Hockey’s Stubborn Sunbelt Stand

By | January 25, 2010 | Hockey | 3 Comments

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About the author
Despite being a rather unathletic child who was usually picked last for kickball, got pneumonia the first (and only) time she joined a soccer team, and didn't really learn to hit until her 6th season of softball, LoriHC decided in high school that she was going to be the first female coach in the NFL. Well, ok, that didn't happen, but she *does* coach a fantasy football team every fall, and she learned to play ice hockey at age 31 (surprisingly, she's still improving at age 40). Thanks to a nomadic existence, Lori is a Red Sox fan, a San Jose Sharks fan, a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, and a Tiger Woods fan. There was a brief flirtation with the Boston Celtics in 8th grade, but Lori's interest in basketball is now limited to when the University of Georgia women's team makes the NCAA tournament. She enjoys golfing with her husband, but she'd rather watch golf and play hockey than watch hockey or play golf. Lori can also be found at avocado8 and The Ice Hockey Escapades.

3 Replies to Hockey’s Stubborn Sunbelt Stand

  1. GoonSquadSarah says:
    January 25, 2010 at 2:46 pm

    As a former Floridian I say that, yes, Florida needs two teams. I also say this, The Lightning really needs better PR.

    There are many people in the south that are passionate about hockey, it isn’t their fault that it doesn’t actually get cold. And Florida is a huge state. If you live in Pensacola and want to see the Panthers play that is a 10 hour drive at least. You’d have a shorter trip going to a Dallas Stars home game.

    BUT, 30 teams is a lot. There are three teams in the state of New York, no? How many in California?

    Not being able to make payroll is just bad management. Maybe we should pay players slightly less millions. Or charge $10 a beer.

  2. GoonSquadSarah says:
    January 25, 2010 at 2:49 pm

    Understand, I’m not giving YOU a hard time (well, except for the Florida thing).

    There are 30 teams in Major league Baseball, 30 in the NBA and 32 in football.

    Maybe the NHL needs to get their finances in order.

  3. LoriHC says:
    January 25, 2010 at 4:24 pm

    New York and California have the same issues as Florida: They’re big states, and nobody’s going to travel from Buffalo to NYC or San Jose to LA to see a hockey game (well, I did the latter once, but I’m an exception). That said, I have a couple follow-up thoughts:

    1. Just because you’re passionate about hockey doesn’t mean you’re entitled to an NHL team in your city. I’d argue that some of the expansion teams can’t have enough fans that are *that* passionate, or their attendance figures would be higher. Passionate fans is what the NHL Center Ice package is for.

    2. If the NHL wants to spread hockey to the sunbelt, why not start a southern minor league? Cheaper tickets, more venues, lots of fun for the hockey fans (especially if the minor league teams are affiliated with NHL teams).

    3. If it were me, I’d get rid of the Islanders. Their attendance levels have been low for years, and there are already two other teams in the metro-NYC area (the NJ Devils and the NY Rangers). The trick with measuring worthiness by attendance, though, is that it can shift dramatically over a couple seasons. Take the Chicago Blackhawks, for example: They went from 29th in attendance in 2007 to 1st in 2009.

    4. I hold by my assertion that 30 teams is too many for the NHL, and that the NHL could get its finances in order by reducing the number of teams. Hockey, to my great chagrin, is just not as popular in the U.S. as football, baseball, or basketball, and the NHL needs to stop pretending that it is. See #2 for one idea on spreading love for the sport; another is to encourage youth and adult participation in recreational leagues. The NHL has tried to increase demand by increasing supply, and that obviously hasn’t worked well enough to be sustainable. I say scale back now and prove that demand for hockey is there before adding back any teams.

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