Who's your team?

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Originally Posted by sggg

Anyway, if the NHL ever sorts itself out with the coming labour war and new CBA there's a good chance the NHL would return to Québec and Winnipeg. There was even an article supporting this idea at ESPN.com, of all places... :o

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I'm glad to hear that some of the fans are coming back to the NHL. :)

As far as teams in Quebec or Winnipeg, I really hope it means relocating some of the teams instead of starting new ones. Nashville and especially Carolina need to be moved. Neither are in towns that care about the team. I mean, the Hurricanes are coming off of a cup appearance and they're still averaging 10k/game? I'm sure there are several cities that would love to have a team , and certainly bring in more than 10k ppl average per game.

I should probably stop now...it just upsets me to see teams being moved from places that have traditionally supported them into supposed 'big markets' in the south. Dallas is the only successful southern transplant I know of, regularly averaging 18-20k people per game.

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Originally Posted by Wildkat

Nothing sucks worse than loosing your team. Due to a greedy owner and a idiot govenor.

Farking Hurricanes. I will forever hate you.

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I absolutely could not believe that happened; and a move to Raleigh, North Carolina of all places?!

Like I said, they need to be moved back or somewhere else, because Raleigh definitely does not support them in the way they should and thus, does not deserve them.

FaVRe :)

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Originally Posted by station82o

except for brett farve, the packers can go fall of a cliff

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Originally Posted by Rick

Whatever teams are local. Either root for the home team or get the hell out of the stadium.

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I dunno about that. There is something really fun about a derby (close local rival). Maybe growing up in NYC Metro with 10 pro teams spoiled me. Devils-Rangers. Mets-Yankees. That's more fun than everyone being the same.

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Originally Posted by Chibi Nappa

Yeah, you better damn well route for your home team. If you are not tied to a team geographically, why would you be a fan of them? Because they won a championship? Because you like their uniforms? Your home team represents your city (or general area). You gotta' get behind that. :)

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People move all the time. Some have a fondness or attachment to different places for different reasons. Sometimes you get into your teams from family or friends. If someone likes a team just because they win that's pretty stupid and classless (See: Manchester United strips / NY Yankees caps), but there are other good reasons too.

I grew up in New Jersey and my favourite teams were the Devils and Nordiques. Why did I pick the 'Diques? Because I liked the city, the culture, the players, the mystique - and certainly not because their success (since there was not too much of that :(). Now I live in Montréal and I love going to Bell Centre and sporting my Devils jersey. So, like I said, many people have totally legit reasons not to support the nearest team - just as long as they are not Glory Hunters, they are OK with me. :)

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Originally Posted by Schlep

I'm glad to hear that some of the fans are coming back to the NHL. :)

As far as teams in Quebec or Winnipeg, I really hope it means relocating some of the teams instead of starting new ones. Nashville and especially Carolina need to be moved. Neither are in towns that care about the team. I mean, the Hurricanes are coming off of a cup appearance and they're still averaging 10k/game? I'm sure there are several cities that would love to have a team , and certainly bring in more than 10k ppl average per game.

I should probably stop now...it just upsets me to see teams being moved from places that have traditionally supported them into supposed 'big markets' in the south. Dallas is the only successful southern transplant I know of, regularly averaging 18-20k people per game.

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The real problem is that any of the cities with an NHL team could theoretically support it. All cities have some "good" die hard fans. It's just a question of how many there are and how much the people care. In Québec, the team was awful for years. The worst in the league, but the fans still filled the arena to something like 95% capacity every single year.

Would that happen in Colorado if the Avs became that bad? No way. The fans there have already abandoned the MLB Rockies and don't support the Nuggets too well. When the NHL Rockies played there they were awful could not bring in 10k a night. As an ex-Nordique fan, I really really really hope this happens. ;)

The same goes for most of the "new markets" in the NHL. The problem is that the teams are pretty much a novelty. Sure some people get into it, but it's not a part of the culture like it is in Canada and places like Minnesota and Massachusetts. People have not played the sport. They don't identify with it. They don't care about it like they do MLB/NFL. That's why so many teams like Anaheim, Carolina, Florida, and Nashville are having trouble with attendance. Even Dallas has finally stopped selling out.

The other problem is the ticket prices. In many places it's prohibitively expensive to attend games. What the NHL needs to do is get a cap or revenue sharing so that all the teams can compete on a fair level. If that's the case then it's only smart business to place teams in places where support will be strong and unqustioned, like Winnipeg, Québec, and maybe even Hamilton. It will also help teams like Nashville, Buffalo, and Calgary compete financially with the Rangers, Wings, and Leafs.

If not there is always the new WHA starting up. ;)

Baseball- Red Sox/Cubs
Football- Patriots
Hockey- Bruins
Basketball- Celtics...


Yeah I'm from Boston a little.

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I dunno about that. There is something really fun about a derby (close local rival). Maybe growing up in NYC Metro with 10 pro teams spoiled me. Devils-Rangers. Mets-Yankees. That's more fun than everyone being the same.

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I'll give you that, a town divided=entertainment ahoy.

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Originally Posted by Chibi Nappa

Even ignoring the fact that you misspelled soccer, I still have to call you on the number of teams listed. 5? Anything past 1 and you're not a true rabbid fan. Sorry, that's the way it works. :D

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I don't know if you knew I was Iranian or not, but that's why I support those teams. Of course, Iran is my favourite national team, but when World Cup and Euro Cup come around, I can't really support them unless they qualify for WC, which rarely happens. So I also like Holland. Same way with Pirouzi. I like Hamburg SV because Mehdi Mahdavikia (my fav Iranian player) plays for them. I won't explain Man Utd because I've done it 1,000 times before. They are my favourite team...in the world. There are no professional sports in Oklahoma. Does that mean I can't watch pro sports or follow any teams? You're stupid. :p

SC

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Originally Posted by Wildkat

Nothing sucks worse than loosing your team. Due to a greedy owner and a idiot govenor.

http://www.whalerwatch.com/newlogo-x-s.jpg

Farking Hurricanes. I will forever hate you.

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http://www.logoserver.com/football/HoustonOilers80s.GIF

Long live the Whale. :D

SC

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Originally Posted by sggg

That's why so many teams like Anaheim, Carolina, Florida, and Nashville are having trouble with attendance. Even Dallas has finally stopped selling out.

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Dallas is still one of the highest attended teams in the league...right up there with Minnesota, Colorado, Detroit, Columbus, etc. I do agree that it's gone down, but I think it would be higher if not for...

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The other problem is the ticket prices. In many places it's prohibitively expensive to attend games.

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The worst seat in the house for a Stars game is $25. The worst seat in the house for a Mavericks game is $10. It's hard enough for me to get from where I'm at to the AAC, but it's even harder to justify it when I have to pay $25 for a view that's far worse than on TV.

They also have "premium dates" for games like the Blackhawks rivalry and bigger name teams like the Devils, which ups the price of tickets $5-10.

I agree that they need to find some way to get the ticket prices lower. In Dallas' case it doesn't seem to be affecting them too much, but I think they'd sell out if they ran more promotions on the cheap seats. I'd go more than 3-4 times a year if that were the case.

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Originally Posted by Sl1p

CVS2 - Cammy, Athena, Bison (R2)

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Nice.

Baseball - Cubs
NFL - Bears
NBA - Bulls
NHL - Hawks