Toronto has the Leafs, Raptors, Blue Jays, Argonauts, TFC, Rock, Marlies. Also big city lots of entertainment- not a good market because there’s lots of stuff to do rather than watch 16-20 year olds play hockey
Also the Hitmen, Oil Kings are some of the most prestigious franchises in the WHL. Long history.
When Toronto was in the league, the first 3 years they absolutely stunk and fans didn’t want to put money into it for a last place team. From 1999/2000-2000/2001 in 1 year their attendance dropped almost 1200 despite nearly doubling their points from the previous year. And the year after that year 5 of the program they had 89 points and 40 wins. Attendance dropped another 300. Should be the opposite if anything. Real weird.