Stadiums & Arenas of Canada, Part 3

[ericmacm]

Of all the potential NHL expansion/relocation options brought up, Quebec City and Houston are the strongest. Both already have arenas, both have decent prospective fanbases (Quebec's is already prominent, and Houston is sure to develop one given its size as a city), and both have prospective ownership groups. Both have also successfully hosted professional hockey before with adequate fan support.

As for my opinion on the other locations brought up in the past few posts:

Milwaukee - Has the population and would certainly garner hockey interest at a state level and UP Michigan, but is being pressured by Chicago, and the Bucks clearly did not build Fiserv with hockey in mind, as their AHL team does not play there, so there is no venue available.

Portland - Also has the population, has a good venue that accommodates hockey, and is free from other market pressures, but lacks popularity. They currently have a WHL team, but the game is not popular in that area and they would need to continue growing the demand for it.

San Diego - Has the population and is looking at building a decent-sized modern arena. They do currently have an AHL team that draws well, so the hockey demand might be there. It's a very non-traditional market, but that hasn't stopped Gary Bettman before. The only major issue I see here is having another California team. Between the Ducks, Kings, and Sharks (as well as the Golden Knights being nearby as well), it's hard to tell if an additional team would work in the area.

Salt Lake City - Very unlikely candidate. It's a beautiful area and big place for winter sports, but is a smaller region and does not have an NHL venue. Vivint (home of the Jazz) is big enough, but it hasn't hosted any hockey in over 20 years. There are also 3 other teams in the interior west (Avalanche, Coyotes, and Golden Knights) so it would be hard for a team to carve out a unique market until the region gets much larger.

Kansas City - Very unlikely candidate. Has a good venue and that's about it. It hosted professional hockey before, but lost the Scouts after 2 seasons of poor attendance. It's a smaller city and lacks the popularity. The Missouri hockey market is most likely fully tapped out already by the Blues anyway.

Also, the NFL will never come to Canada. The NFL thrives off of public funding, and the appetite for that is harder to find in Canada, especially in Toronto or Montreal, the two markets that keep getting brought up for expansion. A large, 70,000 seat stadium, built to the standards that NFL teams are expecting these days would cost multiple billions of $CAD. It would be difficult to find a private group willing to invest that much all at once on a gamble like an NFL team, especially after the Bills Toronto Series showed that Toronto may not even be viable.