MOD EDIT: Could an NHL Team proactively choose to operate in 2 cities?

[Crow]

I had season tickets that season. You couldn’t give away those tickets to Barclays if you tried. Arena was terrible and an awful decision by the franchise.

I caught one game there against the sharks. Loved it. Was cheap was f*** and walking distance to my hotel. Good beer and pizza too.

 

[buffalowing88]

The Buffalo Bills were playing regularly in Toronto for a few years in the late 2000s when the franchise was in the worst of their doldrums and the city was a lot worse off than it is today. It sure seemed like the plan was to gradually migrate games to the bigger market. Then they got competent again, Pegula bought the team, and the NFL became so flush with revenue that market size stopped mattering.

Market does matter, in the NHL at least. I wouldn't be opposed to the Sabres looking at some kind of arrangement with Hamilton if it means that it'll put the organization in a better place. Bettman isn't going to let the team move from that region since it's still hockey-crazy, but a two-city solution would be interesting. There's plenty of other markets where that may work as well. The Hurricanes could tap into Charlotte more, even though Raleigh is doing fine and they have a good fanbase and competent organization.

 

[jetsforever]

Wasn't there recent rejected talk about doing this in MLB with Tampa/Montreal?

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Wasn't there recent rejected talk about doing this in MLB with Tampa/Montreal?

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/mlb/mlb-tampa-montreal-split-rejected-1.6321802

 

[Look Up]

The Wild, and the Northstars before them, operate in the "Twin Cities".

Northstars and Stars still have the twin connection.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

The Islanders were founded to prevent the WHA from operating in the NY area efficiently. Different situation.

Anaheim's wasn't though...

 

[dire wolf]

In 1984-85, the Atlanta Hawks (NBA) played 12 home games in New Orleans -- not because of a natural disaster or arena issues. According to Wikipedia, it was just due to "lagging ticket sales" in Atlanta. New Orleans promoter Barry Mendelson paid the Hawks $1.2M cash to get them to play 12 games in N'awlins.

 

[islandersbob]

Didn't the NHL do this during the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons? Those seasons were 84 games long with every team playing 2 games in non-NHL markets (at the time).
I believe the Islanders played games in Oklahoma City, Dallas, Minneapolis and Hamilton over the course of those two season.

 

[Race Dawg]

The Habs are Canada's team. So they literally are an entire Country's team!

In your dreams. Lol

 

[DJN21]

only if Vegas can have 500 million in cap space today....

(the answer is apparently yes)

I was like Orson wells...just ahead of my time.

 

[TatteredTornNFrayed]

The Green Bay Packers did this between Green Bay and Milwaukee (almost 2 hours apart), for a really long time. Played between a quarter to half of their home games in Milwaukee every season.

Just looked up it was from 1933 - 1994.