My Cozen Dylan
Registered User
I think Baltimore, Louisville, and New Orleans could all support a team. Thoughts?
EDIT: I meant this for both AHL and ECHL.
EDIT: I meant this for both AHL and ECHL.
Last edited:
I'd love a third Ontario team, but Thunder Bay was nothing more than a scare tactic for the IceCaps.
I don't know if Thunder Bay was a threat so much as wishful thinking.
The cost of travel to Saint John's (especially in the winter) is very high. I can totally understand Winnipeg's desire to have their AHL team closer. Unfortunately (for Winnipeg) there really aren't many Canadian markets available that don't already have an OHL or WHL team...hence Thunder Bay. But until Thunder Bay shows any signs of actually building an arena I don't think we'll be seeing any team there.
However, if some other Canadian city became available, say Saskatoon or Regina...then I think you could see Winnipeg making a move very quickly. Until then...go IceCaps.
Travel in winter here is not as bad as you think.We rarely ever have games canceled/postponed due to weather.
Don't be surprised if the group here(Williams, Stanford) kicked the Jets to the curb if they are able to find someone.Rumours have the Islanders,Habs and Sens eyeing here but they are just that for now..
My statement on travel to Saint John's had more to do with cost. Even flying from Boston (the cheapest airport I've found to fly to Saint John's) is $450 round trip. Even if you could get a discount thats a lot of money for a team...especially over the course of a season. Flying to Winnipeg looks to cost a $100 more.
Meanwhile, I was under the impression that the Ice Caps franchise belonged to True North...so kicking the Jets to the curb would also mean having to find a whole new franchise.
It is but there's a group started up here (IceCaps sports and entertainment) that are trying to look for a franchise.There was a rumour going around this summer that they would buy the franchise from TNSE.
I wish them the best of luck. Between the NHL buying and moving teams, and AHL markets looking to replace lost franchises...this has got to be one of the toughest markets for buying an AHL franchise.
Kansas City?
What about Texas, where all those WPHL teams were, anything worthing while for another look?
Atlanta. It would be nice for Charlotte to have a team close by now that it seems Norfolk is losing their team.
Based upon current demographics of the northeast teams. any metro are of 150,000 with a rink that eats 4,000 will wor.
I ran research 10 years ago that demonstrated markets under 300,000 weren't working for the ECHL. It was also a little harder to keep a team (but not impossible) in markets over 500,000. The further south, the larger the market requirement.
I'm curious to see if Rapid City disproves the low side of my theory.