quote: | Originally posted by LightsOut
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I disagree about Ottawa. That hockey market is unstable at best and there are always empty seats and plenty of tickets for sale. The running joke in Montreal is that everyone sees the Senators the most because of how close it is, and how easy to get and cheap the tickets are compared to here.
An NHL team isn't exactly always there to turn a huge profit. The successful model in almost every good market is an owner who owns the venue, and uses sports teams as tenants. This is in the hope to break even or make a small profit, cover operating costs, and clean up on non sports bookings like concerts and such. Its no secret that many of the struggling NHL teams are leasers in barns that don't belong to them. Sports teams, even if unprofitable, always lend more weight to a venue as an appropriate concert venue. I think that the NHL should only hand out franchises to owners that can own their barn...it will never happen, but that is the ticket to the most profitable NHL imo.
Kansas City is making a case for a team like this...they boast the highest hockey ratings of any American city without a team, and consistently crack the top 10 in overall american ratings for national games. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the next franchise, or possibly Vegas. Bettman has wanted this forever. Quebec's plan's are too up in the air via venue issues to be considered front runners just yet.
Too many owners spoil the broth...just look at Edmonton back when they were a consortium of 30 owners. Nothing got done. The Leafs are too much of a cash cow to not be swooped up by a media giant. It will be a company with multi access media platform that purchases them for sure to use as content. I'd bet the farm on it.
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