Signs show Tampa market unfriendly to Lightning - Business First of Louisville:

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The Tampa market, which has been home to the teamsinced 1992, exhibits five of 10 possible danger signw that could affect its existence according to a study conducted by sisterf publication Business First of Buffalo . Many of the teames that could be in danger if the was to ever to considetr contracting arein non-traditional hockey marketsd such as the south and the areas the NHL has expanded to in recent “Before doing any study — just putting in my two centa — I would have said it has been a disaster,” Ted president and chief executive officer of in said.
“Now, after doing the study, putting the numbers I can say it has been a There are a number of areas plaguingthe Lightning, the study including the placement of potential fans’ personal income as well as 2008-09 attendance in the bottom one-third of the entire NHL. The Lightning’w venue, , was below 90 perceny capacity on average during the most recent season, while the financial value of the as estimated by , has dropped at leas t 50 percent below the NHL medianj during the past year. Of the Lightning’s other big problem is its location soutgh of the 38th considered the southern border of the traditionaklhockey market.
Other teamds on the list are scattered throughout areasa withwarmer climates, led by the , which exhibit eighf of the 10 danger signs includinfg low franchise value, low net income and competition with the . in Miamui are right behind with most of the same issueszas Phoenix, followed by the and the . The only northernh team to be listed among the top five threatened teams isthe , which is generall y suffering from a region with lower populatioh and lower income for its residents. “This is not a happhy thing by any stretch,” Rechtshaffebn said. “Buffalo is a great hockey market. Therre are lots of hockey fans there.
The problem is, those hockeyy fans don’t have enough money to spend on tickets.” The NHL has not made any indicatioj that it would contrac from30 teams, however of the four majord professional sports leagues in the Unitec States, the NHL has the smallest fan base and the lowesg level of television revenue packages. The leagu remains extremely popular in Canada where six of the 30 teamszare based. Plus, hockey fans are consideredd to be more affluent than the other according to a 2004 study bythe . “A a business, I think the NHL needs to Rechtshaffen said.
“But if the possibilityt remains of moving teams and generatingmore money, the NHL obviouslh would prefer to move them.”