Potential Atlanta NHL Expansion Team Thread

[dj4aces]

When Balsillie had his bid for the Predators they had 14K season ticket deposits in two days. Hamilton has 800K, Waterloo has another 500K on top of that. London has another 600K. There are also no other pro sports teams in that area. Then you'd have the western areas of the GTA like Mississauga and Brampton which have about 1.6 million. Add on top of that college sports aren't a thing in Canada. So you don't have the equivalent of SEC Football and ACC Basketball to compete with.

But you're missing the point. No matter what number you put out there, be it the 800k in the census designated area that is metropolitan Hamilton, or the additional 2.2 million that exist outside that area, the number of folks who casually follow the sport, or don't follow it at all.

For this exercise, pretend you own this hypothetical Hamilton NHL franchise. How do you convince casual fans to come to games? How do you convince non hockey fans to pay attention to your franchise, and maybe even come to a few games a year? How do you convince folks who follow other teams -- like the Sabres -- to follow the Hamilton team?

Marketing isn't some sort of taboo thing that is reserved only for US franchises. It's an essential part of generating revenue and promoting your product (in this case, your sports franchise and the experience of coming to your town to see a game). Even the most hockey-mad markets have room for growth.

 

[aqib]

But you're missing the point. No matter what number you put out there, be it the 800k in the census designated area that is metropolitan Hamilton, or the additional 2.2 million that exist outside that area, the number of folks who casually follow the sport, or don't follow it at all.

For this exercise, pretend you own this hypothetical Hamilton NHL franchise. How do you convince casual fans to come to games? How do you convince non hockey fans to pay attention to your franchise, and maybe even come to a few games a year? How do you convince folks who follow other teams -- like the Sabres -- to follow the Hamilton team?

Marketing isn't some sort of taboo thing that is reserved only for US franchises. It's an essential part of generating revenue and promoting your product (in this case, your sports franchise and the experience of coming to your town to see a game). Even the most hockey-mad markets have room for growth.

My point is that the area already has enough hockey fans that I don't need to convince people to like the sport. Now obviously over time I have to make sure that the product is accessible so future generations are engaged. You have to make sure the game day experience is a good one for the fans etc. However, I don't need an extensive campaign to get people to start liking hockey.

This has already been proven false many times. Canadian and northern US teams have moved due to lack of support several times. Last year was a popular thread discussing one of the most rabid hockey markets in the world not being able to sell out the smallest arena in professional sports. Not too long ago, two teams in a couple of the largest markets on the planet, both up north (I assume that's what you mean by "traditional") were among the worst attended games in the league. Thinking let's just put a team in any northern market and it'll sell out forever is silly.

Yeah and that was discussed and its largely due to economic conditions and the fact that the market doesn't have a lot of big corporations. They admitted their season ticket base was mainly families buying tickets in groups and couldn't sustain when one family dropped out.

A lot of the other northern franchise moves were due to arena issues or in the case of Minnesota was due the owner's wife.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

My point is that the area already has enough hockey fans that I don't need to convince people to like the sport. Now obviously over time I have to make sure that the product is accessible so future generations are engaged. You have to make sure the game day experience is a good one for the fans etc. However, I don't need an extensive campaign to get people to start liking hockey.



Yeah and that was discussed and its largely due to economic conditions and the fact that the market doesn't have a lot of big corporations. They admitted their season ticket base was mainly families buying tickets in groups and couldn't sustain when one family dropped out.

A lot of the other northern franchise moves were due to arena issues or in the case of Minnesota was due the owner's wife.

Yes...a pile of excuses. Lack of support due to poor ownership, bad record, economy, arena location...the list goes on. Hartford, NYI, Boston, Peg, QC..... Just like the "non-traditional market, Thrashers. Poor ownership, recession, and terrible record all played a part. No different than all these teams and more. So no....you can't just put a team in Hamilton or any "traditional market," and it'll sell out forever.

 

[FlyguyOX]

So much for the cooler being saved, pickleball courts lol

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

View attachment 977307

So much for the cooler being saved, pickleball courts lol

Apparently, he's just getting bids and likely to keep the rink intact. That said, I do think this spells doom to Carter's bid. We'll see.

 

[dj4aces]

My point is that the area already has enough hockey fans that I don't need to convince people to like the sport. Now obviously over time I have to make sure that the product is accessible so future generations are engaged. You have to make sure the game day experience is a good one for the fans etc. However, I don't need an extensive campaign to get people to start liking hockey.

"Convincing people to like the sport" is just one of several functions of marketing a sports franchise. It may not be the function a hypothetical Hamilton team would need, but believe me, it will need marketing, just like any other franchise in any other city. I know, it's really fun to imagine that a team doesn't need marketing, but every team needs marketing. That's why every team has a marketing department.

 

[Salsero1]

"Convincing people to like the sport" is just one of several functions of marketing a sports franchise. It may not be the function a hypothetical Hamilton team would need, but believe me, it will need marketing, just like any other franchise in any other city. I know, it's really fun to imagine that a team doesn't need marketing, but every team needs marketing. That's why every team has a marketing department.

Yup, totally no teams above the arbitrary line of latitude under 100% capacity.

NHL 2024-25 team attendance at hockeydb.com

Attendance for the National Hockey League for the 2024-25 season

www.hockeydb.com