As much as Id love to see Cornwall get an OHL team, I’m not sure if it was Brampton.
Nothing has changed as far as attendance, and Mr. Abbott has always maintained he doesn’t mind loosing a little (in his world it is a little lol) money.
Thus far I haven’t really seen any reason to suggest that any team is moving other then the same speculation that we always see, which never seems to come to fruition.
Now if we want to talk an Expansion team, that be something I would love the league to look at, but to this point it doesn’t seem to be on the forefront either.
As much as Id love to see Cornwall get an OHL team, I’m not sure if it was Brampton.
Nothing has changed as far as attendance, and Mr. Abbott has always maintained he doesn’t mind loosing a little (in his world it is a little lol) money.
Thus far I haven’t really seen any reason to suggest that any team is moving other then the same speculation that we always see, which never seems to come to fruition.
Now if we want to talk an Expansion team, that be something I would love the league to look at, but to this point it doesn’t seem to be on the forefront either.
I really can't see expanson when you have so many teams with attednace issues.
Although attendance is always an issue I don't think a team in Cornwall would have any impact on any other OHL team's attendance due to Cornwall's location. The only question is whether Cornwall could/would support a Jr A team and an OHL team, and it is unlikely they could.
I really can't see expanson when you have so many teams with attednace issues.
Its only an issue if the owners see it as an issue.
In Mississauga, Melnyk seems content. Dont forget that the losses he gets in Mississauga offsets profits that his other businesses, thus putting him into a better tax situation.
In Brampton, Abbott has more money then we all could ever dream of. Any losses he gets are a drop in the bucket for him. Hes not moving anytime soon.
Its only an issue if the owners see it as an issue.
In Mississauga, Melnyk seems content. Dont forget that the losses he gets in Mississauga offsets profits that his other businesses, thus putting him into a better tax situation.
In Brampton, Abbott has more money then we all could ever dream of. Any losses he gets are a drop in the bucket for him. Hes not moving anytime soon.
While yes its partly how owners see it but aslo the league are they going to expand into markets that don't support major jr i have seen coments where people want teams in Markham and Hamilton i just don't think that would be a smart move at all.Going into Cornwall & North Bay is a bit different and i would think going into to these areas may work as expanson teams even going into ny state may be a smart move at this time.
Its only an issue if the owners see it as an issue.
In Mississauga, Melnyk seems content. Dont forget that the losses he gets in Mississauga offsets profits that his other businesses, thus putting him into a better tax situation.
In Brampton, Abbott has more money then we all could ever dream of. Any losses he gets are a drop in the bucket for him. Hes not moving anytime soon.
I was at Brampton on Sunday and Scott Abbott took his usual box beside the media guys. He is steadfast with his plans to make Brampton the Battalion home but I have begun to see things different, how long can he absorb losses like this if an opportunity started him in face with 4,000 fans every game. Cornwall would make 4,000 per game easy and London game aside the Brampton team are drawing nothing like 1150, 1300 maybe in sold tickets....with 900 coming out. Same in Missy and word has it Melnyk wants to unload the Majors or move them closer to Ottawa. Abbott has money but it's small potatoes when compared to big money guys nowadays and board games and not hot anymore. They drew well on Sunday with London around 2600 but the attraction of 4,000 per game might make him think twice.
I was at Brampton on Sunday and Scott Abbott took his usual box beside the media guys. He is steadfast with his plans to make Brampton the Battalion home but I have begun to see things different, how long can he absorb losses like this if an opportunity started him in face with 4,000 fans every game. Cornwall would make 4,000 per game easy and London game aside the Brampton team are drawing nothing like 1150, 1300 maybe in sold tickets....with 900 coming out. Same in Missy and word has it Melnyk wants to unload the Majors or move them closer to Ottawa. Abbott has money but it's small potatoes when compared to big money guys nowadays and board games and not hot anymore. They drew well on Sunday with London around 2600 but the attraction of 4,000 per game might make him think twice.
I think that Melnyk moving his team to Cornwall would be the best way for Cornwall to get and keep a team. I know there are a few multimillionaires in the area, but does any of them really want to have a potential money losing team?
4000 per game in Cornwall ?? If Cornwall was drawing 4000 per game they would still have a Q or an O team. At one point they even had an AHL team but it did not last very long. No disrespect to Cornwall, but that town's financial woes over the past few years will make it difficult to support a team if the target is 4000 people per game.
I think if they were to have preseason games in the towns that they wanna look at moveing would be smart to me. i mean say you have Brampton and Missisauga play a game against a team that not a huge team but a team like Erie or Sarnia maybe even SSM . play against teams that will never move like London or Windsor to see how many fans come because you will be able to judge how many people came based on if that market will be suitible for an OHL team
4000 per game in Cornwall ?? If Cornwall was drawing 4000 per game they would still have a Q or an O team. At one point they even had an AHL team but it did not last very long. No disrespect to Cornwall, but that town's financial woes over the past few years will make it difficult to support a team if the target is 4000 people per game.
Average attendance 20 years ago was lower in every building across the board, in every league. I don't know if Cornwall could draw 4,000 a game, but saying they won't because they didn't 20 years ago is ridiculous. By that logic, the Spitfires, Knights, Rangers, 67's and Petes should all have moved in 1991 as well.
I think if they were to have preseason games in the towns that they wanna look at moveing would be smart to me. i mean say you have Brampton and Missisauga play a game against a team that not a huge team but a team like Erie or Sarnia maybe even SSM . play against teams that will never move like London or Windsor to see how many fans come because you will be able to judge how many people came based on if that market will be suitible for an OHL team
I was not really thinking about pre season games but reg season games say a team that does not do well attendance wise play 10-12 games out of there market in a way to gain some revenue.
I was not really thinking about pre season games but reg season games say a team that does not do well attendance wise play 10-12 games out of there market in a way to gain some revenue.
Or why not a team like the Ice Dogs play their one-a-year game vs the Rangers/Knights in Kitchener and London with all the profit back into the IceDogs pockets?
It works outs to 10,000 (4000 for Kitchener and 6000 for London) extra fans at 20.00 per ticket = $200,000 minus costs....say 130,000 into IceDog pockets for an out of conference games
which doesn't affect their standing too badly.
But if a team like Niagra were to have all their Pre-Season home games in the town that they are looking at moving to just to see if they can get a good Crowd for the games when most of the time 5-10 players dont play in preseason and is basically try outs. i could see them moving Niagra to a city for a Test run Season if the Arena is close to done and they dont wanna sign a new lease in Niagra
But if a team like Niagra were to have all their Pre-Season home games in the town that they are looking at moving to just to see if they can get a good Crowd for the games when most of the time 5-10 players dont play in preseason and is basically try outs. i could see them moving Niagra to a city for a Test run Season if the Arena is close to done and they dont wanna sign a new lease in Niagra
Niagara's off the board.
St. Catharines city council approved moving forward with plans for a new arena last night by a 9-3 vote. And with that, the Burkes plan to sign a 20-year lease with the new arena.
One of the problems when the team was here the first time was the seating in the Civic Complex. There used to be a "moat" around the ice surface and the fans were very disconnected to the play. The city has now rectified that and there are seats right down to ice level.
I agree with one of the posters here that it is unlikely the team could draw 4000 nightly. However, I dont think 2500 plus is possible with the 4000 plus numbers coming in the playoffs.
One of the posters said that Cornwall is experiencing financial woes...that is not the case any more. In fact, soon one of the problems here will be finding enough people to fill all the jobs in Cornwall.
It is looking less likely that there will be a team move here for next season as Abbot has confirmed he is not moving the Battalion. It would appear that Melnyk may be staying in Mississauga.
One of the problems when the team was here the first time was the seating in the Civic Complex. There used to be a "moat" around the ice surface and the fans were very disconnected to the play. The city has now rectified that and there are seats right down to ice level.
I agree with one of the posters here that it is unlikely the team could draw 4000 nightly. However, I dont think 2500 plus is possible with the 4000 plus numbers coming in the playoffs.
One of the posters said that Cornwall is experiencing financial woes...that is not the case any more. In fact, soon one of the problems here will be finding enough people to fill all the jobs in Cornwall.
It is looking less likely that there will be a team move here for next season as Abbot has confirmed he is not moving the Battalion. It would appear that Melnyk may be staying in Mississauga.
I think the OHL could work in Cornwall.
Cornwall i think is fair to say is in good shape now with more and more companys moving in i think 5-10 years from now Cornwall could be one of the best places to live so with that said i do think a team would do very well attendance wise.
Hope they would get a team, the GTA experiment just seems to not want to work, and it's weird, because Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver all seem to support their junior teams just fine alongside the NHL.
Brampton has been a depressing failure for years, and I just don't know there is much that can happen there anymore to make that team successful.
Why would they try for a Q team ? Are they even allowed to ? And would the fans really support a Q team ?
The Royals were actually a charter member of our league.
A lot of people believe that the move to the OHL (even though they lasted another 11 years) was the beginning of the end for the Royals. The Royals apparently used to draw quite a few fans from Western Québec, and they seemingly alienated most of their Québécois fans. I can't find any specific stats, but you can see that the team started struggling as soon as it moved to the OHL.
Really though, it makes sense. The closest QMJHL teams when they moved were Laval, Montréal, and Hull. That left a pretty large swath of Québec without a nearby team. People in places like Salaberry-de-Valleyfield (as far away from Cornwall as it is from Montréal and Laval) would likely have preferred to drive the hour or so to Cornwall, rather than fight Montreal traffic. Once Cornwall moved to the OHL, the Royals were playing teams and in a league where they had no history.
It also didn't help that Eastern Ontario already had two OHL teams, so they likely didn't make that many new fans. At least not enough to offset the lost Québécois fans.
I really don't know if they could re-establish themselves in the Q though... It would be nice for the Olympiques to have a team to play in Cornwall though! We would certainly make the trip down from Ottawa!
Hope they would get a team, the GTA experiment just seems to not want to work, and it's weird, because Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver all seem to support their junior teams just fine alongside the NHL.
Brampton has been a depressing failure for years, and I just don't know there is much that can happen there anymore to make that team successful.
Would love to see a team up in North Bay too.
I think you give Brampton 5 more years offer good value tickets have games at times that don't conflict with leafs games etc then see what happens.
There's nothing stopping the Q from putting a team back in Cornwall. But they'll never do it. The reason is the CHL territorial agreement. Basically, the OHL has all rights to all hockey players from Ontario, and they have told the Q that they have no intention of giving that up. So, if the Q put a team in Cornwall, they'd be fine, but teenage hockey players growing up in SDG counties would not be eligible to play for the new Q Royals without clearing OHL waivers first.
The potential ownership group that exists in Cornwall has calculated - rightly in my opinion - that the impossibility of ever having a local boy playing for the Royals would be a drain on attendance and local enthusiasm. They have themselves set on an OHL team, since the territorial agreement will not ever be changing.
