Yet another argument for the NHL to move at least one team to Canuckistan

Edmonton's rink is actually far older than 20 years, it is I think like the third oldest in the NHL behind Pittsburgh and Long Island. However, they are in the process of replacing the aging Rexall Place and I believe the Flames are also looking at a new building as well. You forget that Vancouver also just built new in the late 90s and Ottawa is still fairly new. So actually once Edmonton and Calgary are done their building projects, all of the Canadian teams will be on line with the 21st century or at least close enough to it.

 

I was thinking even further back than that with the Portland Rosebuds. But the Buckaroos did have a long history there as well as other teams like the Portland Eagles and most recently the Portland Buckaroos in the WHL prior to the Portland Winterhawks.

The Winterhawks decline has in large part been to bad ownership and a bad product on the ice.

I'm not saying the NHL should move to Portland tomorrow. But I don't think they should be completely wiped off the map as a possible future location. Portland can be a hockey town again, I believe. It would however take the right situation for it to succeed. The current one maybe not so conducive.

 

It took a special kind of stupid to lock out the sport following the 1993-94 Rangers' Cup, when the league's popularity was at its apex.

 

Hell, the President of the NHLPA thinks it is a good idea for the league to have more Canadian franchises.

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080530.wspt-maki-nhl-money-30/BNStory/GlobeSportsHockey

 

Two arguments against moving another NHL team to Canada:

1. Don Cherry's suits.

2. Barry Melrose's haircuts.

That is all.

 

Haircuts? He's had the same 'do for a couple of decades at least.

 

Two major arguments for moving the Panthers/Thrashers/Predators to a Canadian market: Those three teams have non-existent fanbases and ain't making coin.

 

Allow me to reiterate:

 

Well, Melrose is going to be the next coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning. So his mullet should not count.

And if I had the guts, I would wear a Don Cherry-esque suit.

 

Uh, disagree.

If Bettman had put the same energy into saving the Jets as he has trying to block Balsillie, there'd still be a team in Winnipeg and they'd probably have a new arena.

I'm not saying that Winnipeg would be a #1 choice for another team up here, but Phoenix is a joke.

Bottom line is that if the almost 15,000 average attendance figure is correct (which I highly doubt) the average ticket price at a Coyotes game is around $30.00 which will barely buy you a standing room position in Toronto.

So, either their attendance figures are way overinflated or they're papering the house with freebees, two for one deals, etc.

That hardly indicates a vibrant market for the sport.

And Brunt's point is simple: Bettman and his gang couldn't wait to get the Jets out of Winnipeg to Phoenix which was "a big market, a growing market, a wealthy market and a market where people paid in 100-cent dollars and you could sell the great sport of hockey to anyone anywhere, no matter what the history, the culture or the climate"

Bettman's strategy was so ill conceived yet moving a team like Phoenix back to Winnipeg--or SW Ontario or Quebec Cit--would be a straight up admission of how wrong he was.

 

Which doesn't address my point at all.

Again, no one went to the games in Winnipeg. A horrible year in Phoenix drew 1,200 more than the best year in Winnipeg. Winnipeg was an utter failure.

And why would Bettman fight to get Winnipeg a new arena? They were drawing 13,000 people to a 15,500 seat arena. Would they be better off drawing 13,000 people to an 18,000 seat arena with luxury boxes no one in Winnipeg could afford? New buildings help teams like Pittsburgh, who actually draw large crowds in a crappy building (or the Coyotes, who at the time were drawing 14,000 to a building where only 11,000 seats had a view of both goals). A new building does not magically bring in the fans.

Once again, I honestly don't know if Phoenix is a viable market long-term. The Coyotes have been mismanaged on a near Blackhawkian level and virtually guaranteed their own failure. I think a team in Quebec City or Southern Ontario would probably do much better. But a team in Winnipeg would move to Kansas City in 5 years.

 

Only if you believe Phoenix's attendance figures which as I said are probably overinflated by ridiculously low ticket prices and/or giveaways. Or they just flat out lied and that 14,800 is really 12000.

It's not about attendance. It's about revenue because you can always lie and hedge on the numbers of bums in the seat but you can't lie about the amount of money you bring in since it's probably sujbect to a league audit.

It was as much a lack of will on the NHL as economic factors that resulted in the Jets moving to Phoenix which was seen as the new face of the NHL. Everyone but the most diehard Bettman supporter knows it was a flawed business strategy and franchises in places like Phoenix, Atlanta and Florida are a joke.

And as far as Pittsburgh goes, they were dying until the Baby Jesus came along. No Crosby, no Penguins.

Edit: And if you look at the chart, the smaller Canadian markets like Edmonton generated at least TWICE the ticket revenue of Phoenix.