Quote:
Originally Posted by valo403
Attendance dips everywhere when teams struggle, it won't be any different in New Jersey. The old arena was a dump nobody wanted to travel to, and the new one is in an area that people seem to be taking a while to warm up to. Overall attendance isn't great, but it's not that bad and there's a pretty solid corporate base in place.
|
Up until this season, where attendance was up across the board because of the shorten season, they haven't fluctuated all that much. Staying around the 15,000 mark. And they won the Cup in 2000, lost in finals in 2001 and won again 2003, it's not like they haven't been good. Yet even those seasons and the seasons after they were struggling to hit that 15,000. The new arena is nice, but it's like 10 minute difference, isn't it? And that could be 10 minute extra. If they haven't been able to find a huge market place when they've literally been one of the best teams over the last couple decades, why will they start now? I wont bet against Lou but things don't look especially hopeful for the team on the ice right now.
You're right that those other markets don't really offer much more, other than maybe Quebec, but I don't think the Devils market is good at all. A little drought and they become the next Thrashers/Coyotes/Islanders/Penguins with relocation speculation all the time in my opinion.