Council rejects call to support second NHL team Toronto & GTA News Toronto Sun
It appears that a second NHL franchise will not be coming to Toronto anytime in the near future. City council rejected the idea last week. Although I am a firm member of Leaf Nation, I do not think that another club in the vicinity would hurt the Leafs in the slightest. The Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the most successful franchises in North American sports entertainment. With a population of 5.6 million people in the G.T.A. alone, that would suggest the ability to support to teams. 5.6 only takes into account the Durham, York, Halton and Peel Regions and of course the city of Toronto. To the west of this you have Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph and Cambridge. This is another 1+ million inhabitants just in these cities alone. To the north is Barrie and the East Cobourg. Having lived in Mississauga and Markham for 3+ years I feel that I am very well adapted to comment on the overall economic situation in this area. In my opinion this area of southern Ontario could support not only one more but likely a third NHL team.
Let's look at Hamilton for example. The first choice for billionaire R.I.M. Corporations owner Jim Balsille. Balsille made a pitch to the NHL to bring the Atlanta Thrashers or Nashville Predators to Hamilton. With a population of 500,000 plus within the city limits and 1+ million within a 20 min drive Hamilton definitely sounds like a viable option. Copps Coliseum is older but has the space to hold a large enough crowd with just minor upgrades. The city government is on board and even provided financial incentives to be included in the Balsille offer. Currently the Hamilton Bulldogs of the AHL (Montreal Canadiens affiliate) are located there. This AHL team could easily be relocated to London, Ontario for example or even Quebec City or another major center in La Belle Province. Halifax looks like it could support an AHL club. St. John's Newfoundland just got one back in the Manitoba Moose.
Why will Hamilton never get an NHL franchise? Because of the Buffalo Sabres. If you ever watch a Sabres home game in which they play another American NHL club you will notice something odd. They play both the Canadian and American National Anthems even when there is no Canadian team playing. This is not done in other American cities. The reason for this is simply because of the amount of Canadians crossing the border to watch NHL games in Buffalo. Being less than two hours from downtown Toronto, in traffic and including border check stop time, Buffalo is a much cheaper destination for southern Ontario residents to watch NHL. In comparison to ticket prices at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto which are astronomical at times the Buffalo Sabres offer a moderate family the opportunity to watch the big leagues. If there was a second NHL franchise in Hamilton or anywhere else within southern Ontario the Buffalo franchise would likely collapse. Would this necessarily be a bad thing? I know we have Free Trade and are so economically linked to the United States that we might as well be a state but, should Canadians be the vast supporter of an American club when it is possible to have a club in Canada. Maybe it is my nationalist sentiment or my disdain for American economic prowess. Or maybe its the fact that Americans seem to think of us Canadians as back water igloo dwellers that makes me feel this way. All I know is that if I was an Economic PhD student instead of a History major I think I could certainly write a thesis comparing the American economic puppet of Gary Bettman to a great many political puppets which have been installed around the globe by the United States the most recent being Hamid Kharzai in Afghanistan. Sorry for the long winded digression into economic foreign policy and such but if anything take a minute to think critically about NHL economics and expansion/relocation policy and I think you may just come up with some interesting points.
It appears that a second NHL franchise will not be coming to Toronto anytime in the near future. City council rejected the idea last week. Although I am a firm member of Leaf Nation, I do not think that another club in the vicinity would hurt the Leafs in the slightest. The Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the most successful franchises in North American sports entertainment. With a population of 5.6 million people in the G.T.A. alone, that would suggest the ability to support to teams. 5.6 only takes into account the Durham, York, Halton and Peel Regions and of course the city of Toronto. To the west of this you have Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph and Cambridge. This is another 1+ million inhabitants just in these cities alone. To the north is Barrie and the East Cobourg. Having lived in Mississauga and Markham for 3+ years I feel that I am very well adapted to comment on the overall economic situation in this area. In my opinion this area of southern Ontario could support not only one more but likely a third NHL team.
Let's look at Hamilton for example. The first choice for billionaire R.I.M. Corporations owner Jim Balsille. Balsille made a pitch to the NHL to bring the Atlanta Thrashers or Nashville Predators to Hamilton. With a population of 500,000 plus within the city limits and 1+ million within a 20 min drive Hamilton definitely sounds like a viable option. Copps Coliseum is older but has the space to hold a large enough crowd with just minor upgrades. The city government is on board and even provided financial incentives to be included in the Balsille offer. Currently the Hamilton Bulldogs of the AHL (Montreal Canadiens affiliate) are located there. This AHL team could easily be relocated to London, Ontario for example or even Quebec City or another major center in La Belle Province. Halifax looks like it could support an AHL club. St. John's Newfoundland just got one back in the Manitoba Moose.
Why will Hamilton never get an NHL franchise? Because of the Buffalo Sabres. If you ever watch a Sabres home game in which they play another American NHL club you will notice something odd. They play both the Canadian and American National Anthems even when there is no Canadian team playing. This is not done in other American cities. The reason for this is simply because of the amount of Canadians crossing the border to watch NHL games in Buffalo. Being less than two hours from downtown Toronto, in traffic and including border check stop time, Buffalo is a much cheaper destination for southern Ontario residents to watch NHL. In comparison to ticket prices at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto which are astronomical at times the Buffalo Sabres offer a moderate family the opportunity to watch the big leagues. If there was a second NHL franchise in Hamilton or anywhere else within southern Ontario the Buffalo franchise would likely collapse. Would this necessarily be a bad thing? I know we have Free Trade and are so economically linked to the United States that we might as well be a state but, should Canadians be the vast supporter of an American club when it is possible to have a club in Canada. Maybe it is my nationalist sentiment or my disdain for American economic prowess. Or maybe its the fact that Americans seem to think of us Canadians as back water igloo dwellers that makes me feel this way. All I know is that if I was an Economic PhD student instead of a History major I think I could certainly write a thesis comparing the American economic puppet of Gary Bettman to a great many political puppets which have been installed around the globe by the United States the most recent being Hamid Kharzai in Afghanistan. Sorry for the long winded digression into economic foreign policy and such but if anything take a minute to think critically about NHL economics and expansion/relocation policy and I think you may just come up with some interesting points.
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