Submitted by Money_Whisperer t3_z3ycz5 in Connecticut
I don’t get it. Fuckin Detroit can have a bunch of major league teams but we can’t?? Hartford sucks but we aren’t that bad. What the fuck.
Comments
Bruins125 t1_ixoefq6 wrote
I mean at the end of the day metro population is what counts. That being said, 1,400,000 in the metro area really isn't a lot for a Big 4 sports team, I believe only Green Bay, Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton are smaller metro àreas and have big 4 teams.
Money_Whisperer OP t1_ixonaf2 wrote
The Detroit metropolitan area is considered to be 3913 square miles. The entire state of Connecticut is 5567 square miles.
Detroits population is 4.3 million people. CT is 3.6 million. These are not dramatic differences. We have the 4th highest population density in the country.
Yet Detroit has 4 major league sports teams and we have 0. This is nonsense.
Bruins125 t1_ixooc7r wrote
Big difference is distance between other major sports teams. It's arguably far easier to get to NYC from Fairfield County than it is to get to Hartford via MetroNorth, which is especially important as those would be the fans with the highest disposable income, plus Boston and Foxborough really aren't that far either. Detroit isn't nearly as close to other sports teams as Connecticut is to Boston and NYC. Also, contrary to popular belief, plenty of well off people live in the Detroit area, and when the Red Wings are good they have zero issue selling out their Arena, something the Hartford Whalers never were able to do. Hell the Whalers struggled to sell out playoff games.
I'd love to bring the Whalers back to CT, I'm wearing a Whalers shirt right now, but I've resigned to the fact that it isn't happening.
Money_Whisperer OP t1_ixopk93 wrote
You raise a good point regarding our proximity to NYC. Detroit does not have any nearby cities to cannibalize its sports fans, we have the biggest city in the US a short distance from our most financially prosperous county. I hadn’t considered that point. Had a (slightly inebriated) debate with a family member regarding this issue today over thanksgiving and you raised a much better point than he did so kudos.
Bruins125 t1_ixoq6od wrote
Ah the wonderful alcohol fueled Thanksgiving day arguments, gotta love them lol. Happy I was able to give you a reasonable point of view man, enjoy the rest of your turkey day!
Money_Whisperer OP t1_ixoqbjv wrote
Wouldn’t be a true Thanksgiving without it lol. Cheers🍻
Money_Whisperer OP t1_ixobomu wrote
We were never gonna get the patriots. Putting all our eggs in that basket was horrifically stupid. We have the capacity for at least one major league team.
miketatro43 t1_ixoc2il wrote
Yeah we just got played by Kraft Handjob …
cms59 t1_ixoa9su wrote
?? Population wise, Detroit is five times larger than Hartford, and Michigan is almost three times larger than Connecticut. We are too close to other major metros to carve out a substantial (read: profitable) fan base.
Money_Whisperer OP t1_ixobic1 wrote
Being a “larger” state doesn’t mean much. Alaska is a gigantic state and there’s nothing there. In terms of population density Michigan is way smaller. Sure they have a lot of land but why does that matter? You might as well include people living in Vermont factoring our size with that comparison
cms59 t1_ixq1gaf wrote
I specifically said “population-wise” in my response. I’m aware that land size is irrelevant. The Detroit metro area alone has 1 million more people than our entire state, not to mention the other Michigan metro areas reasonably close enough to be looped in with Detroit as well. Besides, the second part of my point is the bigger issue. We are too close to other major metro areas to carve out a fan base for another team. It would not be profitable.
I should also point out that Detroit specifically has a long history of those sports teams being there. The Tigers were founded in 1894, and the Red Wings and Lions have been there since the ‘20s. The Pistons have been around since before the NBA. It’s hard to compete against established fan bases. The Whalers came around in the ‘70s when most franchises, especially in this New England/New York region, had been around much longer.
Bathroomtrader t1_ixoaonb wrote
CT couldn’t deliver a new stadium and the governor was focused on getting the Pats to build their stadium here. A lot of people think Kraft used CT as leverage but the build site Rowland had purposed was tested and the soil came back highly contaminated.
Money_Whisperer OP t1_ixobc3i wrote
Rowland was a stupid governor and we shouldn’t have zero major league teams because of one shitty governors incompetence 20 years ago
Bathroomtrader t1_ixobq15 wrote
He wanted to throw $374 million to cover the cost for the Pats stadium and any left over money was going to be given to the team– one hell of a deal. Now if he had used that money to build a new stadium for the Whalers we would probably still have an NHL team in Hartford.
Money_Whisperer OP t1_ixonsj2 wrote
I guess in hindsight there was no amount of money that would have convinced the patriots to come here. The NFL wanted to keep a presence in the Boston area and they weren’t gonna allow a team to come here. So the outcome was pre determined and they used us as a pawn
Just_Jer t1_ixq5r21 wrote
wait I thought the Pats deal was WAY after we lost The Whale, am I misremembering? I'll have to ask Dr. Google later on...
Bathroomtrader t1_ixq6kzc wrote
1997 whalers announced they would be moving 1998 Kraft signed the papers to move Pats to CT
NimbusTO t1_ixocxid wrote
Connecticut doesn’t have actual cities.
Money_Whisperer OP t1_ixodbte wrote
Detroit isn’t a major city anymore, it’s a dying trash pit in the middle of nowhere and yet they have a bunch of teams. Michigan has way lower population density than us.
NimbusTO t1_ixolcrf wrote
I don’t think you understand how population works.
Money_Whisperer OP t1_ixomewk wrote
The Detroit metropolitan area is considered to be 3913 square miles. The entire state of Connecticut is 5567 square miles.
Detroits population is 4.3 million people. CT is 3.6 million. These are not dramatic differences. People love to give cities these gigantic metro areas to inflate their populations and never afford the same luxury to Hartford. Any other state in the country would, at a bare minimum, include west hartford and east hartford in Hartford’s metro area population statistics but we don’t for some reason.
NimbusTO t1_ixomkt3 wrote
You are literally comparing a state to a city, Jesus Christ.
Money_Whisperer OP t1_ixon030 wrote
Yes. The way we determine metro areas in this country is stupid. Houston has a larger “metro area” than the entire state of CT. We have the 4th largest population density in the US. Somehow you’re gonna argue that the Detroit metro area can be almost the same size as the entire state of CT and have a similar population density and yet we cannot sustain a single major league sports team while they have 4.
PrpleMnkyDshwsher t1_ixodeg1 wrote
It was several cogs in motion. There was Rowland getting played by Kraft to get a better deal in Foxboro. There was Karmonos wishing he could have afforded the Red Wings and couldn't. But the biggest and most forgotten force was The NHL commissioner HATED there being a team so close to 2 major markets and wanted his legacy to be the NHLs expansion into the south.
We didn't let the whalers go. We supported them way more than their on ice performance deserved. They were taken away from us.
Money_Whisperer OP t1_ixoexsh wrote
That’s a fair point. Maybe there was only so much we could do
WestRiverTraveler t1_ixqmpgf wrote
This is the correct answer.
QueenOfQuok t1_ixouxrr wrote
Let's be honest, Hartford was not interested in retaining a single good thing about itself in he second half of the twentieth century.
Money_Whisperer OP t1_ixovd8k wrote
You could extend that to the state as a whole to be honest lol.
tilario t1_ixq02bx wrote
25 years later, area man snaps out of his shock and has questions about the local hockey team.
Frequent_Jelly_4138 t1_ixoh1n8 wrote
Bc Hartford is a city losing the very small population they did have compared to Detroit
poorlywrittenriffs t1_ixolcxn wrote
Here is a post I made not too long ago to discuss all things CT Hockey. There may not be the Whalers but there are a lot of other teams here that deserve more attention before you can consider Hartford to have a team again.
Money_Whisperer OP t1_ixolmwp wrote
It’s a fair point that we have a lot of double and triple A teams in CT. It just shows the potential this state has in that respect. I think it could have definitely worked, we aren’t West Virginia lol.
We have one of the highest population densities in the country and we couldn’t get a single major league team here? Ridiculous
GoPikachuGo1 t1_ixouwwk wrote
As someone who has lived in multiple major cities that have sports teams and stadiums...
Thank god that we don't have any major league teams here.
redd-whaat t1_ixoaikp wrote
Detroit’s population is ~650,000 versus Hartford at ~120,000.
Detroit’s population was once 1.8m.
Hartford’s max was 185,000.
Hartford is two hours from NYC and 90 minutes from Boston.
Detroit is 4.5 hours from the next larger city (Chicago).
I miss the Whalers and wish we got the Patriots.
But come on…