To Everyone in the Houston Area (Center, Anthony: how much, high school, vouchers)

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by HoustonRonnie

Houston will NEVER support an NHL team. Tried it (twice), never happened and never received any traction. Don't get me wrong, I grew up in Detroit and played hockey until I was 35. I'd love to see a team here. Regardless, you are wasting your time. It will never happen. There is more interest in soccer here than for hockey. Live with it, I do.

Just sayin'...

Ronnie

We've never had an NHL team. So what exactly has been tried twice? I'm confused. If you mean an attempt to buy and relocate a franchise - yes, Les Alexander tried to buy the Edmonton Oilers in the 1990s but it fell through mainly because we had an arena that was too small. Then a few years ago Houston and Kansas City were looking to lure the Pittsburgh Penguins which were on the verge of bankruptcy, but Mario Lemieux more or less bailed out the team and they ended up getting a new building up there. None of this had to do with the viability of Houston as a hockey market, in and of itself.

The idea of the NHL in Dallas was once scoffed at too, but the Stars have had more success there than they ever did in Minnesota. If you've got an explanation for why it wouldn't work here but it works in Dallas, I'm all ears.

As for what would happen to the minor league franchise here - probably the optimal setup if they stay is to move to a smaller arena in the suburbs. I don't think the Merrell Center in Katy is set up for hockey, or otherwise that might work. Capacity-wise it's perfect.

[LostInHouston]

Originally Posted by bamba_boy

The folks I talked to have all been using a fascility in Sugar Land but I think I read some place of a large rink on the north side as well that might have hockey programs.

The Sugarland complex has two ice rinks. There is a rink up near Willowbrook (aerodrome), as well as one in Friendswood (Space City Ice), one in the Memorial City Mall, and one in Sharpstown. All of these have hockey programs, youth through adult. The vast majority are Canadian/Midwest/Northeast transplants... but there are quite a few native Houstonians wandering in.

[LostInHouston]

Originally Posted by jfre81

The idea of the NHL in Dallas was once scoffed at too, but the Stars have had more success there than they ever did in Minnesota. If you've got an explanation for why it wouldn't work here but it works in Dallas, I'm all ears.

Well, the problems with the North Stars prior to relocating to Dallas mostly had to do with their idiot owner. I think the Minnesota Wild have sold out every home game since coming into the league.

But I'm definitely with you on hockey working in Houston. Hockey is soaring in Dallas... thanks to the stars you are now seeing Dallas-area players making it to top junior/ncaa teams... won't be long before there are a handful of native Texans in the NHL. No reason why the same success wouldn't be possible in Houston.

Heck, wouldn't you rather watch your kid play hockey in a nice cool rink during the summer than sit outside in the heat watching baseball/soccer?

[HoustonRonnie]

Originally Posted by jfre81

We've never had an NHL team. So what exactly has been tried twice? I'm confused. If you mean an attempt to buy and relocate a franchise - yes, Les Alexander tried to buy the Edmonton Oilers in the 1990s but it fell through mainly because we had an arena that was too small. Then a few years ago Houston and Kansas City were looking to lure the Pittsburgh Penguins which were on the verge of bankruptcy, but Mario Lemieux more or less bailed out the team and they ended up getting a new building up there. None of this had to do with the viability of Houston as a hockey market, in and of itself.

The idea of the NHL in Dallas was once scoffed at too, but the Stars have had more success there than they ever did in Minnesota. If you've got an explanation for why it wouldn't work here but it works in Dallas, I'm all ears.

As for what would happen to the minor league franchise here - probably the optimal setup if they stay is to move to a smaller arena in the suburbs. I don't think the Merrell Center in Katy is set up for hockey, or otherwise that might work. Capacity-wise it's perfect.

Tried twice means they've had pre-season NHL games in Houston to try and generate interest and heat things up and.....fell flat on its face. Waste of time like I said. Best chance it ever had was in the early-mid '80's when half of Michigan moved to Texas.

Just sayin'...

Ronnie

[LostInHouston]

Originally Posted by HoustonRonnie

Tried twice means they've had pre-season NHL games in Houston to try and generate interest and heat things up and.....fell flat on its face. Waste of time like I said. Best chance it ever had was in the early-mid '80's when half of Michigan moved to Texas.

Just sayin'...

Ronnie

when was this?

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by LostInHouston

when was this?

1998 and 2001, if I recall correctly. They haven't done it since the Toyota Center opened.

I also recall that the league did very little promotion locally of the games. You don't just drop into town without putting forth an effort to get the word out and expect to fill the building.

Ronnie, I'm going to ask again - what makes it work in Dallas but not here? And what, did people stop moving here from Michigan after the 80s? If I had a dollar for every time I read a post on this forum about somebody moving to Houston from the Rust Belt, I could probably buy a team myself and move it here.

[Oildog]

Originally Posted by LostInHouston

Well, the problems with the North Stars prior to relocating to Dallas mostly had to do with their idiot owner. I think the Minnesota Wild have sold out every home game since coming into the league.

But I'm definitely with you on hockey working in Houston. Hockey is soaring in Dallas... thanks to the stars you are now seeing Dallas-area players making it to top junior/ncaa teams... won't be long before there are a handful of native Texans in the NHL. No reason why the same success wouldn't be possible in Houston.

Heck, wouldn't you rather watch your kid play hockey in a nice cool rink during the summer than sit outside in the heat watching baseball/soccer?

Thank you. I was going to post similarly about the North Stars management prior to the group that moved them to Dallas.

I'm on the fence if Houston would have enough support to sustain an average team. I think to many folks would treat it like a novelty. You know the "I saw an Aeros game once" crowd. That crowd doesnt support $75 seats in the lower bowl for 41 games a year. Dallas got a Cup contender right off the bat and that helped a bunch.

[jfre81]

It's also worth noting that the 2001 exhibition was not quite two weeks after 9/11, which probably made promoting the event difficult when everyone was focused on the news.

The Aeros are pretty much a novelty, but what about the chance to see elite hockey talent? The post-WHA Aeros have been mostly collections of has-beens and never-weres and the same with the teams they play. It's different from minor league baseball where even the "can't miss" prospects get eased through the minors and teams can better sell on the "see tomorrow's greats" angle. If you're a hockey star in the making, you're likely to be playing with the big boys at 19-20 years old. Compare to basketball. If there was a D-League team here instead of the Rockets, how do you think they'd draw? The Aeros are on the same level. I have a hard time using minor league support to gauge major league support, because there's a wide disparity in the quality of play.

Teams relocating as contenders isn't uncommon in the NHL either. The Stars came close to winning a Cup before leaving Minnesota. The Quebec Nordiques (who the WHA Aeros once beat for a league title) moved to Denver and won a Cup right away. The Hartford Whalers were on the rise when they moved to Carolina. You want to talk about a southward move that started out as a complete debacle but worked itself out in time, the Whalers-Hurricanes are the perfect example. But they were hurt at first not only by being in a small, non-traditional hockey market but also playing in Greensboro temporarily while the arena in Raleigh got built.

[DANNYY]

I think a lot of this has to go into the fact that the Aeros being a good team, they're still AHL. I grew up in Sugar Land, and out of all my friends me, and maybe 3 other displayed interest in hockey. Everyone else stated, "we don't have an NHL team, why waste money seeing minor leagues play". That same mentality is the reason why Houston doesn't have an NHL team.

People have interest in hockey, but they don't do anything about it. They just leave it and wait for others to sprawl that interest.

I think with the transplants in Houston, the younger generation, and even the fact that Texas is growing with only one NHL team, Houston can be fairly successful.

Plus, I'm sure if Houston gets an NHL team, they'll make sure that the Aeros get a good Arena to play at. Houston is good to all of it's teams. If the Dynamo's can play soccer games for the MLS at UH Cougar stadium where the UH Cougars play football, then I'm sure the Aero's won't have any problem getting an Arena renovated, constructed for themselves.

[LostInHouston]

Not to change subjects too much here, but the thing that kills me about Aero's games is the concession prices. You can get seats for cheap, but then you get there and have to pay premium NBA prices for concessions... which my kids ALWAYS want. How hard would it be for them to have different sets of prices for Rockets and Aeros games? I'd go more if it wasn't for the $10 chicken fingers and $6 sodas.