Quote:
Originally Posted by getbak
History has shown (and not just in hockey), that you need a solid local base of ticket holders to have a successful sports franchise. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are a good example from outside of hockey. They thought they'd be an easy sell with all the northeasterners who have moved to Central Florida and being in the same Division as the Yankees and Red Sox. What they discovered is that they get a bump in ticket sales when the Yankees and Red Sox are in town, but otherwise have consistently had some of the worst attendance numbers in the Majors.
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That isn't entirely true at all. The rays problem was having a non competitive team in an outdated stadium from the very start in a bad location to get to. The rays have some of the strongest local television ratings in the league. The trop was 10 years old on opening day and in stadium years that is pretty outdated.
But this isn't about baseball. I would love to go to Vegas and watch a game and I think any exposure the league can get to new American fan base the better. Casinos will prop up the team for ticket sales.