I for one would support a NHL team here in Houston. Make this happen. http://www.PetitionOnline.com/43985jg/petition.html
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/postedsports/archive/2010/01/03/362894.aspx NHL attendance troubling in many U.S. cities In case you were not sure if all those empty seats you've been seeing during NHL highlights on TV were real, check out the latest attendance figures. Nine teams (Anaheim, Florida, Tampa, Carolina, Atlanta, Nashville, Colorado, N.Y. Islanders and Phoenix) are averaging less than 15,000 fans through the first two months of the season. That puts those teams — almost a third of the league — at less than 80% capacity. The Coyotes' attendance is, not surprisingly, at less than 10,000 a game, in light of the team's off-season court battles. But the fact Colorado (13,000) should be struggling in light of the team's strong start is perhaps more shocking. The Avalanche set a NHL record of 487 straight sellouts at the Pepsi Center as recently as three years ago. Further evidence that the NHL's foray into the southern U.S. is in trouble is the fact almost the entire Southeast Division (plus Nashville from the Central) in is the bottom third.
Keep in mind that this is partly a function of the fact that the NHL ticket prices are among the highest in all of sports. Add that to a tough economy (particularly in Florida and Arizona)...and it is pretty easy to see why attendance is down. I would find relative TV ratings adjusted for population to be a far more instructive statistic.
No, hockey is not a sport. It's a bunch of white guys with sticks battling a world with limited friction. That's not a sport, it's stupidity. I don't know about you, but I do not want my home associated with stupidity.
nice random logic. "basketball is not a sport. it's just a bunch of black guys with a ball battling a world with a spherical object." wtf does your statement even mean? Somehow you're saying that the majority of players being white somehow changes how much of a sport it is? Or you're saying that the amount of friction on the playing surface or the fact that they use equipment as part of the sport somehow negates its validity? good argument. makes total sense.
Hockey players are probably some of the most athletic players in this country. There really aren't that many more sports, if any, that require more athletic ability. I personally don't follow that much hockey because we don't have a an NHL team. Before the Dynamo came I never paid attention to Soccer but then I really started to get into it. Hopefully this can happen, but where would they play?
So, are you intentionally ignorant about the game of hockey or do you just have a problem with white athletes?
I was going to sit on the sidelines on this one but come on dude, that is ****ing r****ded. Hockey players are not the most athletic guys at all. They operate with barley any friction and thus exert less physical force than any other sport. Momentum carries them everywhere. You can want a team and that's great but be true to the argument.
no. the NHL needs to get smaller. Alot of the southenr teams can't make ends meet because of a lack of interest. The Islanders are struggling because the Rangers are popular in 4/5 boroughs and the support they normally would get from NJ is taken by our devils so they're pretty much limited to Long Island. The NHL should be only 22 teams at most
If we got a team, it should just be an existing team moving here, not an expansion, there are too many teams in hockey as it is.
That article is from December... By the end of the regular season in the NHL, only 5 teams finished drawing less than 80% of capacity. (Lightning, Panthers, Avalanche, Thrashers, Islanders) http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance By the end of the regular season in the NBA, 6 teams finished drawing less than 80% capacity (TWolves, Sixers, Pacers, Grizzlies, Kings, Nets). In fact, the Nets drew less than 70% of capacity, similar to what the Coyotes drew in Phoenix with all their issues. http://espn.go.com/nba/attendance Attendance isn't the problem in the NHL. Like the NBA, it's an arena sport that has become nearly entirely corporate, selling luxury suites. The problem is they killed their golden goose when they lost their place on ESPN after the lockout/strike. Their TV deal with Versus is a joke...especially considering Versus isn't even on DirectTV
I'd support an NHL team in Houston even though I'm not the biggest follower of hockey. I fear that a couple of years in, when the new has worn off, that attendance would lag.
they'd need to win...but what you're talking about happens in virtually every sport and in every city, with just a few exceptions.
The good thing though is that the NHL is probably the fairest league in terms of parity. Hard salary cap, income redistribution and arbitration lead to wild fluctuations in terms of team performance. Year in and year out, you do have your elite teams (San Jose, Detroit, New Jersey) but just look at the league three or four years ago, when Pittsburgh, Chicago and Washington were the perennial losers. One or two drafts later, they're the cream of the crop. Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup for God's sake. If any future Houston organization were run by guys with reasonable intelligence, it would not be far off to say that at the very least, the organization would be granted a fair chance to win.
