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Originally Posted by Matty81
Side show, but the bigger issue for me is Bettman's insistence on being in the top US TV markets regardless of the local interest in the sport... so incredibly tone deaf taking the if you build it they will come approach.
You have to recognize that certain markets will never be hockey towns, people have no connection to the game, kids don't play it, it's not going to happen there. They draw crowds only when the teams are dominant for short stints. And so you attract sleezy fly by night owners financing their purchases on houses of cards because anyone with any sense or ties to the local market has no interest in the sport and recognizes the investment is a dog.
You can't just look at the total population and conclude that you have to make a team work somewhere without any local interest in the industry/sport. Mexico City is bigger than any of them and no one would be stupid enough to try and put an NHL team there.
And using revenue sharing, which was originally intended to address inequities in the US and Canadian dollars, to prop up these markets like Sunrise and Glendale - I still don't know why the other owners are willing to support it.
Glendale's been highlighted because of how bad the ownership has been, but with increasing competition for entertainment dollars and traditional cable based TV dying I think in 20 years a lot of the sun belt teams will be gone unless the NHL goes full collectivist and forces pooling of all revenues/completely undermines the big markets.
Atlanta was first but Glendale, Sunrise (sorry Cali) and I also think Raleigh will be gone. Tampa's the anomaly because the team has been so good for so long but 15-20 years of inept mgmt and I think they'll be just as bad off at the box office and super isolated if the Panthers and Canes move north or west. Texas for some reason seems to be bucking the trend and maybe they can create a bit of a hockey culture in the sun like California, but will be interested to see how Houston does.
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I think your two paragraphs contradict each other in non-traditional markets being successful. If that was truly the case, then hockey shouldn't be working in California either. But as you mentioned about Tampa Bay, if a franchise can be successful, it will generate support. And although Phoenix has largely been irrelevant for their entire history, it has produced an elite level hockey player.
But it definitely is a very uphill battle, and if you don't have a period of being a competitive team, you're SOL in being able to stay.
It just feels like at this point that Phoenix is just not going to work out, and it'll be moving to either Houston (they may like hockey more now because of their current weather) or Quebec City. After Seattle starts up, those two cities are next on the queue, with Kansas City being a wildcard I suppose.