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Originally Posted by Zassk
Is it true that Abbotsford Heat are drawing poor crowds? I figured that the AHL would do well there. Both the Heat and the Bruins are utterly ignored by the Vancouver media, sadly. I suppose that might change if one of them moved to a location near SkyTrain in Surrey.
If in fact Phoenix moves back to Winnipeg in the NHL (we should finally know within a month), the Winnipeg owner has indicated he will move the AHL Moose. The likely scenario seems to be a shuffling of AHL franchises with the Canucks farm team being the one here in the Fraser Valley, and Calgary's farm team being in a new location on the prairies somewhere.
With a new affiliation with the Canucks, I could definitely see the AHL team moving to a new, larger arena in Surrey. But that's the only situation in which I can see the AHL moving to Surrey.
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The Bruins are slightly outdrawn by the Heat, (Bruins 3,321.4 fans to date, vs Heat 3,492.5 fans per game to date) mainly because of a few reason - a) junior hockey is huge in Canada - while the AHL outside of the Moose doesn't seem to do good anywhere in Canada. b) the Heat are the Flames farm team, and much like how when I lived in Hamilton, I would refuse to cheer for the Bulldogs (AHL) because they were the Montreal Canadiens farm team, and I'm a Leaf fan. Same reason why Canucks fans won't cheer for the Flames farm team.
In relation to the Pacific Coliseum - I'm wondering how many years does that building have shelf-life remaining? I know it was given a significant upgrade for the Olympics, and I've been to about 4-5 Giants games in the last few years - but it still over 40 years old, and eventually it will need to be replaced.
I think marketing the Giants long-term as a Metro Vancouver team would be positive - especially if placed in Surrey City Centre near skytrain connections. Pac Coliseum is easily accessible by car, but no real other convenient method to the PNE grounds is available.
Still, if Surrey builds an NHL standard arena, I fear we'll be looking at a Glendale, Arizona problem with Coyotes if the arena has no major tenant. GM Place (rogers arena) is still state of the art, and I don't think the Canucks would ever move out of Vancouver-proper to Surrey.
So yeah, a 9-10,000 seat arena with the goal to replace the Pacific Coliseum as a major secondary venue would the only thing I see possible. And please put it in Surrey Centre, Cloverdale is out there, and besides the Langley Events Centre is about 8 km from there.