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

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

Aren't the Chicago Wolves already playing in All-State Arena? And if memory serves correct, they've actually won championships in recent years as opposed to the Blackhawks.

I think Canada will add the Predators to the mix of NHL teams who will be there and be a Cup finalist ASAP.

 

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

That was my thought when i originally read the story. Hamilton's a non-starter. Winnipeg will never happen, unfortunately. Saskatchewan is too small, period. Quebec City is the only other real possibility I could invision, but I have no idea what their arena situation is.
I think Bettman stepping in previously to keep the Pens in Pittsburgh was more of a matter of keeping a team in an established market with a long history of hockey. Nashville, on the otherhand had a 103-point team this year and averaged a shade over 14,000 in attendance and only about 12,000 of those paid. This was a stanley cup contender from the beginning of the season, a team that had been winning for three seasons and they couldn't get people in the door. As Elliotte said it was the corporate world that for whatever reason would not get behind the team and buy the lower bowl tickets. It's too bad because I liked a lot of the moves the team made early on in its history to educate fans and to make Nashville theirs. I actually figured they had the best chance of any sun belt team surviving outside of Arizona, and even the Coyotes aren't on stable ground despite a brand new rink. Unfortunately it hasn't panned out. Time to give the game back to canada.

 

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

Sea, but you're not drawing from just K-W. You're drawing from most of SW Ontario including the GTA--what's that, a population base of five million.

Also, just read this in Mirtle's blog:

http://mirtle.blogspot.com/2007/05/balsillies-other-buy.html

According to Real Track, a website that follows Ontario's commercial real estate market, RIM has purchased a 25.7-acre parcel of land from Mattamy (Galt) Ltd. for $3.7 million through a numbered Ontario company. Mattamy went through a land severance on the property at the city in February. The deal closed Feb. 16.

I doubt RIM is buying 25 acres of prime real estate for a new office building.

 

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

God bless you, Starman.

 

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

KW makes sense to me, and Kansas City has to be an attractive site for anyone (it'll happen, just you wait).

What I don't understand is why Seattle or Portland doesn't have a team. Even with Vancouver nearly it still seems like a largely untapped region.

 

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

Because it worked out so well for the Rockies-cum-Devils.

 

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

You really can't make a fair comparison. For example, the Flames did well in Atlanta and still moved to Calgary. The North Stars moved to Dallas primarily due to the greed of one man ... and so on. K.C. with the new arena that would be very favorable to any franchise is almost a slam dunk, especially since it doesn't have the NBA (no pun).

Two of the five worst teams in terms of attendance this season were in the New York area. All the other teams at the bottom were just bad.

 

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

According to one of the replies on Mirtle's blog, the property is near here, southeast of the junction of Highway 401 and old Highway 24.

The driving distance between there and the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, according to Google maps - 92.2 kilometres, or about 57.3 miles. Coincidence? I think not.

 

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

I'll take the flip side of this: plenty of teams always talk about the potential area they can draw from but will people drive from Toronto to KW in the middle of January on a Friday night (or whenever, unlikely they'll play Saturdays) with gas at $5 a gallon or whatever it's at? Maybe (and with no GO or any other options they'll have to no choice but to drive) but maybe not.

Junior hockey has been huge in that area for ages (I'll throw Guelph in there too). Are those people going to bail on the Rangers and the Storm to pay 10 times more a ticket to see the KW Octoberfests or whatever?

 

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

Point taken but lots of people from Hamilton, Burlington and Oakville head off to Sabres games in January or February.

KW Octoberfests has a nice ring to it.

The Kitchener Krauts works as well.

 

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

I like the idea of another Canadian team, for sure. Nashville just sounds odd for the NHL. I remember when the Devils began to flirt with Nashville years ago when they wanted a new arena, it never did sound right to me.

I still say Kansas City, even if it doesn't land the Predators, won't be done wooing teams. Maybe it gets the NBA's Sonics, maybe it's another NHL team like the Coyotes. But they will offer free rent to these teams (like they did with the Penguins), and someone will take it.