NHL 2013: Off-Season Running Thread

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

When this idiot agrees with you it is time to reconsider.

It does not matter who gets in there first. Do you not understand how big the Sonics were?

Being a better market than Phoenix is like being the tallest midget. It is a lateral move for the NHL. I share Seahawks season tickets with someone, please trust me on this, it will not work.

 

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

Sonics were in Seattle first, so they had deeper roots. Doesn't necessarily translate to some new franchise coming to town, especially given the garbage heep the NBA has become.

Honestly don't think it will happen, so it doesn't matter. There have been plenty of chances through the years for Seattle to get a team.

We'll see where all the chips after the lockout --- however short or long --- but maybe contraction isn't a horrible idea after all. If you can't find 30 decent markets in this day and age, something is seriously wrong.

 

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

Again, you have no idea what you are talking about. Just stop.

 

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

Why would the NHL consider ANY additional US market when there are probably three in Canada that would be way more profitable?

Quebec City, another one in the GTA and hell, even the Maritimes or Saskatchewan.

The Jets have shown that with the right ownership, even a hell hole like Winnipeg can be profitable .

 

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

No offence, mate. But the NHL brass knows that a league with 1/3 of its teams outside of the US will be forgotten about even quicker than with teams in Phoenix or Atlanta or Seattle. Might as well be in Europe, other than the travel considerations. One fan in Phoenix is worth 20 in Saskatoon.

Yes, maybe they'll make more money there. Maybe some of the players actually enjoy playing there. Maybe more fans turn out because there's nothing better to do all winter and spring.

I mean, c'mon, a national network (CBC) airing a series of reruns in primetime during the lockout? Do you think if the NFL had cancelled games that NBC would reruns from previous years during Sunday Night Football?

I have nothing against having a handfull of Canadian-based teams. Sort of adds to the flavor. But if you base too much of your league there, you will become hockey's equivalent of the CFL. The NHL knows this.

 

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

You may be the biggest idiot on the interwebs.

 

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

A "handful of Canadian teams adds to the flavour"? Seriously? That's your take on the NHL?

Without Canadian teams, the league wouldn't exist.

You don't know what you're talking about.

 

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

Wow I go for dinner, catch a movie and go for a drive, and I come back to this? wow. I guess wee Canadians should be thankful to have any teams at all.

On this recent spat by Mark alone, JC swayed me on Seattle. Wow. I mean wow.

 

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

A team in Saskatchewan won't happen now or anytime in the next 20 years. I guarantee it. There's about one million people in the province total. And it's a big ass province. Regina has just under 200,000 people and Saskatoon has about 220,000, and there's a lot of poverty in both cities. They are separated by about 2.5-3.5 hours, depending on the weather. Yes 30,000 people fill Taylor Field nine times a year. But that's during the summer and with tickets that max out at $60 a seat before taxes. That's not driving those godawful roads 41 times during the winter, paying an average of $100 a ticket. Not happening. There's also the issue of a stadium, and the only one close to suitable would be Sask Place or whatever it is called now in Saskatoon, and it's in the middle of nowhere and is a 24-year-old barn that seats about 15,000. With the hell they're going through to replace Taylor Field in Regina (speaking of absolute dives) at about a third of the cost of a new NHL-calibre arena, there is no way they build a new rink without the guarantee of a team coming and no way the NHL even gives the province a sniff without a new rink already built, and even then the province would be a longshot to get a team. It's not even chicken or egg, it's no henhouse.
Yes, Wild Bill Hunter nearly stole the Blues away in the mid-80s, with shovels ready to go in the ground to build Sask Place -- which eventually got built anyways, but reconfigured for junior hockey -- but that was a completley different economic reality for the NHL at the time.

Winnipeg, although I think time will be the true judge of that franchise once the initial hoopla and novelty wears off, has a fairly new building with all of the amenities in downtown Winnipeg. While the province as a whole is only about 1.25 million, the Winnipeg metro area is 762,800.

I have no idea about the Maritimes but if they can't figure out a building for the CFL, they are a long way from consideration for the NHL. Even after being shamed by JC, I would still put Seattle ahead of both Sask and the Maritimes.

The next city in NA to get a team will be Quebec City. After that it's anyone's guess, although I would like to see another in Southern Ontario.

I could still see other U.S. cities getting franchises, although none of them would bring in the revnue that either QC or the GTA would. But a move to some of those markets would be an improvement from the markets they have certain franchises in now, moving them from the biggest blackholes to potentially somewhere in the middle where there's a large chunk of teams that hope to break even and make money with the playoff gate.

 

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

Beef touched briefly on hockey history in Seattle, in particular, and Portland. I don't recall the WHA even sniffing those markets, which strikes me as strange.

Heck, the Los Angeles Sharks split a season between Cobo Arena and Baltimore Arena.

 

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

This is a much different economy that when they pulled this shit before.

 

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

I have a couple questions about Winnipeg:

1. What do there total television contracts add up to in comparison to larger markets in Canada and the US?

2. Do they have an affluent enough business community to buy up a bunch of high priced tickets to drive game revenue up?

When I look at the smaller Canadian markets it reminds me of the soon to be ex Sacramento Kings. Sacramento, even with a metropolitan population of about 2M, does not have enough affluent citizens to buy those luxury seats. Sacramento, as a government town does not have much of a corporate base, but it is still a lot larger than any potential Canadian expansion market that currently does not have a team. And I can't believe the Leafs or Canadians would allow a team in their market.

I am skeptical of any smaller market supporting a team over the long term in today's economic time. When the initial enthusiasm wears off and the team hits a rough patch is there enough broadcasting and corporate revenue to keep the team competitive? I offer a couple of MLB teams such as Kansas City as further evidence of the difficulties of competing in a smaller market.