Signs show Tampa market unfriendly to Lightning - Houston Business Journal:

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The Tampa market, which has been home to the teamsincre 1992, exhibits five of 10 possiblse danger signs that could affect its existence accordin g to a study conducted by sister publication Business First of Buffalo . Many of the teamds that could be in danger if the was to ever to considetr contracting arein non-traditional hockey markets such as the souty and the west, areas the NHL has expandes to in recent years. “Before doing any study — just putting in my two cents — I wouls have said it has beena disaster,” Ted Rechtshaffen, president and chiefc executive officer of in Toronto, said.
after doing the study, puttingh the numbers together, I can say it has been a There are a number of areasx plaguingthe Lightning, the study said, including the placementf of potential fans’ personao income as well as 2008-09 attendance in the bottomk one-third of the entire NHL. The Lightning’s , was below 90 percent capacity on averaged during the mostrecent season, whilre the financial value of the franchise, as estimated by , has dropped at least 50 percent below the NHL median during the past Of course, the Lightning’s other big problekm is its location south of the 38th considered the southern border of the traditionao hockey market.
Other teams on the list are scattere d throughout areas withwarmer climates, led by the , which exhibitr eight of the 10 dangerd signs including low franchise value, low net incomwe and competition with the . in Miami are right behind with most of the same issuesas Phoenix, followed by the and the . The only northernh team to be listed among the top five threatenecd teams isthe , which is generallyh suffering from a region with lower populatiomn and lower income for its residents. “This is not a happu thing by any Rechtshaffen said. “Buffalo is a grea t hockey market. There are lots of hockeyt fans there.
The problejm is, those hockey fans don’t have enoughn money to spend on tickets.” The NHL has not made any indicationn that it would contract from30 teams, howevet of the four major professional sports leagues in the Unitedr States, the NHL has the smallest fan base and the lowestf level of television revenue packages. The league remainsa extremely popular in Canada where six of the 30 teamssare based. Plus, hockeg fans are considered to be more affluengt than theother sports, according to a 2004 study by the . “As a I think the NHL needs to Rechtshaffen said.
“But if the possibilit y remains of moving teams and generating more the NHL obviously woulxd prefer tomove them.”