[Flashpoint]

Originally Posted by troutman

Dallas is struggling to sell tickets now, and tickets are cheap. Hockey is always going to be low on the totem-pole in many US cities. Will cult followings be enough?

28th in attendance:

http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance

Dallas only has 13, 000 households watching regional TV games (Flames do 300,000+ viewers, and the Canucks do up to 600,000 viewers):

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/J.../NHL-RSNs.aspx

Calgary was a ghost town after 7 years out of the playoffs. Not hard to suggest a similar thing would occur in Dallas after just 3. The ownership was in flux for two years, and there are a lot of sports options in this town (with the Mavs winning a championship and the Rangers going to the finals 2 years running there is a lot of competition for your sports dollar).

It seems an oversimplification to say it's the result of a non traditional market. A Plano kid just went in the first round. The kids on my team have grown up playing, and are now at an age where they can buy their own seasons tickets.

IMO the bottom line is winning. You win, your team is successful at the gate.