Quote:
Originally Posted by wjhl2009fan
I really don't know if having a smaller league with bigger markets would get people really interested in if you look around the chl most of the top support market are smaller size citys.
|
Some of the bigger markets draw well. But I agree, at least in the WHL the most rabid fans tend to be in the smaller markets. Take teams like Saskatoon and Regina. You'd assume that in cities of those size you'd have no problem getting good sized crowds (selling out in Regina and 7-8,000 in Saskatoon) but they tend not to.
I grew up in Saskatoon and the Blades were always a spur of the moment decision to go see them. I followed them casually, but not to the point where I wanted to go to every game. I hate to say it, but I am not the atypical sports fan either. I follow most sports and watch tons of games on television and drive out of my way for a game. The problem with the Blades is that they don't promote the games as must attend events nor are the games anything more than the hockey. My opinion reflects a good portion of fans in Saskatoon. If the Blades pumped up their stars and let people know more about the team, you might attract more fans.
I actually attended a Blades/PA Raiders playoff game this year. You could tell that the Raiders are a big thing in Prince Albert. They had a few bus loads of fans who came down for the game and were chanting and cheering loudly for the first part of the game. They quieted down since the Blades were killing them in that game, final score was 8 to 1 for the Blades. Not that I support this type of crowd involvement, but the Raiders fans took things personally when Blades fans said things and it caused some crowd problems. My point is that this is the type of support the small cities get compared to the big cities.
The Hitmen and Giants draw well. In Calgary, I think it is that Flames season ticket holders are given some free tickets for the Hitmen, so its one of those cases of I paid for it, so I should use it. In the Giants case, they have done well for promoting themselves and positioning themselves as the anti-Canucks, cheap, family friendly games.
However, they aren't the norm. The Oil Kings struggle with attendance in Edmonton. The Montreal Juniors moved this off-season and are the third or fourth Montreal QMJHL team to move or fold. I lived in Toronto when St. Mike's were there and they struggled with attendance. I just don't see a big city, national league doing any better.
Plus, I don't see owners jumping up to it either. The WHL is probably the closest to the idea of a national league and even then the teams only play half the teams in the other conference on the road. They travel by bus, so can you imagine a Vancouver team having to play in Halifax? The other thing is whether or not the players value education, the majority are still high school students. Playing a schedule that sees them flinging from one end of the country to the other would cause them to miss too much school. There are too much logisitcal problems with this idea.
