The Business of HockeyDiscuss the financial and business aspects of the NHL. Franchise sales, valuations, TV contracts, ratings, expansion, relocation, the CBA and work stoppage discussion goes here.
Would a second team in the GTA help or hinder the Toronto Maple Leafs
Would a second team in the GTA help or hinder the Toronto Maple Leafs
I was thinking about the extreme pressure the Leaf players have to deal with day in and day out during the season, and I wondered if having a second team in Toronto would make this better or worse.
I think it would take a lot of pressure off them as the media attention would be split. Obviously the leafs would still have the bigger fan base and more media but would the slack help them at all?
Pressure is a lame excuse. I'm a Leaf fan, and I don't have any problem admitting that the 2011-12 Leafs CHOKED their playoff spot away. Media or no media, this team was bound to finish 7th/8th had it been even .500 after the break. Instead, they won 8 of 29 and found a warm cozy spot in the basement.
A 2nd team doesn't change anything for the Leafs at all.
A second team won't mean more revenue or fans. It may not mean less but it definitely won't be more. Forcing them to try harder to compete helps the fans, not the Leafs.
If you want to be a successful professional athlete, you better learn to handle pressure and criticism from fans and media. Great athletes love attention, excel when the spotlight is on them and they want to play in large sport cities like Toronto.
It would hurt them because competition only hurts the weak.
A second team would have lower ticket revenues, once team #2 becomes competitive, assuming they have good management that puts reason before honour, they could have a real good rivalry and upstage the Leafs.
It would create more interest in hockey amongst the suburban youth population depending on where the team is located. Not very many minority youths are big into hockey but the thing about Toronto suburbs or a city like Mississauga adjacent to Toronto is that most of the population is a minority to begin with.
It would be good for hockey at least, I dunno about the Leafs.
I was thinking about the extreme pressure the Leaf players have to deal with day in and day out during the season, and I wondered if having a second team in Toronto would make this better or worse.
I think it would take a lot of pressure off them as the media attention would be split. Obviously the leafs would still have the bigger fan base and more media but would the slack help them at all?
Or would they just double the media coverage to handle both of them?
I think it would only hurt the Leafs, potentially drawing fans and revenues away and could you imagine if the new team made the playoffs before the Leafs did again? or even did better on the ice? That would just be a very ugly situation for the Leafs.
I firmly believe that any second GTA team would be, at best, the Clippers or, at worst, the Islanders. Which is to say, most everyone would continue to be Leafs fans except for either those from out of town or those from the city where the team is located. So no, the Leafs would still have all the expectation
I live just north of Toronto in a town with 300K residents. I can see the lineups at the Go Station (Bus/Train from the suburbs to Union Station which is attached to Air Canada Centre) just before Leaf games, I usually see around 50 people wearing Leaf jerseys waiting for the downtown bus. That's just the GO stop near my house.
If you were to put a team in Markham, which is something that has been talked about by Bob McKenzie among others (including Markham's mayor) I'm sure you would be able to fill an arena.
How it would help/affect the Leafs, no clue but I wouldnt be opposed to a team in Markham..it would just be 2 more opportunities for me to see the Rangers every year
I'm not a fan of the "spillover" teams that just play second fiddle to the primary team (a la the Clippers/Isles comparison mentioned). I think it would be less of an issue in Hamilton than it would be closer to Toronto, though.
A little competition would probably be a good thing for the Leafs in the end...but whatever team gets placed there is going to always be in the Leafs shadow...in marketing, sales, sponsorship, media coverage, fans, etc. But sure, there are easily enough hockey die hards up there to make it happen.
I think they will be like the Mets in NY. At their peak the Mets outdrew the Yankees and had more attention. When they are poorly run (like now) they get ignored. One thing about the second team is that transplants to the GTA will more likely go to Markham/Vaughn than the ACC when their teams are in town.
I think they will be like the Mets in NY. At their peak the Mets outdrew the Yankees and had more attention. When they are poorly run (like now) they get ignored. One thing about the second team is that transplants to the GTA will more likely go to Markham/Vaughn than the ACC when their teams are in town.
The Mets were born in 1962 and had an immediate fanbase of ex-Dodgers and ex-Giants National League fans who had been exiled 5 years earlier (Mets colors are Dodger blue and Giant orange for a reason) all of whom already had a built-in hatred of the Yankees.
The best a new GTA franchise could wish to be would be like the Devils in New Jersey where its taken a generation for fans to be born into being a Devils fan (and then become old enough to purchase tickets which that original Devils generation is finally reaching now) versus their parents and grandparents being Rangers fans. Rangers-Devils games in NJ are usually 75%-25% Devils fans during the Devils great years/Rangers down years. That percentage is 65%-35% Devils fans when both clubs are good. It was 80%-20% Rangers fan majority at the beginning (similar to the Clippers-Lakers in LA).
The Mets were born in 1962 and had an immediate fanbase of ex-Dodgers and ex-Giants National League fans who had been exiled 5 years earlier (Mets colors are Dodger blue and Giant orange for a reason) all of whom already had a built-in hatred of the Yankees.
The best a new GTA franchise could wish to be would be like the Devils in New Jersey where its taken a generation for fans to be born into being a Devils fan (and then become old enough to purchase tickets which that original Devils generation is finally reaching now) versus their parents and grandparents being Rangers fans. Rangers-Devils games in NJ are usually 75%-25% Devils fans during the Devils great years/Rangers down years. That percentage is 65%-35% Devils fans when both clubs are good. It was 80%-20% Rangers fan majority at the beginning (similar to the Clippers-Lakers in LA).
Everything you said was accurate. Just saying that a second team doesn't have to be second class. Especially when you factor in how much Toronto is growing. New people moving in won't necessarily be Leafs fans right away especially if they have an easier time getting tickets to the Toronto St Pats/Legacy or whatever they are called
i think a second team in toronto would make bank. don't lots of people in ontario cheer for other teams besides the leafs anyway? 3 teams in southern ontario seems unnecessary though. toronto or hamilton, but not both. just my opinion though
Don't know if a 2nd team would help or hurt the Leafs, but I would like to see someone try just for the entertainment value of seeing Bettman and the Leafs owners fight over territorial rights.
