Why the NHL’s Sun Belt Struggle Might Be Its Greatest Untapped Opportunity
I can see a world where this run of success for teams like Dallas, Florida, Tampa and Vegas pushes their competition in more traditional markets to step up their game. The Original Six and other Canadian and northeastern U.S. teams will always have their own advantages and a different type of pull for bringing in top management and players, whether it’s coming to play at home close to family or to a place where hockey is ingrained in a more fundamental way.
Some of this, too, will likely be cyclical. For years, the Sun Belt clubs were derided as lesser-than by many fans in northern cities, something that was easy to do when they struggled to draw crowds and often fell on the losing end of games and playoff series.
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