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NHL met with a group interested in expanding to New Orleans

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The NHL will (and should!) take meetings with anyone who's interested. IIRC they also took ones recently with groups from Cincinnati and Omaha. Doesn't mean at all that they're going to happen.

And for those angry Candian fans -- New Orleans still is a larger metro area than Quebec City or Hamilton, with significantly larger corporate bases as well. The NHL could get through the now 7 American expansion sites with confirmed interest (Atlanta, Houston, Pheonix, Kansas City, Omaha, and New Orleans) and still find probably 5 or 6 more American locations (Hartford, San Diego, Baltimore, Cleveland, VA Beach just off the top of my head) before they go back to Canada.
 
qc14 said:
The NHL will (and should!) take meetings with anyone who's interested. IIRC they also took ones recently with groups from Cincinnati and Omaha. Doesn't mean at all that they're going to happen.

And for those angry Candian fans -- New Orleans still is a larger metro area than Quebec City or Hamilton, with significantly larger corporate bases as well. The NHL could get through the now 7 American expansion sites with confirmed interest (Atlanta, Houston, Pheonix, Kansas City, Omaha, and New Orleans) and still find probably 5 or 6 more American locations (Hartford, San Diego, Baltimore, Cleveland, VA Beach just off the top of my head) before they go back to Canada.
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Quebec City could support a fanbase of exclusively Francophone fans who are bitter about the Habs having to pander to the Anglos. You've got a couple million fans that fit the bill.
 
If we get enough quality US markets going, we can finally relegate those struggling Canadian teams to the second division...

Keep the league strong.

This is obvious hyperbole for those with their heads exploding, so relax, but the NHL is reporting this for a reason, so who are they trying to flex on?
 
waitin425 said:
With their mascot......
Papa Shango - WWF (1992) : r/nostalgia
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Keep the mascot, but use his other gimmick. The Louisiana HO TRAINS!

Choo choo!
 
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WhiskeyYerTheDevils said:
Nashville has been a tremendously successful organization what are you talking about
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Successful except for winning the big one.

Perfect_Drug said:
Maybe I'm obtuse but what's wrong with any of those markets?

Nashville, Minnesota, and Seattle have been running at 100% capacity.
Cbus hasn't had a playoff team in a bajillion years, and they're over 90%.
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Nothing wrong with the markets, but none of the teams have seen any huge success. Diluting the talent pool even further isn't a good idea.
 
Chainshot said:
The Brass outdrew places like Atlantic City the year AC won the ECHL championship. Baton Rouge? Their attendance dropped like a stone and then they moved to Victoria.
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since the Brass left.... no support.... Baton Rouge is a lower level franchise now and it took time for the Zydeco to reestablish the identity after the Kingfish
 
FlyguyOX said:
Do ECHL teams get support anywhere?...
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yes, if it done correctly.... the question becomes who aligns w/ a New Orleans franchise that isn't already aligned somewhere else currently.... remember the Carolina vs Rosemont (Chicago) disassociation when there was a rule against Independents at the AHL Level for 3 decades where was Carolina looking at after Charlotte said no....
 
CHRDANHUTCH said:
why is there no pro hockey franchise is any league in New Orleans since the Brass collapsed.......
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Because the Hornets/Pelicans were dicks and made demands of the state regarding the cost of converting the arena back and forth to hockey be all on the hockey team that the state of Louisiana agreed to? It had nothing to do with fans, everything to do with operations costs that weren't split so the Brass left. It's still an economics issue.
 
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Chainshot said:
Because the Hornets/Pelicans were dicks and made demands of the state regarding the cost of converting the arena back and forth to hockey be all on the hockey team that the state of Louisiana agreed to? It had nothing to do with fans, everything to do with operations costs that weren't split so the Brass left. It's still an economics issue.
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and that is why no pro hockey team will ever be in New Orleans..... too many ancillary issues even if a team is granted in any league.....
 
TheBeerNerd said:
Quebec City could support a fanbase of exclusively Francophone fans who are bitter about the Habs having to pander to the Anglos. You've got a couple million fans that fit the bill.
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How many of them would be able to go to games on a nightly basis? More importantly, how many would pay for premium tickets? How many of their companies could rent out suites? Pay top dollar to advertise at the arena and on TV? Of those, how many of them don't already watch or spend that money on the Habs or the Leafs or the Sens?

I get that it sucks that economics drives all of these decisions, but it's the reality. There's more money (and crucially new money) for the NHL in even a very sub-optimal American market like New Orleans than there is in Canada.
 
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qc14 said:
How many of them would be able to go to games on a nightly basis? More importantly, how many would pay for premium tickets? How many of their companies could rent out suites? Pay top dollar to advertise at the arena and on TV? Of those, how many of them don't already watch or spend that money on the Habs or the Leafs or the Sens?

I get that it sucks that economics drives all of these decisions, but it's the reality. There's more money (and crucially new money) for the NHL in even a very sub-optimal American market like New Orleans than there is in Canada.
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I dunno… your logic is right and 99% of the time I’d agree with you. But this is the rare case where QC actually has an argument that they should be getting attention before a place like New Orleans.

Greater NO is about twice the size of greater QC, but the core cities are about the same size. I don’t see some huge economic difference between them. And it goes without saying that there’s easily twice as much public interest in the NHL in QC, right?

If this were Kansas City or Portland, let alone a major market like Atlanta or Phoenix, that would be one thing. But New Orleans? There’s no way that works out.
 
tarheelhockey said:
I dunno… your logic is right and 99% of the time I’d agree with you. But this is the rare case where QC actually has an argument that they should be getting attention before a place like New Orleans.

Greater NO is about twice the size of greater QC, but the core cities are about the same size. I don’t see some huge economic difference between them. And it goes without saying that there’s easily twice as much public interest in the NHL in QC, right?

If this were Kansas City or Portland, let alone a major market like Atlanta or Phoenix, that would be one thing. But New Orleans? There’s no way that works out.
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I don't think it would work out, and I don't think the NHL is seriously considering them as an expansion candidate. I also don't disagree with you at all about at least twice the public interest but that cuts both ways -- I'm sure that quite a lot of the fanbase in QC already watches the NHL and spends money on NHL products.

I guess to me the fact that there's even any debate about what would be better for the NHL between the two cities should put to bed the idea that the NHL is ever going back without pretty drastic changes in the world geopolitical/macroeconomic landscape.
 
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No Fun Shogun said:
Quebecois fans: We demand a team to represent French North America!
Bettman: Gotcha, New Orleans it is.
Quebecois fans: We admittedly should've been more specific.

I have doubts, but nothing wrong with meeting with potentially interested parties. And I'm all about another CTZ team.

Louisana admittedly does have a fun track record of minor league hockey, albeit we're a bit removed from that and that's like comparing an apple to an orchard, admittedly.
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There are probably more people speaking fluent Arabic in Québec than people speaking fluent FRENCH (not Créole) in New Orleans. Please pump the brakes on the French shit.
 
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