Nashville Predators moving to Canada? NOPE! Sorry, Canucks (and KC!)...

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

Exactly. And all Bettman is, really, is a mouthpiece for the owners. If the owners want Balsillie in their club (and there's no reason why they wouldn't, given his business credentials and the size of his bank account) then he'll have a free hand to take that franchise pretty much anywhere in North America he wants to take it.

 

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

They only want Balsillie in so they can get discounts on Crackberry's.

 

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

Bettman says the Preds are staying and I believe him.

 

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

They are staying.....one more season. Anything beyond that has yet to be determined, and it has fuck all to do with Gary Buttmunch.

 

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

Bettman wants the southern market, badly. He knows that opening up there would be beneficial.

 

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

If Bettman told me the sky is blue, I would look up just to make sure.

 

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

You're about 10 years behind the times.

Beneficial to whom?

It's been tried. It doesn't work.

Forget about force-feeding the sport into markets that don't give two shits about hockey.

It's business 101. Christ, if NHL expansion were Bettman's thesis, he would have received a D minus.

It has been, as they say, a flawed business strategy.

 

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

Actually, I'm looking at the future. People are flocking to the south. With it comes a change in attitudes and perspective. Just because those teams are floundering now doesn't mean that it has to remain that way.

 

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

Boots,

The "expansion experiment" has been mostly disastrous.

What the NHL needs to do is return to its roots where people actually care and/or obsess about hockey: Canada.

Hell, it'd make more sense to expand to Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, or Russia than anywhere in the southern U.S.

 

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

I admit its been a disaster but I think it can still work. As for other countries, I don't see how that can be done feasibly.

 

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

It is possible Bettman wants to give Nashville more time. Out of 10 franchises with 100% attendance, as listed by ESPN.com, five were in Canada (Edmonton, at 98.5 percent, was the only Canadian team not represented -- Calgary should call out the fire marshal, with 112.6 percent of capacity), and the others were in the hockey hotbeds of Detroit, Minnesota, Buffalo, New York (Rangers) -- and Tampa Bay. Carolina's attendance also has spiked upward the last few years. No doubt, those franchises winning Stanley Cups helped. But it shows the NHL can be sold in the South. Is it long-term? I guess you won't know til we get there.

Nashville is listed at 89.2 percent of capacity, by the way. All the other expansion markets not already listed are between 85-90 percent capacity, except for Florida (79.2 percent). So while expansion has been a disaster in terms of its ability to procure a worthwhile U.S. national television contract, it hasn't been a disaster in terms of attendance in those markets. Though I can't imagine, if the Predators fled north, most of Nashville would be gnashing its teeth (except for whoever has to pay arena expenses).

Looking at attendance numbers, the biggest problem the NHL has is NOT troubles in the South. It's troubles in past hockey hotbeds.

Boston and St. Louis each cratered by about 2,000 fans a game. St. Louis had a league-worst at 12,520 and 59.6 percent of capacity. It's doubtful those numbers will turn around, the way these teams are going. Same for Chicago. I do not believe the reported 12,727 average (62.1 percent of capacity). The Blackhawks literally couldn't give tickets away this year. In each of those areas, the NHL has, or is in danger of, completely falling off the sports map.

Plus, there is the problem of Washington, averaging only 13,929 per game with Ovechkin, one of the most exciting young players in the league. At least Ted Leonsis is doing all he can to drum up local interest. Particularly in Boston and Chicago, the owners appear to be doing all they can to turn people away. I wonder if it's Bill Wirtz's dream to have, eventually, nobody show up for Hawks' games. Then he wouldn't have to pay a cleanup crew.

For whatever it's worth -- the NHL had more teams with 100 percent or greater attendance than did the NBA (with six). However, the NHL also had more teams below 80 percent capacity than did the NBA -- seven to three.

 

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

Can't work. Won't work. Hasn't worked. Will never work.

European expansion has already been tossed around. Scheduling and logistics are easy.

It's not that much further than flying from Ottawa to Los Angeles.