Why Ontario needs another NHL Team

Why Ontario Needs Another NHL Team.

February 7^th 2009

It’s very obvious that Ontario (in that frozen pond called Canada) needs another NHL club when you see a team that continues to finish outside of a playoff spot, like the Toronto Maple Leafs, be ranked as the number one most valuable franchise in the NHL. Add that to the fact that they haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1967 yet still have the most loyal fans in all of hockey. They haven’t even played one playoff game since the 2003-04 season, but still they fill the seats every night.

Try buying a ticket to watch a Toronto Maple Leafs game at the Air Canada Centre, it just isn’t going to happen. That is unless you want to pay the scalpers prices of over $400 for seats up in the nosebleeds. And isn’t it odd that whenever the Leafs are in town there seems to be more Leaf fans at the game than the home team? And I’m not talking about just a game at the Joe Louis Arena in close by Detroit either. Try getting tickets to a Pittsburgh/Toronto game. It’s not selling out because of Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. It’s selling out because this is really a Toronto Maple Leafs fan’s only chance to get to watch their team live. Go to a Florida Panthers game versus the Leafs in Sunrise at the BankAtlantic Center, once again look at all the blue and white in the stands. They will drive 24 hours, just to watch their team play.

This shows the sheer amount of Leaf Fans that are out there and how loyal they are. There are easily enough fans to have three NHL teams in the Greater Toronto Area. Most life long Toronto fans have never even been to see a game live because they can get their hands on tickets without taking a second mortgage out on their house.

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So why, when there are multiple teams like the Phoenix Coyotes and the Nashville Predators needing help from the NHL just to survive, will they not re-locate one of those teams to a market where it will thrive? Any team relocating to the GTA would quite simply go from the lowest ranked NHL team to a spot in the top 5 in a blink of an eye.

Jim Balsillie, the owner of Research in Motion and the creator the Blackberry, has been trying for a few years to get a team here in Ontario but the league does everything in their power to keep it from going there. Some conspiracy theorists claim that the Maple Leaf organization has massive pull with the league and is keeping a team from being placed too close to where they call home, but I think another team would only bring more competition and revenue to their market.

Imagine the rivalry between two teams in one of the most densely hockey fan populated places on earth! There are many potential hockey fans in South Western Ontario that never come to fruition because they never get that thrill of seeing a live NHL hockey game. I truly believe that if another team were to be introduced into the greatest hockey market in the world, it would cause a synergistic affect and both teams would be greater and generate more revenue than having just one team there.

So the million dollar question is, why not?

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