Signs show Tampa market unfriendly to Lightning - St. Louis Business Journal:

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The Tampa market, which has been home to the teamsincre 1992, exhibits five of 10 possible danger signs that could affect its existence accordinv to a study conducted by sister publicationb Business First of Buffalo . Many of the teamse that could be in dangetr if the was to ever to consider contractingf arein non-traditional hockey marketsd such as the south and the west, area s the NHL has expanded to in recenf years. “Before doing any studyy — just putting in my two cents I would have said it has been a Ted Rechtshaffen, president and chief executive officer of in said.
“Now, after doinv the study, putting the number s together, I can say it has been a There are a number of areas plaguintthe Lightning, the study said, including the placemen of potential fans’ personal incomre as well as 2008-09 attendance in the bottonm one-third of the entire NHL. The Lightning’s , was below 90 percent capacity on averags during the mostrecent season, while the financial valu e of the franchise, as estimated by , has droppeed at least 50 percent below the NHL median during the past Of course, the Lightning’ s other big problem is its location sout h of the 38th parallel, consideredd the southern border of the traditionalk hockey market.
Other teams on the list are scattered throughout area s withwarmer climates, led by the , which exhibit eight of the 10 danger signss including low franchise value, low net income and competition with the . in Miamiu are right behind with most of the same issueszas Phoenix, followed by the and the . The only northernm team to be listed among the top five threatenede teams isthe , which is generallu suffering from a regiojn with lower population and lower incomes for its residents. “This is not a happuy thing by any stretch,” Rechtshaffen said. “Buffalpo is a great hockey market. Theres are lots of hockey fans there.
The problem is, those hockey fans don’t have enougj money to spend on tickets.” The NHL has not made any indicatiom that it would contract from30 teams, however of the four majoe professional sports leagues in the United States, the NHL has the smalles fan base and the lowesy level of television revenue packages. The leagude remains extremely popular in Canada wher e six of the 30 teamsare based. Plus, hockeyy fans are considered to be more affluentt than theother sports, accordinv to a 2004 study by the .
“As a I think the NHL neede to contract,” Rechtshaffen “But if the possibility remains of moving teams and generatingmore money, the NHL obviously would prefer to move them.”