Witch Cities Need A NHL Team?

Question

Witch Cities Need A NHL Team?

Answer 1

the one city id love to see get a team again is Winnipeg i think the jets had a great fan base that fell through some how but yea thats the only city that comes to my mind

Answer 2

All I can think of is Eastwick, and Salem Mass.

Another possibility is New Orleans but that is more Voodoo than Witches.

Answer 3

Milwaukee and Seattle are my prefered choices...!

If they put a team in Miami, Dallas and two in Los Angeles... then Wisconsin and Washington gotta be worth a try..! Hartford, Cleveland and Portland caps off my top five for US cities...

Kansas City I'm not sure about but they are building a NHL sized arena.

Las Vegas is not that bad of an idea but it'll be hard to say if they will have any true fans. Majority of their season tickets will be purchased by casinos - that couldn't get corporate boxes - to give away and 8 of every 10 fans in attendance of their half filled arena will be from somewhere outside of Vegas on vacation...

Colorado (Rockies/Av's), Ohio (Barons/Bluejackets), Minnesota (NorthStars/Wild), Bay area (Seals/Sharks), Atlanta (Flames/Thrashers) and the consideration of KC (Scouts)... all once upon a time had a NHL team in the 70's and the NHL gave these regions another chance in the 90's... and these aren't all hockey hotbeds either..!

Hamilton...

Not since 1925 has Hamilton had a NHL team. If the greater metro New York area can have 3 teams, greater Metro LA and the state of Florida have 2 teams... I don't see why not the golden horseshoe/Upstate New York/Niagara Frontier (5th largest largest population concentration in North America) have 3 teams... IT IS by far the largest concentration of Hockey fans in North America... Hamilton will have no problem selling out their building in a Hockey starved market. Maple Leafs season ticket application waiting period stretches to over 35 years, whereas in places like Nashville, they can't give them away... For those that don't know... Hamilton is as close as Anaheim is to Los Angeles. Hamilton Copps Coliseum Hockey Capacity holds over 19,000... Expansion was close in 1989 but the NHL awarded the franchise to Ottawa.

Quebec City...

Lack of fans did not kill the Nords and Jets. Fan support was never the problem. The Canadian dollar did, leading to the teams' new American owners to move the team as the final stab for the kill... I can bet you that there are more loyal Nordiques fans right now in Quebec city then there are current Blackhawk fans in a bigger city like Chicago, or Kings fans in Los Angeles...

Winnipeg...

Having a team back in Winnipeg would be awesome but can the Winnipeg MTS Centre that holds only 15,003 qualify towards NHL arena specs? where other new arenas seat 18,000 or more..! Winnipeg has a metro population of 700,000 and was the smallest of all NHL cities (currently its Edmonton at just under 950,000). Can Canadian cities like Winnipeg, Quebec and Hamilton support a modern NHL franchise with a metro population of about 700,000? A team in Winnipeg will have more fans then most existing US cities...

Answer 4

Seattle and Portland.

Answer 5

Indianpolis, USA, Seattle, USA and Hamilton, Ontario

Answer 6

I'm thinking your in favor of Salem, Mass. as evident in your Freudian slip.  Witch?

I think Hamilton should get an NHL team.  They have a decent arena in place, and a solid sports fan base just itching for something Pro action (Ti-cats don't count)

Answer 7

American cities that would seem to be logical choices (geographically, but I'm sure there's a reason why they haven't had a team or don't anymore):  Hartford - Bring back the Whalers!  Seattle, Portland OR, and Milwaukee could possibly sustain a franchise.  Of these, I think Hartford or Milwaukee should have a team first.  However, there obviously wasn't a big enough market in Hartford when they moved to Carolina, so I think Milwaukee should be the first.

Hamilton, Ontario although very close to Toronto, could definitely support an NHL franchise.  The city is pretty big, and if NYI, NYR, NJD, BOS, PHI, and Hartford all have/used to have franchises within 10 square miles of each other...Hamilton could definitely house a team.  I think Hamilton is one of the only Canadian cities without a franchise, ironically, that could support one.  For some reason it didn't work out in Winnipeg or Quebec City, but I believe Hamilton is way larger, and has a larger metro area than both of them.  Hamilton has close to 750,000 residents, don't they?

EDIT - Las Vegas would be entertainment city, USA, if they had a hockey team?  What about every other sport that they don't have?  Their best and only sports teams are from UNLV, which is a second rate D1 school.  If they don't have a football, baseball, or basketball team in 2008, they're not going to get a hockey team.  If they are building a rink I'm sure it's for the minors.

Indy is definitely NOT a possibility.  They can't even support a baseball team.  The city and its metropolitan area have a combined population of around 2 million, 95% of which don't watch or care to watch hockey, and the other 5% of which wouldn't go to more than 10 games a season at most.  I go to Purdue, which is about 45 minutes northwest of Indy, and NOBODY here...at least the ones from Indiana, watches hockey.  The only non-hockey cities that could support franchises are those with metropolitan areas as large or larger than that of Dallas, Phoenix, Tampa Bay etc...which all have upwards of 5 million people.  Tampa Bay isn't a huge city but Florida itself is quite populated.  I doubt very much OK City or Omaha Neb could support one either.  Houston, as populated and sprawling as it is, probably couldn't support a team...but then again I wouldn't have thought there could be two sustainable franchises in Florida or LA either.

Answer 8

Las Vegas!!!! then it would be entertainment city, USA!

Answer 9

anywhere they dont have one except if its in canada the reffs baby them too much just because hockey started there.

ps.go flyers

Answer 10

Jon, what are you babbling on about? You suggest giving a team to cities that have already had one and lost it because they couldn't support  when the payroll was around 20 million, and now you're saying Vegas and Oklahoma city could not support one? What?

Answer 11

St. Louis.  We've not had a competitive team in years.

Answer 12

"Need?" Any given Canadian city and quite a few north-eastern American cities with hockey ties from the beginning of the game on this continent. Apparently, it sounds like you're saying Salem, New England needs one.

Answer 13

Probably some but not all of:

Seattle or Portland

Houston

Winnipeg (again)

Quebec City (again)

Milwaukee - maybe

Hartford - maybe (again)

Saskatoon - maybe, but I doubt it

I don't think OKC, Vegas, or Indy could support one financially, although I've heard very small rumblings about that in the past.  I'd certainly like to see one here in Indy but I wonder if I'd be the only one at the games.

Update:  Plain Ol' Jeff:  At least for Winnipeg and Quebec City, they lost their teams because they earned ticket revenues in Canadian dollars, but league rules stipulated that players had to be paid in US dollars.  At the time, the Canadian dollar was much weaker than the US.  Since the two currenecies are about equal now...yes, I do think that the economics would work now.

Answer 14

Waterloo Region

Hamilton

London, Ontario

Kansas City

Las Vegas

Answer 15

The best three are Hamilton Ontarion, Kansas City (already  has a rink) and Las Vegas---Is currently making an arena.  But I diont think Hockey needs to expand at this time   amybe just move a couple of teams around (like Atlanta--Nashville and Florida

Answer 16

HAMILTON

QUEBEC CITY

WINNIPEG

Answer 17

kansas city or omaha, omaha has like 3-4 rinks and theyre all good.

Answer 18

places toward the south so they can attract more kids to play

Answer 19

none right now... the talent has to catch up...

in the future it should be a canadian one...

Answer 20

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Answer 21

Winnipeg.

Boston.

Answer 22

New Orleans or Baton Rouge something in Louisiana they have no NHL teams its upsetting!

Answer 23

Hamilton, On. Quebec City. Winnipeg,MB.

KC?? OKC?? VEGAS?? NO WAY. Unlike those other people on here talking out their a$s, I have been and spent time in all of the above named cities, with the sole exception being Quebec City, so I can speak with some confidence based on my knowledge of those areas and their demographics and financial abilities. KC would not support it. they have money, but absolutely ZERO desire for an NHL team. NBA, yes, NHL resounding NO. OKC just got a NBA franchise. As shocking as that seems to me, because OKC  is nothing more than a fledgeling cow town, they will NOT be able to support 2 major franchises, financially and attendance wise. Vegas's demographics are constantly up and down. My brother is out in Vegas now, and he tells me,(which I have seen written elsewhere), is that Vegas constantly has a revolving door of transient population.That being said, with that much moving in and out, they would never have a consistent fan base, and we all know what that means (Nashville, Sunrise etc.) that with inconsistent fan bases comes deplorable markets that do not support franchises.

Answer 24

Witch cities?They would be a spell on the referees and get all the calls.So NO!We already have the Penguins that do that.

Answer 25

Top 10.

-Hamilton

-Winnipeg

-Quebec

-Halifax

-Las Vegas

-San Francisco

-Seattle

-Anchorage

-Salt Lake City

-Indianapolis

Answer 26

winnepeg, hamilton, seattle, kansas city... move teams out of atlanta, tampa, florida, nashville.