Posted on 09/12/2023 3:06:54 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
HENDERSON, Nev. -- NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly is optimistic a third franchise in Atlanta would yield better results than two previous failed expansion teams in the market.
"I think some of the challenges that we've seen in the past in Atlanta can be overcome," Daly told ESPN at the NHL/NHLPA player media tour on Tuesday.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has said that expansion isn't currently a priority for the league.
"Having said that, particularly with the success of the Vegas and Seattle expansions, there are more people who want to own professional hockey teams," Daly said.
The Golden Knights (2017) and Kraken (2021) were added to the NHL in recent years, finding immediate financial success as well as success on the ice thanks to revamped expansion draft rules.
People have money to go to professional sporting events yet?
Must be nice. And I do pretty well.
Key fact. Millions of Northerners have fled the rust belt for North GA. They didn’t come here for the football.
Maybe in N GA they can pretend they have the best of both worlds.
Cobb County. Where the Braves fans are located.
Forsyth County where future hockey fans are (now) from.
(Not me... I’m bouncing between Old Braves stadium, west of airport and now Sandy Springs. I was in the new Braves area before the Braves....before the old Braves area. 10 yrs since IL and glad I left.)
This will be the third attempt at a hockey team.
Only this time they’re looking to build an absolutely massive development north of they city in Cumming, Ga. Affluent area. 19,000 seat arena for the team and entertainment.
I think the metro area has a solid 5 or 6 different concert venues. Definitely need another one. Definitely. For sure. Yes. Absolutely.
I’m not so sure the folks up there want it. Taxes are going up and it’s damn near impossible to drive around up there now.
But Kemp and his crew will do their best to piss off more people with their over development, higher property taxes and stuffing 10lbs of poo into a 2lb bag.
Where’s the million+ city in Georgia?
I think there’s a legal hurdle that for an NHL team to play in the Houston Toyota Center Arena then Tillman Fertitta gets ownership.
Not millions. But more than we would like.
But many of them are liberals moving to the city. Those folks don’t watch sports, other than soccer.
I think it'll work this time. They'll have to build the new arena where the white fans live in the northern suburbs of Atlanta. So the drive isn't so bad.
The city itself may only be 500,000, but the metro area is about 6 million.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_Atlanta
I’ll have to politely disagree.
Hockey is big down here. Not big enough to carry a team with the prices needed to survive. Hockey is expensive.
There aren’t that many northerners down here that would be regulars or loyal fans like they are up north.
Very true.
It’s made up so 13 counties.
Some of which are not even close to where the proposed arena is.
6 of the 13 have a very very large black population. Cobb and Gwinnett are Democrat for the first time since becoming counties. Fulton is what Fulton is and aside from the black population in Atlanta/Fulton, it has a ton of liberals and homosexuals. Not your typical hockey fans.
So the powers that be are pinning their hopes on, I don’t know who to carry a sports franchise that is very expensive to maintain.
I say it will get thrashed.
I think there are a lot of shysters in Georgia.
You might be right. Atlanta is growing and there's a lot of transplants moving into the area. But is it enough to support a hockey team? Maybe. Maybe not.
From the start of the Obama era to now yes, it is millions.
Most are working age, not seniors retiring.
Native Georgians don’t seem to realize the size of the immigration from the North. Much more important than the immigration from the south, especially to politics.
Native Georgians don’t seem to realize the size of the immigration from the North.
That’s the money shot, right there. Folks still elect their buddies and fellow church member, thinking they’re doing the right thing. Not paying attention to how that person is selling them out as fast as they can. And they do it with a smile at the local country cooking restaurant that everyone’s been going to since they were a kid.
I'm not the biggest fan of the NHL's expansion model over the last 30 years, but they are pursuing a definitive strategy of expanding into large metro areas instead of traditional hockey hotbeds. Their approach is based on the expectation that having more potential TV viewers is better than having more serious fans.
That’s right. Atlanta is the largest metro area in North America without an NHL team right now.
I thought Houston was.
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