Cactus Jack wrote:Scott Hall wrote:Mr Swagtastic wrote:
Seattle is a world class city but I still think Quebec needs a team first. Good thing with Seattle though is you have the islands of BC like Victoria who can go and Portland and even the greater Washington state area.
Seattle is an absolute no brainer and should have had a team back there ages ago it's an absolute slam dunk they will be
a fantastic market.
As for Quebec City....
People forget this franchise struggled selling tickets their last playoff series in 1995 against the Rangers. Only 300 people
went to the save the Nordiques rally according to MaCleans magazine. Quebec isn't a great sports market. The Expos had
some good teams and lots of great players and they always had abysmal attendance. Yeah they had some shady owners
but they couldn't afford to keep star players if fans weren't showing up to the Ball Park.
The Alouettes of the CFL were the best market in the CFL when they were winning now that they've been losing for awhile
their attendance is way down. Habs fans will not support losing of any kind and the Canadiens front office has to consistently
put out a good product on the ice or the fans won't show up.
My point is don't take it for granted that Quebec City will be an awesome market. A whole generation of kids that have
grown up there are Habs fans now. Ottawa who is nearby is having attendance issues and couldn't even sell out for Eastern
Conference Finals Home Games against Sid the Kid and the Pens. Not only does Quebec create geographical problems in the
league but putting them close to Montreal and Ottawa wouldn't be ideal.
If the Nordiques have missed the playoffs or have sucked for as long as the Panthers, Coyotes and Hurricanes have you know
those fickle French fans wouldn't sellout every game and there would be empty seats.
After Seattle I hope Houston is next and Quebec City is only used for emergency situations
Precisely. Anyone advocating that Quebec should have a team over Seattle, can kiss my ***.
The NHL has choosen. Live with it!
Quite honestly, I don't know the history of hockey in QC all that much. Haven't followed the sport long enough. But, Seattle has hockey fans that have waited an awfully long time for a team. The city is very deserving of one.
It's kind of like the Sonics situation where Quebecers and some Canadians feel the Nords were unfairly taken away from
them and that they deserve their team back. Also it bothers a lot of Canadians when American markets have trouble
or don't support their team and feel as if the team was in Canada it would automatically be a smashing success which isn't
true.
I don't know why it's taken Seattle so long to get an NHL team back. It's always been an ideal market because the NHL needed
another West Coast city, It's close to Canada where a lot of fans will travel to see games especially when their team plays
in Seattle, it's a great sports city, it has a booming economy, lot's of corporate sponsorship opportunities, Oregon fans can
come there to get a taste and Seattle has a solid fan base already with the Junior teams.
It's the perfect time to get a team in Seattle while the Sonics are still not back yet to strike while the Iron is hot. It's
cool to see so many people in the area pumped up about a team. There's probably a few people that are like Hockey? meh
Well sometimes the regular season can get boring but man Hockey shines in the Playoffs there is nothing better in sports
then the NHL playoffs even most hockey haters would admit that. If you don't have your city or a team involved it's hard
to get excited or get into it.
I like the NFL but my city doesn't have a team so I don't have a dog in the hunt and I can't just randomly pick a team and
act like I'm a hardcore fan I'm sure if my city had a team I'd be a big time fan and learn more about Football then just basic
knowledge.
But yeah all Seattle has to do is make sure the season ticket drive is a success and the expansion team is a done deal
it'd be shocking if the season ticket drive wasn't successful though.