I know I haven't been posting much lately, but it is precisely because other posters, such as NMK, are doing a fabulous job explaining Nashville fan's thoughts and opinions....so........what he said ^.
"No, we don't want you to buy the team if you're going to move it to a place where it's profitiable. Especially us smaller teams who benefit from revenue sharing!"
The BOG will approve the sale. No question about it.
It makes NO sense to move an established team to KC when they would be thrilled to pay a big dollar expansion fee and take a brand new team, and there is no guarantee that they'd draw any better than Nashville. Plus, the arena revenue flows aren't that great there, anyhow, as we in Pittsburgh were educated about them ad nauseum. The suites are sold right NOW, but the hockey history there is no more solid than it was in Nashville when the team first got there.
Makes no sense at all. Ontario, on some level, makes sense, but not KC.
Given your scenario, I'd go the opposite - it would be better to move an established contending team to a suspect market where it would be immediately supported than to grow through the normal expansion growing pains. Then give an expansion team to S. Ontario where they will wait for the team to develop.
But again, I still maintain that the league is better off long term keeping the team in Nashville AND not expanding/relocating to S. Ontario.
The league needs to continue to grow new fans, not divert existing ones.
This is actually a fear of mine. I'd rather they sell it to the snaky guy with no arena and the desire to move the team to a place the NHL doesn't want to go...than say...AEG in KC. If THEY get the team, they HAVE the arena, an owership GROUP and the league would have no problem moving there. This could be bad news.
Yes, having Balsillie get the team is the better of 2 evils.
The league needs to continue to grow new fans, not divert existing ones.
The leagues planting rose bushes in the shade, don't you think?
Yes there is room to grow the league, but not in areas where people A) do not care about hockey at all, or B) can't play hockey
you grow hockey by getting youth interested and playing the sport. they are the ones who go on to buy tickets later in life and watch on tv, buy merch, etc. You need to garner interest in the sport itself if you intend to grow the sport and increase a fanbase. You can't do this in Nashville. It's failed, time to move on.
...maybe when Raleigh moves they can try this "growing" experiment in a market that has potential, but for now "diverting fans in Southern Ontario" will at least be taking the profitable route rather than leading this franchise out to slaughter (e.g. KC, Vegas, etc.)
The leagues planting rose bushes in the shade, don't you think?
Yes there is room to grow the league, but not in areas where people A) do not care about hockey at all, or B) can't play hockey
you grow hockey by getting youth interested and playing the sport. they are the ones who go on to buy tickets later in life and watch on tv, buy merch, etc. You need to garner interest in the sport itself if you intend to grow the sport and increase a fanbase. You can't do this in Nashville. It's failed, time to move on.
...maybe when Raleigh moves they can try this "growing" experiment in a market that has potential, but for now "diverting fans in Southern Ontario" will at least be taking the profitable route rather than leading this franchise out to slaughter (e.g. KC, Vegas, etc.)
I've stood by and watched your cheerleading for Hamilton, but I won't bother anymore. You've discredited yourself.
In the time that Nashville has been in the league, youth hockey enrollment has grown from just under 100 with no organized high school lead to over 500 with a sizable league, featuring new teams each year, and 3 new area rinks. Nashville has one of the highest fan season ticket bases in the league, which would seem to dispute your "no one cares" argument. Nashville's ONLY problem, and only failure, is cultivating corporate support. It's hard to call the whole city and team a failure based on that, especially when it was finally showing signs of getting better. You had no tangible facts to base your "hockey hasn't grown" in Nashville statement--a pretty heavy statement, at that--so you took a wild guess, assuming you had to be correct. You weren't.
But I wont' debate this any further with you. Between this thread and the other, you've proven that you're too lazy to do the research to actually educate yourself, and only want to get involved to cheerlead. You're dismissed.
According to the Globe and Mail, the city of Hamilton will be the destination of the Nashville Predators if Research in Motion CEO Jim Balsillie buys then moves the franchise.
The Globe is reporting that Balsillie and the city could announce the deal after a meeting on Wednesday. This agreement would mean that the area of Kitchener-Waterloo would be out of the running for the franchise as had earlier been speculated.
Balsillie signed a letter of intent to purchase the Predators in May for $220 million US.
According to the Globe and Mail, the city of Hamilton will be the destination of the Nashville Predators if Research in Motion CEO Jim Balsillie buys then moves the franchise.
The Globe is reporting that Balsillie and the city could announce the deal after a meeting on Wednesday. This agreement would mean that the area of Kitchener-Waterloo would be out of the running for the franchise as had earlier been speculated.
Balsillie signed a letter of intent to purchase the Predators in May for $220 million US.
He has a point in that, his only other competitor was the KC group who only wanted the team for their arena. If the Nashville lease is broken next year, Balsillie will need a place to play. What his intentions are besides that are another story.
It's just too bad no local owners came up to the plate.
According to the Globe and Mail, the city of Hamilton will be the destination of the Nashville Predators if Research in Motion CEO Jim Balsillie buys then moves the franchise. - TSN.ca
I have to say, I agree with the Preds fans on this one. This would be a shame.
Now, Nashville is not that great of a hockey market, but it is hardly a failed team at this point. There would be a few teams that I would pick before Nashville to be moved as to give them a chance in the future.
I do agree with some posters that we need to stop shooting ourselves in the foot by locating to poor hockey markets, but since we are in Nashville and things have not gone so badly we ought to atleast give it a chance to work.
Moving to KC would IMHO accomplish zero, so I hope that Nashville atleast gets a chance to ride out this storm. Having an owner in Canada itching to move them to Hamilton is not a good thing though. On a side note, I also have to laugh at people saying Toronto AND Buffalo are pissed about the location idea. There are plenty of hockey fans to go around in SE Ontario to make a franchise work and allow the Leafs to sell out every game. NW New York State on the other hand....
KC? I can see it. Winnepeg or Quebec. Ok. Houston or Las Vegas - yep.
But Hamilton? LOL, the NHL can kiss goodbye its dream of ever re-emerging itself from laughingstock status, along with the WNBA and Arena Football and Poker.
Thats like the NFL expanding to Huntsville, Alabama.
KC? I can see it. Winnepeg or Quebec. Ok. Houston or Las Vegas - yep.
But Hamilton? LOL, the NHL can kiss goodbye its dream of ever re-emerging itself from laughingstock status, along with the WNBA and Arena Football and Poker.
Thats like the NFL expanding to Huntsville, Alabama.
40 % of the league's revenue comes from the 6 Canada based teams. Having another team in Canada doesn't make the league a laughing stock.
Having teams in markets in the US that ignore the sport completly does.
40 % of the league's revenue comes from the 6 Canada based teams. Having another team in Canada doesn't make the league a laughing stock.
Having teams in markets in the US that ignore the sport completly does.
Sure, if the league wants to be mentioned in the same breath as camel racing, cricket, etc. Sure, theyre big somewhere, but not in the U.S. And like it or not, that's where the money is.
You think a TV network is going to pony up any money for a league with teams in a place where 95% of the broadcast market has no idea where theyre located. You care to guess the TV ratings for a finals when Hamilton plays Calgary?
There's lots of football fans and plenty of people in Alabama - doesnt make it a good idea to move an NFL team there.
KC? I can see it. Winnepeg or Quebec. Ok. Houston or Las Vegas - yep.
But Hamilton? LOL, the NHL can kiss goodbye its dream of ever re-emerging itself from laughingstock status, along with the WNBA and Arena Football and Poker.
Thats like the NFL expanding to Huntsville, Alabama.
Is the NFL a laughingstock for having a team in Greenbay or Jacksonville? Greenbay has a far smaller metro population than Hamilton and Jacksonville is only slightly larger.
That said, I still want the Preds to say in Nashville, I just wanted to point out how stupid your argument is.
I think the BoG are going to approve the sale if only because it raises the value of their own franchise. Leipold is getting a hell of a lot of money for the Preds.
Sure, if the league wants to be mentioned in the same breath as camel racing, cricket, etc. Sure, theyre big somewhere, but not in the U.S. And like it or not, that's where the money is.
You think a TV network is going to pony up any money for a league with teams in a place where 95% of the broadcast market has no idea where theyre located. You care to guess the TV ratings for a finals when Hamilton plays Calgary?
There's lots of football fans and plenty of people in Alabama - doesnt make it a good idea to move an NFL team there.
The NHL is not the NFL. It's an international sport with several teams located north of the border, where most of the players come from and where the sport is a religion. If another team moves to Canada, it will be the talk of the country and have a buzz for the next few years.
If KC gets a team, it may make the front page of their paper.
The NHL needs Canada just as much as it needs the States. It can't survive without the other which makes it a unique sport. It can't be compared to any of the other "big 3" sports.
I think the BoG are going to approve the sale if only because it raises the value of their own franchise. Leipold is getting a hell of a lot of money for the Preds.
Ding Ding.
In the end, for these owners (and franchise owners in any sport, really), it's always all about the almighty dollar.
I think it is just brutal to see some of the cheerleading, on a Preds board, to move the team... Obviously these are very interested, true fans of the team, on this board, and I can't imagine how infuriating it must be to have to read crap about not 'deserving' their team, etc.
I understand the business reality of the situation - guy losing money, gets great offer, buyer may want to relocate to where he thinks he can be 'hometown hero' and make money to boot - but where does that make Nashville fans undeserving? From where I sit there local corporations have let them down more than anything.
I think the sniping back and forth as to why the team should move, why the team 'failed' in Nashville, throwing numbers around about attendance, etc, is music to the real 'players' (Balsille, Bettman, BoG, Preds current owner) ears - because then no one is asking them what is needed to keep the team in Nashville, and what can be done to ensure it - that is, what do they want from your city/corporations/fans? Buy more tickets? Corporate sponsorship/presence? If that question was clearly answered by the current or new owner, all this energy spent attacking each other about who 'deserves' an NHL team, who is a real 'fan' etc, could be directed to trying to really make the Preds work in Nashville!
