The Frugal Gourmet said:Ok, so more than 1/4 of the population of Winnipeg considers themselves hockey fans (I'm skeptical, but whatever). 10% of those fans must be rabid enough to buy tickets just to keep the team afloat. The television market is too small to add much revenue. The city is not growing, there are no cities nearby who will drawn in (the closest cities are Edmonton and Calgary) and even Dixie cities have that in the U.S., the arena is small, and the economy is not that strong. I still think it will take a very courageous owner to make it happen.
I most definitly agree that a courageous owner or ownership group and a strong government/community effort would be needed to make it work.
Along with Winnipeg's population you can add to that the population of southern manitoba. I don't think that a competitive team with community support would have trouble drawing sell-out to the MTS Centre most every night, which would 6000-7000 more fans than the non NHL inflated numbers coming out in Carolina Miami or Atlanta.