Er, is Ticketmaster jumping the gun there a little? There are rumors floating about that the Nashville Predators may relocate, possibly placing the NHL team (known for having one of the league’s ugliest jerseys) to the city of Hamilton, Ontario. For those of you who don’t know, Hamilton is located approximately halfway between Toronto, Canada and Buffalo, New York.
Based on what I can gather from Ticketmaster, the proposed arena for the new Hamilton NHL team — should they indeed get one — will be Copps Coliseum. Ironically, the scoreboard clock for the Copps was “originally from the Winnipeg Arena, purchased for $214,000.” That’s right, they took the scoreboard from the home of the Winnipeg Jets (which have since gone on to become the Phoenix Coyotes). Looks like Canada might be getting itself another hockey team, but the unfortunate thing is that they’re all starting to cluster. Not far away from the city of Hamilton (population 600,000 or so) is Ottawa with their Senators, Toronto with their Maple Leafs, and Montreal with their Canadiens.
Taken directly from the official Ticketmaster landing page:
The Nashville Predators may relocate to Hamilton, Ontario!
Jim Balsillie and Predators Sports and Entertainment LP are pleased to announce that Ontario hockey fans can now reserve future season tickets with priority seating. Corporate Suites are also available. Don’t Miss Out!
Deposits are now being accepted and are fully refundable, first come first serve on the priority wait list.
Deposits for a season seat in the lower bowl, upper bowl, and private suite are $500, $1000, and $5000, respectively. The total capacity of Copps Coliseum is approximately 19,000.
What do you think? Is Hamilton the right place for the Preds? One issue is that the Nashville Predators are currently in the Western Conference and should they move the NHL franchise to Hamilton, I think it’ll have to be in the Eastern Conference.
Well, it won’t happen in time for next season for sure. It doesn’t look like the sale will be finalized until after the July 1st deadline so the current Preds owner will still be writing the cheques. Therefore, it wouldn’t be in his best interests to move the team so soon. However, Nashville isn’t a hockey town so you can expect them to go to either Hamilton (most likely) or maybe…Winnepeg in the next two or three years.
wow, Hamilton has the dancing hot dog scoreboard? Awesome.
I think that’s what you could call a “positive attitude”. 😉
Well, Ontario would then become the only Province to have 3 teams. Wouldn’t it make more sense to spread them out around Canada? 😛
hrmmm I didn’t even know about this, I was to busy trying to keep the pens in Pittsburgh!