News: Cedar Point to show the Ohio State vs. Iowa football game on the giant outdoor screen

osunut2005 said:
...the Columbus Blue Jackets, can't even sell out there opening night game.

I'll bet you $10,000,000,000 that if the Jackets made a serious playoff run, that would change in a heartbeat.

I know that they would sell out if they turned it around this season. People in Ohio will start backing a really good team, and even after they start falling, they will continue to support them for a while. An example, the Cavs. The Cavs used to be pretty decent, then went through a dry spell, but the fan support was still there, and now the Cavs are making a turnaround, and the fan base has grown. Of course, a lot of that can be credited to their having LeBron, but still.

And of course there are the Indians. They may not be packing Jacobs like they used to, but they still have a pretty decent fan base. And, things are improving for them.

The Blue Jackets will sell out, it's just a matter of time. For the big games this year, on a Friday or a Saturday, it's always hard to find tickets, and if they start to actually win, who knows, maybe Columbus can have a Cleveland Indians sellout streak. But that's only in my dreams!

While it's definitely not as popular as Football, Baseball or Basketball, hockeys popularity has definitely risen a lot in the last 10 years

The Blue Jackets could win the next five Stanley Cups, and they probably wouldn't even get media coverage in Ohio outside of Columbus. It's just not a hockey state. No one around here even knows who the Blue Jackets are. It's not because they're losing, it's because most around here don't care about the sport. There is no hockey tradition in Ohio.

I don't know, Walt. There are plenty of NHL expansion cities that have no hockey tradition that have done pretty well, especially after making an appearance in the playoffs. Examples: Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes, and Dallas Stars are some good examples of teams that sprouted up in places where hockey had no real market, and have flourished after making a run deep into the playoffs.

I should note that the Lightning and Panthers aren't the greatest examples, as Florida has its fair share of ex-Michiganders who were raised on hockey before migrating there.

And you'll notice that before those teams runs, half the stadium or more would be sporting Wings jersey's when they came to town. Now you see that a lot less. The fans in those areas have embraced the teams.

What would really help though is for Columbus to get out of the bottom 5 of the league.

Well, they have Federov, so they should be all set, right?

Well dj, the fact that so many transplant midwesterners are out there is in part why teams in the bible belt are doing so well. Also it's because they don't have another team in cities like Tampa Bay, Carolina and even Nashville. Dallas is like you said the product of a winner. No matter how much the Jackets win they will NEVER be more popular than OSU in columbus. Just like the Indians will NEVER be more popular than the Browns. Look at last season. The Indians were knocking on the playoff door and they still couldn't sell out a game until the last weekend (when it was already nearly over). The success of the late 90s will never happen again for the Indians. It's just a fact of NE Ohio. Just like there is a small but strong base of hockey fans just large enough to make rich guys think they can make it with a minor league hockey team... well maybe if the Cavs stink.

Aren't the Panthers pretty close to Charlotte? Tennessee Titans are in Nashville. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Devil Rays.

There's other sports in those markets.

Hockey is pretty popular in Dallas, honestly. I was surprised. They don't know a lot about the sport (They have to give the rules of hockey on the jumbotrons before the games :)) but they seemed pretty enthusiastic.

Gener, to say that "the success of the late 90s will never happen again" is... wrong, to put it mildly. There are towns where certain sports will always be popular and will always sell out, regardless of a team's success. The Detroit Lions are a perfect example of that - they are horrendously terrible, yet sell out game after game. And then there are other cities, where certain sports aren't too popular. But in those cities, the fair weather fans come out in droves when a team is doing well. There's nothing special about Ohio in that regard, as its a pretty simple human response - everyone likes a winner, and wants to support that winner, and that feeling is contagious. Any long-time (anyone remember the Probert/Kocur/Galant/Hanlon eras) Wings fan can attest to that as well.

I think we can wrap up our Cedar Point discussion now. :)