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Globe: Second NHL Team for Toronto?

If it was to be in Toronto, I'd suggest the parking lot at Yorkdale fronting Highway 401. They could replace it with a giant underground parking lot, it has good highway access, subway access, and GO bus access.

I still think Richmond Hill Centre or Vaughan Corp. Centre are the most ideal in the GTA, maybe even Markham Centre.
 
If it was to be in Toronto, I'd suggest the parking lot at Yorkdale fronting Highway 401. They could replace it with a giant underground parking lot, it has good highway access, subway access, and GO bus access.
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Great location... would the 401 be an option though? It'd be quicker to just walk to the damn place with a 7:00pm game time.
 
realtycoon said:
The location is great.. A lot better than Mississauga, Hamilton or Waterloo! At least all of us in the North and East of the GTA can actually get to this arena. A Mississauga location is too far for anyone east of the 400.
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Yes, but the Western GTA is much more populous than the East or the North.

I would want to see the team in Hamilton myself. I think in Hamilton a new team would have the best chance to build a good loyal fan base. In Toronto or Vaughan you might end up with a few diehard fans, but mostly people who would rather see a Leafs game if they got the chance. In Hamilton a team would be able to capitalize on already existing sports rivalries and a downtown location would do wonders for the city.
 
Is it April 1st again?

Seriously? Vaughan?

I can see Hamilton, or KW... but Vaughan? In that case I would rather see the franchise go back to Winnipeg.

If the team does come here though, why not build the stadium as part of Woodbine Live? The plans already look promising. Throw in a stadium and NHL team and Woodbine Live would be one hell of an entertainment centre!
 
299 bloor call control. said:
Try squishing all the people who take the GO Train or the subway to the ACC to Leafs games right now onto Viva buses.

Not to mention, in a location like 427/7, you will get a much larger spike of trips immediately before and after a game simply because there's nothing to do around there. In contrast, the trip levels around a game at the ACC don't spike as much because a lot of people hang around before and after a game by grabbing dinner or a drink in the surrounding area.
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I was not contrasting it to the ACC....there is no point in that as there already is a team and rink at the ACC...someone had said 427/7 was significantly worse than Woodbine or Downsview cause there is no public transit....I was just pointing out that there will be some.

Presumably, Viva and Acceleride are somewhat scalable and would increase service to meet increased demand.

Besides, everyone likes to speculate on which plot of land is best, which location etc. and they toss out ideas without considering the most important thing.....land ownership and cost.....likely the really attractive ingredient of this location is that the land is in friendly hands already and is ready to develop.

No need to negoitate land prices and assemblies, no need to tear down this or that...no need to convince neighbouring property owners that an arena makes sense. So while Mississauga might makes sense (not sure it does) try and figure out who owns the land we would hypothetically put an arena on before we say "why don't they put it there".
 
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Ugh I think it's a terrible location. If it has to be the northern GTA, put it in Brampton. But I'd rather have it at MCC. MCC could use an arena like that. MCC is an excellent location because it's near the 403, the coming BRT, GO Transit and of course MT's hub. It's got a million people in Peel Region to draw from, plus Oakville and Etobicoke. My second choice would be NYCC.
 
Coruscanti Cognoscente said:
Ugh I think it's a terrible location. If it has to be the northern GTA, put it in Brampton. But I'd rather have it at MCC. MCC could use an arena like that. MCC is an excellent location because it's near the 403, the coming BRT, GO Transit and of course MT's hub. It's got a million people in Peel Region to draw from, plus Oakville and Etobicoke. My second choice would be NYCC.
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I agree Mississauga or Brampton...I think the vacant land on the northwest corner of the 401 and Hurontario would be an ideal location. Sandwiched between kitchener and toronto. The location has great access to 401 (they could even build on/off ramps from directly from the 401),407,403, and 410. and if the LRT on Hurontario gets built it will cross 3 GO train lines......ahh wishful thinking.
 
I think Mississauga or Hamilton would make good candidates for a 2nd NHL team. I personally prefer Mississauga, since with all the feuding going on between Mississauga and Toronto it would be interesting to see a sports component added to the rivalry.

One problem that was raised by Bob McCown on Primetime Sports about a 2nd NHL team in the GTA or even Hamilton is that there are no place names in the GTA that can be affixed to a major-league team except "Toronto". He says a team named after Hamilton or Mississauga would generate little interest playing in other cities, especially American cities. I can see a team in Hamilton named after Hamilton, but a Mississauga team would most likely be called Toronto (something) or Ontario (something).
 
The Vaughan site has two advantages over any of the sites mentioned in this thread:

1. As I mentioned before, it is owned by people who are either part of the ownership group or are friendly to it and participating in the discussions....it is ready to go from a development point of view;

2. Vaughan is located in the central north-south spine of the region....people in the western suburbs (Brampton and Mississauga) and Eastern Suburbs (Durham Region) have equal access to Vaughan....of course all of York Region is right there.

Mississauga might be a fine place for a rink (although not too many people seem to find the Hershey for hockey games ;) ) if you live west of the 400 but wow would it be tough if you lived in Whitby or Pickering. The reverse would also be true.
 
TOareaFan said:
The Vaughan site has two advantages over any of the sites mentioned in this thread:

1. As I mentioned before, it is owned by people who are either part of the ownership group or are friendly to it and participating in the discussions....it is ready to go from a development point of view;

2. Vaughan is located in the central north-south spine of the region....people in the western suburbs (Brampton and Mississauga) and Eastern Suburbs (Durham Region) have equal access to Vaughan....of course all of York Region is right there.

Mississauga might be a fine place for a rink (although not too many people seem to find the Hershey for hockey games ;) ) if you live west of the 400 but wow would it be tough if you lived in Whitby or Pickering. The reverse would also be true.
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Except that the majority of the 905 population is in the Western GTA, so Vaughan is out of the way for people from the west and Hamilton. Hamiltonians, Mississaugans, etc, would still rather go downtown than to Vaughan. Vaughan isn't exactly accessible by public transit to the western GTA. I think it makes more sense for a new team to be where the potential fans are, and purely on numbers, it's got to be in the west.

I think the whole Buffalo thing is a red herring. I don't see Hamiltonians being more likely to go to a Mississauga NHL game rather than a Toronto NHL game. The time difference in a commute from Hamilton to Toronto vs. Hamilton to Mississauga (especially MCC) is pretty insignificant, especially compared to Buffalo.
 
Coruscanti Cognoscente said:
Except that the majority of the 905 population is in the Western GTA, so Vaughan is out of the way for people from the west and Hamilton. Hamiltonians, Mississaugans, etc, would still rather go downtown than to Vaughan. Vaughan isn't exactly accessible by public transit to the western GTA. I think it makes more sense for a new team to be where the potential fans are, and purely on numbers, it's got to be in the west.

I think the whole Buffalo thing is a red herring. I don't see Hamiltonians being more likely to go to a Mississauga NHL game rather than a Toronto NHL game. The time difference in a commute from Hamilton to Toronto vs. Hamilton to Mississauga (especially MCC) is pretty insignificant, especially compared to Buffalo.
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But the games in Toronto (the Leafs) are sold out already....so the comparison is would someone in Hamilton go to a Mississauga game rather than a Buffalo game? I think the answer is yes.

Also, it does not matter that people in Mississauga and Hamilton would rather go downtown than Vaughan...the new team is not going to be downtown so there is no point discussing comparing downtown to Vaughan...the team there is there and will stay there and is sold out.

It still really comes down to the fact that the site discussed is in their hands already...it may not be the absolute best site (I think Woodbine probably is that) but it is pretty good and they control it.
 
TOareaFan said:
But the games in Toronto (the Leafs) are sold out already....so the comparison is would someone in Hamilton go to a Mississauga game rather than a Buffalo game? I think the answer is yes.

Also, it does not matter that people in Mississauga and Hamilton would rather go downtown than Vaughan...the new team is not going to be downtown so there is no point discussing comparing downtown to Vaughan...the team there is there and will stay there and is sold out.

It still really comes down to the fact that the site discussed is in their hands already...it may not be the absolute best site (I think Woodbine probably is that) but it is pretty good and they control it.
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I think in this economic climate, they could easily get a better site. I'd rather not be stuck with a team in such a poor location. It's like real estate, the three key words are location, location, location. Just finding a blank slate of land is easy. Finding a good one will take some time, but it's better in the long run. The first priority should be choosing somewhere that is served by GO since GO serves Jays/Raptors/Leafs/TFC games very well, and without that GO backbone, traffic would be crazy for a team that relied on highways for people to get there.
 
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