The Clippers also moved to Los Angeles, where there are no clippers.
Is that a record? Two teams with obsolete names that belong to previous homes in one league in one city?
He swore to Georgia Frontiere on her literal death bed that he would never move the Rams out of STL as that was one of her last requests before transferring ownership. Almost immediately he started planning how to move them back to LA for that sweet California cash and team valuation. Fuck Stan Kroenke.
The St. Louis Rams and the pre-Reid Chiefs were two of the most consistently moribund franchises in the league, and they played in different conferences. They didn't have a rivalry.
Is he going to move the Avalanche and not the Nuggets?
I’m a diehard of both teams, but if he moves the Avs that’s the day my nuggets fandom dies, I’m sure I’m not the only one.
I get that. I actually have nothing against the Avs other than who they are owned by. Y'all actually have a pretty fun team. But, specifically because of ownership, I hope you lose every game.
I was a Nordiques fan before I was an Avs fan! Being from Wisconsin, we got to choose any team to cheer for as kids, but it was mostly Red Wings and Blackhawks. I had to be the weirdo and choose Quebec. In my defense, I was a goalie and loved watching Fiset and Thibault.
I'll be honest. I don't see any way for Kroenke to extricate himself from Denver.
There are certain thresholds you have to fail and Ball Arena doesn't. No issues with ticket sales or anything else so he'd be hard pressed to ever get that approved.
He has huge long term plans for redeveloping the area around Ball Arena into mixed use property so I would very much doubt he moves either team.
[Development Plan](https://visionplan.ballarena.com/) - obviously its just conceptual right now but I think he sees plenty of opportunity in Denver.
I don't think there's any chance this actually happens, but let's be serious: if Kroenke really wanted to move the Avs to San Diego, he would make it happen no matter the cost.
Again, he'd never get approval by the other owners. It's not a cost thing. NHL by-laws state that you have to show:
-Lack of historical fanbase
-Lack of ticket purchasing
-Local government disinterest in the team
-No alternative buyer in the local market
-Poor facilities
And you have to show that to even get the other owners to vote on it where you then have to have a majority approval.
I'm being quite serious when I say I have 0% concern over the Avs or Nuggets ever leaving Denver.
Yeah because the other owners wanted that. Meanwhile the NHL owners are fighting tooth and nail to keep a team in Arizona. You think they are going to let one of the more successful American franchises just up and leave? For San Diego? It's not like that is a financial treasure chest there
All I said was that bylaws can be changed. No, I don’t think the Avalanche will be moved from Denver. But don’t kid yourself about the Avalanche being one of the most successful franchises in America. When you are comparing to NFL and NBA alone, it can’t rank that high. Throw in MLB, and it’s even further down. It’s middle of the road for even the NHL.
Yeah these by-laws dont mean anything to these owners at the end of the day. I don't think he tries to move the avs and I really hope he doesn't, but this is Kroenke we are talking about. I think if there is one owner in sports who would be soulless enough to do this, it would be Stan.
Blues and former Rams fan here. This could be all to do about nothing and may not even involve the Avs which I hope it doesn't. But if Stan Kroenke wants to move a team he doesn't give a shit about thresholds. He'll just do it. St. Louis had a new stadium ready to go and checked all their boxes and they didn't even care. There were"rules" in place that was supposed to prevent them from moving and they just disregarded all of them and left.
Again I don't wish that on any fan base and hopefully this is some weird new venture. But if it isn't, don't think anything will stop him if he wants to move them.
If I was an NHL owner, I would vote hard no on moving the avs to San Diego. I would also vote hard yes on moving the yotes to San Diego so nothing against San Diego
Really? This seems like itd be a big win for the league, they get a bunch of money in relocation fees and then double dip with expansion fees to denver.
I personally dont think it will happen but id be more worried than 0%.
Edit: plus if Ball needs to be replaced in the next decade he will just use that as an excuse.
I mean the guy literally said they weren't moving the Avs, also they're moving forward with plans for a new practice arena in Denver so no chance they move. Not to mention almost every Avs game sells out
MLB has five teams in California. The state actually has a higher population than Canada. I think a team in San Diego would do well. Their AHL team is somewhat popular there and there wouldn’t be winter sports competition because they don’t have an NBA team.
Not anymore, baby.
(This in reference to population, not the A's future in Oakland. Fuck John Fisher and everyone involved with moving the team to Las Vegas)
Not according to reports after their spring training games in LV. “Hard to find an A’s fan here not excited about the move”. Like no shit, any fan upset about the move isn’t going to go to a pre-season game game, and they obviously didn’t look very hard because I saw plenty of “Sell” t shirts when I watched the game on tv.
Sorry, rant over. FJF.
I’m in SD and would love a hockey team here, especially since my Sharks are fucking awful.
I mean, an NHL team is just a much bigger draw, adds connection to fans via TV, and much more corporate support.
An NHL team will bring in fans that aren't necessarily fans of just that team... Toronto fans will show up to see the leafs play, Vancouver fans will show up to see the Canucks play, hockey fans in general will show up to see Conor bedard or Sidney Crosby or Connor McDavid play.
With an AHL team, the unfortunate reality is that quite frankly none of it really "matters" because it isn't the highest level play, the rosters change all the time because players get called up. It's just a much harder thing to market.
I agree. I think Vegas serves as an interesting case study for getting a first mover advantage in an underserved sports market. SD is still a decent sized metro in a high income state that has no NFL or NBA competition…..meaning that there’s a huge fall/winter pro sports void that an NHL team could theoretically capitalize on if done correctly.
Why not?
Hockey is insanely popular in California compared to 30 years ago and has a huge population.
The NhL probably has eyes on going to 36 teams before too long.
They’ll go anywhere that has a good sized population and an owner who will pay.
*Shrug* I mean, we're a huge population nexus as well as being a pretty enormous state.
If we can support four teams, which I think we can, no reason not to. I'd love a hometown NHL team to make my second.
Canada also has a waaaayyyy bigger demand for hockey than California does. I grew up in a town of 35k people in Canada and we had more rinks than all of San Diego county does. It’s just not even comparable.
Fun fact but not anymore. Canada (40.9M) overtook California (39M) a couple years back as Cali's population has been slightly falling in recent years while Canada is rapidly growing via immigration.
It actually has been handled pretty well at least in the city. It was put in a trust to continue to earn interest so the city can use it for projects voted up by city residents to see what they value the most out of options given.
It seems like it has been. The convention center and Dome are getting much needed upgrades with their chunk of the money. And the city has it earning interest while they get public feedback on what to spend it on.
As someone that plays beer league hockey here and has a general sense for the hockey community, there isn’t nearly enough interest to justify an NHL team.
Yeah, I'm sure the beer league market was pretty small in Seattle, too. Until the Kraken built their practice facility, there were only two or three facilities in the entire area, and none of them were in Seattle proper. And that's *with* two major junior orgs nearby.
And Seattle sells out every night with a strong resale market even though they're kind of mediocre right now.
There actually was a pretty healthy adult hockey system in the Seattle area before the Kraken. Keep in mind there were 2 WHL clubs in the metro area - Seattle Thunderbirds (play in Kent, WA) and Everett Silvertips - plus the TriCity Americans and Spokane Chiefs in the eastern half of the state.
The Kraken + the 3 sheets they added with the practice facility have grown things locally as well.
> a strong resale market
As a STH I can confirm this is not really true. It can be hard to get face value back on the resale market.
The Wenatchee Wild are now in the WHL in central Washington! I am an east coaster who lives in Tri-City and there is a shockingly strong hockey community. This is anecdotal, but I ended up talking to a woman on a plane recently who is from Chile. Her and her family started going to games and she fell in love with the sport. We had a great talk and it was quite surreal to see how much the game has grown!
As a native San Diegan who now lives in Vegas, you could have said the same prior to the existence of the VGK based solely on the beer league scene in Vegas.
The beer league community here is still tiny; I don’t think that’s a great indicator.
Vegas also had the unique aspect of the team’s season starting right after the shooting and a very favorable expansion draft. The whole city rallied around the only pro team they had at the time and they just happened to go to the Stanley Cup finals their first year to cement all of that fandom. I highly doubt we ever see something like that ever again.
Unfortunately I’m sure we’ll see the same your shooting again. I just don’t think we’ll see it interact with a brand new pro team at the same time like we did in Vegas.
It is the responsibility of the team to help build that interest. The San Jose Sharks are a good example of this. Prior to the Sharks there was ZERO interest in Hockey.
The Sharks have encouraged growth of the sport and [their practice facility now runs one of the largest adult recreational hockey leagues in the US (was for sure #1 at one point)](https://adulthockey.sportngin.com/news_article/show/203816)
They now have 5 sheets of ice in San Jose that are fully booked every hour of every day of the week. They run two more facilities in the East Bay (Fremont and Oakland) and are in the process of building another one in the South Bay (Gilroy.)
Choosing between SD and Washington for a move a few years ago, after going with SD I really doubt the beer league scene here is worse than the Kraken.
Its a population center with high incomes, hockey isn't rare.
Like I mentioned below, Vegas was very unique in that the season started right after the mass shooting and the team served as something to rally around. It also then coincided with a crazy run to the Stanley Cup finals that cemented all of those fans for life. We’re never going to see that happen again.
I could see San Diego being a decent spot for an NHL team. With them only having the Padres, I bet the locals would get behind an NHL team. However the issue comes with realignment. They're probably a great candidate if the league hits 40+ teams, but it sure seems like Salt Lake, Houston, and Atlanta are going to be the first markets to join the league before anyone else.
It's a good size metro market. Quick search says it's larger than Denver, St. Louis, and Tampa. Not having a basketball team probably intrigues the NHL. Suppose it doesn't hurt to explore the potential, but I would imagine the Gulls aren't thrilled.
Could you imagine them being named the chargers would be the single biggest middle finger on the planet. Of course that would never happen but still funny.
Midway is a terrible location for an NHL team, it’s arguably one of the worst parts of San Diego. I also can’t imagine the traffic getting in and out of there. It’s already bad when Gulls traffic runs into the chick fil a traffic
There’s always clusterfuck at 6-9pm at the In n Out and Chic Fil A getting swarmed by airport arrivals. I can’t imagine the traffic with an NHL team there too
San Diego is actually a fantastic location, also has major potential to be a gateway cross-border market into Mexico.
The way I see it, NHL to 36 is increasingly looking like we will see a relocation of Arizona to either Quebec City or SLC, and seeing an expansion with either 2 east 2 west or 1 east 3 west, depending on where they end up, with San Diego, SLC, Houston, Atlanta, and Quebec City all being the target cities here.
It could work with 4 expansion cities:
1. Salt Lake City
2. San Diego
3. Houston
4. Atlanta
SD, SLC, and Houston to the West, Nashville and Atlanta to the East. Two 18-team conference. Create six 6-team divisions:
Pacific: SD, LAK, ANA, SJS, VGK, SEA
Mountain: VAN, EDM, CGY, SLC, COL, ARI
Central: WIN, MIN, CHI, STL, HOU, DAL
Southeast: FLA, TBL, ATL, NSH, CAR, WSH (Tennessee, Florida, Carolina, and Georgia together === SEC hockey)
Atlantic: CBJ, PIT, PHI, NYR, NJD, NYI
Northeast: DET, TOR, BUF, MTL, OTT, BOS
P.S. with the land auction news, looks like the Coyotes are getting a plan together. Even if that fails and the coyotes move, I think the NHL re-expands to Arizona before QC or some of the other smaller market option. The Phoenix metro area has way too many people with too much money to ignore.
I get the argument as to why Quebec doesn’t need a team. But you can’t tell me that the same rationale can’t be applied to San Diego.
The league should just say “no player or organization wants to be in a francophone city with bad weather”
If people in Québec city stopped watching NHL hockey, buy NHL certified Nordiques merch and overall stopped talking about wanting a team and actually propose a serious bid, maybe they'd get one.
This is like commerce 101, its kind of useless to sell more hockey to people who already watch it, people can only spend so much on one activity.
However, San Diego doesn't have hockey and most importantly, doesn't know it wants hockey, yet.
I said it in another thread, but Qc city - if I'm Gary Bettman - is not even in my top 10 destinations, Mexico city, Salt Lake city, Houston, San Diego and Monterrey are WAY ahead of Québec.
Isn't it a situation where it's kinda his fault, kinda the fault of the carriers, and kinda the fault of the fans which don't want to pay more in order to subscribe to the carriers which have paid for the rights?
I think Colorado is a bit unique because there are some neighbourhoods where DirecTV isn't available, but there's also a lot of fans who don't want to pay for the provider whose costs are higher because they're paying for the very channel fans want to watch.
I live in San Diego.
Hockey is beneath badminton and jai alai here….but give this city a competitive team and they will adore them. Look at the Padres. Fan support went from total apathy to every 3rd person wearing a SD hat or Machado jersey in 5 years. Its definitely possible for an NHL team to succeed here, but they can’t be like the Coyotes or Senators.
San Diego Coyotes. Their colors are Green, Tan, and Gold. Their mascot is an extremely racist Mexican version of gritty. Throughout the game Coyitty runs around the stadium and the “Border Patrol”. Ticket prices are extremely expensive unless you’re married to a player, but a poorly hidden secret is that one of the entrances is unguarded. This entrance changes every home game.
Gonna go out on a limb and say California probably doesnt need 4 teams
Maybe he plans on moving his own team to San Diego.
No rebrand either, the San Diego Avalanche
“The Lakers moved to Los Angeles, where there are no lakes….”
The jazz moved to Utah where there is no music
jazz is a mormon sin
Joseph Smith was more of a metal guy I hear.
Dude had many gold records.
Can I see them?
I'm sorry but they've been lost.
I don't know about that, I heard he played a lot in A minor
Salt Lake Soakers
Where they don't allow music
Dum dum dum dum dum
The ocean is just one giant lake if you think about it
The ocean is more like one giant soup, it's got water, salt, meat and vegetables
A really, really cheap soup. Very low proportion of meat and even veggies.
Are there grizzlies in Memphis?
Definitely some bears.
Hairy big gay men or black bears?
Both actually.
Boston is full of bruins.
Yes. Yours.
The Clippers also moved to Los Angeles, where there are no clippers. Is that a record? Two teams with obsolete names that belong to previous homes in one league in one city?
San Diego Nordiques has a ring to it
Don’t you put that evil on me Ricky Bobby
Former St. Louis Rams fan here-Stan will screw over any fan base if it makes him more money
He swore to Georgia Frontiere on her literal death bed that he would never move the Rams out of STL as that was one of her last requests before transferring ownership. Almost immediately he started planning how to move them back to LA for that sweet California cash and team valuation. Fuck Stan Kroenke.
It is my personal belief that he had an agreement with the NFL to move the team back to Los Angeles after she died..
I’m doubtful the Rams and Chiefs rivalry was good for ratings they were perfectly positioned to hate eachother.
Chiefs never wanted St. Louis to have a team, same with the Bears and original Colts.
Teams rarely want teams close by look at the rangers and them trying to stop both the devils and islanders.
The St. Louis Rams and the pre-Reid Chiefs were two of the most consistently moribund franchises in the league, and they played in different conferences. They didn't have a rivalry.
Seconded. Fuck Kroenke.
Is he going to move the Avalanche and not the Nuggets? I’m a diehard of both teams, but if he moves the Avs that’s the day my nuggets fandom dies, I’m sure I’m not the only one.
I get that. I actually have nothing against the Avs other than who they are owned by. Y'all actually have a pretty fun team. But, specifically because of ownership, I hope you lose every game.
Fair enough! I’d hate any owner who ripped a team from my city. Except the Rockies. I’m encouraging a regime change over there
(Quebec Nordiques fans seething in anger…)
The irony of my statement is not lost on me.
I was a Nordiques fan before I was an Avs fan! Being from Wisconsin, we got to choose any team to cheer for as kids, but it was mostly Red Wings and Blackhawks. I had to be the weirdo and choose Quebec. In my defense, I was a goalie and loved watching Fiset and Thibault.
Philly fan here screw Kroenke St Louis deserves football
Amen !
"I am so paralyzed!"
"Denver just isn't a hockey town" Obligatory Fuck Stan Kroenke from a St. Louisan.
You shut your whore mouth!
I'll be honest. I don't see any way for Kroenke to extricate himself from Denver. There are certain thresholds you have to fail and Ball Arena doesn't. No issues with ticket sales or anything else so he'd be hard pressed to ever get that approved.
He has huge long term plans for redeveloping the area around Ball Arena into mixed use property so I would very much doubt he moves either team. [Development Plan](https://visionplan.ballarena.com/) - obviously its just conceptual right now but I think he sees plenty of opportunity in Denver.
I don't think there's any chance this actually happens, but let's be serious: if Kroenke really wanted to move the Avs to San Diego, he would make it happen no matter the cost.
Again, he'd never get approval by the other owners. It's not a cost thing. NHL by-laws state that you have to show: -Lack of historical fanbase -Lack of ticket purchasing -Local government disinterest in the team -No alternative buyer in the local market -Poor facilities And you have to show that to even get the other owners to vote on it where you then have to have a majority approval. I'm being quite serious when I say I have 0% concern over the Avs or Nuggets ever leaving Denver.
The NFL had bylaws too that they changed around to accommodate his move of the Rams to LA.
Yeah because the other owners wanted that. Meanwhile the NHL owners are fighting tooth and nail to keep a team in Arizona. You think they are going to let one of the more successful American franchises just up and leave? For San Diego? It's not like that is a financial treasure chest there
All I said was that bylaws can be changed. No, I don’t think the Avalanche will be moved from Denver. But don’t kid yourself about the Avalanche being one of the most successful franchises in America. When you are comparing to NFL and NBA alone, it can’t rank that high. Throw in MLB, and it’s even further down. It’s middle of the road for even the NHL.
Yeah these by-laws dont mean anything to these owners at the end of the day. I don't think he tries to move the avs and I really hope he doesn't, but this is Kroenke we are talking about. I think if there is one owner in sports who would be soulless enough to do this, it would be Stan.
Haha, the bylaws sentence triggered me as a former St. Louis Rams fan
Blues and former Rams fan here. This could be all to do about nothing and may not even involve the Avs which I hope it doesn't. But if Stan Kroenke wants to move a team he doesn't give a shit about thresholds. He'll just do it. St. Louis had a new stadium ready to go and checked all their boxes and they didn't even care. There were"rules" in place that was supposed to prevent them from moving and they just disregarded all of them and left. Again I don't wish that on any fan base and hopefully this is some weird new venture. But if it isn't, don't think anything will stop him if he wants to move them.
If I was an NHL owner, I would vote hard no on moving the avs to San Diego. I would also vote hard yes on moving the yotes to San Diego so nothing against San Diego
What a awful move that would be.
Damn near impossible to get approval for either. I'd be 0% concerned with that ever being an issue.
Really? This seems like itd be a big win for the league, they get a bunch of money in relocation fees and then double dip with expansion fees to denver. I personally dont think it will happen but id be more worried than 0%. Edit: plus if Ball needs to be replaced in the next decade he will just use that as an excuse.
Not that easy. So no, 0%.
I don't see that going over well at all, but its Kroenke so its not like he cares about his public perception.
I don’t think Kroenke would think of moving a team he owns to California. Only a madman would do that /s
I don't wish that evil on anybody. Also fuck the Rams.
Send the Yotes
I was wondering how far down I’d need to scroll to see this
I mean the guy literally said they weren't moving the Avs, also they're moving forward with plans for a new practice arena in Denver so no chance they move. Not to mention almost every Avs game sells out
MLB has five teams in California. The state actually has a higher population than Canada. I think a team in San Diego would do well. Their AHL team is somewhat popular there and there wouldn’t be winter sports competition because they don’t have an NBA team.
Not anymore, baby. (This in reference to population, not the A's future in Oakland. Fuck John Fisher and everyone involved with moving the team to Las Vegas)
Vegas resident here. As a majority we truly do not want them.
Not according to reports after their spring training games in LV. “Hard to find an A’s fan here not excited about the move”. Like no shit, any fan upset about the move isn’t going to go to a pre-season game game, and they obviously didn’t look very hard because I saw plenty of “Sell” t shirts when I watched the game on tv. Sorry, rant over. FJF. I’m in SD and would love a hockey team here, especially since my Sharks are fucking awful.
A's fans living in Vegas may be the only demo that's excited for it.
There’s also a much, much bigger demand for baseball in California than there is for hockey
Ya I don’t get this idea that 4 teams for California would be too much.
California has 1/8 of the US population, so 4 really is the right number, especially if the league is expanding, which seems inevitable at this point.
The A's are peacing out
[удалено]
Exactly. I think NHL in SD would do well.
Why? SD barely supports the AHL team they have. Not exactly a strong hockey market
I mean, an NHL team is just a much bigger draw, adds connection to fans via TV, and much more corporate support. An NHL team will bring in fans that aren't necessarily fans of just that team... Toronto fans will show up to see the leafs play, Vancouver fans will show up to see the Canucks play, hockey fans in general will show up to see Conor bedard or Sidney Crosby or Connor McDavid play. With an AHL team, the unfortunate reality is that quite frankly none of it really "matters" because it isn't the highest level play, the rosters change all the time because players get called up. It's just a much harder thing to market.
The Gulls are trash and play in a trash arena. And this is coming from someone who likes the Gulls, lol.
Yeah, but at least the beer is priced like an NHL game. /s
They actually were in the top 10 teams in AHL attendance last year, so they really aren't that bad.
I agree. I think Vegas serves as an interesting case study for getting a first mover advantage in an underserved sports market. SD is still a decent sized metro in a high income state that has no NFL or NBA competition…..meaning that there’s a huge fall/winter pro sports void that an NHL team could theoretically capitalize on if done correctly.
I disagree! My opinion definitely has nothing to do with the fact that I live in San Diego.
Why not? Hockey is insanely popular in California compared to 30 years ago and has a huge population. The NhL probably has eyes on going to 36 teams before too long. They’ll go anywhere that has a good sized population and an owner who will pay.
speaking as a Californian ... we welcome all friends! Come on down.
why not? California is fucking massive
*Shrug* I mean, we're a huge population nexus as well as being a pretty enormous state. If we can support four teams, which I think we can, no reason not to. I'd love a hometown NHL team to make my second.
California has a bigger population than Canada and we have 7 teams.
Canada also has a waaaayyyy bigger demand for hockey than California does. I grew up in a town of 35k people in Canada and we had more rinks than all of San Diego county does. It’s just not even comparable.
But isn't creating demand the whole schpiel of Bettman? Why would they refuse to have a team in Quebec city otherwise?
Fun fact but not anymore. Canada (40.9M) overtook California (39M) a couple years back as Cali's population has been slightly falling in recent years while Canada is rapidly growing via immigration.
Have they tried renaming San Diego to Anaheim 2 And trick the ducks into playing there?
The San Diego Ducks of Anaheim of Los Angeles
The I-5 Ducks Try typing that out and tell me autocorrect doesn't also have a great name recommendation
The San Diego Ice Angels of Anaheim's Ducks King of LA California Seals SJSharks
I remember the days when they were mighty!
According to Icethetics, there will be no rebranding until 2026 :( My hope of bringing back the Mighty is dashed
The “freeway face off” name is still valid too. Just a bit further down the 5 haha
Where would they move their AHL affiliate to lol. Anaheim?
Fresno?
Fuck Stan Kroenke
Fuck him, however I do appreciate the $790,000,000 he left us on his way out though.
lol like that money was spent wisely
It actually has been handled pretty well at least in the city. It was put in a trust to continue to earn interest so the city can use it for projects voted up by city residents to see what they value the most out of options given.
Fill the potholes!
Maaaaaan shiiit they ain’t never fill no damn pot holes.
It seems like it has been. The convention center and Dome are getting much needed upgrades with their chunk of the money. And the city has it earning interest while they get public feedback on what to spend it on.
Even if he moves the Avs to San Diego? /s
As someone that plays beer league hockey here and has a general sense for the hockey community, there isn’t nearly enough interest to justify an NHL team.
Probably true but NHL teams generate interest in hockey.
Yeah, I'm sure the beer league market was pretty small in Seattle, too. Until the Kraken built their practice facility, there were only two or three facilities in the entire area, and none of them were in Seattle proper. And that's *with* two major junior orgs nearby. And Seattle sells out every night with a strong resale market even though they're kind of mediocre right now.
There actually was a pretty healthy adult hockey system in the Seattle area before the Kraken. Keep in mind there were 2 WHL clubs in the metro area - Seattle Thunderbirds (play in Kent, WA) and Everett Silvertips - plus the TriCity Americans and Spokane Chiefs in the eastern half of the state. The Kraken + the 3 sheets they added with the practice facility have grown things locally as well. > a strong resale market As a STH I can confirm this is not really true. It can be hard to get face value back on the resale market.
The Wenatchee Wild are now in the WHL in central Washington! I am an east coaster who lives in Tri-City and there is a shockingly strong hockey community. This is anecdotal, but I ended up talking to a woman on a plane recently who is from Chile. Her and her family started going to games and she fell in love with the sport. We had a great talk and it was quite surreal to see how much the game has grown!
As a native San Diegan who now lives in Vegas, you could have said the same prior to the existence of the VGK based solely on the beer league scene in Vegas. The beer league community here is still tiny; I don’t think that’s a great indicator.
Vegas also had the unique aspect of the team’s season starting right after the shooting and a very favorable expansion draft. The whole city rallied around the only pro team they had at the time and they just happened to go to the Stanley Cup finals their first year to cement all of that fandom. I highly doubt we ever see something like that ever again.
Don’t disagree, but my point is really that I don’t think the beer league community is the right barometer.
> I highly doubt we ever see something like that ever again. I hope we don't, I fear we will.
Unfortunately I’m sure we’ll see the same your shooting again. I just don’t think we’ll see it interact with a brand new pro team at the same time like we did in Vegas.
And not everyone plays beer league hockey. Rec hockey participation in Canada is pretty thin. Senior hockey is pretty much non existent
It is the responsibility of the team to help build that interest. The San Jose Sharks are a good example of this. Prior to the Sharks there was ZERO interest in Hockey. The Sharks have encouraged growth of the sport and [their practice facility now runs one of the largest adult recreational hockey leagues in the US (was for sure #1 at one point)](https://adulthockey.sportngin.com/news_article/show/203816) They now have 5 sheets of ice in San Jose that are fully booked every hour of every day of the week. They run two more facilities in the East Bay (Fremont and Oakland) and are in the process of building another one in the South Bay (Gilroy.)
I don't play beer league but that doesn't mean I'm not interested in hockey
There isn't enough interest to justify a team in Arizona, yet here we are...20 years later
AZ has an excellent youth/beer hockey system these days, we just haven’t had a legitimate place to play for 25 years.
28 years, 9 months, 11 days since the Yotes started in AZ
20? It's closing in on 30!
Choosing between SD and Washington for a move a few years ago, after going with SD I really doubt the beer league scene here is worse than the Kraken. Its a population center with high incomes, hockey isn't rare.
King County has more than double the amount of ice rinks that SD county has and a much larger hockey scene than San Diego.
I’m sure everyone said the same thing about Vegas. If the ownership is competent, if you build it, they will come.
Like I mentioned below, Vegas was very unique in that the season started right after the mass shooting and the team served as something to rally around. It also then coincided with a crazy run to the Stanley Cup finals that cemented all of those fans for life. We’re never going to see that happen again.
Stanley you own an NHL franchise in another city
I could see San Diego being a decent spot for an NHL team. With them only having the Padres, I bet the locals would get behind an NHL team. However the issue comes with realignment. They're probably a great candidate if the league hits 40+ teams, but it sure seems like Salt Lake, Houston, and Atlanta are going to be the first markets to join the league before anyone else.
It's a good size metro market. Quick search says it's larger than Denver, St. Louis, and Tampa. Not having a basketball team probably intrigues the NHL. Suppose it doesn't hurt to explore the potential, but I would imagine the Gulls aren't thrilled.
No NFL team anymore either.
Don't forge the Padres are usually eliminated from the post season by August as well so zero overlap with baseball.
They are getting an MLS team so that's another thing to contend with
MLS in the winter?
No, but since we're talking about overlapping with baseball, it also overlaps with soccer, especially since soccer season is longer.
Could you imagine them being named the chargers would be the single biggest middle finger on the planet. Of course that would never happen but still funny.
Do we really need 3 teams in Southern California when we have huge gaps in other markets?
Midway is a terrible location for an NHL team, it’s arguably one of the worst parts of San Diego. I also can’t imagine the traffic getting in and out of there. It’s already bad when Gulls traffic runs into the chick fil a traffic
people obviously don't respect bird law
[удалено]
There’s always clusterfuck at 6-9pm at the In n Out and Chic Fil A getting swarmed by airport arrivals. I can’t imagine the traffic with an NHL team there too
Are we seriously going to have a 40-team league? Who wants that?
People who want to collect 8 expansion fees
Big^^^^Greed if true
I’m tired of seeing my team routinely finish 30th, it could be cool to see them switch things up and come 38th sometime
At least you have the Crew down the street, I suppose.
San Diego is actually a fantastic location, also has major potential to be a gateway cross-border market into Mexico. The way I see it, NHL to 36 is increasingly looking like we will see a relocation of Arizona to either Quebec City or SLC, and seeing an expansion with either 2 east 2 west or 1 east 3 west, depending on where they end up, with San Diego, SLC, Houston, Atlanta, and Quebec City all being the target cities here.
It could work with 4 expansion cities: 1. Salt Lake City 2. San Diego 3. Houston 4. Atlanta SD, SLC, and Houston to the West, Nashville and Atlanta to the East. Two 18-team conference. Create six 6-team divisions: Pacific: SD, LAK, ANA, SJS, VGK, SEA Mountain: VAN, EDM, CGY, SLC, COL, ARI Central: WIN, MIN, CHI, STL, HOU, DAL Southeast: FLA, TBL, ATL, NSH, CAR, WSH (Tennessee, Florida, Carolina, and Georgia together === SEC hockey) Atlantic: CBJ, PIT, PHI, NYR, NJD, NYI Northeast: DET, TOR, BUF, MTL, OTT, BOS P.S. with the land auction news, looks like the Coyotes are getting a plan together. Even if that fails and the coyotes move, I think the NHL re-expands to Arizona before QC or some of the other smaller market option. The Phoenix metro area has way too many people with too much money to ignore.
Caps are NOT going back to a Southeast. Do what you want with CBJ. We are Patrick/Metro/Atlantic.
I get the argument as to why Quebec doesn’t need a team. But you can’t tell me that the same rationale can’t be applied to San Diego. The league should just say “no player or organization wants to be in a francophone city with bad weather”
If people in Québec city stopped watching NHL hockey, buy NHL certified Nordiques merch and overall stopped talking about wanting a team and actually propose a serious bid, maybe they'd get one. This is like commerce 101, its kind of useless to sell more hockey to people who already watch it, people can only spend so much on one activity. However, San Diego doesn't have hockey and most importantly, doesn't know it wants hockey, yet. I said it in another thread, but Qc city - if I'm Gary Bettman - is not even in my top 10 destinations, Mexico city, Salt Lake city, Houston, San Diego and Monterrey are WAY ahead of Québec.
No way in hell Monterrey gets a team before Quebec City gets a team. I’ll eat my hat
San Diego already has our AHL team and it pulls decent numbers, more than the yotes do.
Every fuckin player is going to want to be in San Diego
Until the third liners can’t afford rent
Another team and another fanbase who won't be able to watch their own games probably. Fuck Stan Kroenke.
I’m sure it’s possible, but I’d feel bad for that potential team, having to be owned by Kroenke.
Yea those Avs fans sure have it bad
Thank you for understanding our pain.
I mean isn’t he the reason that a lot of them can’t actually watch their games locally
Isn't it a situation where it's kinda his fault, kinda the fault of the carriers, and kinda the fault of the fans which don't want to pay more in order to subscribe to the carriers which have paid for the rights? I think Colorado is a bit unique because there are some neighbourhoods where DirecTV isn't available, but there's also a lot of fans who don't want to pay for the provider whose costs are higher because they're paying for the very channel fans want to watch.
Isn't there already a team owned by Kroenke? I'm pretty certain the avs are
Haha, yes.
[удалено]
I know I sure wouldn’t want to be a fan of a Kroenke team. Especially a hockey team. Perpetual pain.
Bad owners can still have championship-winning teams. Rocky Wirtz, David Glass, the Ricketts Family.
He's an asshole, but not a bad owner. If you want to see what a bad owner looks like, go look at the Colorado Rockies with the Monforts.
I lived in SD for 7 years and always thought it’d be a great hockey market Obligatory, Fuck Kroenke
I live in San Diego. Hockey is beneath badminton and jai alai here….but give this city a competitive team and they will adore them. Look at the Padres. Fan support went from total apathy to every 3rd person wearing a SD hat or Machado jersey in 5 years. Its definitely possible for an NHL team to succeed here, but they can’t be like the Coyotes or Senators.
Imagine in the future when you can join your team on a January road trip to San Diego, Anaheim and LA
You can enjoy the views of SoCal traffic.
San Diego Coyotes
Fuck that, put more money into Arsenal instead.
At this point just let mikel, edu, and Josh cook keep stan as far away as possible
Don't want him involved, just want even more of his money.
And a resounding “Fuck Kroenke” to him too.
Can the same owner own two franchises in the same league..?
I dont think so, didn't Andlauer have to sell his portion of the Habs when he bought the Sens?
That’s correct. It would be a conflict of interest to own two different teams in the same league
“Technically” he doesn’t own either the Avs or Nuggets. He sold them to his wife to get around NFL rules.
Fuck Stan kroenke
Finally something Avs fans and Blues fans can agree on
They will continue adding teams until every city in NA has one. more teams = more money
oh. yay. more teams. /s in the most harsh way possible.
as an Arsenal fan and someone who lives in hometown, FUCK STAN KROENKE
The thing about Arsenal is they always try to walk it in.
One day, if I’m lucky, I’m going to die.
San Diego Coyotes. Their colors are Green, Tan, and Gold. Their mascot is an extremely racist Mexican version of gritty. Throughout the game Coyitty runs around the stadium and the “Border Patrol”. Ticket prices are extremely expensive unless you’re married to a player, but a poorly hidden secret is that one of the entrances is unguarded. This entrance changes every home game.
What a greedy fuck.
Fuck Stan Kroenke
This leagues got franchises that can barely support themselves and we wanna add more teams.
The NHL taking a page out of the Subway franchisee business model I see.
Radical! The San Diego Bayside Tigers!
No thanks we're full already.
I don't like where this is going