With expansion over, what cities are the faves to get a relocated team?

[fsanford]

Kansas city failed once already too.

that was long long ago, seem to recall the California Golden Seals failed, Colorado Rockies failed
2nd time around with the exception of Atlanta have been pretty successful.

You need to put the team where there is no current NBA Franchise to compete for $$ since seasons run parallel

Kansas City seems to be the most logical choice and they have the arena already built. San Diego would also make sense, but they have a hard to get anything built there.

Louisville is a top 30 population center in the U.S., Kentucky has not had a major league sport since Colonel's have they?


Milwaukee, Cleveland, Portland all have NBA teams, and in the case of Milwaukee the Black Hawks would kick and scream about that one.

 

[hotcabbagesoup]

With Vegas and Seattle getting expansion teams and Houston being targeted as the next location for either expansion or re-location I am freakin grateful Winnipeg threaded the needle.
It was a perfect storm for Winnipeg, no other NHL ready Arenas with strong ownership ready... no way Winnipeg Gets a Franchise before Seattle. Vegas, Houston, or Kansas City...but The NHL was under a rock with Atlanta Spirit wanting out of hockey and nowhere else but Winnipeg as a TurnKey option

Strong and supportive ownership is so critical to team success. Having the right people up top trickles down to everyone underneath, management, scouting, then players. The Jets and Vegas have done it right lately, they are great examples to look to model from.

 

[hotcabbagesoup]

Along those lines I think San Diego could be a contender if an ownership group stepped up. San Diego is the 8th largest city in the US, and as a metro area its 17th overall, about equal to Sea-Tac that just got a team. San Diego also currently only has MLB so competition wouldn't be that big of a deal. The Chargers leaving was 100% about the stadium, the citizens didn't want to give a billionaire a free stadium with their taxes so he took his team and left. Stupid move that will cost him the team in the long run. So any ownership group would have to fund the stadium themselves.

Ducks would not be happy but who cares what they think

San Diego is too much of a transplant city and a city where people come, work a little, and then leave. Historically, fan support for all of their teams has been weak, the Padres, Chargers. I don't think the population will take to hockey. I think soccer would work there but it's surprising that they don't have a soccer team.

 

[JETZZZ]

If a team in the Pacific moves? Portland
If a team in the Central moves? Houston, if not Kansas City
If a team in the Metropolitan moves? Atlanta (Assuming Phillips Arena has different ownership than they did when the Thrashers were evicted)
If a team in the Atlantic moves? Quebec City (Unless literally anything else pops up last minute that the NHL could choose instead, and even then, they will probably think long and hard about folding the club all together first)

 

[Jumptheshark]

Cities Houston, Quebec and Kansas City and then maybe Portland

 

[LordNeverLose]

This has been talked about to death on the BoH forum but I'll just say it here for people who don't venture over there:

I'd be shocked if the next expansion is to Canada i.e. QC, Hamilton, Saskatchewan. There's really no upward mobility there for the NHL. Sure, they'd probably do better at the gate initially than a Houston, Atlanta, etc. But if the NHL views its long-term goal as to close the gap with the other 3 big leagues as opposed to staying a distant 4th (which I believe they do, hence Bettman's "Southern Strategy" if you will), they have to get the 75% of the US that doesn't follow hockey to take an interest.

 

[Drytoast]

How about Halifax

 

[kicksavedave]

San Diego is too much of a transplant city and a city where people come, work a little, and then leave. Historically, fan support for all of their teams has been weak, the Padres, Chargers. I don't think the population will take to hockey. I think soccer would work there but it's surprising that they don't have a soccer team.

Half true. It is a transplant city, but a LOT of those transplants come from the cold northeast, north central areas. The local hockey scene from pee wee to HS up to the AHL Gulls is pretty vibrant due to those transplants. I play hockey (beer league) in San Diego and I can attest there's plenty of hockey fans in this area. Lots of them are just Ducks fans who make the hour plus drive to the games at Honda. The AHL Gulls draw ~8900/gm in an arena that seats ~13,000, with absolutely no marketing whatsoever locally.

 

[sandysan]

Kansas City seems to be the most logical choice and they have the arena already built. .

the city owns the sprint center, they won't split revenues with ANY team. If the city lost money on the sprint center, you might be able to get them to house a team based on cooked up numbers. But the city doesn't, they make a small but consistemt amount of money without a major tennant based on concerts conventions? and basketball tournaments.

And the one owner says the city isnt ready now, or likely any time soon.

There are too many hurdles for KC

 

[Viqsi]

Way too small of a market. Just like QC. Small potatoes compared to Houston.

I wouldn't quite go there. QC is a bit too small, but it's still somewhat plausible. Saskatoon is a punchline.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

I'm a proponent of a 36 team league at some point. I'd expect it to be Houston. If that does occur, I'd still want a 36 team league and see if they'll get ownership for teams in Portland, Milwaukee, Quebec City, and Atlanta. I know people hate Atlanta as an option but I think it would work there in the right part of the city with the right ownership not actively trying to sabotage it like ASG did.

 

[Cellee]

With Vegas and Seattle getting expansion teams and Houston being targeted as the next location for either expansion or re-location I am freakin grateful Winnipeg threaded the needle.
It was a perfect storm for Winnipeg, no other NHL ready Arenas with strong ownership ready... no way Winnipeg Gets a Franchise before Seattle. Vegas, Houston, or Kansas City...but The NHL was under a rock with Atlanta Spirit wanting out of hockey and nowhere else but Winnipeg as a TurnKey option

Yup. They just quietly worked with the NHL for years to be ready.

 

[hotcabbagesoup]

Half true. It is a transplant city, but a LOT of those transplants come from the cold northeast, north central areas. The local hockey scene from pee wee to HS up to the AHL Gulls is pretty vibrant due to those transplants. I play hockey (beer league) in San Diego and I can attest there's plenty of hockey fans in this area. Lots of them are just Ducks fans who make the hour plus drive to the games at Honda. The AHL Gulls draw ~8900/gm in an arena that seats ~13,000, with absolutely no marketing whatsoever locally.

Hmm intrresting. The local lower level hockey nearby seems strong. The new rinks in Irvine should be opening any day now. Didn't realize the appetite for hockey stretched all the way down the coast too.

Hockey in the Norcal Bay Area is growing quickly too. California hockey really is growing quickly.

 

[Beantown Beatdown]

Still hoping Hamilton gets an NHL team.

 

[kicksavedave]

Hmm intrresting. The local lower level hockey nearby seems strong. The new rinks in Irvine should be opening any day now. Didn't realize the appetite for hockey stretched all the way down the coast too.

Hockey in the Norcal Bay Area is growing quickly too. California hockey really is growing quickly.

Irvine, thats Orange County, Ducks area, but new rinks popping up in San Diego county also. Downtown, LaJolla, Mira Mesa, Escondido and a new one in Carlsbad, pretty much saturated the area. Yeah when I moved to SD in 2001 from Washington DC I was surprised how much better the beer league play was here than in DC. Dudes from New Hampshire, Boston, Chicago, plenty of Canadians. Russians too

 

[Favster]

Quebec city makes total sense but I don't see Geoff Molson approving it. It would seriously affect MTL's market.

 

[93LEAFS]

Houston for any Western team, QC can land an eastern team if a situation like ATL/Winnipeg happens.

 

[Crazy Cizikas]

Montreal will fight relocating a team to Quebec with everything they have.

Quebec City was my first thought. Montreal is big enough that they can handle some local competition.

 

[AvsFan29]

Quebec City was my first thought. Montreal is big enough that they can handle some local competition.

The fans aren't the issue. Montreal has a monopoly and would fight against any team in Quebec. The Canadiens represent "French" Canada, and its very lucrative. They don't want competition.

Same with the leafs in Toronto. The greater Toronto area could have 3 teams, but MLSE/Rogers would do everything they could to stop it.

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

If a 3rd team comes to Ontario, Kitchener/Waterloo makes the most sense if they'd be able to get an arena for it. Decent population in the tri-city area. London, Guelph, Hamilton, Niagara all close by.

 

[Stasis]

Montreal will fight relocating a team to Quebec with everything they have.

Yep, and it's deeper than just the aspect of being relatively close and losing fans that migrated to the Habs when the Nordiques left. It's now very much a battle of titans with Bell and Quebecor as well.

 

[AvsFan29]

If a 3rd team comes to Ontario, Kitchener/Waterloo makes the most sense if they'd be able to get an arena for it. Decent population in the tri-city area. London, Guelph, Hamilton, Niagara all close by.

Markham would make the most sense IMO. It would be an easy location to get to for the entire GTA. Tri-city is too far west. Imagine getting on the 401 at 530 to get to a 7pm game in Kitchener? Lol good luck

 

[rynryn]

if i had to guess i'd say Wisconsin

edit: and that would be Madison.

 

[Maplebeasts]

State farm arena has been recently renovated and I am not sure if the seating capacity has changed. I don't believe it was 21,000 when it was Phillips arena. Best I can find says it was roughly 18,000 when the Thrashers were still there. The Thrashers problems did not stem from lack of fan support, it stemmed from mismanagement and an ownership group that just didn't care about hockey, therefore they were content with letting Don Waddell run that team into the ground over and over. The Thrashers were never successful, therefore how can you sell out an arena? How can you be successful when ownership doesn't care and you have a ****ing asshat as a GM? If ownership was at all interested in hockey, significant changes would have been made in the Thrashers organization before relocation was ever an option.

Ah ok did not know about the renovations. My bad.

 

[coolboarder]

If Portland is relocated, it would be great for the Canucks, the more nearby location, the better for the Canucks.