Any cities you wish had a team (not in Canada)?

[Kaiden Ghoul]

Hartford.

 

[Devonator]

As a former resident of Portland let me assure you it is NOT a great sports city. There are a tiny segment of fans of each sport but overall the city residents couldn’t care less if their teams up and left. Most wouldn’t even notice. The most popular teams in Portland is the Timbers (soccer).

I was not aware of the current realities....I mean your Junior Hockey team i believe has always been a success there.....how is Portland doing economically these days?

 

[hangman005]

Has anyone mentioned Buffalo yet?

 

[Coffee]

Phoenix

 

[PhysicalGraffiti]

What are the draws for you to Jax and OKC?

So part of all of those are cities that I've been to and I like.

It helps that Atlanta, KC, and Phoenix have teams, but also for those 3 I have good friends in each city so like the idea of going to a game while in town.

For OKC it's continuing hockey in non-traditional markets. Phoenix not withstanding, the sport has succeeded in Tampa, Sunrise, Dallas, and Vegas. The Sooners and OK State have hockey. I haven't looked al lot into their attendance or support, but having a pro team there would be awesome to see a new area of fans get into hockey. It's possible it's a failure, but I'd be curious to see.

And Jacksonville is just another large Florida city. The state itself is home to so many people from up north and California and New York have 3 teams, would be worth a shot for a heavily populated place like Jacksonville in an area that isn't close enough to Tampa or Sunrise to fight for fans.

 

[Crunchrulz]

Rochester is a slowly dying town that cannot put 50 percent capacity with a decent AHL team, I highly doubt they would be able to support an NHL one.

OKC is an interesting option, already having an NBA franchise and enough seats to support an NHL franchise if the fans attend. Problem is would the community support a new NHL franchise with the success of the established NBA one?

San Diego averages under 8k for the hapless Gulls and is a mixing pot of hockey fans from all over the country due to its military installations. Arena seats just under 13k. With no other fall/winter season competition other than college sports, that idea has potential.

With much of the talk being centered around Atlanta, just how many times does the NHL need to relearn the lesson that Atlanta is NOT a hockey community?

 

[Sensatauro]

Tokyo Japan

 

[hangman005]

Rochester is a slowly dying town that cannot put 50 percent capacity with a decent AHL team, I highly doubt they would be able to support an NHL one.

OKC is an interesting option, already having an NBA franchise and enough seats to support an NHL franchise if the fans attend. Problem is would the community support a new NHL franchise with the success of the established NBA one?

San Diego averages under 8k for the hapless Gulls and is a mixing pot of hockey fans from all over the country due to its military installations. Arena seats just under 13k. With no other fall/winter season competition other than college sports, that idea has potential.

With much of the talk being centered around Atlanta, just how many times does the NHL need to relearn the lesson that Atlanta is NOT a hockey community?

I think just one would do, but seeing as the Thrashers departure had nothing to do with the Atlanta Hockey Community and had entirely to do with the owners not wanting a hockey team in Atlanta, we shall get the chance to hockey in Atlanta flourish under ownership who gives a damn.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

San Fran. I know SJ is right there, but f*** it. SJ draws and has a good hockey culture growing.

Also Taipei.

Oakland lost 3 teams in the span of years. It probably doesn’t make sense to add another Bay Area team but there might be a higher demand than usual for one right now.

 

[Crunchrulz]

I think just one would do, but seeing as the Thrashers departure had nothing to do with the Atlanta Hockey Community and had entirely to do with the owners not wanting a hockey team in Atlanta, we shall get the chance to hockey in Atlanta flourish under ownership who gives a damn.

One thing the league may hold against them is that even when they were brand new to the league in 1999, they drew less than full capacity. The arena capacity is listed at 18000 and the final two seasons drew 13607 and 13469.
Ownership issues or not, playing to 75 percent capacity is not a good look on National TV, as we are seeing this season from NASCAR.
That being typed, the NHL has proved time and time again that it is going to do what it wants to and to heck with what the fans want or the quality of the on-ice product.

 

[BayStBullies]

There are more than enough teams, no thanks. Stop diluting the talent pool.

 

[Jericho111091]

Mexico City and Moscow

If the Peso were stronger the population alone might make Mexico City worth it

 

[ponder719]

Phoenix, obviously for me.


Also, Hell, Michigan. We can relocate the Devils there.

Have you ever been to New Jersey? The Devils already play in Hell.

 

[Summer Rose]

Have you ever been to New Jersey? The Devils already play in Hell.

The furthest north I've been in the United States, east of the Mississippi River, is Atlanta, without including airport layovers.

If I include airport layovers, I've had one in Newark. I did not enjoy it.

 

[BB79]

No, the last thing we need is more expansion.

 

[ricky0034]

realistically I think Atlanta should get another shot at it, they got pretty screwed over by that whole Atlanta Spirit thing

unrealistic magic wand I get to put a team anywhere just because? i'd like to see a team in Antarctica that would be pretty funny

 

[PistolPete]

So part of all of those are cities that I've been to and I like.

It helps that Atlanta, KC, and Phoenix have teams, but also for those 3 I have good friends in each city so like the idea of going to a game while in town.

For OKC it's continuing hockey in non-traditional markets. Phoenix not withstanding, the sport has succeeded in Tampa, Sunrise, Dallas, and Vegas. The Sooners and OK State have hockey. I haven't looked al lot into their attendance or support, but having a pro team there would be awesome to see a new area of fans get into hockey. It's possible it's a failure, but I'd be curious to see.

And Jacksonville is just another large Florida city. The state itself is home to so many people from up north and California and New York have 3 teams, would be worth a shot for a heavily populated place like Jacksonville in an area that isn't close enough to Tampa or Sunrise to fight for fans.

Makes sense

Your mention of the Sooners reminded me when I was at a Nashville game I met a young woman who played hockey for the Auburn Tigers. Didn't even realize they have a hockey program- apparently my fiend who is an alum and a diehard football fan didn't either.

 

[Ulysses31]

atlanta for the young black youth

 

[Summer Rose]

Makes sense

Your mention of the Sooners reminded me when I was at a Nashville game I met a young woman who played hockey for the Auburn Tigers. Didn't even realize they have a hockey program- apparently my fiend who is an alum and a diehard football fan didn't either.

There are a lot of schools that are large in enrollment, that may be powerhouses in some NCAA sports, but lacking an NCAA hockey team... however, many of them have club hockey governed by the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA). The players generally have to pay to play and do not get athletic scholarships (there is some funding available occasionally), but despite this, the level of play can be pretty high. There are over 400 men's ACHA teams (split into three divisions) and about 75 women's teams (split into two divisions). I did not see Auburn on the list of current women's teams, but they could have of course had a women's ACHA team in the past.

I have personal experience with two of them (well, the second one is simply knowledge that it exists). Arizona State University's hockey program began as a "club" (i.e. not sponsored by the NCAA) team and eventually joined the ACHA at some point, probably as it formed, but I won't bore you with the details and full history by looking it up. ASU is located in my hometown and where I went to college, and by the time I started going to ASU (2004), the men's hockey team was an ACHA powerhouse, and eventually won an ACHA D1 championship in 2014. The women's team also was a D1 runner-up in 2001. Through this and its growing popularity, a big donor came in and helped pave the way for the men's team to make the jump up to being an NCAA D1 program, starting with a split ACHA/NCAA schedule in 2015-16 and then a full NCAA schedule from 2016-17 onwards. They originally played at Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe (which is where I learned to skate as a kid, and also eventually where I started learning to play hockey), and that big donation (to the tune of $32 million) helped fund Mullett Arena, which is where the play now, and also that farcical situation where the Coyotes played there for two seasons.

Meanwhile, now that I live in Gainesville, the local university (University of Florida) has a club team, and looking it up, they're members of the Amateur Athletic Union rather than the ACHA. They won the AAU D2 national championship last year. I know very little about them other than the fact that they exist. Gainesville has no ice rinks, and although the nearest ice rink is over in Jacksonville, UF Gators hockey practices and plays at a rink that's down in the northern part of the Tampa Bay area, even though it's a bit further away than going to Jacksonville for ice time. I'm not sure why, but there's probably just some kind of scheduling conflict with limited availability for ice time. I guess it's not too big of a deal to travel a bit extra for ice time if you're already going to have to make a trip of well over an hour (it's about an hour and a half drive to Jacksonville, and a little over two hours to get to the northern part of the Tampa Bay area).

 

[thebeernerd]

atlanta for the young black youth

I have bad news about where they're planning on putting that new arena.

 

[HabsQC]

Would love to see rhe Habs play in Paris one day.

 

[Son of Nogatco]

Breezewood PA

 

[SmoggyTwinkles]

Milwaukee would be a great place for an NHL team IMO.

 

[NYRfan85]

The dream would be Charlotte (will never happen, but would be amazing), but the realistic one is Atlanta for me. The Canes are about 2.5 hours away from me, and after that Nashville/Washington are about 7 hours away. Would be nice to have another team that's a little closer!

 

[Elvs]

Atlanta and Phoenix because of nostaliga.

Cleveland because I made my own custom team be Cleveland in NHL 2004 when I was a kid.

Anchorage because it would be cool.

But in reality no more teams, please. There should never have been an expansion from 30 teams to begin with, and anything more than the current 32 is really pushing it.