Arenas that could host a NHL team right now

TomasHertlsRooster

Don’t say eye test when you mean points
May 14, 2012
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Fremont, CA
When I visited Nebraska last summer, I was impressed by Baxter Arena, and thought that it looked like an arena that could host an NHL team.

I googled pictures of the arena, and this was the first photo that came up:

image_handler.aspx


The arena is huge from the outside, but on the inside with a rink in the middle, it clearly looks more like a college or junior arena.
 
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AdmiralsFan24

Registered User
Mar 22, 2011
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When I visited Nebraska last summer, I was impressed by Baxter Arena, and thought that it looked like an arena that could host an NHL team.

I googled pictures of the arena, and this was the first photo that came up:

image_handler.aspx


The arena is huge from the outside, but on the inside with a rink in the middle, it clearly looks more like a college or junior arena.

Nebraska does have an arena that holds 17,000+ for hockey.

1253834_FXLtSvAf4HC9XXTnWyjcrJ9Z9hyGVuDUV1vVcp22hwc.jpg
 

JMROWE

Registered User
Apr 2, 2010
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Hamilton Ontario
Houston - Toyota Center
Quebec City - Videotron Center
Hamilton - First Ontario Center

These 3 cities & arenas are all set to go right now & would be the most profitable since all 3 have a huge hockey fan base .

Hamilton seems to be a shoe in for 2030 commonwealth games & could get a brand new NHL. size arena out of the deal or at the very least get a 250 million dollar reno to First Ontario Center .
 

Ted Hoffman

The other Rick Zombo
Dec 15, 2002
28,859
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The smallest "Four sport" city is just under 3 million. That's like 733,000 per sports team. Milwaukee DMA is about 2.1 times that number; making them "about right" for the sports they have and a stretch to add another.
If you want to strictly say "counting all the people in the Milwaukee [DMA, MSA, whatever larger area]" while also strictly saying "I'm not counting anything that's not a pro sport and isn't strictly in Milwaukee" then sure - Milwaukee has room to absorb another team. I've said this before, I'll keep saying it until the Internet runs out of letters: anyone who wants to discount the impact of the Packers and Badgers on the dollars available for the pro sports scene in Milwaukee is doing it at their own risk.
 

JMCx4

Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
Sep 3, 2017
13,476
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St. Louis, MO
When I visited Nebraska last summer, I was impressed by Baxter Arena, and thought that it looked like an arena that could host an NHL team.

I googled pictures of the arena, and this was the first photo that came up:

image_handler.aspx


The arena is huge from the outside, but on the inside with a rink in the middle, it clearly looks more like a college or junior arena.
My wife & I attended a youth hockey tourney game @ Baxter back in Fall 2016 during a USHL preseason weekend hosted by the nearby Omaha Lancers. My exterior & interior photos from that arena visit are posted on my Flickr page: Baxter Arena (University of Nebraska-Omaha, NE). I had a chat with the arena manager at the time, and he explained that the facility was designed with state-of-the-art media infrastructure and other tenant-attractive features they hoped would draw higher level sports interests than NCAA DI hockey. But with it being a university-owned arena with minor league caliber public spaces and being where it is (on campus grounds outside of the Downtown Omaha core district), I reckon the only sniff they'd ever get from higher pro hockey might be an AHL exhibition game - presuming some team owner is a UNO alumnus or has a kid on the Mavericks' roster.
 

BKIslandersFan

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Sep 29, 2017
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Houston - Toyota Center
Quebec City - Videotron Center
Hamilton - First Ontario Center

These 3 cities & arenas are all set to go right now & would be the most profitable since all 3 have a huge hockey fan base .

Hamilton seems to be a shoe in for 2030 commonwealth games & could get a brand new NHL. size arena out of the deal or at the very least get a 250 million dollar reno to First Ontario Center .
Without significant renovation take Hamilton off the list:
 

JMROWE

Registered User
Apr 2, 2010
1,372
52
Hamilton Ontario
Without significant renovation take Hamilton off the list:
The 250 million dollars is the quoted price for a fully renovated FOC. but if Hamilton gets the 2030 commonwealth games they might get a new arena all together on the government dime for ether project .

In my opinion a renovated FOC. might be the best option since it sits right in the middle of downtown Hamilton & by 2030 Hamilton's population will exceed 1 million .
 

BKIslandersFan

F*** off
Sep 29, 2017
11,447
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Brooklyn
The 250 million dollars is the quoted price for a fully renovated FOC. but if Hamilton gets the 2030 commonwealth games they might get a new arena all together on the government dime for ether project .

In my opinion a renovated FOC. might be the best option since it sits right in the middle of downtown Hamilton & by 2030 Hamilton's population will exceed 1 million .
All good points but the question is which arenas are capable of hosting an NHL team, RIGHT NOW.

Market size and things like that are irrelevant to this discussion. We are just talking about actual arenas.
 

AdmiralsFan24

Registered User
Mar 22, 2011
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I've said this before, I'll keep saying it until the Internet runs out of letters: anyone who wants to discount the impact of the Packers and Badgers on the dollars available for the pro sports scene in Milwaukee is doing it at their own risk.

Yet you continue to ignore the surrounding area.
 

oknazevad

Registered User
Dec 12, 2018
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Well, I'm not entirely sure which arenas could host NHL hockey without much effort, but I'm pretty sure the arenas in Atlanta, Cleveland, Houston, Milwaukee, Minnesota, OKC, Orlando, New Orleans, and Portland at least have proper hockey configurations among NBA arenas that don't already host NHL teams. Kansas City's new arena was built that way as well. (No, the renovations to Atlanta did not remove the ability to host hockey, even if it's unlikely any time soon. They would need to rebuild the Thrashers former locker room, though, as that space was repurposed in the renovations.)

Among the other NBA arenas, Brooklyn, Charlotte, Indy, Memphis, Phoenix, and San Antonio have ice plants, but with the off-center configuration found in some basketball-first arenas. (Utah's arena does have a centered hockey configuration, but it requires a lot of retractable stands on both ends; it opened slightly before Phoenix pioneered the off-center configuration that's become so common.)

Meanwhile the NBA arenas in Miami, Sacramento, and for Golden State (both their recently vacated home in Oakland and their new place in San Francisco) don't even have permanent ice making equipment; when Disney on Ice comes to town they use a portable ice plant in those buildings (and those shows don't need a full NHL sized rink). Same with the arena in Louisville that was mentioned above.

What it comes down to is that concert tours and such expect the 200 x 85 foot floor space of a hockey rink, as the equipment and stages are designed with that in mind, so these arenas can open up to that size when needed, but since they want closer seats (especially in the upper decks) and sightlines maximized for basketball's smaller court, they minimize the movable seats by only retracting on the one side. Not an issue for stage shows as the retracted side simply becomes the backstage area that is closed off during the show. In fact, it actually minimizes the amount of lost seats in some ways.

However, as any Islanders fan (and longtime Coyotes fans from when they first moved to Phoenix) will tell you, it makes them useless for NHL hockey, as the seats on that retracted end are obstructed by the overhang. It's passable for minor league hockey, as those seats aren't needed, but even there the minor league teams in Charlotte, Indy, and Utah opt to play in smaller rinks instead of the NBA arena; only the San Antonio Rampage regularly use the off-center configuration, and that's because the team is outright owned by the Spurs' ownership.
 

Lt Dan

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Sep 13, 2018
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So does Kansas City, Portland, Indianapolis, Atlanta, and Houston. That doesn't mean that it would be a great NHL market.

Wisconsin has also also been a hockey hotbed unlike any of the other cities you mentioned
LOL, really

You really might want to fact check before you post
Please name:
KC's: NBA team
Portland's MLB and NFL team
Indianapolis'- MLB team

:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:
 
Jul 26, 2007
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Heck the Times Union Center in Albany is probably big enough, and just had a bit of a refurbishment.

Of course, Albany is a terrible hockey market, but that wasn't the point of the thread :)
 

Barclay Donaldson

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Feb 4, 2018
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Wisconsin has also also been a hockey hotbed unlike any of the other cities you mentioned
LOL, really

You really might want to fact check before you post
Please name:
KC's: NBA team
Portland's MLB and NFL team
Indianapolis'- MLB team

:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

This has already been discussed on other forums. The NHL marketing strategy under Bettman has been to add new hockey fans in non-traditional hockey areas. Hence the entire southern push along with Vegas and Seattle to finish up at 32. This isn't Old Time Hockey, none of those are hockey hotbeds and that isn't a condition to get a team anymore. Your Milwaukee isn't getting a team, get over it. They aren't even on the NHL's Expansion Wish List.

And the point was other successful sports franchises qualifies a market as deserving hockey. Faulty logic in because that isn't how marketing works and I'm assuming you're unfamiliar with market saturation. If you're point was 3/4 major sports leagues, then you've used faulty logic again because I'm pretty sure that Milwaukee doesn't have a NFL team. You really might want to fact check before you post :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:.

And even if your point had any validity, Atlanta, Houston, San Francisco, and Cleveland all have the NBA, NFL, and MLB without the NHL. Wisconsin isn't anything special. They have fewer kids playing hockey than New Jersey and don't have much more than Ohio, Florida, Colorado, and Texas. Get over it.
 

Lt Dan

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Sep 13, 2018
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This has already been discussed on other forums. The NHL marketing strategy under Bettman has been to add new hockey fans in non-traditional hockey areas. Hence the entire southern push along with Vegas and Seattle to finish up at 32. This isn't Old Time Hockey, none of those are hockey hotbeds and that isn't a condition to get a team anymore. Your Milwaukee isn't getting a team, get over it. They aren't even on the NHL's Expansion Wish List.

And the point was other successful sports franchises qualifies a market as deserving hockey. Faulty logic in because that isn't how marketing works and I'm assuming you're unfamiliar with market saturation. If you're point was 3/4 major sports leagues, then you've used faulty logic again because I'm pretty sure that Milwaukee doesn't have a NFL team. You really might want to fact check before you post :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:.

And even if your point had any validity, Atlanta, Houston, San Francisco, and Cleveland all have the NBA, NFL, and MLB without the NHL. Wisconsin isn't anything special. They have fewer kids playing hockey than New Jersey and don't have much more than Ohio, Florida, Colorado, and Texas. Get over it.
please read the thread and then reply again. you are picking apart a convo that you clearly didn't read while also ignoring the title of the thread

p.s. Milwuakee has an NFL team. The packers . You should fact check and maybe look at map before you badly try to correct someone
 
Last edited:

Barclay Donaldson

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Feb 4, 2018
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please read the thread and then reply again. you are picking apart a convo that you clearly didn't read while also ignoring the title of the thread

p.s. Milwuakee has an NFL team. The packers . You should fact check and maybe look at map before you badly try to correct someone

The Packers are in Green Bay. That's not Milwaukee, it's about 2 hours from Milwaukee. The Packers are the smallest market in North American sports. Because they're not in Milwaukee. You should fact check and maybe look at a map before you badly try to correct someone. Milwaukee and Green Bay aren't the same place, especially since it's about 115 miles apart.
 

Lt Dan

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The Packers are in Green Bay. That's not Milwaukee, it's about 2 hours from Milwaukee. The Packers are the smallest market in North American sports. Because they're not in Milwaukee. You should fact check and maybe look at a map before you badly try to correct someone. Milwaukee and Green Bay aren't the same place, especially since it's about 115 miles apart.
Green Bay is a suburb of Milwaukee. It wouldn't exist without it

That is like saying that Boston doesn't have an NFL team because they called themselves New England and they play in Foxboro
Ridiculous

Btw

The National Football League's Green Bay Packers played two to four home games per year at Milwaukee County Stadium from 1953 to 1994

Milwaukee has a team bro
 
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AdmiralsFan24

Registered User
Mar 22, 2011
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Wisconsin isn't anything special. They have fewer kids playing hockey than New Jersey and don't have much more than Ohio, Florida, Colorado, and Texas. Get over it.

There's 18 fewer registered players in Wisconsin than New Jersey and 3 million fewer people, 4,000 more than Ohio and almost 6 million fewer people, around 4,500 more than Florida and 15 million fewer people, 4,600 more than Colorado with about the same amount of people, 5,000 more than Texas with 20 million less people. Do better.
 

Lt Dan

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There's 18 fewer registered players in Wisconsin than New Jersey and 3 million fewer people, 4,000 more than Ohio and almost 6 million fewer people, around 4,500 more than Florida and 15 million fewer people, 4,600 more than Colorado with about the same amount of people, 5,000 more than Texas with 20 million less people. Do better.
LOL. He is doing doing too well today... :laugh:
 

Lt Dan

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If Green Bay is a suburb of Milwaukee then San Diego is a suburb of Los Angeles.
It is. Just like orange county is.
Both got their lifeblood from the major city. Which is also why multiple San Diego sports teams have moved to LA and the Orange County baseball team starts it's name with Los Angeles

San Diego got it's life housing large marine and naval bases that were close enough to service Los Angeles and ladn was more readily available than the smaller base in Long Beach.
 

AdmiralsFan24

Registered User
Mar 22, 2011
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It is. Just like orange county is.
Both got their lifeblood from the major city.

San Diego got it's life housing large marine and naval bases that were close enough to service Los Angeles. Which is also why multiple San Diego sports teams have moved to LA

It's really not. Green Bay is its own standalone, albeit small market. Just like San Diego is its own market.
 

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