Stars Home Game

[Riverboat Danglers]

What happened to all the fans in Dallas. I remember during the MLB post season they had bad attendance but I just assumed it was because of the Rangers post season drive. There looks like there is maybe 7K there tonight which is weird. I remember growing up Dallas had some of the better fans in the south. I have also met a lot of guys from Texas and they are all huge hockey fans. Is Dallas the next team to move. They are playing great this season and yet they cant fill up a building with only one other professional sport going on right now.

[repenttokyo]

the lower bowl in dallas is always empty, because corporations buy the tickets but then never have anyone actually go to the games. it's been a problem in dallas for a very long time.

dallas is not moving anywhere

[fungchen3]

Non.

Hockey.

Market.

It's easy to pack the building when you're winning Championships and the economy is booming. When times are tough, on and off the ice, it takes die-hards to fill seats - hence the NHL being back in Winnipeg.

[Face]

No owner= no money= no marketing, no ticket promotions, not enough employees to push ticket sales, no money for players, not enough money to build a competitive team year in and year out... I could go on forever, but you get my point. With Gillardi on now, the team should be able to spend more money on players and get some excitement back in the arena.

[Face]

hence the NHL being back in Winnipeg.

Keyword is "back". The NHL left Winnipeg, Minnesota, and Quebec which for the most part are hockey towns. Dallas isn't a hockey town but with 7 mil people in the metroplex the team isn't going anywhere for quite some time. The low attendance can be chalked up to the lack of funds. Once Gillardi gets the cash flows moving again the people will start to trickle back in. May not be over night, but they'll come back.

[fungchen3]

Keyword is "back". The NHL left Winnipeg, Minnesota, and Quebec which for the most part are hockey towns.

Right. The NHL got greedy. They were the guy who broke the heart of the girl who loved him so they could have the hottest chick at the bar. A couple months later they realize this hot chick gave them an STD and now they're begging their ex for forgiveness. Capitalism in its finest form. Sacrificing integrity for the sake of quick money. Dallas is a great "TV market", too bad 98% of the people in that market rank NHL hockey right up there with mantinee showings of "Jack and Jill" on their list of entertainment priorities.

[lockedge]

I actually like Dallas as a hockey market. It's small, and without proper help it could fail, but I like that the previous ownership helped bring youth leagues and rinks all around the region, and that it's already spawned a few major prospects is kind of promising, even if they don't do all their junior play there(obviously).

They relocated to Dallas in 93-94. Hasn't even been 20 years and they've got a small but very devoted market? Sold.
So all of Dallas won't quite Football Baseball or Basketball for hockey. Hockey doesn't need to be the #1 or even #6 attraction so long as they can sell tickets and keep pushing the youth leagues and development programs.

[fungchen3]

Lock,

"Hockey" and "supporting an NHL team" are two different things, and the separation between the two has never seen such a spread. It's one thing to play hockey in a pick-up game on Saturday night or take your kid to the rink early Sunday morning; it's another thing to drop $250-$300 on a "night of entertainment" for your wife and two kids. The prices the NHL teams are charging these days has booted the casual fans out of the buildings - corporations, wealthy people and die-hard fanatics are the ones buying the tickets now. In a market like Dallas, since the team is not "trending" nowadays, companies cannot use Stars tickets as business perks so their value shoots way down. The people with money to spend are not finding enjoyment in Stars hockey, and Dallas doesn't have enough die-hards that are willing to sacrifice a lot of other stuff to pay those crazy ticket prices.