IceHL 2013 Relocation Polls
It's April 13, 2013 — the official start of 13 Weeks of R&R, the IceHL's summer rebranding and relocation project. If this is the first you're hearing of it, read up on the details. Then vote!
In this week's polls, you're selecting which teams you want to see "moved" to a new city within North America — the jurisdiction of the IceHL. It's simple. Should the team move? Yes or no. Here are some important caveats to this series of polls:
- In order for a team to relocate, it must receive at least 60% in the affirmative vote.
- Don't vote based on conference or division. If a team is relocated outside of its current conference, the league will simply be realigned to accommodate.
- Don't vote based on team nicknames or logos. Just because a team relocates doesn't mean it can't keep its name and logo in its new city. All that would have to change is the city.
- On the Hamilton/Toronto question, due to popular request, Toronto will be included among eligible relocation cities even if voters elect NOT to rebrand the Hamilton Steelcats.
- As a trade-off for Hamilton/Toronto, one of the Saskatchewan teams must be relocated this year. If one or both reach the requisite 60% affirmative vote, no problem. If neither does, the team with the higher affirmative vote will relocate automatically.
- Be aware that Atlanta, Calgary, Dallas, Detroit, Regina, Saskatoon and Washington, D.C. will not be eligible relocation cities should any of these teams be moved this summer. They could, however, be considered in future relocation efforts after this year.
Enough housekeeping. Let's do some voting!
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See that? I threw in a bonus poll. We'll pick the 7 potential destination cities this week too. In a couple weeks we'll figure out which teams will go to which cities. There are only 12 cities listed, but there is a 13th option (to keep with our theme). Vote for any unlisted city with the "other" box. The cities with the most votes will get a relocated IceHL team this summer.
Unlike in previous votes here on Icethetics, all poll results will remain visible so you can keep checking back with the progress throughout the week. You're also free to start social media campaigns to get your friends and followers to join in the voting. The more, the merrier!
Finally, if you have any questions at all about the process, please ask! I've thought a lot of this through but I'm sure there are things I haven't considered. Speak up so nothing gets overlooked.
Chris
In looking at the "other" votes cast in the destination cities poll, I've noticed a lot of people are wasting their vote by suggesting cities that already have teams. I've seen Vancouver, Tampa, Seattle and Salt Lake City in the results.
Do a little research before you vote and don't waste your "other" selection. The IceHL 2012 Yearbook has everything you need to know about the league.
Chris
Another update. For those wondering, it is too soon to start suggesting new team names. That's Week 4 territory. I know it seems obvious where the vote is going, but it hasn't even been a full day yet. (Part of the reason I used to conceal the results until the polls closed.) Let's wait and see how things develop before we start nailing coffins.
Reader Comments (41)
Buffalo NY!!
I voted for a lot of unconventional cities because there would never be real-life hockey there. That's why I voted for Miami, Norfolk, and Las Vegas. I also think some of those cities lend themselves well to interesting team names. Toronto and Philadelphia already have NHL teams, why not expand somewhere else? I would personally rather have Hamilton and Norfolk, not Toronto and Philly.
It would be cool Renegades moving to Halifax
I've got a question. Why all the hate for Saskatchewan? I thought the idea of this thing was to put teams in places where they wouldn't succeed in real life. Now, all of a sudden, it seems like the novelty has worn off, and franchises are being relocated to the more glamorous Miami and San Francisco, and traditional Philadelphia and Toronto. Frankly, I'm disappointed that Regina is losing it's team, having smaller markets gave the league a more "cozy, down home, feeling".
i love this voting stuff and the people who come up with these designs are very good too
Mark: This isn't a cause. There's no "hate" for Saskatchewan. (People just throwing around that term makes it meaningless.) And to clarify, then idea of this was not "to put teams in places where they wouldn't succeed in real life." The point was to create our own league from the ground up — placing teams wherever we wanted.
I love that our league is represented there. I'm just not sure Saskatchewan needs two teams. Let's spread them out a bit. But even as I say that, it's become clear to me that a lot of folks want to see a team in Toronto as well as Hamilton. So the trade-off for adding another big market will be one of the smaller ones.
And only one Saskatchewan team will have to move. When it's all said and done, even if we lose Regina, I'm sure we'll still be represented in Saskatoon.
Here's a short list of possible IceHL relocation destinations to consider in the future.
Memphis or Nashville, Tennessee
Louisville, Kentucky
New Jersey
Portland, Maine
Phoenix or Scottsdale, Arizona
Sacramento, California
Boise, Idaho
Birmingham, Alabama
Lincoln, Nebraska
Des Moines, Iowa
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Wichita, Kansas
Jackson, Mississippi
With regards to the relocation polls, I'd like to see the Atlanta franchise stay, just get rebranded, and IMO it's pretty much a no-brainer to keep Calgary, Detroit, and Washington in those cities.
Poor Atlanta. They just can't seem to get it right. :(
I'm just curious, if neither Saskatchewan team gets voted more than 60% for relocation, and Toronto isn't selected as one of the top relocation cities, will one of them still be moving either way?
As a Haligonian (yes that is the demonyn for Halifax) I am terribly excited at the idea of concepts being created by Icethetics incredibly talented contributors!
Vote Syracuse in other! And people, stop voting for Toronto, I want to see teams in Halifax, Norfolk, and Las Vegas.
If Halifax get a team it should be shared bewtween Halifax, Nova Scotia and St. John's Newfoundland
I'm looking at Buffalo, too. My question is, how did Fargo get in there?
Brendan A.: Yes, one of the Saskatchewan teams will be moving. That wasn't conditioned upon the outcome of the Toronto vote. It was conditioned upon Toronto being made an option.
Simon: Buffalo is too close to Hamilton/Toronto for my liking. Ideally, I want to see teams spread out more rather than merely going to traditional NHL markets. (I made an exception with Toronto since it is, after all, Canada's largest city.)
I also wanted to keep more smaller markets as an option since we're going to be losing at least one in Saskatoon/Regina. That's why I included Fargo and Halifax. But I also included an "other" box so folks could vote for a city like Buffalo if they really wanted to.
I can't not vote for Toronto. It is the largest market in Canada, and I think Ontario is much more deserving of having two teams than Saskatchewan or Alberta. As for Philadelphia, there is no team in Pennsylvania. I think there should be a team in Pennsylvania. Halifax looks like a sure thing to get a team tho. I'm cool with that.
Ottawa !! Canada's capital should have a team of it's own
Hey Austin, we'll vote how we want to! As a Torontonian, isn't it natural that I'd love to see a new spin on a hockey team being based here?
I'm in agreeance with Simon with Buffalo
St. John's, Newfoundland! GO ICECAPS
Why are we choosing cities now. I thought that was week 3.
Buffalo, lets make it happen!
Agree with Brendan! St. John's!
me: Week 3 is for deciding where the relocated teams will go. This week we're just picking the destination cities.
Atlanta Arsenal=Buffalo Herd!!
Next year I would have liked to see the city that a team would relocate to before I voted to relocate it. I voted in the "other" section for Austin, Texas for Dallas to relocate to, but if Dallas wouldn't go to Austin I would want them to stay in Dallas.
Indianapolis, They could be like the old WHA team and be called the Racers.
Pittsburgh Hornets.
It's still not clear to me why one of the Saskatchewan teams must be moved, and why that was made a condition to Toronto being made a destination option. Even though they are small markets, why does a Saskatchewan team have to be moved and why not only the teams that reach that 60% threshold? In following the democratic process that this league has chosen to follow, shouldn't both teams stay put if that's what the voters decide?
Yea, give Buffalo a fake hockey team. It's not like they have had a REAL one recently. OUCH
I echo the sentiment I'd rather see unconventional cities like Vegas/Indianapolis get teams rather than Toronto/Philadelphia.
I'd be disappointed but not surprised if Dallas is on its way out. Hockey folk hate on the south. It's just the nature of the fandom.
Oh well, new names and new logos will cheer me up some
Derek: It was an executive decision. I've always said I'm all for the democratic process with the IceHL, but if I truly let every single decision be made by the readers, we'd have 30 teams that all looked and and sounded a lot like the NHL without the southern markets. I've seen how these votes trend when I don't set parameters.
Above and beyond democracy I value having a league that isn't a direct rip-off of the NHL — or even similar to it in any way. Now, what does this have to do with removing one of the Saskatchewan teams? I was never totally happy with having two to begin with when so many other great cities went ignored. So by giving a little (allowing teams in both Hamilton and Toronto), I expect to get a little (leaving just one team in Saskatchewan).
But truthfully, if there are enough voices behind keeping both Saskatchewan teams in place, I'll listen. (Though I won't budge when it comes to rebranding Regina and/or Dallas. They're just too similar.)
Nick: I understand what you're asking, but it would be far too complicated to vote on. This process is much simpler.
Ugh. Count me in the camp that wants to see 1 Saskatchewan team and 1 team in EITHER Toronto or Hamilton. Too many awesome cities around the continent to clump too many teams up in one place. Having Washington/Baltimore is bad enough.
I'm still really interested in seeing what a San Francisco team would look like. Oakland & San Jose have had NHL teams, but SF has only had the ECHL Bulls. And I know the talented designers here could come up with a better name and logo than that.
i'd love to see hockey return to oakland.
give us a team!
Maybe consider any one of the Major Up State NY cities. (Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, Binghamton)
Right in your neck of the woods Chris....the Walla Walla Wallabies! Call up RinkGear and I'll buy a jersey sight unseen! Such ridiculousness would truly make your league unique lol.
Bring the Barons back to Cleveland!
How about Omaha Nebraska as a potential location?
New Jersey Informants for the win!
Last day for the polls, and very interesting. Unless anything big changes it looks like we are in for a 2 team move and possible realignment should current results hold.
Based on these I'm excited for one possibility but a bit down on the other, but I'm enjoying this process none the less. These 13 weeks could be quite the ride.
I have been voting for Buffalo, but it looks like a no go.
Looks like Toronto will barely beat out Philly to make it Halifax and Toronto