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What does "frontrunnerish" mean?, best in league=most coverage/hype/fanfare?
Pretty much. Best in the league, or something close to it. Contending anyway.
Last year the Astros missed the playoffs but still finished eighth in the National League in attendance, in spite of one key home series in September against the Cubs getting moved because of Hurricane Ike. That was a loss of 100-120K in the annual attendance figures. In 2007 the team was losing but finished seventh in the league in attendance. Same as in 2006, although that year the Astros finished only a game and a half out of first in the NL Central despite being two games above .500. Interestingly, the '06 team outdrew the 2005 World Series team in the regular season. None of this really supports the idea that Houston baseball fans are bandwagoners.
This may not necessarily translate into "Houston will definitely support hockey" but if we're using support of other sports to gauge potential NHL markets, baseball is the best indicator, IMO, of how a city supports pro sports. Moreso than football. In the NFL, as long as you put a competitive product on the field you can fill a 70,000-seat stadium just about anywhere for every game, since there's only eight at home. Baseball has 81. Drawing 30K for 81 games is harder to do than 70K for eight games.
I could possibly see teams arising in the following cities..
Baltimore
Seattle
Portland
Hamilton
Quebec City
Winnipeg
Hartford
Cleveland
Minneapolis
10% of the teams in the Southern US are actually making a profit, which scares me. Hello Nashville, Tampa and Phoenix!
I'd like to see another team in Canada.... would like to see Quebec and Winnipeg get teams again.
Baltimore.... I think that may be too close to the Caps.
Seattle and Portland.... I've heard Seattle mentioned before but can't say I have a feel for how popular hockey is there.
Hartford... loved their uniforms but again, I think too close to Boston.
Cleveland has had I think a couple of teams over the years. I remember the Barons and the WHA Crusaders.... not enough fan support.
Minneapolis.... move the (North) Stars back .
I could possibly see teams arising in the following cities..
Baltimore
Seattle
Portland
Hamilton
Quebec City
Winnipeg
Hartford
Cleveland
Minneapolis
10% of the teams in the Southern US are actually making a profit, which scares me. Hello Nashville, Tampa and Phoenix!
Baltimore will never happen, too close to the Caps. Never had that much of a following when the Skipjacks were the Caps affiliation playing in the Baltimore Arena. The city will support the O's and Ravens, but nothing more.
It's likely that a few teams may relocate soon. Some cities that could be host to a team.
1.Houston or San Antonio-Give the Dallas fans someone to hate.
2.Oklahoma City-Dont know if they are big on hockey but they seem to want something.
3.Albuqerque-Doubt they would get support though.
4.Seattle
5.Kansas City-Already talk of this
6.Winnepeg
7.Quebec City
8.Hartford or Bridgeport,CT
9.Portland,Oregon
10.Milwaukee
11.Indianapolis
There are many more but these are the ones I can think off the top my head. What do you think?
Hartford, Q.C., and Winnipeg shouldn't even need a team (sorry Canes, but it's true) and Seattle fans are so fair weather that they don't deserve any sports teams. It's pretty silly that Milwaukee doesn't have one yet, so I'd go with them and Kansas City, because they got teased by Mario and built a nice arena and it actually gets cold there sometimes. Indianapolis doesn't deserve any major league teams after what they did to Baltimore. As you can see, I'm dead-set against well-established franchises moving.
I don't know if there have been some thread regarding this topic before. Sorry if this is kind of boring or repetitive! I'm just really thinking that there are a couple of markets that really need to be changed in the NHL. I know one of the first things hockey fans think is:"Why are there so many teams in the south! No one cares about hockey over there." Well I partially agree with that, but there are some exceptions. I think the Ducks and the Kings are doing quite well in terms of attendance, the Stars are also ok. But then you have the Panthers, Coyotes and Thrashers (sorry if there is any fan of these teams reading this) and some others teams where the people in town seems not to care about them at all. The Isles are also a very small market (I'm an Isles fan, but I'm being objective here, and I think the franchise probably have to move, especially having the Rangers and Devils in the same area), I don't think Kansas City would be a good relocating market at all though (there has been some talking going on about moving them to KC). So what do you guys think?, are there teams that can potentially be relocated?, and which are those potential cities to relocate them? Here is my list:
To be relocated:
1. Coyotes (Phoenix)
2. Panthers (Miami)
3. Hurricanes (Raleigh)
4. Islanders (New York)
5. Thrashers (Atlanta)
and maybe also Lightning (Tampa)
Potential relocation cities:
1. Quebec City
2. Winnipeg
3. Seattle (especially now that the sonics are gone)
4. Portland (I don't know maybe with Vancouver and Seattle would be enough for the Northwest).
5. Second team in Toronto area (It can be Hamilton, I know the Sabres say they really don't like that, but I don't think a lot of people in the Hamilton area actually follows the Sabres).
6. Milwaukee
If you don't like my candidates on either side, that's fine, this is just an idea, and I would like to hear what do you think about.
Thank you.
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NHL Potential Relocation Cities
