So when is Salt Lake City going to get an NHL team?

[NeelyWasAWarrior]

i'm just passing through SLC right now and I keep thinking to myself, man this would be a very good NHL market. Growing economy, population with a good target populace with good incomes.

I want to toss in a name into the hat:

Salt Lake City Slickers

Click to read more...

 

[JoVel]

Salt Lake Suckers has a nice ring to it.

 

[NeelyWasAWarrior]

Salt Lake Suckers has a nice ring to it.

That'll be the razz name playing off the Slickers team name.

 

[NeelyWasAWarrior]

Instant rivalry created with the Colorado Avalanche and Las Vegas GK

 

[MarkusKetterer]

Utah Grizzlies?

 

[libertarian]

After Seattle the NHL will stay at 32 team for the next few decades. The only way Salt Lake City gets a franchise if they get a team from another current NHL city. The same goes for Quebec City.

 

[AfroThunder396]

After 32 the NHL isn't going to expand again for a while, maybe ever, and there are far better relocation targets in both Canada and the US.

 

[Soundwave]

Utah Jordan Food Poisoners. Just kidding. Seriously I think hockey could do well there.

 

[rajuabju]

I'd put my money on San Diego before Salt Lake City. And I would not put money on San Diego.

 

[kerrabria]

Salt Lake City would be a great choice imo.

Currently at 1.2m, the SLC metro population is already above Buffalo and Winnipeg.

SLC is one of the top 20 fastest growing metro areas in the country.
The only higher metros that both lack an NHL team and are above 1m population are are Atlanta, Jacksonville, San Antonio, Houston, and Charlotte.
Tons of young people fleeing California is fueling SLC and Idaho's growth. It's the right demographic for hockey too...affluent white people.

In regards to media market, they are currently 30th in the USA. Above Columbus, Vegas, Austin, and Buffalo.

The only major sports teams they would be competing with are the Jazz (NBA) and Real Salt Lake (MLS). The Jazz have one of the most loyal fanbases in recent NBA history and mediocre season after mediocre season continue to put 17,000+ butts in seats. Real Salt Lake hasn't had fewer than 17,000 fans per game since 2009, and averaged over 20,000 a few years ago. You bet your ass that it is a sports city.

Hockey wise, the arena only holds 14,000 for ice hockey, but the arena is nearly 30 years old, so you can expect them to get a new one soon. The IHL had teams there from 1991 - 1997. Notably, during the IHL finals one year, Salt Lake City turned out over 17,000 fans for a game.

Not to mention that it's a big winter sports city that hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics.

 

[kerrabria]

The few responses so far aren't based off of anything other than personal preference for where teams should be. From an objective perspective, out of the cities that lack an NHL team, only Houston deserves a team more than Salt Lake City does at the moment.
And there are several cities that currently have that you could argue deserve a team less than either SLC or Houston. For example, Ft. Lauderdale, Ottawa, Winnipeg, and whatever Long Island suburb the Islanders are squatting in this month.

After 32 the NHL isn't going to expand again for a while, maybe ever, and there are far better relocation targets in both Canada and the US.

There are too many teams in Canada as it is.

 

[EXTRAS]

Eh, visited there last year. Don't think it would do well. Or rather, I think there are better untapped markets.

I suppose the nhl could use it as a "growth" market, but then why not use a city 5x the population like Houston or fort worth...or kansas which is 2x or Portland which is 2x.

Quebec is 800k to SLC 1.2m, but the Quebec fans are basically built in fans right away, however that isn't going to create new hockey fans.

I know it would never happen but imagine putting the 1st Pro sports team for (baseball, hockey, basketball, football) into Mexico City that has a metro of 20 million. Could be an epic fail or epic win. Lots of tourists would go to games.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Salt Lake City would be a great choice imo.

Currently at 1.2m, the SLC metro population is already above Buffalo and Winnipeg.

SLC is one of the top 20 fastest growing metro areas in the country.
The only higher metros that both lack an NHL team and are above 1m population are are Atlanta, Jacksonville, San Antonio, Houston, and Charlotte.
Tons of young people fleeing California is fueling SLC and Idaho's growth. It's the right demographic for hockey too...affluent white people.

In regards to media market, they are currently 30th in the USA. Above Columbus, Vegas, Austin, and Buffalo.

The only major sports teams they would be competing with are the Jazz (NBA) and Real Salt Lake (MLS). The Jazz have one of the most loyal fanbases in recent NBA history and mediocre season after mediocre season continue to put 17,000+ butts in seats. Real Salt Lake hasn't had fewer than 17,000 fans per game since 2009, and averaged over 20,000 a few years ago. You bet your ass that it is a sports city.

Hockey wise, the arena only holds 14,000 for ice hockey, but the arena is nearly 30 years old, so you can expect them to get a new one soon. The IHL had teams there from 1991 - 1997. Notably, during the IHL finals one year, Salt Lake City turned out over 17,000 fans for a game.

Not to mention that it's a big winter sports city that hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics.

..did you just take a thread seriously and respond with relevant info and a clear viewpoint? NICE!

Honestly never considered SLC but it’s not the worst idea.

Don’t like “Slickers” though, just some weird connotations. Salt Lake City Sidewinders? I guess those snakes can be found in the corner of the state. Salt Lake City Slap. Sets you up for bad jokes.

person a: “you hear the name of Salt Lake’s hockey team?”
person b: “no”
..and you can guess the rest.

 

[jetsforever]

I'll suggest Salt Lake Saints, because, you know...

 

[82Ninety42011]

Someone beat me above cool name though Saints.

 

[Byron Bitz]

I’ve always wanted to see a team in SLC

 

[eanyills]

Currently at 1.2m, the SLC metro population is already above Buffalo and Winnipeg.

For a league that’s primarily gate-driven like the NHL, Buffalo is a little misleading. They draw a lot from Southern Ontario and Rochester, which adds another million people within an hour drive to the arena.

The real question is what kind of corporate support does SLC have? Can they sell pricey suites?

 

[ShonSaunders]

Really, you could choose any name. “Jazz” isn’t what comes to mind when I think of Salt Lake City.

 

[fragmag]

I'm from Pittsburgh and my wife and family are from SLC, Sandy, to be exact. SLC is a pretty good untapped market for sports. kerrabria gave a great fact based response. All I can respond with is personal experience, and that is people would love it. I have lots of family and friends from SLC that all have NHL center ice and really dig the games. Most like the Avs, or LA, or whatever, but I think with thier own team they would own it like they did with RSL.
It won't happen with the 32 team balance the NHL has finally achieved, but it would be cool.

 

[MessierII]

Too small of a market for an American city.

 

[kerrabria]

For a league that’s primarily gate-driven like the NHL, Buffalo is a little misleading. They draw a lot from Southern Ontario and Rochester, which adds another million people within an hour drive to the arena.

The real question is what kind of corporate support does SLC have? Can they sell pricey suites?

Well the arena has 56 luxury suites and over 600 club seats. The suites range in price from $4.5k to $18k for an NBA team that had over 18,000 attendance averages and filled up the arena to 95%.
I'm not gonna pretend to know what that means, but maybe somebody else can interpret my cursory google search.

 

[Kamiccolo]

Gotta imagine after Quebec and a 2nd Toronto team.

 

[TheNeutralPresident]

Sure it'd be nice but too small a market in general as well as too small a hockey market. 1.2 mil (2019) metro pop would be 3rd smallest in the league above Buffalo and Winnipeg. Simply too many other possibilities that are multiple times larger if the league ever even goes above 32 teams.

 

[rojac]

Really, you could choose any name. “Jazz” isn’t what comes to mind when I think of Salt Lake City.

Unlike the NHL, the NBA does not tend to change team names when they relocate. Hence, you have the Los Angeles Lakers (originally Minneapolis) and the Utah Jazz (originally New Orleans).

 

[General Disarray]

No thanks. Stick to the big cities. Give them an AHL team instead.