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NHL hockey returns to the 'Peg! Maybe?

Re: NHL hockey returns to the 'Peg! Maybe?

Yeah, the Leafs are hardly a fair example of fans supporting a crappy team. Lots more wealth in Toronto than anywhere in Manitoba.
 
amherstblackbear said:
Exactly.

The thing about the Maple Leafs and Knicks is that they're in Toronto and New York. Does anyone really think that a moribund franchise would have as much staying power in Winnipeg or Memphis?

Winnipeg is off to a good start, I'll give 'em that. Hopefully the franchise end up being well-run and all this talk is hypothetical.
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yeah, they're going to need to be a fairly good outfit, somewhere north of .500 and making a few playoff appearances as well.

Winnipeg small metro area hurts them, but as long as they're good, the fans will there.
 
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Re: NHL hockey returns to the 'Peg! Maybe?

They appeared to be going in the right direction this year, though it remains to be seen if that will continue in Winnipeg. In addition to building up a core, I think Pavelec has to learn to endure 60 starts a year for now.
 
Re: NHL hockey returns to the 'Peg! Maybe?

Pierre LeBrun is reporting that Rick Dudley will not be the GM in the 'Peg.
 
Re: NHL hockey returns to the 'Peg! Maybe?

Winnipeg's average ticket price is going to end up at ~ $82. Multiply that by 15,000 seats, and you get a per game average of $1.2 mil. How does that compare to the rest of the NHL?

080530_nhl_tickets_revenue.jpg


What was I saying about top-10 league revenue again?
 
Re: NHL hockey returns to the 'Peg! Maybe?

moose97 said:
Winnipeg's average ticket price is going to end up at ~ $82. Multiply that by 15,000 seats, and you get a per game average of $1.2 mil. How does that compare to the rest of the NHL?

What was I saying about top-10 league revenue again?
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I wonder where the Wild's revenue has gone since the 07-08 season.

The issue is what does revenue look like in 5-10 years if the team only has limited playoff success.

No one is swaying that it won't work now, some of us are just concerned if it will be able to work long term.
 
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Re: NHL hockey returns to the 'Peg! Maybe?

Almington said:
I wonder where the Wild's revenue has gone since the 07-08 season.

The issue is what does revenue look like in 5-10 years if the team only has limited playoff success.

No one is swaying that it won't work now, some of us are just concerned if it will be able to work long term.
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I'd be more worried 10-20 years out with limited success. The honeymoon period should last quite some time. They're pretty much guaranteed a sell-out for the first 5 years with the commitments that were required, and then throw in the folks that are on the waiting list... They are talking about only ~ 500 tickets being available to each game for non-season ticket folk, so I can't imagine that there won't be people who will still be interested in going over the next 10 years.
 
Re: NHL hockey returns to the 'Peg! Maybe?

moose97 said:
I'd be more worried 10-20 years out with limited success. The honeymoon period should last quite some time. They're pretty much guaranteed a sell-out for the first 5 years with the commitments that were required, and then throw in the folks that are on the waiting list... They are talking about only ~ 500 tickets being available to each game for non-season ticket folk, so I can't imagine that there won't be people who will still be interested in going over the next 10 years.
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Maybe, I think that fan dissolusionment is one of those things that can spril in a hurry once they lose faith in ownership/management actually being able to build a winning team. That's what has happened to the Wild in the last few seasons (I do recognize that larger economic factors also contributed).
 
Re: NHL hockey returns to the 'Peg! Maybe?

Almington said:
Maybe, I think that fan dissolusionment is one of those things that can spril in a hurry once they lose faith in ownership/management actually being able to build a winning team. That's what has happened to the Wild in the last few seasons (I do recognize that larger economic factors also contributed).
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And look at how long the honeymoon lasted here. The Wild have been largely terrible outside one play-off run back in '03. Outside that, they sold out the rink for the first ten years! In a place that notoriously spurns the NHL for college and high school hockey.

There is no doubt that things can turn very quickly. Look at the Twins - folks have gone from thinking they can win the whole thing every year to thinking they are the worst team ever (which might not be far off :p )...
 
Re: NHL hockey returns to the 'Peg! Maybe?

moose97 said:
And look at how long the honeymoon lasted here. The Wild have been largely terrible outside one play-off run back in '03. Outside that, they sold out the rink for the first ten years! In a place that notoriously spurns the NHL for college and high school hockey.

There is no doubt that things can turn very quickly. Look at the Twins - folks have gone from thinking they can win the whole thing every year to thinking they are the worst team ever (which might not be far off :p )...
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The issue with Winnipeg is that being such as small market with a small arena that they don't have the margin for error that other teams may have and that once the cracks in the fan base start to show, it could get ugly in a hurry.

I'd agree that they have a ~10 year honeymoon period, with the caveat that they will be under significantly more scrutiny then even the Wild had because they will be the only game in town in a hockey crazy market. They don't have to win right away to keep the fans, but they need to show season to season improvement in the team towards being a regular playoff contender.
 
Re: NHL hockey returns to the 'Peg! Maybe?

jmh said:
Well sure there is. The Calgary and Edmonton metropolitan areas are both over a million people, the Winnipeg metro area is under 700k. 30% less is a pretty big difference, and as far as absolute numbers it's marginally smaller than Quebec City and significantly smaller than Hartford, and significantly smaller than Buffalo which has had problems of its own. It will be the smallest market in the NHL (Edmonton is currently the smallest) and the second smallest in the big four sports leagues after Green Bay (but without revenue sharing and the huge NFL TV contracts). I hope it's successful because I think there should be more NHL teams in Canada but you can't just pretend all cities in Western Canada are the same.
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I imagine Winnipeg is the absolute last viable market in Western Canada. After that your options are Victoria, Regina, Saskatoon, Kelowna, and smaller. None of those markets crack a population of 350,000. If Canada is going to get more teams it will be Quebec City and/or Southern Ontario.
 
Re: NHL hockey returns to the 'Peg! Maybe?

BoomGoestheDynamite said:
I imagine Winnipeg is the absolute last viable market in Western Canada. After that your options are Victoria, Regina, Saskatoon, Kelowna, and smaller. None of those markets crack a population of 350,000. If Canada is going to get more teams it will be Quebec City and/or Southern Ontario.
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Hypothetically, Vancouver and Montreal could both support a second team, but that support would be something similar to the LA Clippers. Toronto itself is in a similar bind, and you don't want to go too far south of there and run into Buffalo. Maybe a northern suburb of Toronto (Kitchener?)
 
Re: NHL hockey returns to the 'Peg! Maybe?

Next stop Europe. Maybe have teams make one month-long trip (8-10 games) every year? Or just create a European NHL from scratch, allow player movement, and only meet in the Cup final?
 
Re: NHL hockey returns to the 'Peg! Maybe?

Kepler said:
Next stop Europe. Maybe have teams make one month-long trip (8-10 games) every year? Or just create a European NHL from scratch, allow player movement, and only meet in the Cup final?
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Not happening. If it was any sport, it'd be the NFL to try for two continents. One game a week and only needing to sell 8ish games gives them a serious leg up.
 
Re: NHL hockey returns to the 'Peg! Maybe?

Kepler said:
Next stop Europe. Maybe have teams make one month-long trip (8-10 games) every year? Or just create a European NHL from scratch, allow player movement, and only meet in the Cup final?
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I think the NHL should seriously try to tap the enormous market south of the border...Mexico City. :D
 
Re: NHL hockey returns to the 'Peg! Maybe?

bronconick said:
Not happening. If it was any sport, it'd be the NFL to try for two continents. One game a week and only needing to sell 8ish games gives them a serious leg up.
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The problem with the NFL is there is literally nobody on any other continent who gives a crap about the NFL.
 
Re: NHL hockey returns to the 'Peg! Maybe?

bigblue_dl said:
I think the NHL should seriously try to tap the enormous market south of the border...Mexico City. :D
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Toronto to Moscow is only a 9 hour flight. The NHL should just get rid of the US teams...
 
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