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isaidso said:
That only helps prove that NY and Chicago are baseball cities. All the evidence points that this might not be repeated in Toronto and support is for a team, not the sport. The Leafs are the only hockey team in the GTA, out of hundreds of teams, that gets good support. If Toronto were a hockey town, citizens would be attending en masse to hockey at every level: pro, semi-pro, junior, college, high school, etc. The reality is that Torontonians only support the Leafs.
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sorry but this is baloney... how many minor league baseball teams are in NYC , LA or Chicago ? none... so by your logic they are not baseball towns. The fact is they are pro sports oriented towns, that's the way Toronto is.... Toronto will only support major league teams. so welcome to the new NHL team and bring it baby !!

as for college sports, canadians so not support college sports PERIOD.
 
isaidso said:
Often, but not always. Anaheim Mighty Ducks instead of Los Angeles Might Ducks is a prime example. There are many examples of a team taking the name of a region instead of the alpha city: Texas Rangers, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Utah Jazz, etc. This potential York Region team could easily be called York 'what have you'.
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In a league with two "New Yorks" I doubt there would be much appetite at league offices for a "York" that is "new". ;)

"Ontario" maybe or "GTA" (Giants of Toronto Area?) perhaps remotely....but far more likely is Toronto

isaidso said:
As has been mentioned, none of London's 5 Premier League soccer teams have the name London in their names: Chelsea, Fulham, Tottenham, Arsenal, & Queen's Park
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That is a Euro/UK thing but why stop in the PL....West Ham United...Charlton....Letyon Orient....Millwall.....Brentford......forgetting the rest....yikes more coffee!
 
RPM said:
sorry but this is baloney... how many minor league baseball teams are in NYC , LA or Chicago ? none... so by your logic they are not baseball towns. The fact is they are pro sports oriented towns, that's the way Toronto is.... Toronto will only support major league teams. so welcome to the new NHL team and bring it baby !!

as for college sports, canadians so not support college sports PERIOD.
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Do the Staten Island Yankees count?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staten_Island_Yankees
 
RPM said:
not to mention Quebec arena is slated to finish in 2015, Markham is slated for fall 2014.
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As stated earlier....QC has an arena that, rumour has it, could be NHL ready on a temporary basis this fall. The NHL has immediate problems. Not likely but by 2014 Florida could be in Seattle, Phoenix could be in QC and the Islanders could be in Brooklyn.
 
RPM said:
not to mention Quebec arena is slated to finish in 2015, Markham is slated for fall 2014.
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I thought this was pretty optimistic when I heard the mayor say this, but the ACC was built in under two years, so why not? Plus there's nothing around the site at the moment, so there wouldn't be many restrictions on how many hours a day and what days of the week they could work.
 
I'd really like to see how/where LN can see them booking 130+ events per year at the new Markham arena. The Air Canada Centre certainly is one of the busiest venues in the world (I think the link above said 11'th busiest) but really can you name even a handful of acts that are begging for time at the ACC and aren't getting it???

On top of that I think that MLSE has gotten wise to the need for a secondary arena in this market and has actually started to book events other than the Marlies at Ricoh. For example the WWE now does house shows at Ricoh, and a few concerts have been held there as well from Pitbul to Cirque. MLSE appears to be trying to squeeze out any new arena by providing it's own secondary venue.

If anything I think that the new arena should be targeting a smaller team to play games there. For example the Toronto Rock are treated like secondary citizens at the ACC since their last ownership change. Having the 10 or so Rock games wouldn't put the building into the black but would provide a solid tenant, and the Rock get a building that they can call "their own" and, maybe, be closer to their market (not sure where Rock fans come from). Go out, see if you can get an Arena Football team, a WNBA team, etc etc to provide at least some reliable events.
 
fatboy said:
The Mayor of Markham has stated, shovels will be in the ground by summer.
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TOareaFan said:
As stated earlier....QC has an arena that, rumour has it, could be NHL ready on a temporary basis this fall. The NHL has immediate problems. Not likely but by 2014 Florida could be in Seattle, Phoenix could be in QC and the Islanders could be in Brooklyn.
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they will play in Copps until the new arena is ready... rumours are the Bulldogs are going to Laval. so the building will have no team in it if thats the case. AEG is trying to get Copps in their stable.... kind of seems like it's almost pre-planned, don't it ?
 
RPM said:
so 1 team out of a metros with a population of over 50 million... WOW they are baseball mad !!!
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FWIW: Baseball teams in NY area...
MLB: New York Mets • New York Yankees - NYPL: Brooklyn Cyclones • Staten Island Yankees • Hudson Valley Renegades - ALPB: Long Island Ducks • Somerset Patriots - CanAm: New Jersey Jackals • Newark Bears

and while we are at it lets look at Newark NJ...
EL: Trenton Thunder - SAL: Lakewood BlueClaws - ALPB: Camden Riversharks

I count about 12 teams there

Also keep in mind that North American sports are not comparable to European sports, especially wrt to Football (soccer). As stated London has 5 (?) teams in the EPL, no city comes close to that number despite NY's large population. In part because the North American sports cover such a large geographical area that European sports do not.
 
RPM said:
they will play in Copps until the new arena is ready... rumours are the Bulldogs are going to Laval. so the building will have no team in it if thats the case. AEG is trying to get Copps in their stable.... kind of seems like it's almost pre-planned, don't it ?
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Coops is looking for a permanent tenant for if/when the dogs leave. They have been actively wooing OHL teams (Erie, Brampton, all).
 
isaidso said:
Often, but not always. Anaheim Mighty Ducks instead of Los Angeles Might Ducks is a prime example. There are many examples of a team taking the name of a region instead of the alpha city: Texas Rangers, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Utah Jazz, etc. This potential York Region team could easily be called York 'what have you'.

As has been mentioned, none of London's 5 Premier League soccer teams have the name London in their names: Chelsea, Fulham, Tottenham, Arsenal, & Queen's Park

Only 2 of Melbourne's 10 AFL teams have the word 'Melbourne' somewhere in their name: Essendon, Western, Carlton, Collingwood, Richmond, Hawthorn, St. Kilda, Geelong, Melbourne, & North Melbourne.
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I don't think we'll see the word Markham (too small) or York (too confusing) in the team name. It'll be either Toronto or Ontario. I'm thinking Ontario is more likely. Although a Toronto name would make sense if the arena remains named "GTA Centre".

TOareaFan said:
In a league with two "New Yorks" I doubt there would be much appetite at league offices for a "York" that is "new". ;)

"Ontario" maybe or "GTA" (Giants of Toronto Area?) perhaps remotely....but far more likely is Toronto
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Oops didn't see you posted that :p

I'm still torn between whether it'll be Toronto or Ontario.
 
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RPM said:
so 1 team out of a metros with a population of over 50 million... WOW they are baseball mad !!!
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I listed that one 'cause I remember it from how great the park looks at night from the ferry....there are others (I think the Cyclones still play in Brooklyn)
 
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