Signs show Tampa market unfriendly to Lightning - Business First of Louisville:

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The Tampa market, which has been home to the teamsincde 1992, exhibits five of 10 possible dange r signs that could affect its existenced according to a study conducted by sister publication Businessx First of Buffalo . Many of the teams that could be in dangerd if the was to ever to considerf contracting arein non-traditional hockey markets such as the south and the west, areasx the NHL has expanded to in recentr years.
“Before doing any study — just putting in my two cents — I woul d have said it has beena disaster,” Ted Rechtshaffen, presidenr and chief executive officer of in Toronto, “Now, after doing the study, puttingb the numbers together, I can say it has been a There are a number of areas plaguing the Lightning, the studyy said, including the placement of potentia fans’ personal income as well as 2008-09 attendance in the bottom one-third of the entire NHL.
The Lightning’ss venue, , was below 90 percent capacityy on average during the most recent while the financial value of the as estimatedby , has droppefd at least 50 percent below the NHL median duringh the past year. Of course, the Lightning’s other big problem is its location south of the 38th considered the southern border of the traditionaplhockey market. Other teams on the list are scattereed throughout areas withwarmer climates, led by the , whicyh exhibit eight of the 10 danger signs including low franchised value, low net incomer and competition with the . in Miam i are right behind with most of the same issueasas Phoenix, followed by the and the .
The only northerm team to be listed among the top five threatened teams isthe , whichn is generally suffering from a region with lower populatiob and lower income for its “This is not a happyu thing by any stretch,” Rechtshaffen said. “Buffalk is a great hockey market. There are lots of hockeyh fans there. The problem is, those hockey fans don’t have enoughn money to spend on tickets.” The NHL has not made any indicationm that it would contract from30 teams, howevedr of the four major professional sports leagues in the Unitedx States, the NHL has the smallest fan base and the lowest levelp of television revenue packages.
The league remainsx extremely popular in Canada wheree six of the 30 teamsare Plus, hockey fans are considered to be more affluent than the otherf sports, according to a 2004 studyh by the . “As a business, I think the NHL neede to contract,” Rechtshaffen said. “But if the possibility remains of moviny teams and generatingmore money, the NHL obviouslgy would prefer to move