OT: NHL in Vegas a 'Done Deal'

Jntg4

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JZsportsfan

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Don't see what makes LV different from Miami, Dallas, and Phoenix; each of which have been big failures in the NHL. Would have made much more sense to relocate the Panthers and Coyotes. Both lack fan support and no players want to sign there for fair market value which hurts the quality of play, and revenue sharing
 

ClydeLee

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Don't see what makes LV different from Miami, Dallas, and Phoenix; each of which have been big failures in the NHL. Would have made much more sense to relocate the Panthers and Coyotes. Both lack fan support and no players want to sign there for fair market value which hurts the quality of play, and revenue sharing

I know Nevada has one if the highest petcehtsge of non native us residents per state. I guess you can try to bank on that.

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Sunbiz1

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Don't see what makes LV different from Miami, Dallas, and Phoenix; each of which have been big failures in the NHL. Would have made much more sense to relocate the Panthers and Coyotes. Both lack fan support and no players want to sign there for fair market value which hurts the quality of play, and revenue sharing

Despite having won a cup, even Tampa would benefit by moving out of the sunbelt.

Switching the Hawks to the eastern conference, and using their spot for any Florida team moving out west might not be such a bad idea.

Then again the thought may be a selfish one, as I hate late games and moving would eliminate most of those.

But we'd get Detroit back in our division.
 

IvyPickin87

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I just don't know if their is a big enough permanent fanbase there. I know the city is blustering with people all of the time... but a lot of them are tourists. My mind just changed on the city as I was writing this out. Vegas might be the only city in the desert that it may work. It may never have a huge home arena advantage, I don't think there is a big enough population, to have enough hockey fans. On the other hand, flights are cheap to LV, people may plan trips to go to Vegas to gamble, and catch their favorite hockey team take on The Las Vegas Luck, Roulettes, Stacks, etc. I wonder what they will be called?
 
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IvyPickin87

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JZsportsfan

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34 teams in the league would be awful. This would really hurt the on ice quality IMO. Now if those 4 cities include a combination of expansions and relocations I would approve. I just hate the idea of adding new markets when there are currently markets that can't stay afloat. I think they should expand 2, and relocate 2 if they want those 4 markets. The NFL doesn't even have that many teams, I don't see that as a sustainable structure for the NHL.

Toronto does not need another team. Sure hockey is huge there, but that's like adding a team in Detroit, Montreal, Chicago, or Boston. They won't have any fans because nobody is going to hop off the Original Six team in town. Best case scenario IMO is they move the 2 weakest markets (Miami, Phoenix) to Seattle, and a city in Canada.
 

Raskolnikov

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What the What?

Can you imagine how bad our dynasty and the Kings dynasty are about to be poached? We won't be able to protect everybody. I wonder if its even possible to leave Hossa unprotected and if a team would start a franchise with his name ball and chained to that contract though....so leave Hossa unprotected and dare another team to take it?

Or what? Are we gonna lose Tuevo to that level of expansion? Or maybe Sharp?
 

Ares

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What the What?

Can you imagine how bad our dynasty and the Kings dynasty are about to be poached? We won't be able to protect everybody. I wonder if its even possible to leave Hossa unprotected and if a team would start a franchise with his name ball and chained to that contract though....so leave Hossa unprotected and dare another team to take it?

Or what? Are we gonna lose Tuevo to that level of expansion? Or maybe Sharp?

They can have Sharpie...

TzKDdLk.gif
 

JZsportsfan

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The Islanders should have moved to one of those markets as opposed to Brooklyn. I highly doubt there will be a big uptick in demand for them in Brooklyn. Would have been much more profitable for them to go West. New York doesn't need three teams. They have the Rangers, that's all most care about anyways. Buffalo is right next to Toronto as well, so they are competing with two of the best fan bases for support. Just makes me upset that the league is growing when there are at least 5 markets already that don't belong
 

Tjodalv

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Buffalo is right next to Toronto as well, so they are competing with two of the best fan bases for support. Just makes me upset that the league is growing when there are at least 5 markets already that don't belong

Buffalo has absolutely no competition for their fanbase, the only threat is the continued depopulation of the area (the population is currently half of the historic high -- and continues to fall). I lived there for a few years and no one is going to drive 100 miles and wait at the boarder crossing to go to Toronto for a game...and the locals fucking hate Canadians anyways. And there aren't any Rangers fans there either; they despise people from NYC almost as much as they do Canadians.
 

JZsportsfan

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Buffalo has absolutely no competition for their fanbase, the only threat is the continued depopulation of the area (the population is currently half of the historic high -- and continues to fall). I lived there for a few years and no one is going to drive 100 miles and wait at the boarder crossing to go to Toronto for a game...and the locals fucking hate Canadians anyways. And there aren't any Rangers fans there either; they despise people from NYC almost as much as they do Canadians.

Sorry for the ignorance but still doesn't make sense that NY has 3 NHL teams
 

ClydeLee

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Sorry for the ignorance but still doesn't make sense that NY has 3 NHL teams

The area is far enough away and populus enough with the fanbase to make sense. Thinking of it as the state having 3 teams being too much is Silly. The distance of NYC to the devils or Bruins is smaller than it is to Buffalo. Hartford when it was a team was too tiny a market to be on it's own, because that's a tighter area.

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DMelt36

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I'd take this whole thing with a large grain of salt, as I'm yet to see any of the big-name NHL reporters (McKenzie, LeBrun, etc.) chime on in this issue, and I usually wait to see someone like that confirm a report for I believe it. Doesn't mean it's untrue, just means it may not be done yet.

I just don't know if their is a big enough permanent fanbase there. I know the city is blustering with people all of the time... but a lot of them are tourists. My mind just changed on the city as I was writing this out. Vegas might be the only city in the desert that it may work. It may never have a huge home arena advantage, I don't think there is a big enough population, to have enough hockey fans. On the other hand, flights are cheap to LV, people may plan trips to go to Vegas to gamble, and catch their favorite hockey team take on The Las Vegas Luck, Roulettes, Stacks, etc. I wonder what they will be called?

I think the biggest question regarding this Vegas team would be the location of the arena. Put the team on/near the Strip and you have to make the stadium a tourist attraction. But if you keep the stadium more accessible to the residents of Las Vegas (population of about 2 million per Wikipedia), you may be able to generate a local following. Ideally, finding some happy medium that makes it near downtown for visiting fans and easily-reached by the home fans would be the key for success.

34 teams in the league would be awful. This would really hurt the on ice quality IMO. Now if those 4 cities include a combination of expansions and relocations I would approve. I just hate the idea of adding new markets when there are currently markets that can't stay afloat. I think they should expand 2, and relocate 2 if they want those 4 markets. The NFL doesn't even have that many teams, I don't see that as a sustainable structure for the NHL.

Toronto does not need another team. Sure hockey is huge there, but that's like adding a team in Detroit, Montreal, Chicago, or Boston. They won't have any fans because nobody is going to hop off the Original Six team in town. Best case scenario IMO is they move the 2 weakest markets (Miami, Phoenix) to Seattle, and a city in Canada.

Toronto can absolutely support another team. If Chicago can have 2 baseball teams, Toronto can have 2 hockey teams. There are plenty of disgruntled fans in Toronto who'd properly love a chance to jump ship to another team with the way the Leafs have been for the last 15-20 years.

Buffalo has absolutely no competition for their fanbase, the only threat is the continued depopulation of the area (the population is currently half of the historic high -- and continues to fall). I lived there for a few years and no one is going to drive 100 miles and wait at the boarder crossing to go to Toronto for a game...and the locals fucking hate Canadians anyways. And there aren't any Rangers fans there either; they despise people from NYC almost as much as they do Canadians.

For having such a shitty team, the Buffalo fans pack the arena pretty well, too. 97.4 percent attendance last year, which puts them near the middle of the league at 17th.

http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance/_/sort/homePct
 

DMelt36

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If the NHL is going to add a team in the US, it needs to be in Seattle and it needs to happen fast. With no basketball team in town, there's plenty of space to fill the calendar in winter with hockey games, before that town goes crazy for the Sounders in the MLS (that's no joke, either. Huge crowds for those games). Get into Seattle and build a fan base before the NBA gets back in and that team should thrive.
 

Jntg4

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If the NHL is going to add a team in the US, it needs to be in Seattle and it needs to happen fast. With no basketball team in town, there's plenty of space to fill the calendar in winter with hockey games, before that town goes crazy for the Sounders in the MLS (that's no joke, either. Huge crowds for those games). Get into Seattle and build a fan base before the NBA gets back in and that team should thrive.

Agreed, my only concern is that Seattle may be too saturated if it had NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS and WNBA... but it seems to just be a great sports town in general.
 

DMelt36

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Agreed, my only concern is that Seattle may be too saturated if it had NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS and WNBA... but it seems to just be a great sports town in general.

But without the NBA in town, the NHL would be the only winter sport. That's a solid 3-4 months stretch where hockey would be the only game in town. Hence why the NHL needs to get in before the NBA goes back to Seattle. They need to get some roots in place.
 

Tjodalv

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Seattle would make the most sense for an expansion in the US. There are enough Vancouver transplants there, and vice versa, that it would make for an awesome rivalry (sort of like what we had with Detroit until they fucked that up). I am still baffled by the thinking of the league with a Phoenix team. Sure, there's plenty of old retired northerners down there, but you can't create a true fanbase just on that.

For having such a shitty team, the Buffalo fans pack the arena pretty well, too. 97.4 percent attendance last year, which puts them near the middle of the league at 17th. http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance/_/sort/homePct

Oh yeah man, hockey is life out there. In winter, when the marinas froze over, they'd have youth hockey tournaments on lake Erie. Everyone that grows up there is a rabid Sabres fan (I'm sure you could find an interview with Kane about that, he grew up a few miles from where I lived when I was there). Having not really payed attention to the Sabres, ever really -- other than Hasek being god there after we traded him -- I was sitting at the bar with a guy I went to grad school with and a bunch of his friends: I asked when the last time they'd won the cup was...I was met with disdainful stares. Eventually one guy just dropped his head and said "never." I knew I'd done fucked up.
 

IvyPickin87

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I'd take this whole thing with a large grain of salt, as I'm yet to see any of the big-name NHL reporters (McKenzie, LeBrun, etc.) chime on in this issue, and I usually wait to see someone like that confirm a report for I believe it. Doesn't mean it's untrue, just means it may not be done yet.



I think the biggest question regarding this Vegas team would be the location of the arena. Put the team on/near the Strip and you have to make the stadium a tourist attraction. But if you keep the stadium more accessible to the residents of Las Vegas (population of about 2 million per Wikipedia), you may be able to generate a local following. Ideally, finding some happy medium that makes it near downtown for visiting fans and easily-reached by the home fans would be the key for success.



Toronto can absolutely support another team. If Chicago can have 2 baseball teams, Toronto can have 2 hockey teams. There are plenty of disgruntled fans in Toronto who'd properly love a chance to jump ship to another team with the way the Leafs have been for the last 15-20 years.



For having such a shitty team, the Buffalo fans pack the arena pretty well, too. 97.4 percent attendance last year, which puts them near the middle of the league at 17th.

http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance/_/sort/homePct

I have discussed this with a couple of my friends. At first I had the stance that they didn't need another. My friends one a Leafs fan, the other from Edmonton explained, how the city needs a second cause many hockey fans their can't get in to see a game. They are priced out and cant go as much as they would like, some not at all. There is a need, the city is full of hockey fans and they cant get their fix. Also the frustrating year by year choke jobs, could drive people away, if there is another viable option.

Selfishly I was/ am keeping my fingers crossed for Kansas City. Although it doesn't look like they are even in the conversation. It would be an awesome 2 1/2 hour drive to see the hawks... Gotta keep hoping for a relocation down the road.
 

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