How would the Maroons do if they were revived?

[Zegras Zebra]

Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver are definitely large enough to support 2 NHL franchises. In the right situation it might be plausible Calgary could support 2 as well, but not at the moment.

 

[Pens x]

It would just be another Canadian team that wouldn’t be a threat to win the cup.

 

[Pens x]

Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver are definitely large enough to support 2 NHL franchises. In the right situation it might be plausible Calgary could support 2 as well, but not at the moment.

Does Vancouver even sell out games???

 

[Zegras Zebra]

Does Vancouver even sell out games???

This season they are at 94.1% capacity so far according to ESPN which is slightly below Calgary at 94.8% which besides Pettersson is a pretty meh team to be fair. Honestly I'm not as confident with my statement as I was when I posted it, but its possible Vancouver could support two teams if both are at least moderately exciting to watch.

 

[CupInSIX]

Forget it. We've all dabbled in necromancy, but after such a long time you're just commanding an army of skeleton warriors. A well placed kick will cause them to fall apart every time.


oh. You meant revive the franchise. Of course you did.

 

[WatchfulElm]

Well at least the English Montreal community would finally have a team with a full native English speaking management to cheer for and they wouldn't have to be outraged anymore about having a Habs coach and a GM who speak French or having too many French speaking players on their favorite team, like many currently do.

Of course, it would be easier to rally behind a team that has a bilingual policy, and finally acknowledge the fact that it evolves in a bilingual market. Hopefully, 80 years after the disappearance of the Maroons, we'll get there eventually.

 

[egelband]

It would be the NHL’s answer to the Clippers, Nets or White Sox.

Or the Mets

 

[Anaheim4ever]

I think Patrick can support his own family.

This. Patrick Maroon has done well financially.

 

[BruinsFan37]

Quebec will never allow an anglophone (only) team again and a francophone (mostly) team would be better suited for Quebec City.

 

[Mathew Barzal]

This season they are at 94.1% capacity so far according to ESPN which is slightly below Calgary at 94.8% which besides Pettersson is a pretty meh team to be fair. Honestly I'm not as confident with my statement as I was when I posted it, but its possible Vancouver could support two teams if both are at least moderately exciting to watch.

We're lucky that we got Horvat and Pettersson in quick succession. While Vancouver does have one of the bigger online fan presences, ticket prices make it so that only the rich can genuinely afford to attend games on the regular. And most of the rich in Vancouver were not born here.

If we had an extended period of suckage profit margins would have been ugly.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

No. Geopolitical shitstorm aside, try Toronto first- there’s zero call and zero need for this, so it’s a hypothetical I just don’t care about.

 

[Kimota]

Habs are too legendary. If they have had no cups, this population with the hockey passion could easily support two teams, even three. But people love the Habs too much.

 

[topshelf15]

Probably as well as another team in the GTA.......

 

[Weztex]

the maroons were english montreal's team, and the habs were french montreal's team. I don't think there's necessarily a purpose for two teams since our demo has changed since 1935.

plus, i don't think people understand which point montreal venerates the habs. toronto can support 2-3-4 teams because there's no shortage of corporate buyers, suburban sprawl fans who just want a cheap game, fans who can't catch the leafs so they go to buffalo, etc. but there isn't really a reason for montrealers to support a second team. plus, at this point toronto is probably 2-3 times bigger than montreal.

Might work to put a team in brossard where there are a ton of young families who are new to quebec, but I don't know if it's sustainable.

As big and fast growing as Toronto is, it is not 2-3 times bigger than Montreal.

Toronto - 5 900 000
Montreal - 4 000 000

 

[GeeoffBrown]

What do you guys mean when you say that the demographics have changed? Is the english speaking community shrinking?

I'm sure the anglophones are mostly Habs fans, like their fathers and grandfathers, since the Maroons have been gone for 80 years and the Canadiens are one of the league's most storied franchises

 

[InglewoodJack]

As big and fast growing as Toronto is, it is not 2-3 times bigger than Montreal.

Toronto - 5 900 000
Montreal - 4 000 000

Not exactly- GTA is closer to about 6.5 million and montreal's is about that, 4. That said, the definition of GTA + GMA doesn't really apply to markets- "toronto" as it relates to hockey would probably extend from just north of hamilton to east of oshawa/ajax, which easily adds another million + while even if you consider all of montreal's crown (laval, brossard, chateauguay, st. jerome, so on, you're probably barely above 4.5 million.

I definitely overestimated, but toronto can pull fans from so many other satelite cities than montreal can.

 

[Not The One]

Well at least the English Montreal community would finally have a team with a full native English speaking management to cheer for and they wouldn't have to be outraged anymore about having a Habs coach and a GM who speak French or having too many French speaking players on their favorite team, like many currently do.

Of course, it would be easier to rally behind a team that has a bilingual policy, and finally acknowledge the fact that it evolves in a bilingual market. Hopefully, 80 years after the disappearance of the Maroons, we'll get there eventually.

This is the only reason the habs even exist.

Looks at the Maroons's all-time NHL roster. Like 90% of their players were form ONT and there's barely even one francophone name on there. Same for the Quebec Bulldogs btw.

I wonder how many here realise that the Canadiens owe their existence to the fact that no other team would play franco players...

 

[Machinehead]

Or the Mets

The Mets are an extremely successful team financially. Wildly successful for a second team.

 

[Tutu to]

Mtl is a pretty big city. I think it’s 6th in North America.

 

[BobbyShehan]

Mtl is a pretty big city. I think it’s 6th in North America.

There's a big difference between a "city" and a "metropolitan area". Montreal, as a city, would be 6th after NYC, LA, TO, Chicago and Houston but the metro area is really where Mtl can't compare. The satellite communities around a city boost the numbers astronomically. NYC goes from about 8 million to 21 million people, for example, when you include Long Island or the Jersey suburbs. Montreal goes from a little below 2 million to 4, making it the 15th largest, sandwiched between Detroit and Seattle. Metro areas like Washington, Dallas, Atlanta, San Francisco, Miami, Phoenix, Philly, Boston or even the Southern California area called the Inland Empire (San Bernandino area) are all larger than Montreal.