[The Boy Wonder]

Originally Posted by New Era

Calgary as a baseline? Metro population 1.246M. GDP of $91.5B. Strong hockey tradition, no doubt, but that is flagging. Are there other markets in the west? Sure there are.

There's Houston. Metro population 6.313M. GDP of $526B. Home of the NBA's Rockets. Natural rival for Dallas.

There's San Diego. Metro population 3.317M. GDP of $220.6B. Kind of a forgotten city for sports. Natural rival for the west coast teams, especially Anaheim, Los Angeles, Arizona, and Las Vegas. Has a hockey tradition with the Gulls.

There's Portland. Metro population 2.389M, CSA of 3.111M. GDP of $157.8B. Home of the NBA's Trailblazers. Natural rival for the west coast teams, especially Seattle. Has a hockey tradition with the Winterhawks.

There's Kansas City. Metro population 2.159M, CSA of 2.428M. GDP of $125.6.B. Home of the NBA Thunder. Natural rival for St. Louis. No real hockey tradition, other than the failed Scouts from the 1970's.

There's Austin. Metro population 2.056M. GDP of $119.9.B. Natural rival for Dallas. No real hockey tradition. Team would be the only show in town after UofT football.

There's San Antonio. Metro population 2.454M. GDP of $108.9.B. Natural rival for Dallas. Minor league hockey tradition.

All of them bigger than Calgary, with greater GDP, and more thriving economies. Then there are the Calgary sized markets.

There's Salt Lake City. Metro population 1.153M, CSA 2.467M. GDP of $71.451B. Home of the NBA's Jazz, and college sports. Has a hockey tradition with minor league and college teams. Past Olympic host city as well.

There's Oklahoma City. Metro population 1.373M. GDP of $72.B. Home of the NBA Thunder. Natural rival for Dallas. No real hockey tradition.

Both bigger than Calgary in population, but smaller economically. Both have NBA teams that they could leverage to bring in a team as another revenue stream for their building.

There are other locations in the west, and just as good or better than Calgary in many regards. Remember the narrative here saying what a bad market Seattle was and they wouldn't draw flies? Remember the narrative saying it wasn't a patch to Calgary? Remember when the narrative was that there would be no season ticket holders? 10,000 deposits in 12 minutes sure kicked that narrative in the nuts. 25,000 deposits for the day certainly destroyed that narrative. So please, keep trying to convince yourself, and creating a false narrative, that there are not other viable cities, cities with better economies on scales much larger than Calgary, that are suitable locations for team relocation.

Ultimately the more and more I see the economic situation in Canada and in the oil and gas industry as a whole the more I question whether Calgary is long term viable or if we are heading for a long bleak economic recession and exodus as capital flees this province and country as there are better opportunities to build and make money outside of Canada and especially for the O&G industry as it is impossible for the governments in this country to get out of their own way.

All that was to say that I don’t think the team leaving is really that far fetched and I think if a Phoenix arena deal gets done, Calgary becomes the number 1 candidate to move to Houston and I believe it will happen. Not sure if Murray would ever sell but I can see how it would make economic sense for him.