Arena NHL Expansion (and Deflation)

Like you said, I'll believe when I see it.

It would be nice, though. Restart the Battle of Quebec.

 

Godforbid the Coyotes win the cup, does Bettman's name go down as the owner?

 

I hope not.

 

I'd like to see that! But we all know that the NHL doesn't want to move teams TO Canada because they want to expand into more American markets...

If the Coyotes were "too big to fail" (or be moved to Hamilton or Winnepeg) then they'll never take teams up north.

I've been saying this for years: "if you lost the Civil War, you don't deserve a hockey team!" All you fans from the "NASCAR Division" can boo me all you want, but the truth is... hockey was just another fad to people down there (after the Gretzky trade). Watch a Panthers home game now... (thanks NHL Centre Ice) it's a ghost town! Drop all those teams, move CBJ and Detroit to the Eastern Conference and everything will work itself out!

Now, I know that my Bluejackets struggled this year, after making the playoffs for the 1st time (in a TOUGH division) but the fans up here ARE still trying to stay loyal to their team! Columbus is a good city to have an NHL team in, because it's close to Pittsburgh (still get TV blackouts) and there's always playing up the OSU/Michigan rivalry with the Red Wings... and we've even got some angst with nearby Chicago. It's a good growing hockey market!

 

Columbus is in the snowbelt, so okay. But two films in Florida?

Heard a scary analysis on the radio today: Phoenix requires a purchase price of $260,000,000 to break even. Tampa Bay sold for $100,000,000, and if you filter out the cost of the arena, more like $50,000,000. The only place that will pay anything like the break even price is Southern Ontario (which is vetoed by the most powerful team in the league, Toronto.) The rest of the league would support the veto, for this reason: if Southern Ontario got an expansion franchise, the the owners would make a tidy sum. If Phoenix moves there, they make nothing. This is known as a rock and a hard place.

What are the box office/ticket sale figures? All six Canadian teams are in the top ten. Toronto is first (and they suck), making nearly $2,000,000 a game. Montreal is second, Philly third, and Vancouver, fourth, and Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa up there.

 

If Phoenix goes deep, they may not move, which is just postponing the inevitable.

 

And yes, Phoenix is not moving, mainly because the city made an inexplicable deal.

 

Phoenix's agony continues

 

i had to laugh that the article was from a Winnipeg paper.

Seriously, though, I hope that the Coyotes work something out with a buyer soon. It's not good for that franchise, nor for the league, that they keep running into these problems.

 

Winnipeg's obviously the most interested.

 

As well they should be.

 

Trouble in Tampa

 

I still don't know why they decided to put a second team in Florida...

Hopefully they're able to right the ship, in Tampa or elsewhere.

 

Tampa has a potentially great team, though.

 

They've got talent, sure, but that doesn't really matter when they don't have fans.

 

True. Florida is not hockey country.

 

Even Bettman is talking up Quebec City and Winnipeg now.

The problem in Quebec City is a new arena, which is turning into a political football.

 

Glad he's realized that people in those markets would actually follow their teams better than non-traditional markets.

 

I suspect it's because the Canadian markets are interested, and other possible markets (like Las Vegas) are no longer, at least at this time.

 

There are eight teams in the NHL for sale: Coyotes, Kings, Devils, Stars, Thrashers, Hurricanes, Blues and Islanders.

A guy interviewed on the radio today estimated 15 to 20 teams were making no real money.

 

You might as well call this the Bettman neglect thread, he'll never admit that any of that is true. Toronto could easily support another team, Quebec City obviously, and maybe Winnipeg with more corporate support.

 

Perhaps Montreal could also support two...they used to have the Montreal Maroons, too. Bettman will never go back to Winnipeg, but I think he will consider Q.C. Another in T.O., and that's three. That leaves five unwanted teams.

 

The Devils thing always confuses me...they've had a very good team for much of the last decade, yet they've constantly struggled with attendance. They are the third team in the New York market, but I still find it very odd.

I hope that Quebec City gets a team back.

 

I'll bet they'll still go to Kansas City first before any Canadian market.

 

Yeah, you're probably right. Although, technically, they haven't had a team for longer than Quebec City.