Like I said... 14th in a city with the most popular NHL team, a baseball team, a basketball team, a football team and a soccer team.... and yet they're still in the upper half of the league for a second tier hockey team. I don't see how anyone can not think that's successful.
I got mocked when I associated that same thinking with Atlanta (not saying by you personally). Just saying.
Toronto is a leaf town, not a hockey town IMHO. To many professional hockey teams have failed or struggle in Toronto/GTA.
You're from Toronto and a fan of the Bruins yet Toronto is a Leaf town. Do you even think about the things you type before typing them? Toronto is a hockey city, period. Because Brampton wasn't successful doesn't show a damn thing when there is so hockey and every little corner of the GTA and surrounding area.
I got mocked when I associated that same thinking with Atlanta (not saying by you personally). Just saying.
It's not an excuse when you're talking about another tier 1 league. If lets say the Blue Jays are bringing in horrible attendance numbers you can't blame it on the fact that the Leafs and Raptors are there too. When you're talking about a tier 2 league still bringing in solid numbers despite all the competition it's different.
The Marlies are averaging 6,084 per game which puts them 9th in the AHL in attendance this season, and last season they averaged 5,480 per game which put them 14th. No team in the AHL averages 10,000 per game.
As for Brampton moving proves Toronto isn't a hockey town? The driving distance between the Hershey Center (Steelheads Arena) and Powerade Center (Battalion Arena) is 6.4km!!!! Too much hockey in too small an area.
Wow that's way to closeD aren't their rules preventing 2 teams that close ?
There aren't nearly enough rinks, the beer leagues suck and no one supports anything besides the Leafs.
The other thing is, the traffic. No one in the suburbs wants to do ANYTHING because the perpetual gridlock.
And lolz at blaming the immigrants... guess what, they're part of Toronto.
Most of the people I know that follow hockey don't cheer for the Leafs and I'm from Mississauga.
I'd also rather have bad beer leagues than no beer leagues at all, wouldn't you?
Like I said, because Toronto is quite the melting pot of cultures and there's more diversity in the sports being followed. People from other countries could have been following only soccer or only baseball or only basketball which takes away from the hockey town mentality.
I personally don't think Toronto is a hockey town but that's because of the huge diversity and availability in the choice of sports in Toronto. Trying to please too many people and in the end Toronto at it's core is a sports town.
There aren't nearly enough rinks, the beer leagues suck and no one supports anything besides the Leafs.
The other thing is, the traffic. No one in the suburbs wants to do ANYTHING because the perpetual gridlock.
And lolz at blaming the immigrants... guess what, they're part of Toronto.
Ignoring the fact that there are thousands upon thousands of fans of the 29 other NHL teams here in Toronto, if that's your criteria then there ain't a damn hockey city in the world.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tsnTpoint
This article is a joke, compares apples to oranges.
A prime example is Edmonton. With a lockout on Edmonton Oil Kings are averaging around 4000-6000. Are you going to tell me Edmonton is not a hockey city now? An NHL team who has finished last 3 years in a row and still sells out all their NHL games.
Its junior hockey, not near the same thrill as seeing the best in the world. Stupid article, to convince a bunch of stupid people.
Toronto isn't an OHL town, but it most definitely is a hockey town. The Leafs are obviously massive in terms of fan support, and minor hockey is thriving too. The GTHL is the largest minor hockey league in the world, and most big high schools have teams as well. The city has an absolute CRAPLOAD of indoor and outdoor rinks, growing up in downtown Toronto the vast majority of my male friends played at least house league hockey.
That's not even close to all of them, either. For example, my high school hockey team played in Bill Bolton Arena and Varsity Arena, both smack in the middle of downtown, and neither are one that list. I have lived in Toronto and Vancouver, and spent a lot of time in Montreal and Halifax, and Toronto blows these other cities away in terms of both indoor and outdoor rinks. I have to think that Toronto has easily the most indoor and outdoor rinks in the world.
Brampton is not a hockey town. Mostly made up of first generation immigrants from Asia. Toronto is a massive hockey city and mainly a Leafs city. The GTHL is the largest hockey league in the World and there are still two professional teams in Toronto; Oshawa, Mississauga and Barrie all close to the city and a whole bunch of junior A teams.
Doesn't the GTA have more players in the NHL than anywhere else in the world? Sounds like a pretty good argument to me..
Or maybe it proves that Toronto's not a junior hockey town.... or that there are already too many junior teams in the area as it is.
Yep.
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Originally Posted by hototogisu
I don't know, don't the Marlies do fairly well?
This is a similar debate amongst Habs fans who want a junior or an AHL team in Montreal. I'll always contend that Montreal isn't a hockey city, it's a Habs city.
I agree, Toronto is a Leaf town. Even the Marlies don't sell out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Go Habs Go
I think to say that Toronto isn't a hockey town is a bit ridiculous but I have noticed in the last few years people losing interest in hockey in the GTA. Personally I have friends who grew up in Toronto playing hockey, worshipping the Leafs, obsessed with EA NHL games but as we got older, many many of them started to lose interest in hockey and started to watch football, basketball...etc.
That is correct. Might be because the Leafs have sucked for eternity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neely2005
Toronto is a leaf town, not a hockey town IMHO. To many professional hockey teams have failed or struggle in Toronto/GTA.
As much as I don't the Leafs you can't say that Toronto isn't a hockey town. Despite the years of mediocre play the Leafs are still number 1.
I think that OHL teams suffer in this region because they have to compete against too many other options for the sports public's attention. Not only in terms of live events but also with events on television and specialty channels.
The death of the original Marlies OHL team in the late 1980s was really the canary in the coal mine as far as that trend is concerned. Maybe the St. Mike's Majors could have made a go of it in a better arena but the Leafs weren't interested in helping Eugene Melnyk.
As Toronto and the GTA become more multiethnic we'll see more and more players going onto higher levels of professional hockey, continuing and expanding a trend we can already see happening. It may lag by a generation or so but sports usually reflect the composition of the broader society.
