OVG's plans for FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton, Ontario could include an AHL team.

dj4aces

An Intricate Piece of Infinity
Dec 17, 2007
6,539
1,628
Duluth, GA
Then how come they had trouble filling a 5k seat barn?
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.
 

WeaponOfChoice

Registered User
Jan 25, 2020
671
366
Because they were limited to just over 4700??
I'd say that's around 5k, no?

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.
At what prices? You'd have to sell out at about 400 bucks a pop to make it worth it.
 

aqib

Registered User
Feb 13, 2012
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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

Registered User
Feb 10, 2020
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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.
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

 
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voyageur

Hockey fanatic
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.
 
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edog37

Registered User
Jan 21, 2007
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I’m going by the Moyes court filings. Neither Balsillie nor the NHL disputed filings claiming the NHL was prepared to make him the Penguins owner with the no relocation agreement included. The vote itself never happened because Balsillie backed out after being presented with a purchase agreement containing the NHL mandated clause. The tenor of the filings and affidavits from Balsillie and Bettman cause me to believe the BoG vote would have been a formality.
It would’ve been had he agreed to the no relocation clause. He didn’t & the rest is history.
 

Takuto Maruki

Ideal and the real
Dec 13, 2016
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Brandon, Manitoba
Ah, yes, the NLL that saw New York fail a third time and Panther City fold weeks before the season began.
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.
 
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WeaponOfChoice

Registered User
Jan 25, 2020
671
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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.
 
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TheLegend

"Just say it 3 times..."
Aug 30, 2009
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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.


 

WeaponOfChoice

Registered User
Jan 25, 2020
671
366
Ah, yes, the NLL that saw New York fail a third time and Panther City fold weeks before the season began.
I don't control what yanks like to watch, and I have no desire to.

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.
I was asked what city of 200k people is/was not supporting its team.
 

aqib

Registered User
Feb 13, 2012
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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.


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..."
Aug 30, 2009
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Buzzing BoH
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.

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
Jul 10, 2011
10,468
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When is there going to be some kind of news on a AHL team coming to Hamilton?.
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
Sep 29, 2017
11,898
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Brooklyn
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?
 
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Golden_Jet

Registered User
Sep 21, 2005
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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.
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.
 

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