To be blunt: many of us in Canada don't particularly want or care for the NHL to grow in the southern United States, especially when it has meant sacrificing our own teams for the sake of the almighty American dollar.
If that makes me a spiteful Canadian NHL fan, so be it.
I love the diplomacy here. Good stuff. We only want to be included in this great game but you prefer to shun us? Brilliant marketing ploy my friend, just brilliant. What's next? Get rid of all the teams in the U.S. and put them in Canada? I can't wait...
That's great that Northern transplants help to build your hockey "base" down there. You have a couple rinks and a few programs, good for you. You're still nowhere close to the level of competition and interest for the game that there is up North. You'll never reach that point. But hey, a Peewee A team winning some games means that you've arrived apparently!
The attendance (or lack thereof) and inability to garner a true fanbase makes Phoenix that much less viable as a hockey market. The NHL isn't gaining jacksh*t for fans by placing a team in Phoenix, but by moving a team back to Canada they substitute a weak, failed market for proven success. The league is filled with teams losing money hand-over-fist, and when things don't work out then it's time to look back to where the game thrives and where you know the support will be.
Southern Ontario is an untapped gem when it comes to another NHL franchise. Millions of people with expendable income (even during this economic recession) who want to see hockey games. When it comes to the Leafs, it's a 20+ year wait for season tickets. That's A LOT of potential butts in the seats of an arena in Hamilton, Mississauga, Toronto, Kitchener/Waterloo, etc. Does Phoenix offer the same promise in terms of an established hockey following and the potential to be an annual hit at the gate? Not a chance.
Face it, the Sun Belt expansion maneuver is over. Some teams caught Lightning in a Bottle (pun intended, see: Tampa), and some found a bit of a niche in a growing region with little professional sports identity (see: Raleigh, NC and the Carolina Hurricanes). Others, like your Coyotes, are stuck with declining interest and nothing tangible to show for all the years of investment and parading "hockey in the South." It's a lost cause.
Do you hear yourself as you type? I'm giving you examples of how hockey, as a sport, is growing in Arizona and you patronize me? How bitter are you, honestly? So Winnipeg lost their team, get over it. It's been 13 years, just let it go.
You can make all the arguments you want, but the real fact of the matter is, moving a team to Canada will be a lateral move for the NHL, period. More butts in seats? For the first few years maybe. Then what happens when they start losing or people lose interest in a Hamilton team? They go somewhere else, possibly to the same team they watched for years.
Stop assuming that there are no hockey fans in Arizona. Just stop. It takes time to build a fan base. The Leafs have that long line of season ticket holders BECAUSE THEY WERE PART OF THE ORIGINAL SIX. How long have those teams had to build a rabid fan base? Now compare it to our timeline. One of these things is not like the other...
There are a few things pretty evident and most of the posts in this thread and the other ones devoted to Sunbelt NHL teams:
We have pretty strong evidence that NHL Hockey doesn't work in Phoenix. The Coyotes filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday. Phoenix has not been able to support the team well enough to survive. I think what we know is that RIGHT NOW, Phoenix probably is not viable.
Why do most posters see the NHL as some sort of zero sum game? Why is it impossible to add Canadian teams while growing the game in the US beyond the original 6 and second 6 cities?
Why does all of this seem to come down to the US v Canada? If Hamilton, Toronto or Portland ownership groups put together the best package, the NHL needs to take it. It has nothing to do with either country. It's about the business and whether or not the market exists to support a team AND how to grow the NHL.
Hockey fans need to pull their heads out of their butts and look around. Everyone should want the same thing, the business success of the game so we can all enjoy it.
First of all, this whole chapter 11 filing is still going through the hearing process. Moyes, a scum bag, filed it behind the NHL's back. It's not a fair assessment to go from "NHL team files for bankruptcy so therefore hockey doesn't work in the state." That's narrow-minded. Hockey is thriving BECAUSE of the Coyotes existence in the state. Without them, we wouldn't even have travel teams. But according to some posters, our lack of talent makes us a less viable candidate for a hockey franchise or some other nonsense.
It's not U.S. vs. Canada. It only appears that way BECAUSE of the Canadian media. I don't want my team to move, period. I don't care if it's to Portland, K.C., Hamilton, or Brazil. I don't want them to leave my state.
I love your last statement though. "...so we can all enjoy it." Well except for people not in Canada, people in the southwest, or people with bad teams, correct? Beautiful words.
