Hockey in the South

by Resolute on Feb 21, 2004 1:49 PM EST

One only has to look at the NHL's average attendance charts to see why those of us in traditional markets remain skeptical about hockey's future in the south.

Carolina dead last at 11,743. Nashville - challenging for the playoffs - at 12,506. Atlanta at 14,757, Florida at 15,543. All in the bottom half of the league officially.

And then you get into the fact that these teams - especially the Panthers - are notorious for inflating attendance figures.

As a comparison, the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL are averaging 7,330 for major junior hockey. This for players high school aged. It is concievable that Calgary, Ottawa (the OHL's 67s) and London (the OHL's Knights) all average more fans than a couple NHL team's legitimately average. Especially the Hurricanes.

With this in mind, it is becomming more and more clear to observers that the non traditional expansion movement has failed. People are remembering that the size of the city doesnt create the market size. It's the number of people willing to pay for the product. And this article suggests the pendulum is swinging back towards Canada:

So, dont be surprised if us Northerners are start acting more smug post-CBA if teams like Carolina and Florida pack up and leave markets where they were doomed to failure from the outset.

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Comments

There are a few things here that irk me with the anti-southerner movement from Canada and northern markets:

Boston, New Jersey, Chicago and other northern market draw poorly… And no alarms are beign sounded, or at least a few fans are saying “well duh!” and then using the sorry state of hockey as the excuse for it.

Then we have failed expansion — everyone should know full well the last expansion for several years should have been the Ottawa / Tampa Bay expansion. Ottawa was the resurrection of a long dormant franchise and Tampa Bay was the experiment market in the southeast US.

Unfortunately greed and incompetance overtook Gary Bettman. When Disney and H. Wayne Hizuinga came calling, expressing interest in the NHL, Gary bowed to them and owners got greedy and snatched up expansion fees.

I’m not saying Hockey doesn’t belong in the south at all – but some of the moves that were made by the league are more troubling than low attendence in the markets that the game is now played in. You talk about the WHL Hitmen drawing well — what about the ECHL Everblades in Estro, Florida? They have averaged 6,370, 7,120, 7,086, 6,619 and 6,245 between 1998 and 2003… That’s not too shabby for not only southern hockey but MINOR LEAGUE southern hockey (by comparison, the Pensacola Ice Pilots — Tampa Bay’s ECHL affiliate — have averaged 6,105, 5,029, 4,115, 3,808 and 3,586 a season over that same span).

If the NHL went with a slow-burn move into the south (IE allowing the Stars move, allowing the Jets move, allowing Tampa to progress in the Southeast without Miami coming into the league the very enxt year, etc) things might be better. When expansion did come again – sound moves would have helped (Atlanta is a terribly fickle sports town, as is Miami).

by John F on Feb 21, 2004 1:49 PM EST reply actions