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Nicolas Perkin activating FPHL Monroe Moccasins with goal of bringing NHL team to New Orleans

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GKJ

GKJ

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Feb 27, 2002
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Hockey is Back on the Bayou: Monroe Moccasins make its return

The Monroe Moccasins are back on the Bayou for the first time since 2001. New owner Nicolas Perkin introduced the next generation of the Moccasins, who will take the ice at the Monroe Civic Center starting Friday, October 11th, 2024 as part of the Federal Prospects Hockey League.
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‘can be done certainly within the next 5 years’
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New Orleans is not very big, has NBA/NFL already to compete with, and hockey currently has less infrastructure in Louisiana than just about any state in the country. There's not many places to become a hockey player even if you tried, so there's not any sort of built-in grassroots. All these factors make NOLA a no go for me.
 
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Louisiana is just a bad sports town when it comes to professional leagues. Saints only do well because the NFL does well nationwide. It is a state as GA, MS, SC, AL, KY, VA, and WV also are as predominately built on college culture.
 
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S E P H said:
Louisiana is just a bad sports town when it comes to professional leagues. Saints only do well because the NFL does well nationwide. It is a state as GA, MS, SC, AL, KY, VA, and WV also are as predominately built on college culture.
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The MSA is rather small, 1.5 million, which is like 45th in the U.S. Football is extremely popular in Louisiana and once a week nature means you can draw from well outside the MSA for gameday, similar to how Green Bay maintains an NFL team with no issues because they basically represent an entire state. I think the Pelicans are 30/30 in terms of Franchise Value and would be direct competition involving a more popular sport due to the season overlap. An NHL team just doesn't make sense.
 
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I love New Orleans, have family there, would love to watch hockey there... but it's so far from feasible to put a third major league team there. NOLA would be a wonderful place for the Houston Aeros to put their AHL team. That makes perfect sense to me, if they don't prioritize keeping it within driving distance.
 
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WarriorofTime said:
New Orleans is not very big, has NBA/NFL already to compete with, and hockey currently has less infrastructure in Louisiana than just about any state in the country. There's not many places to become a hockey player even if you tried, so there's not any sort of built-in grassroots. All these factors make NOLA a no go for me.
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Believe it or not, there was once a time in the late 1990s that grassroots hockey programs were growing in Louisiana, thanks in no small part due to the team that started it all down there, the ECHL's Louisiana IceGators in Lafayette.

The 'Gators success (they regularly drew about 11,000-plus per game at the Cajundome in their early years) spawned new pro teams in the ECHL in Baton Rouge (Kingfish) and New Orleans (Brass) and the then-Western Professional Hockey League in Shreveport (Mudbugs), Lake Charles (Ice Pirates) and the aforementioned Monroe Moccasins. And there were rinks (with some sort of youth hockey programs) that popped up in pretty much all of those cities. In fact, I think there were two different rinks in Lafayette at one point (pretty good for a town of only about 110,000 or so at the time).

Obviously, things fell apart, but I think there are enough folks still around who remember that time and who still support junior programs in Lafayette and Shreveport/Bossier City metro to make a successful return of minor league teams possible.

Just as obviously, New Orleans (a fun city to be sure) as an NHL town seems a stretch, but I guess crazier things have happened before.

ponder719 said:
I love New Orleans, have family there, would love to watch hockey there... but it's so far from feasible to put a third major league team there. NOLA would be a wonderful place for the Houston Aeros to put their AHL team. That makes perfect sense to me, if they don't prioritize keeping it within driving distance.
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Now THIS seems more feasible proposal for NOLA.
 
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So you gotta respect the hustle, but this guy is using the word "NHL" to try and sell tickets to his minor-pro hockey team.

So where to start. I always say there are three things to consider - ownership, -arena, and -market (in that order)

1. So Nicolas Perkin as owner. He doesn't have much of an online presence. (be careful - theres a Nicholas Perkins out there associated with Fuddruckers - different person) I found this profile of him from 2011 Nicolas Perkin and this is his linkedin page Nicolas Perkin - New Orleans, Louisiana, United States | Professional Profile | LinkedIn

So he sold a company to Microsoft, then built up and then sold a company to NYSE. He's got money but he doesn't show up on any list of billionaires, so I kind of doubt he's got the scratch to have an NHL team.

2. Arena. The Monroe Moccassins play in the 60 year old Monroe Civid Centre that seats 7600 for hockey. The NBA Pelicans arena is the Smoothie King Centre - but while that may be able to hold ice hockey in the modern NHL you have to control your own arena, and not just pay rent.

3. And then yes, New Orleans itself. For what it's worth its a majority black city, From this list of Metropolitan Statistical areas, New Orleans is 58th in the nation with a population of 962k - and which declined from three years earlier. That, by the way is 12 sports lower than SLC and 8 spots lower than Buffalo.

Metropolitan statistical area - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

And yes that smallish city has the NFL Saints and NBA Pelicans to compete with, and a city with not a huge history of hockey (although it has some).

So look - if Perkin can write a massive check for $1.2 billion, and then can somehow get a new arena built in New Orleans, then the NHL might overlook New Orleans small size, but I can doubt he can do either.


LIke I said, respect the hustle, but that's all this is.
 
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WarriorofTime said:
New Orleans is not very big, has NBA/NFL already to compete with, and hockey currently has less infrastructure in Louisiana than just about any state in the country. There's not many places to become a hockey player even if you tried, so there's not any sort of built-in grassroots. All these factors make NOLA a no go for me.
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Yeah...my thoughts as well. Metro population is only 1.3M. That'll be tough to consistently pour money into 3 pro franchises.
 
Seems only slightly more likely than Omaha.

And man, if the NHL starts handing out franchises to US metro pop's of <1.5m, QC would riot.
 
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WarriorofTime said:
New Orleans is not very big, has NBA/NFL already to compete with, and hockey currently has less infrastructure in Louisiana than just about any state in the country. There's not many places to become a hockey player even if you tried, so there's not any sort of built-in grassroots. All these factors make NOLA a no go for me.
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The idea is that he’s implementing the grassroots.

ponder719 said:
I love New Orleans, have family there, would love to watch hockey there... but it's so far from feasible to put a third major league team there. NOLA would be a wonderful place for the Houston Aeros to put their AHL team. That makes perfect sense to me, if they don't prioritize keeping it within driving distance.
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Everything would have to go through Gayle Benson when it comes to getting franchises in NOLA, but the path to an AHL team would be a good bet first, but even that would still require a new building.
 
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GKJ said:
The idea is that he’s implementing the grassroots.


Everything would have to go through Gayle Benson when it comes to getting franchises in NOLA, but the path to an AHL team would be a good bet first, but even that would still require a new building.
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Hey, if he can build hockey back in the bayou back to being a significant minor league market and has the money to actually be a legitimate NHL option, I'm all for it. But consider me a doubter.

And grassroots is one thing, but we're talking about needing to grow a jungle down there.
 
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ponder719 said:
I love New Orleans, have family there, would love to watch hockey there... but it's so far from feasible to put a third major league team there. NOLA would be a wonderful place for the Houston Aeros to put their AHL team. That makes perfect sense to me, if they don't prioritize keeping it within driving distance.
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6 hours isn't terrible, if a guy gets hurt at morning skate it would leave enough time for a call up to make the trip.
 
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The ECHL New Orleans Brass went out of existence because of the Pelicans. Basically, they used to play at the Municipal Auditorium (one of 700 places the city decided to let rot after Katrina) until they built the New Orleans Arena at the turn of the millennium. When the Hornets arrived, they demanded the hockey team pay all the expenses of converting the rink back to a basketball court and then some which was all done purely to drive the team out of town and make the Hornets the primary tenant so they would not have any conflicts in scheduling.

Along with the collapse of the WPHL, hockey pretty much became a non starter in what's effectively an impoverished state.
 
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The FPHL is serious about growth. They'll be launching 4 new teams this year. I think Monroe is a terrible location for a team but I wish them luck. We can always use more hockey in the south.
 
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sneakytitz said:
The FPHL is serious about growth. They'll be launching 4 new teams this year. I think Monroe is a terrible location for a team but I wish them luck. We can always use more hockey in the south.
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Not necessarily. The team has multiple rivals in Baton Rouge, Mississippi, and Columbus, plus there are rumblings of trying to get a team in Beaumont.
 
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No Fun Shogun said:
Hey, if he can build hockey back in the bayou back to being a significant minor league market and has the money to actually be a legitimate NHL option, I'm all for it. But consider me a doubter.

And grassroots is one thing, but we're talking about needing to grow a jungle down there.
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I think this highlights the starting point. The best way to get serious is to be in the business. He talked about talking to the governor, and I’m guessing he saw the best course of action was to just get a professional team in the state wherever he could. Shreveport would’ve been a way better area, though
 
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