To the creeps typing in “Tampa Bay Lightning” and “relocation” on the search engines:
EAST:
Air Canada Center: 18,800
Continental Airlines Arena: 19,040
Corel Center: 18,500
Fleet Center: 17,565
HSBC Arena: 18,690
St. Pete Times Forum: 19,758 ***
Bell Centre: 21,273
Madison Square Garden: 18,200
MCI Center: 19,700
Mellon Arena: 17,537
Nassau Collesium: 16,297
Office Depot Center: 19,452
Phillips Arena: 18,750
RBC Center: 18,763
Wachovia Center: 19,519
WEST
American Airlines Arena:18,000
Arrowhead Pond: 17,174
Gaylord Center: 17,500
HP Pavillion: 17,483
GM Place: 18,422
Glendale Arena: 17,500
Joe Louis Arena: 19,983
Nationwide Arena: 18,138
Pengrowth Saddledome: 17,104
Pepsi Center: 18,129
Rexall Place: 17,100
Savvis Center: 19,260
Staples Center: 18,500
United Center: 20,500
Xcel Energy Center: 18,834
(***listed as 19,500 on certain sources and higher on others)
So St. Pete Times Forum is as larger than all but Four arenas. No one is going to start talking relocation with the Blackhawks because they can’t sell out the United Center. No one is going to talk about relocating Washington besides the Ultra-Traditionalist crowd that hates Hockey south of the Mason-Dixon line. No one is going to talk about the Red Wings empty seats during the playoffs, and no one is going to argue that Montreal will pack the arena regardless of price or quality of the team on ice.
So, the Lightning draw 18,500 to a game and people start talking about relocation. People hear the Lightning didn’t sell out with an announced crowd of 19.457 in attendance and they think southern hockey is a failure and this is further proof.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: You guys are completely full of shit.
Why is Ice Palace / St. Pete Times Forum so big anyway? Because of Thunderdome and drawing 27 Thousand on good nights during the NHL season. Because of 28 thousand at a playoff game versus a certain team that faces off against Tampa tomorrow. I don’t want to call us victims of our own popularity but it would seem the areas sports passion and loyalty hurt us when we moved from the baseball stadium to the Arena venue.
Enough about the attendance shit. If you ant to talk about the Tampa Bay Lightning or find out about the team, it’d be best for you to look up something that matters – like our record, like the amount of points the team carried through the playoffs, like our phenomenal plus/minus sus far, or the fact the team has gone 8-1 in 9 playoff games through 2 rounds – which is unheard of.
