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NHL might expand

MadVlad

By MadVlad
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Justadude Burg

Justadude

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Or they're just bandwagoners. I mean, you can't blame them; with the Pats and Sox in town, the Bruins are basically an afterthought. I don't think sophisticated hockey fans "refuse" to watch their teams play. It's more a matter of being on the public radar, which the Bruins are not.

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MadVlad Town

MadVlad

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Or they're just bandwagoners. I mean, you can't blame them; with the Pats and Sox in town, the Bruins are basically an afterthought. I don't think sophisticated hockey fans "refuse" to watch their teams play. It's more a matter of being on the public radar, which the Bruins are not.
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dgreco City

dgreco

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I can't disagree more. The Bruins fans have been abused by management for decades, they're sick of it. They used to flood the Hartford Civic Center when the Bruins would play the Whalers to see the team because they wanted to see their team. Many didn't want to fund the management.
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watnow1425 Whistle-Stop

watnow1425

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Why not Memphis? I love hockey and with the recent failures of the Grizzlies I wouldn't mind trading them for a hockey team. Nashville came to town for a preseason game and I took this picture.

100_1619.jpg

I'm not sure it would stick to well with the rest of Memphis. But we do have the Memphis RiverKings, or the Desoto RiverKings(if they decide to change the name), if that helps anything.

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Justadude Burg

Justadude

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I can't disagree more. The Bruins fans have been abused by management for decades, they're sick of it. They used to flood the Hartford Civic Center when the Bruins would play the Whalers to see the team because they wanted to see their team. Many didn't want to fund the management.
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MadVlad Town

MadVlad

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In '01-'02, when the Bruins won the Eastern Conference title, they drew 25th in attendance (that's less than the Hurricanes, Lightning and Panthers, and just ahead of the Predators). In '03-'04 they were 2nd in the conference (behind the champion Lightning) and finished 22nd in attendance... just behind Atlanta. At that time they had a very, very promising core of young players led by several high-end draft picks (Thornton, Samsonov, etc.).

I'm a lifelong Bruins fan, but at some point you have to stop putting on blinders for the home team. Boston fans are too busy jerking off to Pats and Sox games to pay any attention to the Bruins. It's painfully obvious on the streets and in the media that the city has practically forgotten they even have a hockey team, let alone an Original Six team that's won their division twice in the past 5 years. That's a problem that extends coast to coast for the NHL, and it's symptomatic of the mismanagement that we're seeing in almost every city. Step One on the road to recovery needs to be taking an honest, critical look at ALL markets, and not giving a free pass to cities that are considered "hockey towns" by reputation alone, and then dismissing the successes of new franchises as mere bandwagoning.

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drjnieto Unincorporated Area

drjnieto

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That would require people in Boston to actually think about the team enough to boycott it. But they don't. It's a damned good thing that there's a gap between the end of football season (January) and the beginning of baseball season (April), or they might not have a single fan left.

You're telling me that the city of Raleigh (pop. 281,915) sells nearly 50% more tickets per hockey game than Chicago (pop. 2,873,790) but deserves to lose its team because it's not a "hockey town"?

I don't know of any other sport that has such an insular, elitist attitude toward half its audience. You've got some of the worst-managed franchises in professional sports, failing to sell tickets in some of the largest markets in North America, and you're worried that "non-traditional" markets like Nashville (which has had professional hockey in one form or another since the 1960s) and Atlanta (ditto) are bringing the whole league down? How would retraction solve the fact that the league's lowest-drawing teams are (in order): St. Louis, Chicago, New York, Washington, New Jersey and Boston? How does retraction solve the fact that the league's TV deal is with a channel that otherwise shows yachting and hunting programs? How does retraction raise the league's profile so it no longer gets bumped behind NASCAR and golf in terms of media priority? Answer: It doesn't. Retraction, in this case, is nothing but a scapegoat option; at best, it's a way of cutting losses so that the league can concentrate only on the drastic problems in its traditional markets. But this notion that the league is plagued by the failure of newer franchises -- even as those franchises win Cup after Cup and turn record profits -- is nothing more than culture bias. The last three teams to face serious financial failure were Ottawa, Buffalo and Pittsburgh; anybody want to close the doors on those franchises? </FONT>

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MadVlad Town

MadVlad

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Bring a hockey team to Orlando to play in the new $480 million arena to be bcompleted by 2010. Orlando metro population 2 million, 20 largest TV market. Central florida one of the fastest growing areas. Arena football averages 14,000 fans per game and NBA Magic average 17,500 fans per game despite having OK teams. There is a new indor soccer team starting next year Orlando Sharks. The Tampa Bay lightning are in 3rd attendance in NHL. Tampa v Orlando rivalry would be amazing. Bring the Orlando Pythons to the NHL.
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Minneapolitan Whistle-Stop

Minneapolitan

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LA, Chicago, NY have many other entertainment options. Thats for the some of the locals and the majority of the tourist that visit every year.

Aprox 50 million tourist visit Orlando every year, some go for a convention.

There is over 2million residents in Orlando and growing. In the next two years, there will be a new Medical school, new research institute, new VA hosptial, new childrens hospital, and downtwon is growing very rapidly. See www.orlandoskyscraper.com. They support the Magic, 17500 avg attendance last year 99.1% of capcity and the AFL Predators with 14,000 fans per game. There is a new arena and the citrus bowl is getting renovated see www.projecthometown.com. Orlando is not just Disney anymore. I am predicting that Orlando will have an NHL team in 2 years in the new arena, a new NFL team in the new Citrus bowl in 3 years, an MLS team in 3-4 years in the new UCF stadium, and MLB team in 4-5 years in a new stadium to be built in Downtown. :yahoo:

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odumonarch Whistle-Stop

odumonarch

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I'm against the expansion of the NHL. Some markets are already struggling such as Nashville and many Southern cities. If I were a commissioner, I'd move the Nashville Predators to Orlando. Orlando is a fast-growing city and could attract many more fans. Orlando's area has about 6-7 million people in a 100-mile radius, those people can afford to drive to Orlando. Plus, the city gets more than 10 million tourists a year, and out-of-towners are more willing to spend than just their Disney and Universal Studios dollars to sports events.

So instead of contracting teams, move them so the markets for the NHL will be maximized. Houston can support a team, so does Hamilton, Ontario, and Quebec City. I'm against a Vegas team, even though they're expanding rapidly. The Vegas AAA team is doing OK attendance wise, but Cashman Field isn't a good venue for neutral site baseball games. Plus, Vegas needs to do something about the water, Lake Mead is dwindling rapidly.

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satalac Burg

satalac

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I'm against the expansion of the NHL. Some markets are already struggling such as Nashville and many Southern cities. If I were a commissioner, I'd move the Nashville Predators to Orlando. Orlando is a fast-growing city and could attract many more fans. Orlando's area has about 6-7 million people in a 100-mile radius, those people can afford to drive to Orlando. Plus, the city gets more than 10 million tourists a year, and out-of-towners are more willing to spend than just their Disney and Universal Studios dollars to sports events.

So instead of contracting teams, move them so the markets for the NHL will be maximized. Houston can support a team, so does Hamilton, Ontario, and Quebec City. I'm against a Vegas team, even though they're expanding rapidly. The Vegas AAA team is doing OK attendance wise, but Cashman Field isn't a good venue for neutral site baseball games. Plus, Vegas needs to do something about the water, Lake Mead is dwindling rapidly.

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