Would you guys Support a NHL Team?

manitobahusker

manitobahusker

New member
What up! Huge husker fan who is also canadian and a huge hockey fan. If the NHL were to expand do you think there would be demand and a large enough following in the state of Nebraska for a Pro Hockey team? got into a huge debate with my friends and i was wondering what you guys take would be.

 
FWIW, I do follow Pittsburgh already, but I don't see an NHL team surviving here. You'd get some marginal interest from the Lincoln/Omaha crowd, but nothing that would draw people in from Fremont, Norfolk, Columbus, Grand Island, etc. It just wouldn't stay afloat. That being said, if Kansas City ever gets the NHL back, I think you'd see a raised interest in the NHL around here.

 
I think there's a USHL hockey team in Lincoln, but I might be wrong.

I think the best that Omaha/Lincoln could hope for is a minor league franchise,being a farm team for maybe the Blues, the Wild, the Blackhawks, or maybe the Av's...

 
Oklahoma City has a CHL team that used to have pretty decent support. Then the NBA showed up and it's been all downhill since then. We even had an Arena Football team go belly up in part because of a lack of support. I have a strong feeling the hockey team will see the same fate.

 
walksalone said:
maybe a CHL or ECHL team, but not an NHL franchise...
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Have to agree with walks on this one. CHL/ECHL typical arena holds about 5,000 to 7,000 and most rarely sellout and that's a $15 to $30 ticket. But NHL is whole other deal, 40k plus seating and $75 plus ticket price. There is not enough population to begin to support that in Nebraska. Hell the Avs struggle in Denver and they have a pretty strong following. I could afford to go to a few Avs game per year but I instead have season tickets to an ECHL team that is twenty minutes away and 1/5 the cost. The NHL is a great sport but it just doesn't have the fanbase to survive in most smaller markets.

 
knapplc said:
Omaha would be more likely to support an NBA team than an NHL team.
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I agree, but that the odds of an NBA team surviving in Omaha is also incredibly low. Omaha is the 58th largest metropolitan area in the country. The only way Omaha could get a professional sports team there is if you somehow get the Green Bay situation where the entire city is full of raving fans.

 
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