Troy McClure said:
That you seem to think you have such an easy and obvious answer to a vey complex problem should tell you that either your assumptions are wrong or your understanding of the problem is wrong. I can tell you though that you are wrong on both counts.
You have the very wrong and very simple assumption that fan interest is the only thing that matters in success of a hockey team, and that is wrong. You also base your understanding of fan interest in Houston on how their AHL team does, and that is wrong.
But go ahead and keep telling us how Quebec City, a town which has all the population and business power of a suburb to a major city in Texas, is a better investment. I know I'll take a city like Houston any day if I'm an owner. More potential for future growth, more business interest, better tax situation, cheaper arena lease, more people to buy merchandising, more of everything. Or, I could go to Quebec City where what I have on day one is the best it'll ever get.
I think you get me wrong.
I've never said fan base is the only important thing, but I think it's a thing you can't neglect if you don't want a league without flavour.
Giving franchises to cities just because they are big, with no importance to the fan base doesn't make sense IMHO. Show me a hockey league with only big market cities like Houston, Florida and Raleigh, and I'll show you a league nobody cares about.
If I argued that Montreal deserved a Basketball franchise more than Portland because it's bigger (I think it is, I suck in geography
), has probably more business, and things like that, people would laugh themselves silly.
Is Quebec City a big City ? Hell no, but Edmonton and Calgary neither. I would defenately be pissed as hell, like all canadiens if they moved either of those cities to Houston for the sake of better Business.
I think we need more Edmontons and Calgarys, places where under the new economics teams can not only survive, but compete, and where people are passionate about the game. We need more of these teams, not less. I'm pretty sure Houston wouldn't be that kind of team, Quebec and Winnipeg would for sure.
Our views are different. You think economics rules all. That's why you wouldn't have a Franchise in a lesser market. I respect that. But not everybody think like you. Some people brought a team to Quebec in the past even if it was a small market. It worked for a time, but the screwed economics of the league made the team go away. Now that the economics are fixed, and teams in lesser markets can not only survive but compete, some people that think alike those that brought the team in the first place (Heck even the same people is possible) are going to try it again. I GARANTEE it. Maybe it wont work, but it's not because they are not going to try, and it's not because it's not possible.
You think "what can the city give to hockey", and that's allright. Some people think "what can hockey do for the city". A hockey team in Quebec would do a world of good to the city and it's businesses, and some rich people that love the city are aware of that. The motives to bring hockey to Quebec are numerous. I'm sure the same thing can be said for Winnipeg.
Sad, when you think about all the cities that would do ANYTHING to get a team.
