OVG's plans for FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton, Ontario could include an AHL team.
- Thread starter TheLegend
- Start date
TheLegend
"Just say it 3 times..."
Because they were limited to just over 4700??
It's not the Leafs.
dj4aces
An Intricate Piece of Infinity
While the city of Phoenix itself has a population of roughly 1.6 million, the population of the Phoenix metro area is closer to 4.8 million, making it the 10th most populous market in the US, and larger than every Canadian market except Toronto. Phoenix is not alone in this, as there are other metro areas with a low city population but a much larger metro population.
Another, more important thing to consider: Mullett only has a seating capacity of 4600 for NHL hockey (5000 is NCAA capacity), and possibly a little more if you factor in standing room capacity. They didn't have trouble filling it either, it was sold out consistently.
I'd say that's around 5k, no?
At what prices? You'd have to sell out at about 400 bucks a pop to make it worth it.
TheLegend
"Just say it 3 times..."
Of which they were all officially sellouts. Even so it’s still not a good measurement of comparison.
Not exclusive to Hamilton but history shows that minor league teams don't draw better than CHL teams in the same market. The Bellville Senators don't draft better than the Bulls did before them. The Victoria WHL team draws better than the ECHL team that was there before.
barriers
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- Feb 10, 2020
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I was going to dispute this mostly by my memories of the AHL Bulldogs drawing 15,000+ for their playoff games at their peak (2003 & 2006-08) while the OHL Bulldogs never got the crowd to justify opening the top bowl of Copps Coliseum when they were winning championships. However the regular season attendance average didn't quite have the difference I was expecting OHL Bulldogs averaged 4000ish while AHL Bulldogs closer to 4750
Hamilton Bulldogs [OHL] yearly attendance at hockeydb.com
A historical graph of the yearly attendance for the Hamilton Bulldogs [OHL] of the Ontario Hockey League.
www.hockeydb.com
Hamilton Bulldogs [AHL] yearly attendance at hockeydb.com
A historical graph of the yearly attendance for the Hamilton Bulldogs [AHL] of the American Hockey League.
www.hockeydb.com
GindyDraws
#HutchOut
voyageur
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- Jul 10, 2011
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This seems like an indication that Andlauer would move his farm team from Belleville to Hamilton, which makes a lot of sense, and more dollars, and can maybe even result in a neutral site game there, down the road. Andlauer is heavily invested in Hamilton, he had to move his OHL team out of there to Brantford for the renovations to be completed.
edog37
Registered User
It would’ve been had he agreed to the no relocation clause. He didn’t & the rest is history.
edog37
Registered User
GindyDraws
#HutchOut
Ah, yes, the NLL that saw New York fail a third time and Panther City fold weeks before the season began.
Takuto Maruki
Ideal and the real
Again, it's so funny to me that the NLL likes to pump its tires on social media of being 'the next major league' when the actual reality is that it is still operating under the feast or famine nature that has defined sports leagues in niche sports like them, they just think they can finance bro their way to success.
For as much as some people on this section like to believe themselves as thinking they are smarter for believing that the NHL bumbles their way through their business decisions, they should really look at how the sausage is made at the niche sport level, or at the true minor league level before they throw stones.
No Fun Shogun
34-38-61-10-13-15
Saying that Glendale only has 200,000 people is the equivalent of pointing out that a single branch of a sequoia is small while ignoring the rest of the tree.
Isles are really doomed, they're only in a town of under 40,000.
Well the isles actually have fan support so I guess the size of the market doesn't really matter.
Must be why the coyotes had so much support.
TheLegend
"Just say it 3 times..."
Well the isles actually have fan support so I guess the size of the market doesn't really matter.
Must be why the coyotes had so much support.
Prior to 2003 the Isles were averaging 1-2000 more per game than the Coyotes.
2003 when the Coyotes went to Glendale mid-season that figure flipped the other way right up until Jerry Moyes put the team into bankruptcy.
NHL attendance history at hockeydb.com
Historical NHL attendance by both season and team
www.hockeydb.com
I don't control what yanks like to watch, and I have no desire to.
I was asked what city of 200k people is/was not supporting its team.
The Isles have a huge TV deal. The Coyotes TV ratings were sad.
So why was Glendale such a problem if the attendence was acutally good the first few years there.
TheLegend
"Just say it 3 times..."
Growth in the west and northwest Phoenix Metro turned a 20-30 minute drive, into an hour or more.
I lived just south of where the arena ended up when I first arrived in Arizona in 2001, It was still wide open and there was little to zero traffic along the Loop 101 (which had just opened). The arena opened in 2003 and parking was still in dirt lots where what it now Tanger Outlets, but getting in and out of the area was easy.
Then the lockout in 2004 came and cost Glendale the All Star game and cut into the momentum. The recession (and housing bubble burst) comes in 2008 and it never really recovered from that.
TV was a weird situation. You had Fox Sports Arizona who had contracts with not just the Coyotes, but the Suns and Diamondbacks as well. In those days cable was still king and FSA only had a single channel to work with on Cox. The DBacks and Suns had priority on who got carried first. They added a second channel in he later years (and a third towards the end) but those required people buying an extended channel package.
The Coyotes did go the OTA route briefly, but it was out of a low power station in Prescott that couldn't reach half the Phoenix Metro area.
voyageur
Hockey fanatic
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How close is the arena to completion? From what I read the Bulldogs move to Brantford was for 3 years to complete renovations, and they are only in season 2. So I would expect that the announcement comes next year, with the Andlauer owned Bulldogs moving back for 2026-27, and the AHL franchise which was in Bellleville, the city that Andlauer purchased his OHL franchise from, relocated to Hamilton, which is at least airport accessible for many major AHL cities.
BKIslandersFan
F*** off
Can we stick to the topic please? I am not interested in people fighting over Coyotes. There’s a thread for that.
Anyhow, is the renovated arena going to meet NHL standard or is it lipstick on a pig like what happened to Nassau Coliseum?
Anyhow, is the renovated arena going to meet NHL standard or is it lipstick on a pig like what happened to Nassau Coliseum?
Golden_Jet
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- Sep 21, 2005
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Golden_Jet
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- Sep 21, 2005
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Not sure why Andlauer would want his minor league team over twice as far as it is now, harder to get players in on short notice.
