In 2022 I wrote about whether or not Cornwall would be a viable market for the OHL to re-enter. Unlike a lot of things that I write and have an opinion on, it's actually held up well over two years later! Take a victory lap Clark and hope the good hockey fans don't remember the times you did offer up a take and it turned out to be less than stellar.
You can read about it here: https://www.steveclarkmedia.com/post/the-ohl-and-cornwall-can-it-work
The gist of the reading was that Cornwall did have a lot of things going for it, but it also had a lot of holes to fill both literally and figuratively. At the time there was a healthy dose of nostalgia for Cornwall and with that sweet, sweet logo and jersey you can understand why! The caveat was to not get caught up in the nostalgia wave of Cornwall and look at the cold hard market and economic facts. WWE (then WWF) tried to capitalize on said nostalgia after Hulk Hogan returned in 2002 and had the then Skydome rocking as it was his first WWE/F appearance in nine years and the fans sure loved their Hulkster. WWF/E tried to capitalize on this wave of nostalgia and took the title off the hot young champion HHH and gave it back to Hogan. The problem was that Hogan was 48 and wrestled like a 48 year old, and a couple of awful matches later the magic had vanished and the title had to be flipped. The lesson is that nostalgia has a shelf life, and that you need to have an actual plan beyond the nostalgia and also to protect the nostalgia if you want some long term success.
Fast forward to today and the idea of franchise relocation and/or expansion is a piping hot topic. The Ontario Hockey League under the leadership of new commissioner Bryan Crawford have made aggressive expansion a priority and given the changing landscape of junior and NCAA hockey transfers and new rules even teams from existing leagues have looked at the OHL as their Manifest Destiny. Look no further than the USHL's Muskegon Lumberjacks and the Youngstown Phantoms, two teams that have approached the OHL and shown a willingness to divest themselves of the USHL and join the OHL. While USA hockey has initially put the brakes on that, do not roll the credits on that story.
Looking locally we have the Brantford Bulldogs being sold from Michael Andelauer to the Hyman family, led by Edmonton Oiler Zach Hyman, his father Stu and his brother Spencer. When I appeared on Bubba O' Neill's Sportsline podcast, I did pose a question surrounding whether or not the new ownership would embrace Brantford as a market. They were buying the franchise, they could move it wherever they wanted, particularly if they did not feel the new proposed arena was going to be a reality. Well, at a press conference I was proven so, so wrong when the new owners pledged loyalty to the telephone city and signed a 15 year lease agreement with the city and what would hopefully become a new arena. So, yeah, I got that spectacularly wrong and maybe that's why the episode feedback can surmised as: compliments about my sweater 1 and compliments about my on-air performance. I will note that the sweater has been in my regular rotation since day one and gives me that "I can hang out at a ski chalet, but can't ski worth beans vibe".
So it seems Brantford would be a solid market, and good for them. They have embraced the Bulldog franchise even though there was no guarantee of it being a permanent location and can really ascend the franchise to new heights with a new arena. One only needs to look at the success of the Meridian Centre which has revitalized the down (Woo!)town (Shout out Ric Flair) core and has provided many, many events outside of hockey. They just announced 90's legends Bush to play the arena! Bush! I can almost see myself air guitaring to Machine Head while throwing it back to the 90's with frosted tips, denim button downs and 90210 hair! In all seriousness the Meridian Centre is in its 10th year, still has that look and feel of a new arena and has had the IceDogs has anchor tenants while adding basketball, concerts, wrestling, women's world U18 hockey and host of other events. That is the potential of a new arena in Brantford. Now excuse me as I perform "Swallowed" in my head.
Ok, so while that addresses Brantford but it does not really address where OHL expansion will occur independent of the potential USHL defections. The lynchpin in all of this might be the newly refurbished First Ontario Centre in Hamilton which will have an 18,000 seat capacity. Lots of reports have surfaced that an AHL team is headed to Hamilton. Who that is, and from what city is the question. We know of course that Hamilton had an AHL team and attendance was all over the place. I called games on TV for the team for two years and when they were playing the Marlies, you could count on crowds of 7-8K on a regular basis. Other teams? 3-4K seemed to be the norm. That's quite the precipitous drop when the Leafs farm team was in town. So it cannot just be any old team coming in to First Ontario. Some have said the Belleville Senators, also owned by Michael Andelauer, would be the ideal tenant. Having them be the farm team of the Ottawa Senators is not the best team and also Andelauer would have to mend fences with Hamilton City Councilors as the relationship at the end of the OHL Bulldogs tenure in Hamilton did not end well. Still, its the solution that makes a ton of sense as it confirms some rumours and opens up Belleville to host an OHL franchise to bring back the Belleville Bulls. One of the issues surrounding the departure of the Bulls centred around arena renovations and when the Bulls left town the arena was renovated to welcome the AHL Senators. I do not know the arena situation in Toronto, but is there chance that the Marlies moved down the QEW. That would guarantee fantastic crowds, but remains a longshot given the structure in place for the Leafs around Cola Cola Coliseum. Maybe the Leafs ECHL team currently housed in Cincinnati could be a possibility? Crowds are good, but its the first year in the market and surely the Leafs would love their ECHL team close to their AHL team. The ideal solution is the AHL Sens to Hamilton and an OHL franchise to Belleville. Throw in Cornwall and you've got yourself two new teams and a nice division of Ottawa, Cornwall, Kingston, Belleville and probably Peterborough, and off you go. It looks so easy on paper doesn't it? *Insert record needle scratch* because there is a reality.
The reality is that while Belleville would be a great OHL market, they've still got to move the Sens out and is far from ideal to move your AHL franchise from a two hour drive to a five hour drive for callups. While there's also a nostalgia factor to Belleville and Cornwall, well, see my above comments about Hulk Hogan's 2002 return. The positives are the fact the demographic in both cities, but likely more so in Cornwall as they are likely not the same as they were when they lost their OHL franchise. For Cornwall someone has to sink money into that arena to either make it a legit OHL caliber home arena. For Belleville, while the Bulls logo is one of the sharpest in the league, there must be a fan base that's willing to support the league as well as corporate entities that are willing ton financially invest in hockey. I'd argue that having the presence of one of the Subbans as either an investor or Front Office might be helpful in increasing the fan base. All told Cornwall and Belleville face the same challenges that Brantford had and they have been a resounding success in their second year back and they've done it with a building that holds only 3100. Maybe absence has made the heart grown fonder in those markets and they can be sustained.
Some other considerations for the OHL are a return to Hamilton, but I believe the new building and all that it promises has priced itself out of junior hockey and its more suited to minor pro. Hamilton has always been a funny town in terms of fan support. Just ask the Tiger Cats. If the Hamilton fan base perceives that a night out for sports is a big event, they will come and they will stay if that translates to on-ice success. The new building should ensure that big event feel, but that will wear out eventually and on ice results will need to happen. Expectant prices for the new building's sports venture do need to be reasonable, but I still fear it will be priced out of the junior hockey market. I hear rumblings of Thunder Bay being an untested market, but I don't personally understand that. Scheduling with Thunder Bay and bearing the costs of travel would be difficult logistically as well as costly. They also need to spruce up an aging building. I've been to Thurder Bay and its a great fan base but I just don't see it. Same with Chatham. I'm of the belief that I need to see shovels in the ground before I believe there's a new arena coming. In Chatham, last I checked it was still at the concept stage. Buffalo? Again, not a bad idea considering the distance to Erie and Niagara and a natural hockey fan base, but Harbourfront Centre is too small and the Sabres' rink too large.
Obviously arena viability, location and potential top the list. If you have those, then fan bases will gravitate to there, but on the flipside maintaining a season ticket and casual fan base is far from easy. Not every market is London, or Kitchener in which the sell-outs are pretty much automatic. My perfect world sees Belleville and Cornwall in the East and then adding Muskegon and Youngstown in the West. 24 teams makes a ton of sense and addresses the idea of "aggressive expansion". It also might spur a a realignment of the divisions which a lot of people would welcome. Hamilton/Brantford got slotted in Belleville's spot which is far from ideal geographically and Niagara gets the joy of regular trips to North Bay and Sudbury as divisional rivals which is also a byproduct of Niagara being plopped in Mississauga's spot. There are so many moving parts that the next year or so will be fun to watch as we see the OHL try to expand. Maybe it will be fresh markets, or maybe it will be markets abandoned in the past but now are the apple of the leagues eye.
For now, lets enjoy the stability that is now being found in Brantford, and the new arena that will do so much for the franchise and for the entertainment dollar in the telephone city.
Steve Clark
Steve has been calling hockey on TV for the IceDogs since 2007 and has experience in the AHL.
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