Houston Islanders?

The whole NHL is in trouble, bad investment at this point. Pass.

 

it would not be your money, Les keeps saying he want's an NHL team and you always buy low

 

Honestly, I don't keep up with hockey all that much, so I really don't know the state of the Islanders franchise, but ANY new team that comes to Houston, no matter what sport it is, has to be an instant contender. I remember a couple of years ago when there was talk of the Penguins coming here. That would have been the perfect scenario since they are good, and have a good young core of players that would really be endearing to fans. The Texans are a special case since this city was so hungry for football that it didn't matter who the team was....as long as they played on Sundays, nobody cared how they did. Just look at the Dynamo as the prime example of a how a team needs to introduce itself to the Houston fanbase. Not necessarily winning championships right off the bat, but at least being competitive, and being involved in the playoff race in their first 2-3 years here.

 

I don't think Les is in good financial shape to make gambles right now. Not saying he's near bankruptcy, but he's taken a hit on investments lately and I'm willing to bet buying into the NHL is not in the forefront of his mind right now.

 

Les aint the only one in trouble....everyone is.

Les wants to make money. He gambled on a riskier investment in the WNBA. The NHL would succeed in Houston and Im sure Les knows that, hence why he has tried in the past and had Toyota Center constructed, not as an NBA only facility (like US Airways Arena inPHX), but as a facility that could support an NHL franchise as well.

Houston's (and Les's) only obstacles would be Kansas City, Winnipeg, and Hamilton

 

NHL is not in trouble, heck, the Islanders(last in attendance in NHL) currently outdraw the Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento Kings, and are barely below the T'Wolves, Sixers, and Bobcats in attendance.

The Dallas Stars fill their arena more than the Houston Rockets do.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/attendance?year=2009
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/attendance

Having a hockey team in Houston would be great, they would not overtake the Texans, Astros, or Rockets, but they would easily overtake the Dynamo.

 

Thats because hockey tickets are cheaper and up in the north, hockey is taken seriously

 

Hockey tickets aren't cheaper than NBA tickets.

 

The NHL has rebounded because they realized they couldn't hang with the Big 3 sports leagues financially and wisely put in a salary cap, superstars in the NHL were making as much as the superstars in the NBA, NFL, and MLB and that was suicide cause the NHL didn't have the revenue to support that. Besides, superstars in the NHL are lesser animals then the superstars from the Big 3 league, the average sports fan wouldn't know who they were.

 

No but live attendance isn't the reason Hockey's in trouble, it's the TV revenues (or the lack of).

 

Houston Islanders? kind of like the LA Lakers or Utah Jazz.

 

Who is good on the Islanders?

Is that one guy still on the team. i can't remember his name, I think he used to play for a Canadian franchise, i'm thinking Senators?




-edit

i was thinking of Michael Peca and he played in Buffalo.

Alexi Yashin played for Ottawa.

 

don't tease me please. watching the coyotes and the stars right now on fshhd. i would absolutely love an nhl team here.

 

Id have to learn a whole new sport...and Id probably have to start playing fantasy hockey.

 

Imagine if Houston actually got the Penguins back then...we'd have Crosby

 

i'd love to see this happen. but i can't imagine it happening. i don't think les alexander is remotely serious when he says he'd like to bring the nhl to houston. i'm not sure he was ever serious about that. and if les won't do it, it can't be done...unless some suburb is willing to build a new arena to house the hockey team.

 

I dont think its a tease. There is a very real posibility it could happen. Charles Wang is not getting new arena in Uniondale and his only open possibility in the NYC Tri-State Metro are is to move in with Nets at Barclays Center in Brooklyn and split revenues. Heres the problem, Bruce Ratner's dream (Barclays Center) is on the verge of complete collapse due to financing issues.

Now the relocation factors.

Kansas City - There main investor (Boots Del Biaggio) now partly owns the Nashville Predators and might face criminal charges from the SEC. Thus KC has the new arena, but no real potiential investors.

Hamilton - would probably face objection from the Leafs.

Winnipeg - Lacking potiential ownership....

Honestly, its up to Les. But this is a real shot at the NHL for Houston.

 

Not only that, but Hamilton is basically between Buffalo and Toronto, which are only an hour and a half away from each other. It would be pretty pointless to have three Hockey teams within an hour and a half from each other...

I'm a semi-Sabres fan. Since I've moved up here from Texas, I've kind of learned hockey, and sort of pay attention. It's hard to say if I would cheer for a Houston NHL team just because I'm from Houston, or if I'd stick with the Sabres, as they are the team I first started following.

 

I sincerely hope this doesn't happen, only because I want to see the NHL survive. The MLS has arguably passed it in terms of relevance and popularity and it badly needs to fix its product. Sunbelt teams and over expansion were the death of the league in the 1990s - diluting talent and trying to sell it to retirees has been a flop. If anything, cities like Winnipeg, Hamilton, Quebec, and Hartford are in line before Houston. The support would be nice at the start, but the Islanders are not a good NHL team and have not been for a very, very long time. One reason the Dynamo has done so well here is that they have been at the peak of competition in the MLS and have done held their own against much more formidable foreign clubs. The Islanders would not have the talent to draw people in.