TB (I think their attendance problem is just a matter of an over-saturated market; get rid of FLA and between TB's team and no competition, they'll be fine...
I disagree, TB and Miami are about 5 hours apart, If the Panthers leave Miami, I don't really see people driving 5 hours one way to get their hockey fix.. I don't think it is oversaturated, I think it is; Florida, the majority of people there just don't really give a rats ass about hockey.
I agree--
Which is why having TWO hockey teams thee jsut makes it worse and unworkable.
I'm not saying people will drive 5 hours for hockey in Florida.
But removing the Panthers, a team no one wants or cares about...is good in it's won right, really, as it means the almost certain return of a classic team or a new, northern team, but in terms of teh Lightning, it will help a great deal.
The Panthers have "fans," by which I mean a small, small, PHX-scale small number of fans, but still fans.
Presumably, they DO like hockey, if they'll go out and see thisn sorry franchise and buy any merchandise.
Take the Panthers away, and the Lightning take those people, and between the Panthers AND Thrashers going, have something of a regional monopoly over the whole of the South below Tennessee.
INIDIVIDUALLY, these states may not be able to support a hockey team, or garner enough fans to support an Atlanta Thrashers (or Flames) or a Florida Panthers.
But 5 states, ALL getting the Lightning as their "regional" hockey team on TV, having the Lightning merchandise have no competition, and the fact that unile the other two, the Lightning are, NOW, a good team...
Tampa Bay CAN WORK.
And it should be allowed to.
One team in the region, for all those fans, the successful team...
As has been said in the thread previously, the Blue Jackets would draw well if they play well.
THIS is the time to get rid of the Panthers to give the Lightning the chance to solidify their fanbase for the long-term and establish themselves as the regional hockey team...while the team is still good and can still draw fans and go deep into the playoffs and draw TV ratings.
I'm all for some relocation in the NHL.
I'm all for the Nordiques coming back.
I'm all for the Whalers coming back.
I'm all for Seattle or Portland or Milwaukee or Hamilton hockey.
But I DO get a bit miffed at the sentiment I think far too many Northern US/Canada fans seem to hold, that they are the ONLY ones who should have hockey, that hockey really doesn't belong anywhere south of Pennsylvania or St. Louis.
Generally, the California teams are considered an exception--which I appreciate, naturally--as all three teams have large markets, have sustained their teams, have histories and rivalries built, and have had success...
So they're generally tolerated as the exception to the No-Summer-States rule, so to speak, since the big city presence of Los Angeles, Anaheim, and the Bay Brea comprising San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland are major sports and entertainment venues and so that and the success and rivalries and whatnot make up a bit for our conspicuous lack of snowfall.
But Tampa Bay deserves its team, too.
No Stanley Cup winenr has moved or folded or "died out" for 80+ years. Let's keep it that way.
You've got the Jets back.
You're getting the Nordiques back, if not this year, then in the next year or two for certain.
Hartford, Hamilton, Portland, Milwaukee, Seattle...all are middling at this point, just getting their feet wet and ready...but within a few years, they could start to see teams, too.
But that doesn't mean that every single last expansion-era team must be uprooted and shipped North.
Anaheim, San Jose, Tampa Bay.
THOSE are the success stories, as it were, of the 1990s Expansion, and they're the teams that deserve to stay.
Three teams, that's not asking for too much, or too many.
Take Phoenix.
Take Florida.
Take Nashville.
Take Columbus (if need be.)
Even the Stars...so long as the Stars/North Stars name was retained in some way, shape, or form, why not, they started up North...
But leave The Good Three, Anaheim, San Jose, and Tampa Bay, out of it.
I REALLY DO sympathize with your love of hockey--I'm fa fan too!
And I understand you want more teams North were, generally, they belong.
And I agree.
But remember--Bettman once wrested teams away from you, in part, because he was foolish enough to think hockey was only for big markets and large US cities.
He was wrong.
So let's not wrest away every last sun-drenched team with the idea that hockey is only for markets in the North.
Because, as much as it IS Canada's Game...
Hockey is for EVERYONE.