One hobby that Darby Reznor absolutely loves outside of hockey is skateboarding. It was his first hobby before hockey, so he loves to visit cities that have good skateboarding. Because of this, his favorite city to visit while playing is San Diego when the Timbers face the Tidal. The state of California has amazing skateboarding history, having been the birth place of Tony Hawk. If Darby was allowed to have a day in San Diego where he does not have to prepare for a game, one thing he would do is film a skateboarding montage around the various spots in the city.
Also, he has always wanted to try surfing, so that would be a fun time for him. Also, it would be a great time to get a tan. He had only been to California once before he started playing in the J, and that was to visit the Del Mar skatepark. Plus, he would love to have an opportunity to go boating and try to whale watch.
02-24-2025, 07:31 PM(This post was last modified: 02-25-2025, 05:23 PM by LGRW613. Edited 1 time in total.)
Written option #2
A good expansion brand needs levels to it. Any of the 2-4 SHL expansion teams that are coming soon should focus on picking a fun and lively location, but they must remember to couple that with branding that truly understands its location and brings that flavor to the team that only that particular location could. I think more sports teams should follow this kind of branding philosophy going forward, as it would really help drive engagement from the locals of the city.
Take, for instance, the Osaka Kaiju of the ISFL. The location is fantastic, but more importantly, the brand is easily recognizable and familiar for the location. The ISFL also has the New Orleans Second Line, which is more of the same kind of branding that hits large cultural markers for its location. I feel as though the SHL is lacking in this particular respect, though I do absolutely love some of SHL branding.
Kiwi has only been in the Js, but her favorite city outside New Zealand has been Oslo, Norway. She went there on a whim once and immediately fell in love. The next year she actually bought a house in Norway cause she loved it so much. She grew up on a sailboat with her mom's sailing the world and Norway is close enough to one of her usual countries in Sweden but different enough too. Also the mountains are incredible. Kiwi really does love them and they remind her of New Zealand.
She has also fallen a little for St. John's after her trade to Newfoundland. Its a small market for a sports team but the fans are diehard. There is Beserker flags everywhere. And it seems like everywhere you go they are listening or watching the local radio/sports show about the team. It feels like a lot of pressure on Kiwi but she loves the passion surrounding the team.
The only thing an expansion team needs for their brand is to follow the rule of cool. You have a name? A logo? A jersey? Is it cool? If not then start over. Don't get me wrong, a historical connection to the city is great, and adds it's own sense of cool, but it can't always stand on it's own. Alliteration between the city and the name is good too, but isn't cool on it's own. You need a name that fans will want to chant, and a logo and jersey that people will want to wear. As long as fans think it's cool, it will be a hit. Local fans will come around faster, but for those outside the market, the rule of cool is necessary to ensure that the brand survives the first decade. When in doubt choose whatever you think is cool, or you'll end up as the Whatevercity Hockey Club for far too long and no one actually wants that.
Graphic Option 2: Create an image related to the upcoming SHL expansion.
I have no idea where I'd put it, but I do really enjoy the hypothetical uniforms I made for my NHL Fantasy team a while back. Maybe Albuquerque or Alberta or something else alliterative.
When it comes to branding, I personally believe it has to be SOMETHING that fits the city where you're plopping the team. Alliteration for alliteration's sake or "because it has a nice ring lol" has led to some of the silliest brandings I've seen in fictional leagues (a friend calling his strat-o-matic team the Nuremburg Ninjas will always live rent-free in my head). But having something that fits the city allows for you to use local imagery and to learn or teach about what makes that locale special or unique. I think the SHL and the J have done pretty well in this regard with its more recent expansion teams and rebrandings. Teams like Atlanta, Montreal, Philadelphia in the SHL, and Quebec City, Ottawa, Yukon, and Nevada in the J. They're all able to carve out cool, unique identities that yeah, may have real-life ties or inspirations, but they have a solid visual identity that's tied to their city or region.
For an expansion team to work there are a ton of minor things that need to be in place for the team to make sense. Obviously a killer name helps. Like @kahri keeps pushing the Wiggle Lobsters (and I love it!) and it can frankly work at any area. The Washington Wiggle Lobsters, the New Jersey Wiggle Lobsters, the Ohio Wiggle Lobsters, It doesn't really matter. The part that matters the most , for a new team, is the leadership. With all due respect to the historic teams of old, a new expansion team can be even more exciting to join because it has no records! Someone in recent history is going to be the first Wiggle Lobster ever. Someone will score the first Wiggle Lobster Goal, make the first Wiggle Lobster save, be the first user banned by @Rich For bringing up robots too many times, that someone will be a Wiggle Lobster. What matters most is a dedicated GM / CO GM that will help keep the team relevant into the future!
Colorado Raptors Capitan S42-Until Forever! Czechia Wants you! Ask about a transfer!!
At the beginning of every season, Normand Marineau takes the time to circle his away games against the Quebec City Citadelles on his calendar. When he was younger, Marineau and his family used to make it a yearly thing where they used to spend a week in Quebec City. As Marineau enters his final season in the juniors, he's very sad that his away trips to Quebec City will be coming to an end. As the Citadelles aren't in the same division as the Raptors, he doesn't get the opportunity to visit a lot. His favorite thing about the city is the European aspect of it, especially in "Old Quebec", where it all looks aesthetically pleasing. He loves taking walks on the boardwalk during his off day and loves the French cuisine you can find around the city. Quebec City also offers outdoor activities, like cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, which Marineau partakes in with his teammates. The city has so much history to it and with it being a lot smaller than other major cities, it has such a cozy feel to it.
Written Option 1: Being a player in SHL and SMHJL requires a lot of hours in the plane as roadtrips take the teams all over the continent. Sometimes the visits are very short and you’ll be getting back to home right after the game but sometimes there is time for more. Which city is your player's favorite to visit, a place where they hope to be able to spend a day between travels to enjoy what the city has to offer? Is it home to a division rival that they get to visit often or maybe home of a team from the other conference that your player only gets to visit once a season? Why do they like that city and what do they do there when they have the opportunity?
For Kim Chaewon she is used to travelling to various cities and areas to perform as part of the k-pop world. Now that she is part of the SHL world she gets to visit even more cities and more frequently as well. Some of Chaewon's favourite cities to visit would have to be: Vancouver, San Diego and Nevada.
For Vancouver: She loves the vibrant city and nature that Vancouver has to offer, she also enjoys asian cuisine and Vancouver is known to have amazing asian food options. It is always an exciting time when Carolina gets to play on the road against Vancouver.
For San Diego: They have great weather, chill vibes and the ability to surf on their beaches.
For Nevada: The weather there is very hot and with Le Sserafim's upcoming comeback being called "Hot" it only makes sense for this to be one of Chaewon's top cities to visit to, this will be a great opportunity to promote Le Sserafim's new album.
Written Option 2: What, in your opinion, is needed for a good expansion brand and location? Is it just a catchy name that sounds good alongside your city location? Is it important to make sure the brand references the history of its location or brings something important to the sport of hockey? You can use examples to demonstrate your opinions.
I think a big part of a good location for hockey is popularity and how many people would enjoy it. And I like brands that are pretty unique and different. Like Idk I just crave for creativity in brands for teams because nobody really wants to see a bland and not creative brand so that's one reason. Another reason is how big hockey is in that city say like a city like Mexico City, even though it's a very large city, hockey isn't as big as in a city like Saskatoon, Saskatchewan or Ottawa, Ontario like that's another key factor. The final key factor is how much the players would enjoy the market or place because what's the point of having a team at a certain place if your own players don't like it. I'm all for players choosing what expansion places that will come because it would be fun.
02-24-2025, 04:07 AMpuolivalmiste Wrote: Written Option 2: What, in your opinion, is needed for a good expansion brand and location? Is it just a catchy name that sounds good alongside your city location? Is it important to make sure the brand references the history of its location or brings something important to the sport of hockey? You can use examples to demonstrate your opinions.
I believe in order to have good expansion branding you need location to be your #1 goal. Wherever city you may expand to you have to have an arena that is accessible to a major portion of your city, usually that is within downtown areas. You also need faces for potential fans to be interested in, having atleast one superstar to promote your team with can lead to some long lasting fans. If the team is garbage then how will anyone get hooked on them? If I started a new franchise I would 1000% give out free tickets by walking the streets and meeting people who don’t know what the team is about. Make them do challenges or something and they can win free tickets to a game. A new sport in a city that probably has never had that sport professionally before would bring in a very excited crowd. Definitely need to have a strong first season and then keep giving fans appreciation so that they want to come back. I’d make all the players do charity work once every two weeks to get them into the community better
William Salming likes to visit a lot of cities during road trips. He has played already almost 23 full SHL seasons so he really knows what are the best cities to visit. The best places are cities where you have a practise rink, actual ice hall and hotel very close to each other. That way you can walk to practises and games without spending time in the bus or train. Those kind of cities are for example Seattle, Montreal and Hamilton where Salming plays nowadays but visited many times when he was part of the Argonauts organisation. When Salming is in those towns, he enjoys his time by walking around that triangle and often there are some kind of cool restaurants where you can visit between sessions and then return to the hotel lobby to hang out with the boys. Salming also values cities like New Orleans and Buffalo because in those cities your focus is 100% to the ice-hockey because there are not a lot of things to see outside of hotel and ice rink.
After many years talking about different expansion ideas with friends and teammates, the one city that always comes up is Mexico City. I think it would be awesome to see a team there and would really distance the SHL from traditional hockey markets. This is a made up league for fun, why can’t we have a team in Mexico? I think it is very important to include culture and history into a team’s branding, a few different ideas pop into my head that can make Mexico work. The Mexico City Jaguars is one of my favorite ideas that incorporates history and culture. Based on the Aztec Jaguar Warriors, could use a color scheme that incorporates the colors gold, red, and green. The logo could have a Jaguar with Aztec style art. Alternatively, you could call the team the Warriors to get away from the animal logo. I do not think it is a stretch to see Mexico get a team as I have seen multiple users now suggest teams there.
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