Would Portland Oregon be a good place for an NHL team?

Scouter

Registered User
Oct 21, 2007
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Portland in Oregon has a fairly new facility that has an NHL capacity, now I haven't researched other details besides that, that's why I'm asking if it could work there?
 

Scouter

Registered User
Oct 21, 2007
4,764
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Really, they seem to do well supporting basketball and soccer, so why not hockey, is the city not big enough?
 

dronald

Registered User
Mar 4, 2011
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Hamilton, ON
May I ask why that is?

It's really just ignorance, I try to sit my cousins down to watch Hockey, and ive shown them highlights of great fights and games, but all they do is mock it. My uncle however went to a Canucks game for business and he said it was some of the most fun he's ever had, but he would still rather watch College Ball, or one of the other 3 big leagues.

The reason I say it's ignorance is they look at Hockey as a joke of a sport, especially when they can watch any other sport that they consider "better" anyways.

I would love to believe I'm generalizing, but whenever I go down to Portland (will be there this summer) I love asking people their thoughts on Hockey, and to 10 out of 10 people it's a joke.
 

Dado

Guest
Sure, why not? It would be a perpetually marginal market, but there are no other clearly viable markets out there, so I don't see why the next relocation can't be to Portland.
 

Kitsune

Registered User
Feb 20, 2003
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Toronto ON CA
www.glidingeagle.com
Aren't the winterhawks a good draw? I know they have pulled in 15K+ fans a few times at the Rose Garden, which many people say is a great place to catch a game. And a Seattle / Portland / Vancouver / Calgary / Edmonton division would be nice... but I doubt either city will get a team.
 

Afino

The Juice
Dec 2, 2003
25,267
21
Orchard Park, NY
Aren't the winterhawks a good draw? I know they have pulled in 15K+ fans a few times at the Rose Garden, which many people say is a great place to catch a game. And a Seattle / Portland / Vancouver / Calgary / Edmonton division would be nice... but I doubt either city will get a team.

FWIW, I have a friend that lives in Portland and could give two ***** about hockey, but says that "people are crazy about the Winter Hawks here".

Now, that doesn't mean anything in terms of whether they'd get enough NHL support, but he thinks so. Pays enough attention to realize that it's Paul Allen's fault to why they don't have one already.
 

Canuckommunist

Registered User
May 2, 2011
514
0
Vancouver
If they got a team I imagine they'd be like the Devils: a very passionate, young and growing fan-base that doesn't always fill out the arena in the regular season but puts in enough that they're profitable. Would also give Vancouver a great pacific rival.

I'd say if the city can embrace soccer they could embrace a well-marketed NHL product.
 

No Fun Shogun

34-38-61-10-13-15
May 1, 2011
56,097
12,757
Illinois
The problem is that Portland already has an NBA team, meaning that as a mid-sized market they'd have to find a way to support two teams simultaneously during the same parts of the year. That would do nothing other than spread the amount of money that Portlanders have to spend on sports, likely resulting in the established basketball team benefiting at the expense of the upstart hockey team.

Due to that, Portland is a much stronger candidate for MLB expansion/relocation than NHL.
 

kdb209

Registered User
Jan 26, 2005
14,870
6
There were reports that Burke had a backup agreement to sell the 'Yotes to Allen in 2001 if the sale to Ellman fell through.
 

BB79

Registered User
Apr 30, 2011
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2,676
Nope, doubt it.

OT, but I will never understand America's love affair with college football and basketball for the life of me. That is, most of America, because here in Boston I don't know of many people who give a rat's rear about it. Strange since there's so many colleges here but I'm not complaining.
 

The CyNick

Freedom of Speech!
Sep 17, 2009
11,364
2,032
Rich people like making money. If a rich person thought he could make money in Portland with the NHL, there would be an NHL team there.

Its the same for a lot of these markets. Seattle with its proximity to Vancouver seems like a good place for hockey. But do the people there care about hockey? I dont know, I'm not from Seattle. But Ive never heard of an owner in Seattle looking to buy a troubled NHL franchise and move them there. That tells you all you need to know.
 

Melrose Munch

Registered User
Mar 18, 2007
23,546
2,006
Nope, doubt it.

OT, but I will never understand America's love affair with college football and basketball for the life of me. That is, most of America, because here in Boston I don't know of many people who give a rat's rear about it. Strange since there's so many colleges here but I'm not complaining.
Notice most of those schools are the easiest to get in.
 

Ogopogo*

Guest
Portland is an excellent WHL city - they were getting something like 11,000 to playoff games this season.

That being said, I don't think the NHL would be viable in Portland. Portland is a smaller city that already has an NBA team. The financial commitment to buy NHL tickets is significantly different than the commitment to purchase WHL tickets so, given the choice between spending $100 on a hockey ticket vs $100 on an NBA ticket, most Oregonians would go with basketball.

Portland simply is not big enough - with not enough passionate hockey fans - to support two major league teams in the winter.
 

Ogopogo*

Guest
Rich people like making money. If a rich person thought he could make money in Portland with the NHL, there would be an NHL team there.

Its the same for a lot of these markets. Seattle with its proximity to Vancouver seems like a good place for hockey. But do the people there care about hockey? I dont know, I'm not from Seattle. But Ive never heard of an owner in Seattle looking to buy a troubled NHL franchise and move them there. That tells you all you need to know.

I have spent a fair amount of time in Seattle in my life and, the NHL would not be a success there. Great city, great sports city but, not a hockey city. Folks in Seattle would kill to get another NBA team there but, really hockey isn't more than a little tiny blip on the radar.
 

Scouter

Registered User
Oct 21, 2007
4,764
192
Rich people like making money. If a rich person thought he could make money in Portland with the NHL, there would be an NHL team there.

Its the same for a lot of these markets. Seattle with its proximity to Vancouver seems like a good place for hockey. But do the people there care about hockey? I dont know, I'm not from Seattle. But Ive never heard of an owner in Seattle looking to buy a troubled NHL franchise and move them there. That tells you all you need to know.

Well if that's the case then rich people should not own sports teams, because they are not a good investment.
 

kdb209

Registered User
Jan 26, 2005
14,870
6
Notice most of those schools are the easiest to get in.

Yup.

MIT, Harvard, BC, BU, Brandeis, Tufts, Amherst, Wellesley, Smith, Holy Cross, Northeastern, UMass - safety schools all.

When I went to school in the area many years ago, it was reported to have the third highest concentration of university students in the world - behind only Moscow and London - although I would guess that several cities in China have past all of them by now.
 

Steve Passless*

Guest
Exact same problem as Portland, with the added wrinkle of gomers who care more about high school basketball than IU and the Pacers combined. I'd like to see the AHL there, maybe.
 

flapanthersfan

Registered User
May 5, 2010
2,755
129
Miami, FL
I have spent a fair amount of time in Seattle in my life and, the NHL would not be a success there. Great city, great sports city but, not a hockey city. Folks in Seattle would kill to get another NBA team there but, really hockey isn't more than a little tiny blip on the radar.

logic like this makes no sense to me.

alot of my family lives in seattle. i know what it's like there. and yes, hockey is not the craze, but neither was soccer before the sounders came to town - and they are packing quest field every single game. this is the MLS we're talking about - mind you.

i just don't understand how people expect any market to be a "hockey market" right off the bat without ever having an NHL team to help the market grow. these things take a while to develop. kids have to grow up with the sport, either playing and/or watching it to really become a diehard fan.

seattle would be a great market for hockey, imo. especially now that they lost the sonics. that being said - point is moot since they don't have a viable arena. key arena is an absolute dump. i'm not as familiar with portland - but as has been said - it's tough to compete with an already established competitor for the same dollars.
 

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