Actually, hockey couldn't be more of a non-corporate game. They destroyed that league chasing the corporate dollars and moving teams out of real hockey markets. NHL thrived as a little brother, but the owners and Gary Bettman got obsessed with getting them in on the 90s NBA boom. In 1990 the league was great, 21 teams, only in towns that were crazy about hockey. Now you've got 30, and in ridiculous spots like Carolina, Nashville, Tampa, Atlanta, etc. Winnipeg, Hartfod, and Quebec loss their squads, and Minnesota lost the North Stars and finally received a replacement team. Let's be honest, while there are some hockey fans in the city (Aeros fans really are the epitome of what a fanbase should be), this isn't a hockey town. And god help anyone that brings NHL to Houston and struggles to win for a couple years.
Hockey in a place where ponds don't freeze over naturally is much harder to get involved with than baseball, football or basketball. Hockey gear and ice time is a very expensive, hockey families even here in MN spend thousands a year, and in Houston you aren't going to be able to go out and play a pick up pond game for casual fans. While I am sure there are youth hockey in Houston I strongly doubt outside of the upper middle class this will be a sport that will be widely picked up even if there is an NHL team in Houston. Houston just doesn't have the climate and culture to support a widespread hockey following.
This is what hockey culture looks like. <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Khokx5p0-bQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
There is no way Houston should have an NHL team before Hartford and Winnipeg get one back. Those cities should still have teams. That being said, I'd love for their to be an NHL team in Houston. I go to the occasional Aeros game and I always tell myself I want to follow the team more, but it's so hard with them not being on TV regularly. It would be much easier to get into a hockey team with the team being covered more extensively.
Really? If you wanna sit in the lower section you're paying about $160/seat (check out the Stars website). That's hardly a non-corporate event. You're not likely buying those tickets unless you have lots of money or can write them off. Average ticket prices in the NHL ($54.25) are still greater than the average ticket prices in the NBA ($48). See http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/10/26/us-nhl-ticketprices-idUSTRE69P2YM20101026 and http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5846998 The NHL is absolutely a corporate game.
Neither does Tampa, but they've sold 87% of their tickets this season. Neither does Carolina, but they've sold 86% of their tickets this season. Neither does Dallas, but they've sold 80% of their tickets this season. Neither does Anaheim, but they've sold 85% of their tickets this season. Neither does San Jose, but they've sold 98% of their tickets this season. http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance I just don't see this as such a necessary fail. Houston has all the some uphill battles all teams in the South have for the NHL...but they have the benefit of a massive corporate base to buy tickets and luxury suites.
You took my post the wrong way - I know where they're playing. The NHL became a corporate chasing league when they saw the NBA booming. Hockey is not a corporate game. The NHL abandoning hockey diehard markets and overexpanding into any warm weather US city with luxury box arenas is why the league nearly went under.
Or..... 18 of 30 NHL teams have attendance of 95% or higher San Jose is the only warm weather city in that group of the remaining 12 Nashville is close with 93% 3 are cold weather hockey markets (Islanders, Devils, Avalanche) Phoenix and Atlanta are embarrassments at ~ 70% So the league expanded from 21 to 30 teams, and the bottom 12 of attendance is populated by all but 1 of the expansion/relocated US corporate sites. The diehard dollars were smaller, but they weren't going to go away. Phoenix was a disaster. Atlanta's a notorious fairweather sports town to begin with. Houston empties out the Toyota Center the second the Rockets aren't above 0.500.....and we're going to be a strong hockey market just because we have corporate offices? We can afford to bring in an NHL team....but the long term interest won't be there.
That's great...but they just RAISED ticket prices to levels where individuals can't afford them, for the most part. The average family isn't going to go spend $500 for a family of 4 to see a sporting event 41 times a year. The ticket prices and the arenas filled with luxury suites waiting to be sold necessitate the NHL be a corporate game.
1. Even emptying out when the Rockets aren't above .500 (which is true of most NBA markets, I'd add), no one is saying the Rockets are falling apart. That their franchise isn't worth having around or would be better suited elsewhere. Again, these franchises are tied to their arenas. Arena deals are expensive as hell. And everytime these franchises (NBA or NHL) builds a new one, they make sure there are LOTS of suites to sell. The average fan isn't buying a suite....corporations are. 2. My point about the corporate base is only that Houston has an advantage of other Sun Belt cities because its corporate base is bigger. If the NHL is fine with selling 80% of its available tickets in a market, I see no reason Houston can't do that given its corporate base. If Dallas can sell 80%...and Tampa can sell 87%...and Carolina can sell 85%...I see no reason why Houston can't match that. If you're saying that's not good enough for a pro sports franchise, that's one thing...I'll just disagree. But if you're saying that Houston can't sell that same percentage of seats as those markets, then I disagree more strongly.
Emjohn basically responded for me. I have no doubt that corporations could afford to buy up tickets and luxury suites but to me that's not how you build a following for a team. We might as well have big time pro-curling here if just being able to sell tickets to corporations. Even if Houston corporations are willing to support an NHL team I doubt that leads to a large following for hockey in Houston. All that means is that the NHL gets watered down even more and Houston has another team with a blase fan base.
The NHL could do a lot worse then Houston. And they frequently have. I wouldn't use Tampa as an example of success. It's had frequent financial troubles and is often one mentioned when discussing relocation. In fact -- maybe they should go to Houston. Pretty good team! But... good arena population and affluence corporate base Absolutely fits the bill. Not too sure about interest -- though Dallas has done well. And Gordie Howe lived there for a bit. So...sure. Do it.
Although I love hockey as a sport, I am somewhat skeptical of Houston as a NHL town. Dallas had impeccable timing, so I don't know if they are a useful example, and these are also far different economic times. I think it would a tough in a market where few people know the difference between offsides and icing.
Made me chuckle, and guilty as charged! I'd *still* love to see the NHL in Houston, though. It's a better market by far than Neckville, Phoenix, or Carolina. More transplants from the north. Much larger corporate base. And, expense-be-damned, quite a few youth hockey leagues in town, tyvm.
this is true of EVERY market in the sun belt BEFORE they got an NHL team. If the NHL doesn't work AT ALL in the Sun Belt, then I get it....Houston is out because of that. And all those teams are ultimately on their way out. But if it works in ANY Sun Belt city, I see no reason it can not work in Houston, simply because Houston's corporate base is bigger than all the other Sun Belt cities.
are the aeros pretty much the minnesota wilds d-league team, minus the call-ups..? their unis are pretty much identical.. ide support an NHL team..
