Expansion got goofy when it went into parts of the country that looked good demographically but had not history of hockey. None of those cities - Dallas, Phoenix, Miami, Tampa, Atlanta, Charlotte, San Jose, Anaheim, LA - can ever be classic hockey locations. At least Denver has a great history of college hockey. I'd throw in Nashville and Columbus, too, but at least Columbus can support D1 hockey. Madison is a better hockey town than Tampa.
Tampa has quite the fanbase and you see TBL stickers all over the cars here in Orlando. We will see what happens when they go back to being mediocre or bad but I think it’s a solid hockey town now. Lots of transplanted northerners who have embraced a new team. Not unlike DC. Miami on the other hand seems not to care even with a dynamic team.
