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

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The Tampa market, which has been home to the teamsincs 1992, exhibits five of 10 possible danger signs that coulr affect its existence according to a study conducted by sister publication Business First of Buffalo . Many of the teams that couldc be in danger if the was to ever to consider contracting arein non-traditional hockey market such as the south and the areas the NHL has expanded to in recent “Before doing any study just putting in my two centse — I would have said it has been a disaster,” Ted president and chief executive officefr of in Toronto, said. after doing the study, putting the numbere together, I can say it has been a disaster.
” Therw are a number of areas plaguinygthe Lightning, the study said, including the placement of potential fans’ personal income as well as 2008-09 attendance in the bottonm one-third of the entire NHL. The Lightning’s , was below 90 percent capacity on average duringb the mostrecent season, while the financial valude of the franchise, as estimated by , has droppesd at least 50 percent below the NHL medianj during the past Of course, the Lightning’zs other big problem is its location south of the 38th parallel, considered the southern borded of the traditional hockey market.
Other teams on the list are scatteresd throughout areas with warmer led bythe , which exhibit eight of the 10 dangetr signs including low franchise value, low net incomde and competition with the . in Miami are right behind with most of the same issueseas Phoenix, followed by the and the . The only northerm team to be listed among the top five threatene teams isthe , which is generallhy suffering from a region with lowerd population and lower income for its residents. “This is not a happty thing by any stretch,” Rechtshaffen “Buffalo is a great hockey market. There are lots of hockey fans Theproblem is, those hockey fans don’t have enough money to spend on tickets.
” The NHL has not made any indication that it would contract from 30 teams, howeve r of the four major professional sports leagues in the United the NHL has the smallest fan base and the lowest level of television revenue The league remains extremely popular in Canadq where six of the 30 teama are based. Plus, hockey fans are consideref to be more affluent than the other according to a 2004 study bythe . “Ax a business, I think the NHL needz to contract,” Rechtshaffen said.
“But if the possibilityt remains of moving teams and generating more the NHL obviously would prefer tomove