The Reality Of Relocation In The NHL

NFL season: late August – late January. I’d say that’s competition for hockey, which runs from early October to June.

Thank God you didn’t have OKC in that mix.

I could see an American team (Nashville, Florida, Phoenix, etc.) moving to Kansas City if they are having attendance issues, as it’s the one place in the country that’s pretty much “hockey ready” as far as facilities and corporate possibilities go. Would Kansas City support a hockey team? I dunno, I’ve never been there. But I could see a team moving to KC in the next few years to try it out.

I’m all for the move to Cincy, but on 1 condition: whichever team moves MUST sign Chad Ochocinco. He would do wonders for the NHL.

Quebec is back in the news lately as mayor Philippe Dutil and former Nordiques owner Marcel Aubut have been making noise about a return to Quebec. Quebe City’s mayor is Regis Labeaume… Philippe Dutil is Stanstead’s mayor, a little village in the province of Quebec.

Forget about a return to Quebec City in the next few years as they would have to build a new arena first.

I love how Campbell just tosses out Seattle and fails to mention that there is NHL rink and that taxpayers refused to play to fix up the NBA building to keep their team.

It’s sad in a way to hear that Riverfront Coliseum (US Bank Arena), home of the Cincinnati Stingers, Hartford Civic Center (XL Center), and le Colisee (le Colisee Pepsi, in an unintentionally hilarious bit of naming) are no longer suitable for pro franchises, because they all supported pro teams in the ’70s and ’80s. Time marches on, indeed.

should be reborn. The Houston population includes a bunch of people who are natives of the northeast and mid-west. Counter Phoenix and the Florida cities, these are people with high-dollar jobs, not fixed income retirees.

Major league sports owners these days always want taxpayers to subsidize their teams. Portland voters have consistently refused to do so.

Recently we rebuffed Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Paul Allen’s demands for subsidies for his hobby, the Trail Blazers, despite many Portlanders’ attachment to the team of Bill Walton and Clyde Drexler. Hockey is unlikely to get a different response.

Great piece. Would love to see some southern squads relocate northward to hockey hungry cities, adding some names to this as-of-late dormant list: http://www.puckreport.com/2009/05/nhl-relocation.html

guess that the sarcasm has been overlooked by a “few”

It’s probably likely more Canadian cities would have good attendence, but as noted, the name of the game now is corporate dollars. Unless the NHL goes to larger revenue sharing like the NFL, moving teams to Hartford or Winnipeg would just mean those teams leaving again in a few years. Despite Bettman’s talk that the Leafs have no veto, you can bet they would work to scuttle any Hamilton bid. So the only real option is contraction. I’m sure a couple of teams will try to put off the idea with a move to KC or Portland, but the economics of the NHL just can’t support 30 teams.

but the economics of the NHL just can’t support 30 teams.

I’m not sure that I agree.

If you replace struggling teams with Hamilton, Houston, Seattle and I think Cincinnati, those are all really strong market possibilities.

The Houston Aeros still exist, only in the AHL now. They are the Wild affiliate. They also play in the Toyota Center. Not saying that means there could not be an NHL team there, but it would cause issues with the Aeros, which are fully owned and operated by the Wild.