Make it Seven part 3

Here’s a thought.

Jim Balsillie would be a wonderful NHL owner. A team or two are for sale. Rather than fight with Gary Bettman over the Coyotes, perhaps moving the team to Waterloo makes more sense. It’s much closer to home than Hamilton, and downtown Kitchener has plenty of opportunity (even need) for a civic redevelopment project in its downtown core.

Waterloo should pass the 80 km test (Detroit, Toronto and Buffalo are all further than that). The only thing missing is a somewhat new arena and the population base that comes with the GTA. So, a $212 million team becomes a $450 million team, assuming the Waterloo Region didn’t pony-up a penny for a new stadium; which seems unlikely to me.

Not to spend someone else’s money, but…. Based upon RIM’s current share price, if one was prepared to spend US$212 million on a hockey team when the stock was at C$42, now that it’s at a tidy C$83, building your own arena seems almost “costless”.

If you include Guelph, Cambridge and London, the population base of the Waterloo hockey region surpasses what the Ottawa Senators have to draw upon. Before Jimmy cuts the big cheque for a Hamilton franchise, I encourage him to take a car ride from Toronto to Hamilton at 5:15 on any weeknight. It is painful. Imagine yourself as a Torontonian, and you’ll see why few of your Copps Coliseum lower bowl season’s ticket holders will be purchased by the Bay Street crowd. Corporate boxes might do better in Hamilton, but should that decide where the franchise is located?

Hockey in Waterloo? Worth some thought.

MRM