The affiliate thread

Arena contracts are something else that will complicate any moves. Many arenas are locked into pro franchises or college franchises, and that will prevent some franchises from moving as quickly as it seems they could.

As far as building the fan base is concerned, I believe that is assumed to an extent. Since many of the franchises that will be taking on gigantic cost increases are owned by NHL franchises, the cost won't be as damaging to the league or individual franchises.

 

maybe hockey is taking the baseball approach in regards to minor league affiliation. the Mets have the Cyclones in Coney Island. they wear the Mets stripes, have Mets color-scheme and they suck like the Mets... which helps temper expectations from the big ball club. the Yank-mees have a minor league team in Staten Island... somewhere... unless hurricane Sandy wiped them out back in 2012. but again, its setting up a local fan base. back in the 1980s, the Charleston (WV) Charlies were the farm team for the Cleveland Indians (see Mets expectations reference). i could be wrong, but it seems to make sense to establish a farm system somewhat near the major club. it just doesn't register that airfare is that big of a deal. remember, air travel is a business expense and they can get up to half of that money back from Uncle Sam or Uncle... hey, who is Canada's uncle?

 

Rec given for

reference. I am not sure, however, if they stuck around into the '80's - I think they relocated in the 70's. I vaguely recall an airport incident that caused people to be scared to fly into Charleston; something about mountains and short runways.

This message board has covered this topic much more clearly than others that I have seen. This subject has gotten a lot of attention around the country. I agree that the motive to expand the fan base should be assumed, it is not a given for many fans. At least not based on the volume of comments to the contrary.

If an AHL city gets "demoted" to the ECHL then we can expect a passionate backlash from the locals. "We've been supporting our Utica Comets ever since 2012!" I am going to do some digging to substantiate my premise that the AHL's focus on cost-savings, (by clustering teams in small geographic areas), is hurting the league and the sport. This does keep costs down no doubt, and travel expenses are very significant at the AHL level. However, a quick review of attendance records* indicates that some communities do not show enough support to justify retaining their team.

(* The Hockey Database has been a reliable resource for previous data needs, but I find their attendance reports to be too spotty to be reliable. Does anyone know of another source for minor league hockey attendance stats.?)

 

yeah, the Charlies were there in the 80s. when i was a kid, i went to a couple of games with my neighborhood pal and his step-dad. the mountains/runway thing was at the Tri-State Airport in Huntington WV and it involved the Marshall Univ football team in 71 or so (see: We Are Marshall). i grew up in Huntington, left in 89 and went back for the first time last year. yeah, a 25 year gap. but i'll probably go back again... in 2039.

 

I'll be interested to see what you find. Given, what I consider to be a strange mix of owners, I've had a tough time trying to pin any single operational philosophy/model/plan/etc. to more than a handful of franchises. I don't think many share the same goals or vision for the league or their respective franchise.

Personally, I'm not a fan of using attendance as a gauge for anything since technology allows franchises to quickly and accurately adjust pricing to demand for any entertainment product. AHL revenue numbers are tough to find.
attendance is listed here, and it's similar or identical to other sites I've seen:
http://theahl.com/stats/schedule.php?view=attendance&season_id=43

 

for minor league hockey attendance, i've found Hans Hornstein's site "mib":
http://www.mib.org/~lennier/hockey/att.cgi

i just have a good feeling about this site. it has "~lennier/..." in the http.

 

Sold at Lennier.

Nice, very nice. I hope to find more Lennier references.

 

Halo, thanks the lennier site looks like it may be the thing I was looking for. I have downloaded a bunch of data for the NHL, AHL, ECHL, & CHL. This should be fun.

This is a very valid point. I never want to represent a review of statistical data as proof for a certain position. I do, however, feel statistics can help point us in the right direction. At other times, statistical data can come close to disproving a particular predisposed view.

One thing seems clear to me; if a minor league hockey team is in a larger city, with a larger arena, then there is a greater opportunity for the team to draw more fans. With a larger fan base they are less likely to need to reduce ticket prices to generate greater demand. Therefore, revenues would generally rise, and that would give greater stability to the league.

I am a big minor league hockey fan, and I wish to see hockey do well on all levels. I believe that distributing teams geographically is one way to promote the sport, and to date the AHL has not done a complete job on that count.

 

Absolutely. It is a good starting point and I should restate my previous point relating to "anything". There are some opinions about organizations that can be substantiated with attendance numbers.

I'm not a fan of using attendance numbers as a basis for any conclusion about revenue, stability, growth, etc. I think attendance numbers were far more telling when it came to an organization's health than they do now, it is one of the first numbers I would look at when trying to find information about the numbers that I do find useful. I think attendance can tell us a little bit about how ownership operates.

As long as there is enough perception to convince corporate spenders (tv, suites, ads), the fixed revenue will be there.

 

BC Hockey @BCHockeyNews:

BC Hockey @BCHockeyNews:

Hmmmm, who does he agree with exactly?

 

very interesting, this was always a possibility w/ Milano from the get go. The suckiest part is that Milano himself had said that he was still coming to BC just a few days ago. Gotta think Columbus upped their offer.
Milano doppelg?nger and fellow Long Islander Jeremy Bracco committed to BC for next year, I wonder is this will change anything there. Also curious if there's any chance they can get Miles Wood or Colin White enrolled immediately.
good luck Sonny, hope you do half as well as your parents expect you to do.

 

Maybe, I like him already.
Why they have guys sitting on a pro contract go through the bullshit NCAA reqs for student athletes baffles me. Better to leave now than wait to take an injury or lose eligibility and run out of options.

 

This should be in an NCAA thread, not the affiliate thread. Do we have one of those? If not, start it with that ditch post.

 

The one with the pictures. Pictures rewl, wordz sukk.

 

what does Milano gain from signing today if he's playing in Plymouth next year anyway? signing bonus I assume but is that it?

 

lol, the ncaa infographic in the FA thread?

 

He's not subject to all the NCAA bs and costs associated with camps (Teams can't pay for many of the functions, cost is on the players) and he can start drawing some compensation or paid development as soon as Plymouth's season is over. Might just be a matter of ice time too, if he's buried in BC for a year or two, it might be worse for him long term in dollar terms. I don't know all the CHL rules for players that jump up and down from the pro team for whatever reason. I'm guessing CLB has a comprehensive plan for him, I can't imagine the Mad Finn and his handlers (Davidson) would gaurantee a roster slot or add anything to a standard ELC.

Much to be said for getting 9 games of NHL salary too, if that's the case.

 

That's the pic, matty. What he said. I'll start paying attention one of these years.

 

ok, hopefully i won't break anything...