level before the big league, but with a much higher focus on being competitive every season. There will be a VHLE Draft, free agency, jobs, etc. to make the league truly come to form.
 

So why was this league made? It's a situation that has been plaguing the VHL for a number of seasons now: Too many players on the VHL rosters. Which, is a good problem to have, in the past this typically meant further VHL expansion. While VHL expansion was on the table, the BOG wanted a new, long-term approach. This new approach is what led to the idea of a middle league. This gives players a chance to be in a competitive league and have greater success earlier on in their careers and gives the VHL less bloated rosters.
 

So then, why did they choose Europe as the absolute location in this? Once again, pretty simple as they wanted to cut down on logo design costs, and there used to be a lot of other European teams in both the VHL and even VHLM (which the latter is now all North American). It definitely helps balance things out as it felt weird to me that the VHLM didn't have any European teams amongst their 12.
 

Other topics of interest are "Where will the teams be located?" and "What does this mean for VHLE jobs?"

Let's start with the former, as to where the VHLE teams will be located. At the time of writing this, there has already been one VHLE team location poll. This produced the winners of the poll as Berlin, Paris, and Rome. These cities will be added to the list of former VHL and VHLM European markets that will then be decided on which six teams join the league.
 

Another topic of massive discussion, especially in the VHLM circles, is the VHLE jobs. In total to start, there will be 12 managerial jobs up for grabs in the VHLE. I'm sure many VHLM GMs and AGMs will be looking to climb this new ladder and get a spot in a league where they can be allowed a far higher rate of being competitive.
 

This league is going to be amazing to see take shape and I can't wait to become a part of it as either a second-gen player or maybe even a role in the managerial side of things. In any case, I've never seen the VHL community as hyped as when the announcement was made, so I hope to continue on this hype all the way!

-Hex Rose | 592 Words

Edited June 13, 2021 by Hex Universe