Mississauga Steelheads to relocate to Brampton

[MMC]

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[StingUpdates]

I know there's more that goes into it, but gotta love going from horrific attendance to just bad attendance with this move. Should've been moved years ago.

 

[Hamilton Bulldogs]

Maybe they’ll be on tv now

 

[Kingpin794]

What free rent does to a mfer.

At one point we had 3 teams in the GTA at the same time. Toronto, Missy, and Brampton. The Ice Dogs moved from Missy to St. Catherine’s and the Majors moved to Missy and eventually become the steelheads. Brampton goes to North Bay and we complete the shuffle to create the Brampton formerly of Mississauga of Toronto St. Mike’s Battalion of Steel Dogs.

 

[ohloutsider]

Now Branford and Brampton, auto correct is going to be a killer!

 

[Roadhog]

Nothing official, you may want to edit the thread title.

 

[Otto]

I know there's more that goes into it, but gotta love going from horrific attendance to just bad attendance with this move. Should've been moved years ago.

Steelheads attendance, although isn't great, they are up 41% year over year. Highest increase in the OHL. Assuming this comes with a much better arena deal for the team this is actually a great move. The arena in Brampton isn't that far from Mississaugas, it allows the team to retain their core fans and hopefully be more profitable

 

[Hamilton Bulldogs]

Hershey centre is such a good arena for hockey.

sad to see it

 

[Logosarejusttargets]

Steelheads attendance, although isn't great, they are up 41% year over year. Highest increase in the OHL. Assuming this comes with a much better arena deal for the team this is actually a great move. The arena in Brampton isn't that far from Mississaugas, it allows the team to retain their core fans and hopefully be more profitable

In fairness...going from 1000 people to 1400 people in a 5000 seat isn't great....despite the % increase.

 

[Otto]

In fairness...going from 1000 people to 1400 people in a 5000 seat isn't great....despite the % increase.

They went from about 1,500 to 2,100

 

[TheGreenTBer]

What free rent does to a mfer.

At one point we had 3 teams in the GTA at the same time. Toronto, Missy, and Brampton. The Ice Dogs moved from Missy to St. Catherine’s and the Majors moved to Missy and eventually become the steelheads. Brampton goes to North Bay and we complete the shuffle to create the Brampton formerly of Mississauga of Toronto St. Mike’s Battalion of Steel Dogs.

That is fantastic.

 

[Logosarejusttargets]

That is fantastic.

Toronto is a Leafs market -- not a hockey market. The Marlies have never really had the support that one would have assumed or hoped for. Lots of free / packaged tickets given away to try and have bums in seats. I think the OHL should stay away from the GTA - focus on those big town/small cities that have a decent facility and a desire from locals to support a team. I'd love to see a team in Belleville again - but not sure 50k ish population could support both Bsens and an ohl team. I'd like to see one in Corwall - be great for Ottawa and Kingston.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

Toronto is a Leafs market -- not a hockey market. The Marlies have never really had the support that one would have assumed or hoped for. Lots of free / packaged tickets given away to try and have bums in seats. I think the OHL should stay away from the GTA - focus on those big town/small cities that have a decent facility and a desire from locals to support a team. I'd love to see a team in Belleville again - but not sure 50k ish population could support both Bsens and an ohl team. I'd like to see one in Corwall - be great for Ottawa and Kingston.

I'm just a stupid American reading this thread out of curiosity, but when I think CHL I think of towns, not a mega metropolis. Toronto has never supported CHL or AHL hockey very well as far as I know.

 

[Kingpin794]

I'm just a stupid American reading this thread out of curiosity, but when I think CHL I think of towns, not a mega metropolis. Toronto has never supported CHL or AHL hockey very well as far as I know.

Agree that CHL works best in small to mid size cities. 100,000ish or less. It CAN work in larger cities. It has in Seattle, Portland. Calgary and Vancouver have decent support. I don't think there's a large city in the OHL that it could work in though. Ottawa works so there is 1. Detroit (and it's burbs) have the same issue as Toronto. It's not really hockeytown. It's wings town. Hamilton always seems to push aside the lower markets to hold out hope for the NHL (keep dreaming). As someone said, just move them out to Cornwall. But that would make too much sense.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

Agree that CHL works best in small to mid size cities. 100,000ish or less. It CAN work in larger cities. It has in Seattle, Portland. Calgary and Vancouver have decent support. I don't think there's a large city in the OHL that it could work in though. Ottawa works so there is 1. Detroit (and it's burbs) have the same issue as Toronto. It's not really hockeytown. It's wings town. Hamilton always seems to push aside the lower markets to hold out hope for the NHL (keep dreaming). As someone said, just move them out to Cornwall. But that would make too much sense.

Thanks for responding.

Hamilton will not get a NHL team in at least the next few decades no matter how much they hold out hope, I'm quite confident in that.

 

[Otto]

Agree that CHL works best in small to mid size cities. 100,000ish or less. It CAN work in larger cities. It has in Seattle, Portland. Calgary and Vancouver have decent support. I don't think there's a large city in the OHL that it could work in though. Ottawa works so there is 1. Detroit (and it's burbs) have the same issue as Toronto. It's not really hockeytown. It's wings town. Hamilton always seems to push aside the lower markets to hold out hope for the NHL (keep dreaming). As someone said, just move them out to Cornwall. But that would make too much sense.

London does pretty good I hear

 

[Kingpin794]

London does pretty good I hear

True. I guess I always forget how big London is.

 

[Logosarejusttargets]

London does pretty good I hear

London is a great market - and I remember going to see Knights games as a kid (I'm 50+ now). That being said, although London has grown quite a bit, as a visitor it still has that "smaller city feel" which honestly is more important than population itself.

 

[OHLTG]

If you look at Ontario's populations over 100k:

Ottawa, Hamilton, Windsor, London, Oshawa, Niagara/StC, Barrie, Guelph, Kingston, Brantford... then the GTA - Toronto, Miss, Bramp, Markham, Vaughan, Richmond, Oakville, Burlington, Whitby, Ajax.

The GTA aside... the only place that doesn't have a solid OHL club is Hamilton and they're in Brantford. If you include the GTA, that's a whole other beast in itself.

 

[bobber]

Agree that CHL works best in small to mid size cities. 100,000ish or less. It CAN work in larger cities. It has in Seattle, Portland. Calgary and Vancouver have decent support. I don't think there's a large city in the OHL that it could work in though. Ottawa works so there is 1. Detroit (and it's burbs) have the same issue as Toronto. It's not really hockeytown. It's wings town. Hamilton always seems to push aside the lower markets to hold out hope for the NHL (keep dreaming). As someone said, just move them out to Cornwall. But that would make too much sense.Rangers have a solid following.

Waterloo Region has a population of 650 thousand. Rangers have a solid fans base. I think demographics effects some franchises. We went to a few games in Brampton when they had the franchise before. You could buy the cheapest seat and sit anywhere in the rink except for the club section. No one in the sky boxes at all much. Nice facility. Easy to get to off the 401 back then. Now your safer to drive an army tank for protection on that highway.

 

[Logosarejusttargets]

Waterloo Region has a population of 650 thousand. Rangers have a solid fans base. I think demographics effects some franchises. We went to a few games in Brampton when they had the franchise before. You could buy the cheapest seat and sit anywhere in the rink except for the club section. No one in the sky boxes at all much. Nice facility. Easy to get to off the 401 back then. Now your safer to drive an army tank for protection on that highway.

Brampton, in fact Mississauga as well have shifted to a different sports fan base. Basketball, Cricket and Soccer are far more popular than before. There are international cricket matches being hosted in Brampton and drawing thousands of people. It's just not a major hockey market anymore.

 

[DWI Dale]

i fully appreciate that geography makes it impossible but Thunder Bay would be an incredible town for an OHL franchise if it weren't so bloody far west.

 

[Logosarejusttargets]

i fully appreciate that geography makes it impossible but Thunder Bay would be an incredible town for an OHL franchise if it weren't so bloody far west.

I mean they do have a few teams in the GTHL AAA loop...maybe they can all share the plane

 

[ohloutsider]

i fully appreciate that geography makes it impossible but Thunder Bay would be an incredible town for an OHL franchise if it weren't so bloody far west.

I've always thought this could work. Fly teams in and have them play 3 games in 4 nights. Division teams and a rotation of other east teams . TB would fly south and do a 2 week road trip. flying in and out would not cost as much as the actual hotels and food but why not try?

 

[Dr Pepper]

London does pretty good I hear

OHL 2023-24 team attendance at hockeydb.com

Attendance for the Ontario Hockey League for the 2023-24 season

www.hockeydb.com

Do they ever.

Knights tickets are hard to come by, and that arena is almost always packed.

Must feel nice knowing they can regularly outdraw an actual NHL team.