Sodboy13

Houston has an NHL-caliber arena, but no local major sports ownership has expressed serious interest in bringing NHL hockey to town.

Hartford doesn't have a suitable arena (smaller than Winnipeg's and 30 years older), nor does it have anyone with the necessary funding interested in any form of sports ownership in the market. All it has is a minor-league-caliber owner trying to ride a wave of nostalgia for all it's worth.

I'd say that's a fairly accurate ranking, though it bears noting that there's a very steep drop-off of plausibility after the first one on the list.

I could see Markham, IL as an expansion destination before Markham, ON. Hey, the Vancouver Grizzlies got courted by Dixmoor!

According to this article Markham has queue jumped Quebec as potential home for the Coyotes...

http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/43507-Campbell-Leafs-sale-is-one-step-closer-to-having-second-NHL-team-in-Toronto.html

Mmmm, that's some good baseless speculation.

Markham still ranks behind Atlanta on likely NHL relocation/expansion cities.

Cross-referencing from the NHL Season thread:

To briefly detour into "Adventures in NHL Babysitting" territory, the few Wild fans in attendance were almost as loud as the slightly more Coyotes fans, at least in their respective goal celebrations. Also, at one point they showed a camera shot of a fountain in the plaza outside the arena. As far as I could see, the plaza looked completely deserted.

10,976 announced tonight, on another $1 hot dog/soda/beer night, for a matchup of two division leaders. The ultrs-cheap food and drink is not attracting any additional butts to those seats. Now the Jobber normally has one of the highest beer prices in the league, at $8.00 for a 16-ouncer. I think I remember reading that the dollar beers are a smaller size, at 12 ounces. So for each of those dollar beers sold, the Coyotes are actually losing $5.00 in revenue, and not making up for it through additional ticket sales and accompanying additional concession and merchandise purchases.

Bill Veeck, the baseball owner/pitchman known for filling caverns like Cleveland Stadium and Old Comiskey, once said something to the effect that it didn't matter how little he charged for tickets, so long as he filled the stadium with people who would spend on concessions. The Coyotes, then, would be doing things exactly backward.

With. What. Money.

Here's a wild and crazy thought, NHL in Alaska.

You should consider watching hockey sometime. Or looking at a map.

There are too many teams that need to get their houses in order (Columbus, NY Islanders, Florida, Dallas, St. Louis) before we can start talking expansion. Also, the economy needs to get out of the dumper, and that doesn't appear to be happening any time soon. Not saying that either is a probability, but I'd say you're more likely to see fewer teams in the NHL than more by 2020.

"World's Largest Hooters."

There's a Google Image Search to keep Gary busy through lunch.

On Friday, November 25th, the Coyotes will have a "Leftover Fest" as they host the Canucks. Fans in attendance will receive promotional items left over from previous games, because the giveaway was supposed to be for the first 10,000 fans, but 10,000 fans never showed up.

@SportsMoneyBlog Mike Ozanian <BR itxtNodeId="116">Sale of St Louis Blues to Hulsizer for a reported $18o mil or so falling apart.

Blessing in disguise for my Bluenote brethren.

I'm starting to get the feeling that if you put Matthew Hulsizer's and Ice Edge Holdings' capital together, you might be able to buy the Dayton Gems.

Dollar Beer/Hot Dog/Pop/Probably Tickets Outside The Arena Saturday at the Jobber drew 13,381. I find it telling that I can't distinguish whether that's good or bad.

Jeez, why don't you broker another sponsorship agreement, ya turd.

The county was supposed to receive profit-sharing, but that happened only once, officials said.

So many municipalities finding out about the shifty bookkeeping of sports the hard way. Of course the Panthers don't make any money, as far as you need to know. Neither do the Marlins.

6,738 announced at the Jobber tonight.

On Saturday, they're undercutting what should be a money night for a middling franchise by making it $1 hot dog, pop, and beer night. Begging people to come to the arena on a weekend by offering dollar beers. Even CHL teams don't have to resort to that.

Perhaps it'll all turn around on the 10th for John McCain Bobblehead Night, which sounds like something mean I made up, but of course it's real, because OTGDCoyotes.

http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?hlg=20112012,2,158

this looks really bad get out of my league

I will say that Winnipeg vs Florida on a Halloween Monday night in Sunrise doesn't sound like the most enticing of match-ups to try and sell to the Panthers Red Zone at Lexus Ice at the BankAtlantic Center sponsored by Iams Dog Food presented by Bud Light.

But yeah that looked pretty damn bad. However, it was 11,855. Beating out Phoenix, even with the tarped upper deck.

Yeah, that's not even 11,855 if the Florida State Board of Elections is counting. That "We See Red" campaign sure makes for an easy setup. Yep, we sure do see it! On the upholstery of all your empty seats!

For what it's worth (damn little, as it turns out!), Mockba walked up to the BankAtlantic Center for this game and scored a $260 seat on the glass for $50. From the box office.

Announced attendance tonight in Glendale was 6,948. Eagerly awaiting photographic corroboration.

The Rangers and Cowboys notwithstanding, there's a basketball lockout. The Stars should be doing everything they can to jump on this and get people into the arena, especially when they're off to a strong start like this.

Ever since they declined to release their already-made new third jersey, which is, as we know, a license to print money, I've been convinced that whoever is running the Stars right now is tanking them. Even if the team succeeds on the ice, they seem bound and determined to make that success not translate into success on the business side.

The worst part of that picture is that we're going to be seeing it repeated a year from now, while the Stars, Blues, or Blue Jackets are filling up Le Colisee.

Last night when the Phoenix Coyotes hosted the Los Angeles Kings, the attendance was 7,128. That's probably been inflated by the league though. I thought the Coyotes said they had record number of ST holders this year?

Last season, the Coyotes had a Thursday home game against the Kings in October and drew something like 6,400. Movin' on up!

I know that a bad start can kill a team, but I fear that in Columbus, that could be literal this time around.

Decent turnout by Hawks fans for a Tuesday night in Glendale. They seem to handle the commute better than the locals do.

My issue with it remains that it's what, 40 miles from downtown? Hilariously underserved by public transportation? It's a Party Zone in the middle of nowhere, and it encourages people who go there to drive home pissed to the gills. It's a strip mall and an enabler all in one.

It's just like one of those "desert raves" from back in the nineties, only this time there's a Cabela's!

Hey, if it makes Craig James' head explode, I'm all for it.

Just found this: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=378347

Basically the NHL are giving 2 owners (one being reins died) till about early 2012,

There have probably been at least six "final and ultimate" deadlines to secure ownership since this whole debacle started. And yet, here we sit. If the NHL doesn't get their owner by early '12, they'll set a new deadline for, say, June of '12. This is known in American slang as "kicking the can down the road."

So basically we could be here till the new Quebec City Arena is built before the NHL finally gives in and works out that nobody wants the Coyotes and that they have to move on....

There used to be a time when I believed there would be a critical point reached, wherein the league would have no choice but to release the Coyotes from Glendale. That time has long since passed.

Just found this: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=378347

Basically the NHL are giving 2 owners (one being reins died) till about early 2012,

There have probably been at least six "final and ultimate" deadlines to secure ownership since this whole debacle started. And yet, here we sit. If the NHL doesn't get their owner by early '12, they'll set a new deadline for, say, June of '12. This is known in American slang as "kicking the can down the road."

Toronto regularly sell out Air Canada Centre, another team in GTA/Southern Ontario could possibly give the fans another team to cheer for, instead of waiting for the most demanded tickets in the NHL. There is obviously market for another team in that region

I don't think that follows at all.

There is great demand for Maple Leafs tickets. That doesn't necessarily mean that any other team in the area would be able to capitalize on the unmet demand.

Toronto Legacy should be breaking ground on that 30,000-seat indoor arena any day now.