Why The NHL Should Not Expand
Erin Brown – Fox Sports Florida
Since the NHL has teams in locations that don’t make much sense like Sunrise, Florida and Glendale, Arizona, the NHL should not expand.
The Florida Panthers have been the laughing stock amongst NHL fans when it comes to attendance. The provided photo was from a preseason game, but the point remains with the facts.
In 2012-2013, the Panthers averaged 16,992 fans a game, which is 88.3% of capacity and is good for 26th in the NHL according to hockeyattendance.com. The Panthers miraculously weren’t last in the NHL in attendance, but if you watch a Panthers home game, it’s because they don’t play home games. More fans from the opposing team usually show up to cheer on their team. How the Panthers stay afloat beats me. My best guess is its thanks to other teams fans. Or, it could be because they offer $7 season tickets. SEVEN DOLLARS!!!!
The location of BB&T Center also gives many disadvantages for the Panthers. The arena is located in Sunrise, Florida which doesn’t have public transportation from Miami. Sunrise is also northwest of Fort Lauderdale which is a lengthy drive from Miami. Or a 30 minute train to Fort Lauderdale and a pricey cab to the game and back.
Teams ranking below the Panthers in capacity pergentages according to hockeyattendance.com in 2012-2013 were (30th-27th) the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Arizona Coyotes, the New York Islanders, and the Colorado Avalanche.
In 2012-2013, Columbus saw Nationwide Arena filled to 80.3% of capacity. In 2013-2014 the Blue Jackets made big strides after making the playoffs. The Blue Jackets have a lot of promise and so does the teams numbers with fans in Columbus and the rest of Ohio. Just ask ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit who dubs himself a “CBJ Enthusiast” and often tweets about the team during the season.
The Arizona Coyotes, formerly the Phoenix Coyotes, are second worst in the NHL in attendance percentages with a measly 81.3% of average capacity in 2012-2013. This offseason they changed their name to the Arizona Coyotes to better appeal to the rest of the state.
Like the Panthers, the Coyotes arena isn’t in a good location. Jobing.com Arena is in Glendale Arizona, in the same complex as the University of Phoenix Stadium where the Arizona Cardinals play. Glendale is a 40 minute drive from Phoenix.
I attended a Coyotes versus Capitals game this past November. The location is a pain. However, the arena itself is beautiful. The fans are mostly retired Canadians who spend their winters in Phoenix away from the Canadian winters. While at a Coyotes and Capitals game in November of 2013, I saw, Toronto Maple Leafs jersey’s and Winnipeg Jets jerseys.
In fact, while walking out of the arena after a Capitals shootout loss, the Canadian fellow in the Maple Leafs jersey made a comment to me about the Capitals blowing a two goal lead in the third period in an Ontario accent. They are genuine Canadians.
When the NHL has teams in (technically outside) Miami and Phoenix, where their fan bases are minimal and they only survive from fans that aren’t even fans of their own team, the league shouldn’t be looking at expanding. If it knows what’s good for itself from a business standpoint, before they expand, they should relocate the Panthers and the Coyotes…to Canada, where the game of hockey will never struggle.
