Is Florida a "Hockey Market?"

He claims that Florida is a hockey market due to the fact that there are so many people from the north that retire there or visit there. My favorite line is:

Make the jump, join the conversation, or just call me names.

Editor's note: I am expecting an exemption for those fans that sit in the Club Level at the X. They have about as much hockey knowledge as my 16 month-old-daughter.

I do not doubt for a second that there are some ravenous fans down there. There are always loyal fans no matter where you put a team. We had a team here in Minnesota a few years back, the Minnesota Fighting Pike. They lasted a year. It was a new sport, played in an odd way, with rules that people were unfamiliar with. I would be willing to bet they lost a ton of money. No one in Minnesota knew who or what they were. I went to one game, and I was hooked. I was ready to be a season ticket holding arena football fan. They folded before I got the chance

So, even arena league football in Minnesota had a chance to be successful. Not one time however, do I remember them making the case that people from Texas come to Minnesota all the time, so this team will be successful.

Now, to his credit, Seigal does admit that they have done a bad job of converting those hockey fans in the area into Panthers fans. I am not certain how one goes about doing so. Just because I move to Florida (which I hope never has to happen) does not make me want to cheer for the Panthers. Canadian hockey fans are fiercely loyal, as are most fans from the northern US.

Florida might be better than Phoenix for hockey, but at this point, I am really doubting it. I know that San Jose and Anaheim have been contenders for a great period of time, and have built a fan base out of nothing. The Predators did the same, despite not having been true contenders yet.  Dallas suffered through its lumps and has a large loyal base.

I am not trying to do another, as Ms. Conduct would call it, "Minnesota hockey fans are so much better and smarter than those southern rubes" post. I am trying to have a conversation about this. I am not better than any other hockey fan out there, and would love for hockey to grow some roots in Florida and Phoenix. It just seems to me that the people in the markets that have had success are not targeting the tourist base and hoping to fill their buildings with fans wearing the wrong colors.

I am not a contractionist, and I do not want Jim Basillie in the league. I had never heard of Hamilton, Ontario until the debate started to move a team there. I have lived through my team being ripped away and moved, and I would never wish it on anyone. However, Florida has never had success selling tickets. They have not shown progress in it, either. They are in trouble, no doubt about that.

They have new owners, who are the old owners. The team will not change quickly, and they will not have over night success. It will take time to build a winner from nothing, especially when the free agents do not want to stay and help build the franchise.

So. Let's leave the pettiness behind, let's not accuse Florida fans of not being "real" hockey fans or make threats about taking their team away. Let's not pretend we are any better than them, because we aren't. Let's take a moment and ask the question. "Is Florida a hockey market?" Or are they truly going to need to rely on the traveling fans of other teams?

I hope we can get some input from Florida hockey fans...

-Buddha