Blind, Deaf, And Dumb And Born To Follow

well you sort of made the point for not having teams in Florida which has long been the debate with the failing MLB Florida teams. Most of the people who live in So. Florida are not from Florida and you’re likely in the vast minority of those transplanted fans as not every transplant has the same dedication to their adoptive team. I moved to LA to work for Paramount after college for a couple years and I sure as hell didn’t become a Dodgers or Kings supporter..I showed up when the Cubs or Hawks were in town like most every other transplanted fan and bought the packages on the dish so I could see the games. The MLB teams there like the Rays being based in the historically Yankee market due to that being their spring training home for decades. If those teams can survive It’s going to take a generation for the transplants to pass their fandom down to their children…and seeing that half of said transplants are seemingly retirees with children likely elsewhere it’s going to take awhile to build up a loyal fanbase. I have no idea if kids in Florida even play hockey…perhaps it’s like CA where they play roller hockey but I doubt many kids do, nor many high schools. I can’t even think of a Florida college that has a hockey team. nor any NHLer who is from Florida. It’s the same problem with the Coyotes. If anyone has ever traveled to Mesa for a Cubs spring training game, seemingly half of the neighboring Scottsdale and Mesa areas are Chicago or No Indiana transplants/retirees which is why even when the Diamondbacks were competitive and winning the World Series in 2001 they still couldn’t sell out games despite the new stadium and the winning but when the Cubs show up they’re maxed out. Also see LA and the NFL. LA is teeming with people who aren’t from LA or CA so they really don’t care that there is no NFL team. Everyone just goes to the designated team’s bars to watch their team from back home. I don’t really care either way about the Florida teams..that was just greedy and ill-conceived expansion…not as stupid as putting a team in ATL which has long been known as the worst pro sports city in America but if the NHL felt the need to have a franchise in Florida they should have just done what MLB likely wishes they would have done and put the one FL franchise in Orlando where at least the heavy tourism can bring in some more visiting fans to go along with the sparingly populated locals. Winnipeg and Quebec lost their teams for financial reasons relating to the pre-cap era where those small market Canadian teams couldn’t compete…so in the cap era they deserve and should be fully capable of supporting a franchise whether they’re consistently putting a winner on the ice or not…Winnipeg especially.

Betteman would ever have the stones to show his face in Hamilton once they get a team there? You think you have it bad being a lawyer…

The NHL at some point will have to give in to two things.

1. Balsillie owning a team.
2. Relocation of a failed Southern US team (Phoenix, Florida, Tampa Bay, Carolina and Atlanta all spring to mind)

This move kills two birds with one stone and lets Bettman save some face of not having to actually rubber stamp the demolition of one city’s franchise. With all the crap that went on about 15 years ago with moving Hartford, Quebec City, Minneapolis, and Winnipeg to"greener pastures", screw these cities crying about relocation now. You’re not being moved from a traditional hockey market to a larger city just because the NHL Board of Commissioners sees dollar signs, it’s the exact opposite…also, you didn’t support your team. But it also seems like Bettman believes that a relocation of one of his precious Southern US team equals a tacit admission that his beloved experiment of desert hockey is a failure.

Either way….the two things above will happen eventually. Why not allow the inevitable and also get out from a bad bankruptcy and arena deal at the same time?

And +1 for anyone that caught the Tool reference in the title.