The several people who have posted inthis thread that Southern Ontario is a "guaranteed sellout" and would be an instant success clearly knows nothing about either the hockey marketplace in southern Ontario or any of the logistics.
Firstly, corporate money makes the sports world go around. The Leafs make a ton because they are the ticket (and sponsorship) of choice for corporate Canada. It starts and ends there. A great deal of that is because they are downtown and convenient. While I am sure they get a good buck from TV, I would seriously doubt it is a real difference-maker, and is far from eight digits per year.
Secondly, as for talking about a percentage of people in the GTA being 50 miles from a given location, the logistics demand that an arena be a lot closer than 50 miles. Do you want to know how many people would travel the 90 minutes or two hours from Toronto to KW? Hardly any, that's who. I told a story on this board a while back which illustrated how far these other communities are from Toronto in real terms. When the Canadian Open was held in Oakville or Markham, tickets were very difficult to come by. When it was held in Ancaster, just outside Hamilton and a heck of a lot closer than KW, they could not give them away for a vastly superior venue. Why? Because most people who go to those things - just like a ton of spectators at Leaf games - get their tickets comped to them by a business associate, and there are some things which are too far, even if you are getting them for free. I know no one who populates this board would have that mindset, since most of you live and breathe hockey, but that is the way it is.