Why the South?
I hate when people want to contract the new teams (ie the southern teams). I bet if we had this arguement in 1970 that the Blues and the other new expansions would be on the list. Give them a chance to build a base. To say a team doesn't have a fan base that is 5-6 years old is insane. How could they? Also, i know for a fact that Nashville has a sweetheart deal with the city of Nashville. The arena is practically free for them and the team decided to build thru the draft instead of just going thru free agency. When they start to win, they'll start to sell out but until then they are not contracting- because they aren't losing money bigtime.
The Teams if contraction happened might not be your southern new teams, They probably have good deals with the cities and lower payrolls. Its probably the teams like St Louis, LA, etc. Those teams you guys accept as too stable to fold.
Anyway, in the chart bottom you'll notice only 2 aka southern teams in Nashville and Carolina. I mentioned Nashville. I heard the Carolina GM on the Todd Wright show say that people think teams like his would get hurt in a lockout but their deal with Raleigh and their payroll (or wherever that play) actually makes them until to have problems. Plus if you are still building a fanbase its easier to get 5000K back to season ticket holders then 15000 back. The fall is smaller. Those for contraction be careful what you wish for.
This is the bottom 7 in home attendance (off of ESPN)
24 New Jersey 39 581,599 14,912
25 Washington 41 603,528 14,720
26 NY Islanders 40 537,264 13,431
27 Chicago 41 543,374 13,253
28 Nashville 40 527,091 13,177 77.0
29 Carolina 40 486,870 12,171 65.0
30 Pittsburgh 41 486,961 11,877
thanks-Don