Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Awesomesauce
On the other hand, I happen to think (based on nothing but my gut) that a second NHL team in the GTA, would be a total flop. Why would somebody in Mississauga or Brampton suddenly start rooting for the 'Ontario Hockey Pucks' or whatever they'd be called?
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The question for the NHL is whether or not the net return from adding another team is great enough to justify the cost, not whether or not a new team would be able to make enough money to survive. How much would a new team in Brampton really grow the hockey market in the GTA instead of just cannibalizing the existing market?
I could imagine a situation resulting in an NHL team in Halifax, because there are no other similar teams around and because it is a provincial capital with the capacity to pay an exorbitant amount of money in subsidies. But there isn't much interest in that kind of spending there. That's why there is no CFL team, even though the city could easily get a loan tomorrow for a few hundred million dollars and build a fairly fancy stadium (with the province on board they could spend $500M-1B). I hope for the sake of the city and province that there aren't any sports-crazed governments that try to do that sort of thing. Maybe one day there will somehow be sensible pro sports markets that more people can participate in. Even then though, it makes a lot more sense for cities to spend money on amateur sport and athletic facilities to get people to go out and be active (and hockey probably has one of the worst cost-benefit ratios for that kind of thing; the facilities are expensive, the gear is expensive, and not many people get to play).
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