With Coyotes Moved, No Franchises Appear to be in Any Danger of Relocation 

The valuation went through the roof!

Next stop: Atlanta

^ Where the channel will be renamed to “Tha Hockey G”

Four or five times, actually. I subbed to Shannon when he was "still in the closet". At least five apartments/houses ago.

Luckily THG has always stayed in the Western Conference so the league stayed balanced during each relocation 😂

I live in the northeast but take a winter vacation every winter to Deerfield Beach. I’ve been taking my kids to a Panthers game every winter for 6-7 years, originally I could get decent seats for $15-20 on the secondary market. Wow did that change quickly over the last two years! Honestly I’m willing to pay more because the experience this year was so much better than it was 6 years ago. Vamos Gatos!

Bolts fan here, glad you guys have turned it around. Having two teams doing well in Florida is great

Do you think the Panthers would benefit from a new arena or the Sunrise one is fine? It's cool to see Florida being constantly good, give them reasons to and people will show up

@@leandroramos3041 - I’ve seen debates on hockey boards about this, one school of thought is moving closer to Miami would improve attendance. The other is they’ve been in Sunrise so long their fan base is more Ft Lauderdale/Palm Beach, and those fans would be less likely to haul down to Miami for games. Completely anecdotally here, but my friends in south Florida that go to games now love parking for free at the mall, getting dinner and drinks and walking to the game. Almost certainly they wouldn’t go to games in Miami, they all say they’ll watch the Heat on TV but won’t fight traffic to go to their games. Which I understand, I took my kids to one Heat game and decided I’d never do that again.

@@MrCusefan44 completely agree

I heard they were considering calling it "Gordie Howe Arena" after he passed away.. but kept the current name

From what I've read and seen Dolan and the city govt. do not get along at all.

Was about to comment this, so thank you for beating me to it.

@@HanSwanson the city government can suck a fat one, go rangers

Hochul floated the idea and everyone in NY had good laugh at her expense. The Rangers aren't going anywhere.

@@Desert-Father Transit is way more important than preserving a sports arena. Penn Station is already serving well over 600k people per day despite only being designed to accommodate 200k max. The station is literally a claustrophobic and dark basement that's well over 300k people over capacity. And it's impossible to do any meaningful renovations beyond aesthetics because the support beams for the arena rest on the track platforms, which are way too narrow and the terminal layout is extremely inefficient. There's a reason why all the local railroads came together and declared that MSG and Penn Station are no longer compatible.

Most Florida fans only watch when the team is at the top, retraction talk is warranted

At least move the Panthers to Miami.

Always liked the Panthers, their 00s Jerseys and logos were straight fire. Florida is not a traditional hockey market, but I see why it works. It's hot and humid outside, and what better way to cool off than to go watch some hockey in a cool arena.

@@lelouchvibritannia4028 i live in Miami and have to make a 45-90 min drive (depending on traffic) to make it to the arena. Despite that I am still a STH. I would hate it if the team moved (back) to Miami. The city has horrible traffic infrastructure. Chances are it would take just as long to get to the arena and ticket prices would double or triple. You would definitely get more away fans in the arena due to the larger airport and the entire team itself (management, players, etc) have taken on Ft Lauderdale as home. The Cats are Browards team. Dont move them to Miami. I can see them moving east to downtown Ft. Lauderdale, but not to Miami.

@@johnnybaxter1953thats just not true lol. Florida just happens to have quite alot of sports to watch, not only hockey. So the sports dollar is obviously spent between a couple leagues atleast per fan

And that’s why even when all three teams were good at the same time, Rays were far less supported than Lightning and Bucs. It’s not the fans, it’s the accessibility.

Seeing TB Ray's fans complain about location I was like "fuck outta here"...and then I saw the location on a map of Tampa and I was like "oh! Why the fuck is it all the way out there!?".

@@TheBalloonHoax and to think they seriously considered putting a new baseball stadium within trolley distance of lightning stadium and were shot down. St pete politics is a mess. It will get interesting for the rays as 2027 approaches when the contract with the city expires

The Rays feel far more likely to move than the Lightning at this point.

Tampa should be the blueprint for how to establish a "non-conventional" hockey market. The consistent on ice success might be hard to replicate, but everything else from the arena, the location, the branding, the ticket options, and the ownership has been done really well.

True North has invested way too much much into the area around the arena for them to let that happen. Its been a rough year for the economy and with Winnipeg being a smaller market it’s much more noticeable attendance wise

The Jets should be able to fill that arena without a problem, but it has been a problem. Why? They had 110 pts this season and still couldn't fill a 15K arena, it averaged under 14K. If it is the economy, then that's really even more concerning. If it doesn't change, then in a couple years, the owners might be forced to consider relocation. Remember, players get paid based on total league revenue and were the ones pushing to get the Coyotes out of Mullet.

Buffalo sports fans are pretty committed to their teams.

They've been improving as of late and been so close to making it to the playoffs. It helps that they're not playing like trash like they've were in the last last decade.

I imagine some traveling toronto fans bumped that number this year

@@brandontownsend2756 leafs fans come here every season, attendance went up this year because we were optimistic from how close we got last season and we didn't go on ugly 5+ game losing streaks this past season

They need to start making the playoffs again. Thirteen years is a long dry spell.

scotiabank pays the leafs 40 million to put that name up there . its why the leafs are worth what they are . you can still visit the maple leaf gardens except its now a loblaws . history is great and all . but i dont miss the washroom peeing in a trough thing they had going on . or the lines at intermission . being a habs fan i can always visit the forum . history is sometimes better off left behind for a new building with bigger restrooms concessions comfortable seats and good parking . thats just my opinion though .

I miss Joe Louis Arena because Little Caesars Arena is such a garbage name.

For a few years in the CHL they called the Memorial Cup "The Mastercard Memorial Cup" and it felt so gross and so cheapened every time I heard that

Loved the Oilers v Van series in Rogers Place vs. Rogers Arena… wish we still had names like the Coliseum

@@weaverproject me too man. Yes the LCA is much nicer, but man the name is so much worse

The name itself makes up the money. Enough concerts and other events happen and it has the prestige and history to draw in crowds.

They have more sponsors than any other team, but they will not cheapen the name of the Arena, its that simple.

@@Andrew_Holt doesn't matter how you slice it, MSG Entertainment Corp are the owners of the Rangers and the Arena. They many other properties also.

Technically, Chase is the sponsor. In terms of name though, MSG has not sold naming rights. A rare case in America but since MSG is the most famous arena in the world, it’s more effective to not sell the rights. Europe doesn’t do this which is why names of stadiums are much cooler and authentic and unique. Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford, Goodison Park, Anfield, Nou Camp, Santiago Bernabeu, Wembley etc. I believe the only other stadium in American sport is Yankee Stadium as they are the Yankees, and Fenway Park as well despite Fenway Sports group being a thing.

The truth is it is not just the number of people in the market but also the income level , Utah has a big one.

..and it's hockey country compared to Arizona.

If the Arena is in a perfect spot, they will just keep refurbishing. Just like MSG and the Toronto Arena. Those will never move.

@@STONE69_ I think it's very likely that MSG is moved in the next decade. The city really wants that land and a new MSG built somewhere else.

@@HanSwanson Where would they put it? out in the boonies? Location is important and the land is now owned by MSG. So fk that corupt City

Do they still have that shark aquarium that was featured in the show Tanked a few years ago?

I love the shark tank, feels like home, flaws and all. Although I do also love the Oakland Coliseum, that’s my level of standard

To be fair, most of the arenas in use right now were opened between 1995-2000, a lot of those specifically in 95 (like Kiel/Savvis/Scottrade/Enterprise) or 96. But yeah, they've done a good job maintaining the building and fixing issues that resulted from people cutting corners on the original construction.

It was the first modern "replacement" building, setting a new standard which led to a massive wave of brand new arenas throughout the league... Toronto, Montreal, Buffalo, Vancouver, Chicago, etc quickly followed suit... eventually, every team that was formed prior to the expansion of the 90s built a new barn (if you include MSG's massive renovation), leaving only Calgary obligated to catch up. It's a shame the NHL didn't jump on the opportunity to expand the ice surface to 90 ft wide.

It's not going to happen. The Governor tried to float the idea last year and everyone had a good laugh at her expense.

I am 100% sure they will be leading the pack next expansion

Just move the Jets to Houston. Problem solved.

@@lelouchvibritannia4028Don’t forget it please 😢

@@lelouchvibritannia4028 no. Move the Pens to Texas

@@lelouchvibritannia4028 Nah Jets deserve to stay put

Only the roof is original. The rest of the arena was built between 2018-2021

@@CDNSpartan The hockey layout in the original setup was AWFUL.

that’s what happens when you have almost a decade of no playoffs.

ok, now I need to see a video about all the stadiums centering on urinal capacity. How many gallons of urine per stadium, per hour? lol

Dilapidated 😅

@@jcoats5529 OMG! Doh! Thanks for catching that. Kinda funny. I went back to correct my spelling, and found out that my spell-checker kept changing it back to "decapitated". Bloody AI!

The Knights have the LTIR mafia.

They do … and the NHL wants him in their club that’s for sure ..

The David Thomson fortune was THE reason the NHL returned to Winnipeg.

@@FischerFan probably had a lot to do with it .

I'm not counting the velodrome @ Madison Square as part of this building's current history, much less the building before it that didn't have a roof...

That would be like that Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets Bobcats Pelicans name changing mess in the NBA

Not really. The free money for billionaires scam is alive and well.

As more and more municipalities say ‘no’ to public funds for stadiums, the ‘give us a new arena or we’ll move’ threat will lose efficacy.

The thing is, it's easier to justify a 20k arena that you can put lots of types of events in versus the quirks of a baseball stadium or the size of a football stadium.

There are more to the deals than just taking public money. Often times the city gets part of the operation revenue generated by the arena too, and they also get to ensure the taxes stay in the city. Public never want to fund these buildings, but that doesn't mean they don't benefit from them. I'm sure some are more beneficial than others

Definitely.

Prior to that, they were in Kansas City for a whopping TWO years! They lost a MLB franchise not even a decade prior to that, and they've also since lost an NBA team! The current baseball team is dealing with stadium issues. Yet, for some reason, people are suggesting the NHL should return to this already over-saturated market.

I've been thinking that Columbus should be renamed OHIO BLUE JACKETS... to represent the entire state, like Colorado, Minnesota, Utah, Carolina, & Florida. I just think that, for the time being, "Columbus" sounds obscure in the professional landscape of pro sports. (Apologies for the implied diss on what I hear is actually a growing, vibrant city.)

Keep dreaming Not gonna happen

They can't..they just signed a lease for another 25 years they ain't going nowhere

Oof. Idk about college sports, Knoxville gets lit every Saturday in fall.

It wasn't always that way, the Preds were involved with relocation rumors around 2007 like to Hamilton

Chicago stadium has a smaller rink size, the neutral zone was shorter, They were grandfathered in

No way

They could allow it if Buffalo Sabres moved to Toronto. If Buffalo never achieves success, it's possible they take a mediocre franchise with poor success into a hotter market but without adding a 3rd team in that close proximity. Probably never happen but it's the only way I se T.O getting a 2nd team

The Kraken are thinking of changing it to the Maxi Tampon Arena

It is a name made entirely of cringe.

No it isn't

Winnipeg wasn't just some reporters writing about it. One of the team owners came out and said that their recent low attendance was a concern.

Regarding MLB, focusing just on the A's and White Sox overlooks the push baseball is having to improve minor league facilities and just how many baseball teams are quietly suggesting relocation...

The original Penn Station was breathtaking, tearing it down was a huge mistake by your city, strange time.

Not going to happen. I'd bet for every one person you'd find for it, you could find two more against. The Rangers aren't going anywhere.

@@Desert-Father never said it was going to happen. Point was, there are folks that would love to see it happen

ReThinkNYC wants to move the arena one block to Herald Square, which honestly be a win for everyone. We finally get Old Penn Station back and hopefully Hotel Pennsylvania back as well along with it, with MSG right across the street from it, on Broadway no less. There are literally no down sides to that proposal.

@gabetalks9275 Other than destroying an iconic arena, pissing off millions of Ranger and Knick fans, destroying the political career of any politician who approves the project and costing the city millions... "no down sides"...

Celebrini will change everything, trust me. I’m from the Bay, and if you haven’t been feeling the buzz of the Sharks having the 1st overall pick, idk what to tell you. Haven’t seen this much excitement about the sharks in half a decade.

Sharks season ticket holder from the beginning at the Cow Palace here, and I share your concerns. The arena is aging and needs to refurbished. The Sharks are already hinting to the City of San Jose that an arena update is needed. That alone would not be the reason to move the Sharks. Hasso wants to win and does not like to lose money. If the rebuild takes too long and the Sharks stay at or near the bottom of the Pacific Division, attendance will continue to wane and the franchise will keep losing money. This could lead Hasso to sell the team. Fortunately, there are a lot of rich people in Silicon Valley that may get together to purchase the franchise. It happened before. Celebrini, Smith and other young guns will help but the Sharks defense needs to be totally rebuilt and the pipeline is not outstanding. Grier’s use of cap space over the next couple of years, together with the development of the young guys, is critical for the Sharks to get competitive. If the rebuild fails things could get dicey for the Sharks in San Jose.

The Bay Area has also lost some population since the pandemic. In addition I read somewhere that the original season ticket holders of the team have been priced out and have moved away from the area. One frustrating thing about the team that despite the fact that it has long been the only Northern California team, they haven’t really marketed themselves outside of Silicon Valley that much.

@@aldrintheleo I've been a fan since day one. This team needs more than one player but I agree it's a huge potential step in the right direction. My point was that this needs to be a quick turnaround as I fear if Hasso sells this could lead to a new owner moving the team.

i seriously doubt they leave the bay area

Huge growth here in Columbus too so the new folks moving in have been attending games casually and not as fans

@@Jalreal that's a good point too. It's really a perfect situation for the Blue Jackets. No way they're leaving.

That’s a factor too Like the discussion of putting an NhL / NBa / or more likely MLB team in northwest or central Arkansas. You’d pull the whole stste / region in and there’s no professional competition

as the city has grown, it’s also benefiting the jackets and the crew. ohio state doesn’t have as big of a stranglehold on the city as it did 20 years ago.

Cleveland's AHL team the Monsters are drawing very well. 10K per game should be getting the NHL's attention. They are about to start the Eastern finals against defending Calder Cup champ Hershey (2nd in AHL attendance at just under 9,500). They can expand their arena for hockey to over 18K. The NHL didn't work before, mainly because of the arena being in Richfield, and a bad lease.

Notice how those who are hoping for Winnipeg to move conveniently ignore this fact!

The Mecca of combat sports

Same was true for Maple Leaf Gardens, but eventually arenas need to be totally redone. In 50 years it's hard to believe any arena could still be used. People now talk about an arena getting old after 20 years

@@Buffalosabskis the only people who do this are those wanting to build new arenas

@@Buffalosabskis But (I’m pretty sure) maple,leaf gardens didn’t have all the multi sport history Madison square garden does

@@Buffalosabskis not saying your wrong or that leaf’s garden is bad but it’s no where near the same level as msg or the forum (I refuse to call it crypto arena)

@@RJM1693 Not really, i has 2m in a 2h drive

@@RJM1693 very good points but.. you add a french tv deal with the english one helps. Also yeah all the American cities you named are bigger but the comparaison with winnipeg is not the best, Manitoba as a whole has like 1.3m pop, the province of Qc had 9m, plus the fans of any other nhl teams in the maritimes will have access the nhl hockey when their team will be in town.. I get your point but still

@@RJM1693 Yeah they Created TVA Sports to be the Nordiques channel in like 2011. Only time will tell

It would be nice if they manage what was done with the old & new Busch stadium where they are mostly on the same lot.

Bullshit lived in South Florida for years this is said all the time

How the hell can we get all these new teams and not support the Blues? The Battlehawks had the top attendance in their league. The MLS team is doing great soon.

Other than Ralston Purina's circus, when did the league step in to save the team? And what has current ownership done to anger fans? Stillman is by far my favorite owner.

@@fantasticvoyage262 It wasn't talked about much, but when Bill Laurie abandoned the team, the NHL basically did the leg work to keep the team running until they could find someone else (Checketts). I was talking with someone who worked with the team (I can't remember what he did, but it was very low level), and he essentially told me that most people don't realize how close the city got to losing the team. He also wasn't complimentary of Checketts. But even outside of that, there was the owner after Purina who was so broke that he yelled at Federko for giving his stick to a fan. As for the current ownership, it's more on the financial side, and fans of Canadian teams would probably give us all "boo hoo," But essentially, they've been getting cheaper & cheaper with season ticket holders, raising prices and reducing benefits, often with frankly obvious tactics. I had the cheapest seats this past season, 20+ year STH. They created a new price category, so my seat went up 50%, so I had to move sections. They also tried to trick people into signing 3 year deals so they'd have a chance for winter classic tickets. If you try to move down a category or reduce the number of games in that 3 year span, you're out all that $. And with how bad the team is, the only reason they got full houses last year is that STHs were still finishing up the last 3 year plan, so they were selling most tickets at well below their cost to get rid of them

@@OWlsfordshire $$ - You can get into the dome for $20 and there's what, 5 home games? The big teams on Saturday nights, yeah the Blues have an easy time selling out. A random Tuesday night in March against Columbus when you've already been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs? Those are the hard sells, especially when the lowest average STH price is $35/game (Blues shoot once, up top, 3 year deal, no fees included). Add in TM fees for non plan holders? No one wants to pay $60/ticket for a meaningless game for 2 bad teams. I get that this is nothing compared to most of the league, but a lot of the fanbase is too cheap or poor to pay the prices that Canadians pay. With our goalies this past year keeping the team competitive and a bigger STH base (from contracts signed after the cup win), attendance didn't suffer last season. But I worry that their game plan is to over-rely on their goalies another season and wait for their prospects to mature. Too many things could go wrong and make this team unwatchable.

@@woodsie22 Despite Laurie dumping the team, I don't believe there was ever any real danger of the team leaving. At that time, they had only been at the then called Savis Center for a decade. And when new arenas get built, teams don't sign short term leases to stay there. They had a long playoff streak up until right after the lockout. So attendance was excellent up until that point. The league wasn't going to let them leave. I'm sorry to hear that about the season ticket plans. I wouldn't like how that was handled either. I applaud you for your dedication. Are you going to the Winter Classic?