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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…

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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