NHL to Seattle

Quebec and KC are both considered to be the front runners for a new or relocated team. If an owner emerges...........a serious, boots-on-the-ground owner emerges for Seattle, then it will join the list.

I've always thought the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL had a cool logo too.


We also need to remember the Phoenix Coyotes are a league owned entity. There have been guys willing to pony up the purchase price and move them to Winnipeg and Hamilton over the years but the league likes the idea of having a team in that media market. The Coyotes aren't going anywhere unless the NHL approves it. When the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg they had to pay a huge relocation fee to the league as well.

 

i question that logic consittering we have had three hockey strikes since bettman took over and he was mostly responsible for the sun belt expansion. i'm a american who supports a canadian hockey team in the belief that canadians take hockey more seriously than americans. sure, there is your hockey towns of detroit, the twin cities, chicago, philadelphia, buffalo. but telling me raleigh north carolina is a hockey town is farsical at best. there the equivalent of chelsea supporters, they only cheer when there winning (if there lucky). sun belt cities have a tradition where the fans dress up as empty seats. don't compare the nba with the nhl because basketball is a. not a niche sport and b. not a weather sport, you can play basketball anywhere. love for hockey is not a acquired taste, it's in the blood. nobody knows football like southerners (i should know, i'm a born okie) and nobody knows hockey like canadians and cold weather states like minnesota and michigan.

 

Is there a connection between the two?

I'm fairly certain you were not proposing moving the Hurricanes to any of those cities.

If this is true then moving a team to Milwaukee where the NBA can only draw 13k, probably seems like a bad idea.

I'm fairly certain that NFL and NCAA football exist outside of the south. The previous #1 NFL draft pick was born in Washington DC, raised in Europe and played college ball in California, and the potential #1 NHL draft pick in 2013 was born in Texas to an NBA player and grew up in Colorado. Seems like other states can play too.

By the way the Gold Medal winning U20 team? Minnesota had the same number of players on it as Pennslyvania, Illinois, less players than Ohio and only one more than California, Texas, Florida and New Jersey each.

 

you can't make money with hockey because hockey is a niche sport. why is anybody worried about making money in hockey, you can't. hockey is a distant forth behind football, baseball and basketball. you need to make money at those games.

anybody who defends gary bettman must have there head in the clouds. he comes in, he trys to make the game for the masses like vince mcmahon making wrestling for the masses when both were never ment for the masses in the first place. i remember the good old days when a 3-2 hockey game was consittered a barnburner, when teams played something called defense and there was no gimmicky cities like anaheim and phoenix in the league.

as for the football reference, your from wisconsin, you would'nt understand.

 

And you're from Oklahoma, so you clearly wouldn't understand hockey.

 

Several teams had miserable ownership groups. Phoenix and Atlanta are the two most obvious. Atlanta's market never had a chance with the way it was bungled by the owners and they are the main reason the team is now in Winnipeg. The same thing can be said for Phoenix. They built their stadium an hour away from the most affluent part of the Phoenix area where the majority of the Coyotes fans were. Now it's basically just ego keeping the team there. Columbus is a similar situation. They have a joke of a management team that has consistently kept the team miserable, and yet you have a fanbase that would explode if they could ever field a competitive team. Unfortunately that doesn't look likely to happen anytime soon. The same can be said for the Islanders who are in a supposed "cold market," yet with a crap stadium and miserable ownership they are at the bottom of attendance, below Carolina, Anaheim, Florida, Nashville and others.

Dallas and Colorado have suffered drops in attendance, mainly due to the fans being somewhat spoiled after the dynasty years ran out.

Other than that though most of the sun belt teams have done fairly well. Tampa and Nashville were at 95+% capacity. Florida, Carolina and Anaheim were around 85%. San Jose and LA were at 100% capacity throughout the year.

 

no, but i got relatives from canada.

 

While i agree if you just look at the % it looks good but you have to look at other factors such as the cost of ticket and free tickets plus what else you get if you buy season tickets.

 

Yes, but this isn't unique. The Brewers and Bucks here give away tickets all the time. Obviously nobody is going to say the Panthers and Leafs are in the same ballpark, but the situation isn't that bad for most teams.

 

It all depends how many tickets are free and cheap its fine to give away tickets but at some point if you give away to many and have to many cheap tickets that is when there would be concern.

 

I agree, but financially, the most unstable franchises after Phoenix (which is a complete mess obviously) are the Islanders and Blue Jackets. Two cold weather cities. It really comes down to icing a competitive team, something the Jackets have never done, and having a stable infrastructure. The Islanders don't have either. Of course nobody wants to move the Islanders because they have history. After Phoenix they are probably the worst run team in the league.

 

Just because a team has history that does not mean there 100% safe.

 

Generally true, but the Islanders were very unlikely to go anywhere. They still have a shitty stadium situation even when they move to Brooklyn but with the long term lease they are at least stable.

 

It's a major improvement. Not perfect, but a major improvement. I remember when I was in NYC and wanted to see an Islanders game. I ended up renting a car because the train situation was too much of a pain in the ass.


Lets all remember that teams like Buffalo and Pittsburgh barely survived in cold weather US cities. Fact of the matter is that the NHL in the US is very much a fair weather market. Now the Penguins are sold out every night, get nearly a 38 share on their local TV market and drive national TV numbers. Ten years ago they were close to being moved.

 

Word is out that a decision on the Coyotes could be coming before the playoffs. QC is the leading candidate, with Seattle and KC also in the mix. I think KC is a smokescreen - no proposed owner and the mayor neither needs nor particularly wants an NHL team to play in KC's arena. Seattle does not have its ducks in a row yet. Ownership situation not yet settled, temporary arena well below requirements. If the Coyotes somehow hang on for another year in Glendale and Seattle manages to poach the Kings and get an arena deal done, then they'll have time to get their act together for the 2014-2015 season. As of right now QC is the only logical candidate (and PKP has apparently already talked to the mayor of Trois-Rivieres about hosting an AHL farm team for the reborn Nordiques).

How would that work?

 

The NHL just approved realignment that would look ridiculous if Phoenix moves to Quebec.

 

Detroit fought tooth and nail to get in the east. You'd have to pry this from their cold dead hands.

 

Yes they don't like so many of their away games being played at 10 pm.

 

The NHL just announced realignment while saying at the same time that a) this realignment does not take into consideration relocation or expansion and b) it will be reviewed again in a couple of seasons.

Also consider that Winnipeg plays in the Southeast, so there is a precedent for parking a team in a crazy division for a couple of seasons. It's ludicrous to suggest that the NHL would consider relocation options based on realignment. The alignment is the easist part of the equation to change. Finding a good hockey market is the hard part... and Quebec City is sitting there waiting to spend massive money on the NHL ("Sorry hundreds of thousands of rabid Quebecois hockey fans - we'd love to have you fork your money over to us hand over fist, but we don't want to hurt Columbus' feelings" - that sound realistic to anyone?).

Not to mention it is just as conceivable that the teams and the NHLPA may have already been informed that the alignment could change based on relocation.

Edit: And furthermore, this Darren Dreger guy who broke this news is supposedly a reliable mouthpiece of the NHL. It makes very little sense that he'd name Quebec City as the frontrunner if realignment would make such a move impossible. Unless QC is a bargaining chip to squeeze money out of Glendale/Seattle/KC. Which seems highly unlikely - more like the vice versa.