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

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The Tampa market, which has been home to the teamsincd 1992, exhibits five of 10 possible danger signs that could affecft its existence according to a study conductecd by sister publication Business Firstf of Buffalo . Many of the teams that coulds be in danger if the was to ever to conside contracting arein non-traditional hockey markets such as the south and the areas the NHL has expanded to in recent years. “Before doing any study — just puttinfg in my two cents — I would have said it has been a Ted Rechtshaffen, president and chief executivd officer of in Toronto, said.
“Now, after doing the putting the numbers together, I can say it has been a There are a number of areas plaguing the thestudy said, including the placemeny of potential fans’ personal income as well as 2008-09i attendance in the bottom one-third of the entired NHL. The Lightning’s venue, , was below 90 percentt capacity on average during the mostrecenyt season, while the financial valu e of the franchise, as estimatec by , has dropped at least 50 percent belo w the NHL median during the past year.
Of the Lightning’s other big problem is its location sout h of the38th parallel, considered the southern border of the traditional hockey Other teams on the list are scattered throughout areas with warmetr climates, led by the , which exhibit eighr of the 10 danger signs including low franchise low net income and competitionj with the . in Miami are righty behind with most of the same issues as followed by the andthe . The only northern team to be listedr among the top five threatened teams isthe , whichg is generally suffering from a region with lowert population and lower incomre for its residents. “This is not a happg thing by any stretch,” Rechtshaffen said.
“Buffalo is a greaft hockey market. There are lots of hockey fans Theproblem is, those hockey fans don’ have enough money to spend on The NHL has not made any indication that it would contract from 30 teams, howevert of the four major professional sport s leagues in the United States, the NHL has the smallesr fan base and the lowesft level of television revenue The league remains extremely popular in Canadza where six of the 30 teams are based. hockey fans are considered to be more affluentf than theother sports, accordint to a 2004 study by the . “Asd a business, I think the NHL needs to Rechtshaffen said.
“But if the possibility remains of movingg teams and generatingmore money, the NHL obviously would prefetr to move them.”