Submitted by iwanttobehappy2022 t3_10oaz8c in Connecticut
solomons-marbles t1_j6e3c6e wrote
As someone who was there watching games with less than 1/4 of the HCC occupied, it’s never going to happen. The league doesn’t want a team in small market sandwiched between larger markets. I don’t see them adding more teams in the distant future either. There was a plethora of reasons the Whale left. Attendance & fan support was only one.
FlippinWaffles t1_j6edxiy wrote
Bingo! With the current nhl layout there is no way we are getting any nhl team. Plus Harford would find a way to fuck it up
JasJoeGo t1_j6g367s wrote
Peter Karamanos wanted the government to build him a stadium where he’d make all the money from concessions, as opposed to the civic center where he just got ticket revenue. I loved the whalers and was devastated when they left but using public money to make a rich man richer is not ideal. So frankly Hartford didn’t fuck it up.
FlippinWaffles t1_j6g499j wrote
Oh I was talking about all the wolfpack crap plus the yard goat fumble. Wolfpack gets 0 support from the city as far as I can tell. I never see anything remotely close to hartford supporting them. In fact I remember several years ago when the circus was in town, the pack had made the playoffs and they ended up playing 5 straight away games because Hartford decided that the circus was more important. I just don't see how they even have the wolfpack staying around
solomons-marbles t1_j6ivtz3 wrote
That playoff run had nothing to do w the city, but w poor management from the team & HCC. The HCC should never have booked a circus run during play-offs.
FlippinWaffles t1_j6n68k3 wrote
Interesting I never knew that is how it works with something like the circus or bigger events
SherrickM t1_j6gg660 wrote
Cause it's cheaper to the team's parent company than doing anything else with it.
JasJoeGo t1_j6enq5u wrote
Feels like I see more retro whalers gear now than when they were a real team.
The_Book t1_j6fm1av wrote
Hartford isn't really a small market tbh. The league has smaller markets. Ultimately it's finding a billionaire who likes hockey and is willing to pay. Probably need a new arena tho.
hasek3139 t1_j6gsdhu wrote
Hartford is also a shit city compared to other pro sport cities
The_Book t1_j6gss9s wrote
Yeah but I don't think it's fair to view it as just Hartford and not CT as a whole. New Haven is like 40ish minutes drive. Why separate the two metro areas? It's really gonna be the CT whalers and that makes sense when you consider other areas that have teams.
Also Cleveland/Cincinnati/Baltimore/Jacksonville/Green Bay/rando Canadian towns/New Jersey! have sports teams lol
hasek3139 t1_j6hkye6 wrote
Yeah but all those places also have more space for sporting facilities, and have bigger metros in the area. Hartford is still low on that list of desirables areas to be. Also have you been to hartford? There’s really nothing going on, it always seems empty to me.
All the Canadian cities with NHL teams have much more to offer than hartford.
I started liking/watching hockey in 1996 as a kid, I didn’t even know hartford was a team, flipping channels I always got rangers games. Maybe it’s cause I grew up in southern CT? And my buddy who got me started on hockey kicked the Colorado avalanche as his team, and I think it was their first year being a team, vs hartford who has been in the NHL since 79?
My goal is to travel to every NHL rink to see my favorite team (the red wings) play. I’m at 19/32
I can tell you that each of those 19 cities I’ve been to are way more fun that Hartford, they have a great subway/public transport system/and care more about hockey
CT is more of a basketball state. Outside of the people I play adult league hockey with, no one I know is a hockey fan. College? Barley anyone I knew in 5 years there didn’t really watch. I work at a company with 100+ employees, don’t know everyone personally, but I know I’m the only hockey fan.
johnsonutah t1_j6imk4b wrote
New Haven or somewhere in Fairfield County would be a far better and logical choice for a professional sports team than Hartford.
Hartford can barely exist as a city - it’s like 12 sq miles and relies entirely on the state of CT to fund tax revenue to it in order for it to continue existing.
New Haven on the other hand allows for access from central CT and Fairfield County, and it has Union station which could allow for a variety of mass transit to/from events. Alternatively, somewhere along the metro north line in Fairfield County would work.
Tying mass transit to a sports team / stadium is critical in a place like CT, as is locating the team in a city that is solvent / growing
HockeyandTrauma t1_j6fwuzm wrote
Plus there’s 32 nhl teams now. They’re not expanding. Short of a move, it’s not happening. And I guarantee Hartford is not high on the relocation list.
AAAPosts t1_j6g9drh wrote
Bridgeport can barely get anyone to go
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