Hockey growth in Louisville Kentucky

[LOUISVILLE ICE CARDS]

Haven't read through the entire thread, but if I were a betting man I would bet that if anything the NBA pops up in Louisville instead, and it's actually not out of the picture that happens. Louisville seems like the kind of town the NBA would be interested in. Outside of the major markets, the league loves the likes of Sacramento, Salt Lake city, Orlando, Memphis, etc. where there isn't any other big 4 competition. It's also not a secret that people in Kentucky love their Basketball. At some point the league will expand, and Louisville and Seattle would be the perfect fits, balance out the conferences too.

I'm quite confident that the NHL has next to no interest in Louisville. AHL yes, but the NHL would probably look at somewhere like Austin before they gave any thought to Kentucky.

NBA already said they aren’t going to Louisville because they don’t feel they can compete with UofL UK and IU basketball. As for the NHL there’s been talks by the city about putting one here but it’s a long shot (Link below). The post is about Pro hockey or NCAA in general.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/inside...sibility-of-pro-hockey-at-the-yum-center/amp/

WAVE

 

[LOUISVILLE ICE CARDS]

Ice hockey on campus? University of Louisville has 'preliminary' chat

Some more on the UofL hockey front

 

[BKIslandersFan]

BTW just curious what KFC Yum! Center would look like in hockey configuration if that was possible.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Haven't read through the entire thread, but if I were a betting man I would bet that if anything the NBA pops up in Louisville instead, and it's actually not out of the picture that happens. Louisville seems like the kind of town the NBA would be interested in. Outside of the major markets, the league loves the likes of Sacramento, Salt Lake city, Orlando, Memphis, etc. where there isn't any other big 4 competition. It's also not a secret that people in Kentucky love their Basketball. At some point the league will expand, and Louisville and Seattle would be the perfect fits, balance out the conferences too.

I'm quite confident that the NHL has next to no interest in Louisville. AHL yes, but the NHL would probably look at somewhere like Austin before they gave any thought to Kentucky.

Austin will never happen with Dallas controlling that market with Texas being their affiliate.

 

[HisIceness]

Austin will never happen with Dallas controlling that market with Texas being their affiliate.

Did you even read what I wrote or are you just cherry-picking?

I never said Austin was a definite yes. I simply said they have a better chance than Kentucky

 

[Barclay Donaldson]

There's about 10 different markets the NHL moves into before Austin, let alone Louisville. And that's looking 25-50 years into the future because they aren't expanding past 32 for a long, long time. AHL also will never move there either considering there's only 3 AHL teams that aren't directly owned by their NHL counterpart or have a close enough relationship they won't be moved. Earlier in the thread I posted that Louisville's only hope of getting an AHL setup is becoming St. Louis' farm team, as legitimately no other team would ever move there. And that's looking very bleak considering the Blues haven't shown any interest at all in the market and are directing their concentration towards KC (went all-in but fell through summer of 2017, they're preparing a second try for 2020-21) and some markets in southern Illinois like Peoria. ECHL/SPHL is their only legitimate hope for pro hockey, and even to get an ECHL franchise you need to prove there's an interest and they haven't hosted any hockey games in Louisville higher than club hockey in 20some years.

Either way, the KFC Yum! Center will not be used since it's +20,000 capacity.

 

[LOUISVILLE ICE CARDS]

BTW just curious what KFC Yum! Center would look like in hockey configuration if that was possible.

The yum center was built with hockey configuration in it just not the ice under the floor boards but they made it so if they wanted to they could install the ice if that became an option

 

[LOUISVILLE ICE CARDS]

There's about 10 different markets the NHL moves into before Austin, let alone Louisville. And that's looking 25-50 years into the future because they aren't expanding past 32 for a long, long time. AHL also will never move there either considering there's only 3 AHL teams that aren't directly owned by their NHL counterpart or have a close enough relationship they won't be moved. Earlier in the thread I posted that Louisville's only hope of getting an AHL setup is becoming St. Louis' farm team, as legitimately no other team would ever move there. And that's looking very bleak considering the Blues haven't shown any interest at all in the market and are directing their concentration towards KC (went all-in but fell through summer of 2017, they're preparing a second try for 2020-21) and some markets in southern Illinois like Peoria. ECHL/SPHL is their only legitimate hope for pro hockey, and even to get an ECHL franchise you need to prove there's an interest and they haven't hosted any hockey games in Louisville higher than club hockey in 20some years.

Either way, the KFC Yum! Center will not be used since it's +20,000 capacity.

The Yum! Center is one of the largest arena in the United States. Most hockey arena are smaller than the Yum Center. The team does not have to expand, just relocate. Plus, Nashville is already doing a huge part in Louisville with camps, events, and meet and greets. The interest is there, I believe. The AHL is possible and D1 hockey has been a growing interest and is being considered right now.

Ice hockey on campus? University of Louisville has 'preliminary' chat

 

[Barclay Donaldson]

You misunderstand, I was referencing that since NHL and AHL will never be there, the only option is to use a different facility. And snap back to reality for a second. If you go up to Bettman and tell him that you think that Louisville should have an NHL team, he's going to laugh in your face. You haven't put forward a rational reason to have a team there at all.

NHL isn't expanding past 32 and the argument should end there and be picked back up in 50 years or so. For the sake of argument, let's fast forward, and the NHL is expanding, so they look to Houston, Quebec, Hamilton, 2nd Toronto for an even 36, because the NHL has well-documented obsession with division alignment, just ask Detroit. Also in the running is Hartford, Portland, KC, etc. bc they've all, you know, historically hosted and supported hockey. It's not nice, but it's reality. Louisville has decent support for college club hockey and an arena that I don't think has ever installed ice let alone hosted a game. That's not the only thing that will keep Louisville out. They don't have the GDP per capita, television audience, or any other factor that would even put them in the running. These things that are the reason Quebec won't get a team, along with the interdire de parler Anglais. If Quebec doesn't get an NHL team with 12,000 people per game for major junior hockey and better support for a non-existent team than some NHL franchises, then Louisville doesn't even have a long shot, it's simply not possible.

As to the AHL, I'll redirect to my post earlier in the thread. I'll willingly go through ownership, relationships, everything for each team and explain why AHL hockey is equally unlikely as the NHL.

 

[LOUISVILLE ICE CARDS]

You misunderstand, I was referencing that since NHL and AHL will never be there, the only option is to use a different facility. And snap back to reality for a second. If you go up to Bettman and tell him that you think that Louisville should have an NHL team, he's going to laugh in your face. You haven't put forward a rational reason to have a team there at all.

NHL isn't expanding past 32 and the argument should end there and be picked back up in 50 years or so. For the sake of argument, let's fast forward, and the NHL is expanding, so they look to Houston, Quebec, Hamilton, 2nd Toronto for an even 36, because the NHL has well-documented obsession with division alignment, just ask Detroit. Also in the running is Hartford, Portland, KC, etc. bc they've all, you know, historically hosted and supported hockey. It's not nice, but it's reality. Louisville has decent support for college club hockey and an arena that I don't think has ever installed ice let alone hosted a game. That's not the only thing that will keep Louisville out. They don't have the GDP per capita, television audience, or any other factor that would even put them in the running. These things that are the reason Quebec won't get a team, along with the interdire de parler Anglais. If Quebec doesn't get an NHL team with 12,000 people per game for major junior hockey and better support for a non-existent team than some NHL franchises, then Louisville doesn't even have a long shot, it's simply not possible.

As to the AHL, I'll redirect to my post earlier in the thread. I'll willingly go through ownership, relationships, everything for each team and explain why AHL hockey is equally unlikely as the NHL.

I guess we will see what happens then. I think if U of L can get a D1 hockey team I think that will help as well and will be a good way to test the martket

 

[adsfan]

I'm sorry, going to be a bit harsh here and say that an NHL team in Louisville simply isn't going to happen. NHL has the first then last say on all relocation and expansion and putting a team in Louisville is on page 64 of the NHL's "Book of Concerns" behind "are NHL players eating too much garlic collectively." AHL is extremely unlikely, and in that case it wouldn't be affiliated with Nashville since they've been with Milwaukee since their inception and have openly said a million times they will never change it (Brewers owner owns the Admirals and the Brewers have an affiliation with Nashville's AAA baseball team: EDIT, was affiliated from 2005-15). St. Louis is the only NHL team that doesn't have a permanent home in mind since they just had a last minute change to San Antonio.

I've been fortunate enough to talk to some professional hockey people (AHL HQ is in the city I live in) and from what I've gathered, Lousville isn't on the list of cities that's getting an NHL or AHL team. They've have never held any hockey game in the arena. Every serious potential NHL or AHL market has held pre-season games or something in the arena. Case in point Kansas City especially when they were trying to lure the Pens, Quebec holds Canadiens preseason games often and their main tenant are the major junior Rempart, Houston held Stars preseason games and has their tenant is the Stars AHL team, Seattle's metro area is home to two major junior teams, etc. If Louisville was holding 2 Preds preseason game and sold them both out, then it's a different story. ECHL, SPHL, and USHL are all much more likely.

If you really want to start determining if there's hockey interest in Louisville, it starts with UofL's club hockey. Start playing out of KFC Yum! Center. Demand things that a pro team would demand. 3/4 practices per week, game times at prime times (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday nights are when a lot pro hockey games are). See if the arena is willing and able to do things they would have to do with a pro hockey team like switching from basketball to hockey almost daily like they do at TD Garden. See if it's possible to split time facility sharing with Louisville basketball, just like a pro team would. Market the team and if the support is what you say it is, play University of Kentucky or Cincinnati a few times and try to get a few thousand people on a Saturday night against your biggest rivals. Do that, and it's going to do a whole lot more than all of this speculating potential hockey interest in the city.

Yes and no. Brewers owner Mark Attanasio, assistant general manager Gord Ash, and pitcher Ben Sheets own or owned parts of the Admirals. Harris Turrer is the principal owner of the Admirals and has been since 2004. The Brewers sponsor the Admirals uniforms and have for years.

 

[Barclay Donaldson]

I guess we will see what happens then. I think if U of L can get a D1 hockey team I think that will help as well and will be a good way to test the martket

Biggest thing stopping 5-10 D1 schools from starting hockey next year is Title IX and funding an arena. Yum! Center is +5,000 more than the biggest D1 arena that North Dakota has, but it's still viable. Title IX is gonna be something huge to overcome, especially considering how big basketball and football is there and how much money is pumped in. They could add women's hockey or lacrosse but to make it so it's compliant it would be tough. Having a sugar daddy like Penn State and Arizona State would make it a lot easier to carry the load until the team can make money.

Yes and no. Brewers owner Mark Attanasio, assistant general manager Gord Ash, and pitcher Ben Sheets own or owned parts of the Admirals. Harris Turrer is the principal owner of the Admirals and has been since 2004. The Brewers sponsor the Admirals uniforms and have for years.

I knew Turer was involved with the Admirals, didn't know he was the principle owner of the team and then part owner of the Brewers. I know they have and have had a close relationship with the 2 man advantage ticket program and promotions along with sharing some owners.

 

[LOUISVILLE ICE CARDS]

Biggest thing stopping 5-10 D1 schools from starting hockey next year is Title IX and funding an arena. Yum! Center is +5,000 more than the biggest D1 arena that North Dakota has, but it's still viable. Title IX is gonna be something huge to overcome, especially considering how big basketball and football is there and how much money is pumped in. They could add women's hockey or lacrosse but to make it so it's compliant it would be tough. Having a sugar daddy like Penn State and Arizona State would make it a lot easier to carry the load until the team can make money.



I knew Turer was involved with the Admirals, didn't know he was the principle owner of the team and then part owner of the Brewers. I know they have and have had a close relationship with the 2 man advantage ticket program and promotions along with sharing some owners.

I’ve had conversations with players on the U of L hockey team and people with college hockey. They have someone to fund building an arena now they just need the AD on board. The money is there for the arena it’s just all the other funding that most D1 schools get is what they are striving for. Men’s Lacrosse has also been brought up as well because we’ve had women’s lacrosse for awhile. Bellermine also got a D1 lacrosse team and people feel that would be a good rivalry. Only real competition here is basketball. A lot of basketball ticket sales are down in Louisville. A guy I work with is also in charge of ticket sales for season ticket renewals and he said they are having trouble selling tickets due to the past few years and still are struggling even with Chris Mack and the new AD. IU and UK tickets are still the biggest ticket around here over the past couple years but both are 60 and 70 miles away.

 

[SCBlueLiner]

The Yum! Center is one of the largest arena in the United States. Most hockey arena are smaller than the Yum Center. The team does not have to expand, just relocate. Plus, Nashville is already doing a huge part in Louisville with camps, events, and meet and greets. The interest is there, I believe. The AHL is possible and D1 hockey has been a growing interest and is being considered right now.

Ice hockey on campus? University of Louisville has 'preliminary' chat

I am all for the expansion of NCAA D1 hockey but that article is a whole lot of nothing. If the AD or a high up school administrator is not involved in the discussion then it is a non-starter.

 

[LOUISVILLE ICE CARDS]

I am all for the expansion of NCAA D1 hockey but that article is a whole lot of nothing. If the AD or a high up school administrator is not involved in the discussion then it is a non-starter.

That’s why it’s preliminary chats. You have to start somewhere. The arena they want to build the on campus is a stepping stone for that as well

 

[Barclay Donaldson]

I am all for the expansion of NCAA D1 hockey but that article is a whole lot of nothing. If the AD or a high up school administrator is not involved in the discussion then it is a non-starter.

Completely agree that without the AD and athletic administration present at the meetings, hockey isn't even on the menu. But for the future, it's the best shot the market has of getting high level hockey.

Case in point, look at the Alabama Frozen Tide. Over the better part of this last decade they've managed to garner significant interest in the program from the athletic administration and public through excellent marketing/promotion and on-ice performance. They were the driving force behind the interest in the sport that had an owner put the expansion Birmingham Bulls of the SPHL in the same facility as the Frozen Tide rather than a different venue up the road in Birmingham.

If Louisville over the next decade can follow the road Alabama took and become an all-around success (on ice, off ice, marketing, promoting, recruiting, etc.), I wouldn't be surprised if they will find themselves in the mid-2020's with ECHL/SPHL league offices knocking on the doors offering discounted expansion fees to share a planned facility that U of L is building to house NCAA D1 hockey, amidst soaring youth hockey participation numbers and the emergence of a viable hockey mad market... the only way to find out is for the program to forge their way forward, they've already got the blueprints laid out for them.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

NBA already said they aren’t going to Louisville because they don’t feel they can compete with UofL UK and IU basketball. As for the NHL there’s been talks by the city about putting one here but it’s a long shot (Link below). The post is about Pro hockey or NCAA in general.

Redirect Notice

WAVE

yeah, from the outside is looks like the locals love their Kentucky Wildcats and Louisville Cardinals more than it being all basketball.

 

[LOUISVILLE ICE CARDS]

yeah, from the outside is looks like the locals love their Kentucky Wildcats and Louisville Cardinals more than it being all basketball.

They do. Basketball at UofL has been struggling the last couple years and there will always be you UofL and UK football fans but when the teams aren’t having success it’s just those loyal football fans. Baseball has been the big ticket as of late so has women’s basketball and the club hockey team.

 

[frontsfan2005]

Louisville is an interesting option as they already have an NHL ready arena, which eliminates a big hurdle.

The comparable for Louisville is Raleigh, roughly the same metropolitan population (although Raleigh is growing at a faster rate) in a college basketball hot bed with no other MLB, NBA and NFL teams in the area.

Would Louisville be able to bring in fans from "nearby" major cities such as Cincinnati (as opposed to their hockey fans driving roughly the same distance to go to Columbus) and Indianapolis, both cities about an hour and a half away (according to Google Maps)?

If hockey can work in Raleigh, I don't see why it wouldn't be able to in Louisville. Like the Hurricanes, they would likely have a regional name (Kentucky) instead of the city. Kentucky Colonels here we come!

 

[LOUISVILLE ICE CARDS]

Louisville is an interesting option as they already have an NHL ready arena, which eliminates a big hurdle.

The comparable for Louisville is Raleigh, roughly the same metropolitan population (although Raleigh is growing at a faster rate) in a college basketball hot bed with no other MLB, NBA and NFL teams in the area.

Would Louisville be able to bring in fans from "nearby" major cities such as Cincinnati (as opposed to their hockey fans driving roughly the same distance to go to Columbus) and Indianapolis, both cities about an hour and a half away (according to Google Maps)?

If hockey can work in Raleigh, I don't see why it wouldn't be able to in Louisville. Like the Hurricanes, they would likely have a regional name (Kentucky) instead of the city. Kentucky Colonels here we come!

I agree. 2 very similar cities

 

[Jets4Life]

Austin will never happen with Dallas controlling that market with Texas being their affiliate.

Dallas does not control the Austin market. We already explained this to you on a different thread. As long as a city is outside of a 50 mile radius of another city, then the NHL does not consider it encroaching, so Austin would not have to pay Dallas any kind of compensation if they landed an NHL franchise.

Minor league teams are irrelevant, as far as expansion/relocation plans for the NHL.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Dallas does not control the Austin market. We already explained this to you on a different thread. As long as a city is outside of a 50 mile radius of another city, then the NHL does not consider it encroaching, so Austin would not have to pay Dallas any kind of compensation if they landed an NHL franchise.

Minor league teams are irrelevant, as far as expansion/relocation plans for the NHL.

in essence, MINOR LEAGUE DOES COUNT, Jets..... maybe we ought to fold the Manitoba Moose since they're irrelevant in Winnipeg, says you

 

[Jets4Life]

in essence, MINOR LEAGUE DOES COUNT, Jets..... maybe we ought to fold the Manitoba Moose since they're irrelevant in Winnipeg, says you

There is a thread several months ago, where a number of us corrected you on this, however you still stubbornly stick to this incorrect notion that Dallas "controls the Austin market." The fact that Dallas has a minor league affiliate in the Austin metro area has no significance as to whether Austin would ever get an NHL franchise or not. If a billionaire wanted to construct an 18,000 seat arena in downtown Austin and pay the $500 million expansion fee, in order to secure an NHL team for Austin, the Dallas Stars would be powerless to stop it.

As far as the AHL Manitoba Moose are concerned, the Vancouver Canucks were our parent club from 2002-11. When True North purchased the Atlanta Thrashers, and moved them to Winnipeg, Vancouver was powerless to stop the move, and they ended up switching their minor league affiliate (currently the AHL Utica Comets). The idea that Austin would not be able to obtain an NHL team due to the existence of the AHL Texas Stars, is simply incorrect.

 

[Jets4Life]

Getting back on topic, one would think if a rich owner is prepared to pay the expansion fee price, and is hell bent on bringing a team to Louisville, the NHL would look into granting them a franchise. The only obstacle they would face is competition with other cities. The only markets who have expressed interest in landing an NHL team, with the current price tag, are Seattle, Houston, and Quebec.

 

[LOUISVILLE ICE CARDS]

Getting back on topic, one would think if a rich owner is prepared to pay the expansion fee price, and is hell bent on bringing a team to Louisville, the NHL would look into granting them a franchise. The only obstacle they would face is competition with other cities. The only markets who have expressed interest in landing an NHL team, with the current price tag, are Seattle, Houston, and Quebec.

It doesn’t have to be NHL. Any upper level hockey would be good. (NHL, AHL Echl, NCAA D1, DIII