Fan vs Fan

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

NHL Possible Expansion

Ok, so we know there's a lot of talk of movement in the NHL in terms of franchise relocations. Phoenix, the Islanders, any southern market team that fails to make money, have all been mentioned as possibly moving in the next few years. We here at DGS would like to talk about possible movement in the NHL, somewhat seriously....oh bloody hell who are we kidding? We're gonna have a lot of fun with this.


A huge glove bump, stick tap, and thank you from DGS goes to the following people who really helped make this post possible:

  • Don't Trade Vinny
  • Peter from Hoosier Hockey
  • HockeyBroad

Now of course to have an intelligent discussion about this topic, we need to solve a few problems, like Gary Bettman






So, now that we solved that problem. We can move on and begin discussing possible NHL expansions.


We'll start with Phoenix. Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing the Coyotes move back to Winnipeg. Also, perhaps my Canadian readers and friends could answer this for me, why has no one suggested Regina/Saskatoon as destinations for an NHL franchise, they're decently sized cities? Is there something that I'm missing? (Like conditions that make Edmonton look nice?)

(Hoosier Hockey's Peter Evans supplied me with this:
"Regina/Saskatoon will not work seeing as they don't have the much needed corporate money necessary to have a team. Yes, the Credit Union Centre can barely accomidate an NHL franchise (I mean that in the loosest way possible), but the corporate dollars just aren't there.
") If anyone wants to dispute the findings of Mr. Evans, I'm all ears.

Mississauga, Ontario is a another place that I think a team could go.

If the Coyotes need to stay in the USA, then perhaps we could give Portland, Maine a shot (Wikipedia gives the metro area of Portland at around 500,000 people)and Milwaukee, Wisconsin could get a look as well. These destinations could work for the Islanders.

Peter Evans from Hoosier Hockey has offered his opinions on some of my ideas


Portland, OR- I don't see this happening. The city has just thrown a ton of money into converting their baseball stadium into an MLS facility. They've hit a stand still on the possible location of a new minor league stadium and the city LOVES their arena that's used for their WHL franchise. I'm just not buying the city building a new facility.

Seattle- Key Arena is a horrible place to watch a hockey game. Also, it would be too small and needs renovation. Seattle doesn't want to throw down money stuff such as this. I don't see it happening.

Kansas City- New arena and they're hungry for a tenant. Here's the issue: That city does not care about hockey. They have trouble keeping minor league teams. The Scouts lasted all of two seasons and when they had preseason games last year, they couldn't even give the seats away.

Hamilton, ON- No way. Too many issues with the league not really wanting a team there. TSN estimated that with stadium renovations, fees and money spent to Toronto and Buffalo on market infringement it would cost almost a billion dollars just to have the team. That's a huge set up fee. Also I honestly believe that if you put a team in Hamilton, Buffalo will be gone within a decade.

Portland, ME- Too small, not enough corporate money. No major arena.

Quebec City- Plans in place to build a new arena, an owner waiting in the wings, tons of corporate money. More a matter of when rather than if.

Winnipeg- An arena that will need minimal renovation, ownership groups frothing at the mouth, enough community support to ensure sellouts at an incredibly high rate. Referenced as the first city on Bettman's list.

Milwaukee- They were on the short list during that last decade of expansion. There isn't much interest in pursuing NHL hockey up there. I don't really see it happening.

Hartford- The arena needs renovation. There is interest in bringing them back, it's a possibility, but I don't see it happening before bringing back QC and Winnipeg.



Now, onto NHL expansion...

No, not the Gary Bettman kind.

No, not the Sami Salo kind either.


I mean, expanding the NHL to 32 teams like the NFL.

Here me out, I have an idea for this and I think it could work. I'll do the divisions, with how I work it.

Eastern Conference

Division A
Flyers
Rangers
Devils
Penguins

Division B
Hurricanes
Thrashers
Lightning
Panthers

Division C
Islanders: Now in Mississauga or Hamilton**
Canadiens
Maple Leafs
Senators

Division D
Bruins
Sabres
Hartford (Expansion)
Capitals



Western Conference

Division A
St Louis
Chicago
Detroit
Columbus

Division B
Minnesota
Dallas
Nashville
Milwaukee (Expansion)

Division C
San Jose
Los Angeles
Anaheim
Colorado

Division D
Phoenix (Back in Winnipeg or in Regina/Saskatoon)
Vancouver
Calgary
Edmonton



I tried to keep rivalries together (Easter Div A and West Div B) while working geographically, also I kept the Canadian teams together in hopes that they draw big revenue by playing each other a lot.


As for the schedule:


other 3 teams in division

Inter-division games: 24
play 8x (4 home/4 road)

Other 3 divisions in conference

play 4x (2 home 2 road) 48

For 72 games.

Play 1 out of conference division 2x (1 home/1 road)

that's 80 games.

Play 3 teams that finished in your divisional slot (1st place vs 1st place) out of conference 2x (1 home, 1 road) for 6 more games


That's an 86 game schedule, and that's my thoughts on the topic. If you agree/disagree discuss it here. I've enlisted the help of HoosierHockey and Don't Trade Vinny for their views on the topic.

Don't Trade Vinny added this to regarding the NHL Preseason:

Extend the preseason from 4 games to at least eight games for every team, with some of the games being played in a neutral market. Then, we could see what markets generate potential expansion sites.

Places with huge collegiate hockey markets (Dakotas, Maine, etc.) could host preseason games. For instance, Boston vs. Philly preseason in Maine. Chicago vs. Vancouver or Calgary in the Dakotas.

Other places the NHL has considered could then be used also. San Jose vs. Colorado in Las Vegas. St. Louis vs. Chicago in Kansas City. Toronto vs.Ottawa in Hamilton. Columbus vs. Nashville in Indy. Not only could the sites be geographically specific based on teams, but could also be great in between travel points during the preseason, which could in turn provide less early season fatigue for everyone which could then in turn make the exciting first year players break out quicker and/or avoid that typical freshmen late season breakdown.

I happen to think that he's onto something there, of course, 86 games, plus 8 in the preseason means camps would open Sept 1, (8 games player between Sept 8 and 27) and the Regular season would start October 1 and run to April 15, playoffs begin April 20 and run through June 25 like they do now.


**- Note from Hoosier Hockey's Peter Evans: There is just absolutely no way in the world that the Islanders would move out of that New York market. The amount of money they bring in, in terms of TV revenue and advertising dollars is just way too high to leave. The more likely option is that they either A) Move to Queens (next to Citi Field), B) Move into the Barclays Center in Brooklyn or the more likely C) They remain where they are with a new arena devoid of pretty much any of the things Wang wanted built with the Lighthouse Project.)

10 comments:

  1. Dudes,

    My vote is for Quebec city. I like it. I like there's no other pro sports teams anywhere near it. I like that the Province of Quebec supports the notion. I like that they are prepared to build a new arena.

    Great post.

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  2. I don't see a team going to Mississauga. It's too close to Toronto. I think NHL relocated teams should be outside of the GTA.Issues with having a team in Hamilton may as well apply to having a team in Mississauga. I also don't think its right having two teams in one area - the hockeyness should be spread around.

    A team moving to Regina/ Saskatoon is one thing, but what about the Maritimes? It may seem far fetched but its an idea that's been rolling around in my head for a while.

    Right now, if teams are going to be relocated I think it'll be either Winnipeg or Quebec City; cities that have an NHL franchise experiences.

    As for the 32 expansion team, I can't really get mt head around it. I like that the teams in the Western Conference are geograpically close to one another. It must be a pain playing games in different time zones.

    Btw, very good post.

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  3. @ Kevin

    I can get into Quebec City with one question that I forgot to ask during my post. Does QC have any English speaking media? I know that was an issue for the Nordiques back in the early 90s.


    @ B&W

    If New York City can have 3 teams within 35 miles of each other (Islanders, Devils and Rangers) than I think that 2 teams in the Toronto area would work no problem (3 if you include Buffalo)


    Also, open question to anyone, what about Halifax, Nova Scotia or St. Johns, New Brunswick?


    Canadian readers, help us out!

    ReplyDelete
  4. If the NHL were to move to a city, as much as I think a Canadian city would prosper and the team would work, I think the location has to be Las Vegas.

    It would be the first pro team (I don't count Arena League Football) to venture into Sin City. The gambling on NHL games would prosper, which ironically would lead to an increase in popularity and viewership. Don't roll your eyes at that comment. There were Super Bowl bets placed in Vegas on what color Kim Kardashian's top would be this past year. You're telling me that an NHL team in Vegas wouldn't start creating gambling prop bets that wouldn't intrigue non-hockey viewers that suddenly would watch games? Don't worry about a local fan base. Casinos would buy up tickets in blocks and give them to VIPs and high rollers. So maybe the arena might still be half empty. At least it's a half empty sellout. In other words, the team will make money regardless of how many fans are actually attending games.

    In response to my friend DTV regarding playing pre-season games in college hockey towns that have large fan bases, I'm sadly going to have to disagree with the results. The games will generate local revenue, but they aren't going to lead to NHL interest. I hate to say it, but teams winning generates fans. Everyone is a bandwagoner at heart. I lived in Denver for 5 years and went to DU when they won back-2-back national championships. The college games were awesome. People came and sold out the place left and right. The Avs? Well that's also when they started to lose games and not win Stanley Cups. DU games remained popular thanks to the price and the fact that they remained a winning team. The Avs finally broke their sellout streak and started dropping fans left and right. What does all this mean? It means that sadly, if a team is going to be moved, it needs to be a team like Phoenix and it needs to be RIGHT NOW.

    You need a team that is suddenly popular and has a decent future in the near future in order to generate a stable enough local market. Try moving a team like the Panthers and watch no one care in the new hockey market. Remember, as much as we all love the game, to the league and owners, it's still a business.

    ReplyDelete
  5. New York is a state, first of all, while Toronto is a city. The state of New York has a population of 19 million. New York City alone has like 8.5 mill. The Province of Ontario only has 13 million people, while Toronto has less than 3 million.

    That is why New York has 3 teams, and Ontario has 2.

    ReplyDelete
  6. @Rob

    New York City is what I was referring to, which is why I count the Devils at "New York" team even though they play in NJ, New York City's metro area has about 12 million people (5 boroughs of actual NYC, western Long Island and Northeastern New Jersey)

    But what I am trying to get at is, I would assume that the people of Toronto/Ontario are more likely to be hockey fans than the people of New York City.

    Mostly everyone I know from NYC, and I have a quite a bit of family there, tend to be baseball, football, basketball people.

    Somehow, the idea that the people of Toronto and Ontario would avoid another team if it was offered doesn't sit right with me.



    Per conversations I have had with a few readers via email. I've backed off the Hamilton/Missasauga idea because of the cost of moving there, (See the quote from Peter Evans in the body of the post).

    Can anyone tell me more about Halifax, Nova Scotia with regards to putting an NHL team there?

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  7. @ Damnit Jason


    If a team ended up in Las Vegas, Rich Tocchet would coach it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. For the record, I plan on revisiting this issue at some point during the season. I've found what I am learning from you guys to be enlightening.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I really like the 86 game schedule idea. Especially with the emphasis on rivalries. That being said, I'd do my divisions differently. Also, Don't Trade Vinny (except to my Habs) had a really good idea for the preseason.







    Eastern Conference

    Division A
    Flyers
    Rangers
    Devils
    Islanders

    Division B
    Capitals
    Thrashers
    Lightning
    Panthers

    Division C
    Halifax (Hurricanes)
    Canadiens
    Maple Leafs
    Senators

    Division D
    Bruins
    Sabres
    Hartford (Expansion)
    Islanders



    Western Conference

    Division A
    Penguins
    Chicago
    Detroit
    Columbus

    Division B
    Minnesota
    Dallas
    Nashville
    St. Louis

    Division C
    San Jose
    Los Angeles
    Anaheim
    Colorado

    Division D
    Phoenix (Now Winnipeg)
    Vancouver
    Calgary
    Edmonton

    ReplyDelete
  10. Crap, I just saw that I have the Islanders in there twice


    East
    Division D
    Bruins
    Sabres
    Hartford (Expansion)
    Penguins




    West

    Division A
    Minnesota
    Chicago
    Detroit
    St Louis

    (preserve the old Norris division's locations)

    Division B
    Columbus
    Dallas
    Nashville
    New Orleans Expansion (seriously, Bettman would put a team here)

    ReplyDelete