Jamestown, NY loyally supported their GMHL Jets for a while. Then a NAHL team moved in to the arena from Detroit and some shady stuff happened behind the scenes which saw the Jets have their lease broken and the town's beloved team was kicked out without warning. The incoming NAHL team was left with egg on its face and a town that would refuse to support them. They weren't helped out by their gongshow cartoonish Ironman logo (great marketing strategy) and eccentric Japanese owner who would occasionally jump on the ice with them. They lasted two years, with no one surprised because in addition to the above, the area's GDP per capita and unemployment are abysmal. Averaged maybe ~600 per game in their beautiful facility.
Not sure how the locals will take to the NAHL returning. They gave half decent support to their NA3 team, but it'll take a lot more to just break even at tier 2. But hey, at the very worst, they should get better fan support than they did in PA. They said they averaged around 200-300 people per game, but even against their rivals, the number of people in the rink, players, coaches, linesmen, timekeepers, fans, everyone was still in double digits. Goes to prove ticket-driven junior hockey on the East Coast doesn't sell, they were 5 minutes from the heart of Philly at UPenn, marketing on the radio and online, and they still couldn't give tickets away. Hopefully Jamestown is far enough away from Buffalo and other markets people will go out and support their team.
