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***sköldpaddor*** · 02-25-2025, 09:37 AM

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JR95 · 02-25-2025, 09:47 AM

I think in this day and age and especially in sim leagues, it isn't as much about where the team is located as it is about the strength of the brand. Some people may always have their biases based off their own personal lives towards certain team locations, but I think that there are more important factors that a lot of people consider when evaluating a franchise and I think a strong brand with a good logo and an appealing color scheme is a great way to make a good first impression. That impression might not carry them very far alone though, they still need good management with a vision and a plan in order to really be successful. That said I'm a firm believer that first impressions matter, especially so when talking about expansion teams. Most of the players that get drafted to these teams don't really have a choice in the matter, so trying to make a good impression right off the bat is very important.

NUCK · 02-25-2025, 10:14 AM

As far as expansion teams and branding goes, I believe its important that the city name and the branding have something in common. They dont have to be perfectly symbiotic but they shouldn't be totally out of left field either. The Nashville Martians would be a great choice of a piss poor name. Nashville has many names that would work excellently with names like Music or Honkey Tonk. Basically anything music related would be an easy combination of city and brand. But at the same time I am not a fan of just slapping any old name onto any city just because you like the branding, there has to be so chemistry! This maybe a fantasy league with made up names but we do use real cities and have some great branding that I am sure real professional sports teams are pissed off at us for taking from their set of options.

***noxu*** · 02-25-2025, 11:58 AM

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.Laser · 02-25-2025, 12:27 PM

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a_canuck · 02-25-2025, 01:28 PM

Jack Ellul always enjoys playing in Vancouver as it is the closest SMJHL team to his home town. There is always a number of friends and family in the building to support him and cause some noise. He would show his teammates his favourite spots around the city and is old stomping grounds. I think for a junior player especially getting to go back home is important and has a large impact on a player. This is especially true as Jack only has one to two years left in the SMJHL. After that, he will be playing in the SHL which means that he will not have any more road games in Vancouver! This means that it will be that much harder for friends and family to come out to see him play. Because of that, he really values the games in Vancouver and the opportunity it provides.

As far as favourite SHL city? I guess we will just have to wait and see!

*FaraDian* · 02-25-2025, 01:31 PM

Option 2

I think any expansion franchise should consider location that has an in-world viability. There are a lot of jokes/ideas about putting teams in Europe, on the moon, or in the absolute middle of nowhere. But these kind of "wouldn't it be funny if?" concepts always wear out their welcome quickly and struggle to maintain relevance after a few seasons.

This thinking also applies to the branding, where joke mascots/nicknames are easily floated but lack long term version. The best real world example was the Macon Whoopee franchise, which even had a reasonable local whooping crane reference, but still didn't generate impact beyond the initial "hah, that's funny." It is nice when a name has strong local context and history, though there's also a balance of getting too obscure. Classic team names are often pretty basic and maybe they benefit more from age than coherence, but I'm all for a generic name as well.

The biggest hurdle I'm seeing in current SHL expansion is that some of the best targets already have J teams. I would support moving/rebranding those teams into the SHL and creating new J teams in smaller markets.

schotte74 · 02-25-2025, 03:07 PM

Written Option 1:

Although they beat us back to back which made us pretty mad, for me it's still Vancouver. Over the last three seasons we had quite a few trips to the other side of the country and I always enjoyed the few hours we could spend in the city. But we never had enough time to go out and enjoy all that stunning nature that is close to Vancouver. Ever since reading some of the stories in Coupland's 'Life After God' I was fascinated with the areas north of Vancouver. If I don't get to go home next offseason, I might head over there and finally check it all out. I also don't mind the grey and the rain. Since Kelowna is not all that far away either, maybe I can convince my GM's to let me stay an extra day there or in Vancouver if we have a couple days off between games. The back to back nightmare has to end at some point eventually...

*Carpy48* · 02-25-2025, 03:09 PM

Written Option 2

Both at this point in time of the league, but also in general you need to have something unique for an expansion team. Something that doesn't look too similar to any other team in the league (both SHL and SMJHL really), but also to any team in any real league. That's the real challenge. The same goes for branding and colors. I would say all primary colors are covered by our teams now. Finding a unique color combination that doesn't exist yet and also works well is very difficult. I think since all our teams have to be somewhere in North America it probably makes sense to have some connection with the city its placed in, but I don't know that much about that, so I can't really comment. However, you can't just pick a random animal for example, add a few colors and call that a brand. I like it if people really put some thought into it.

Ricer13 · 02-25-2025, 03:26 PM

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karlssens · 02-25-2025, 04:49 PM

Code:
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.

All of the items you mentioned go in to a successful expansion branding in my opinion. To start with it's best to pick a city that could believably have a professional team in this league (sorry Anchorage). If the team name/concept can lean on the history or significant importance of the that city/location it makes it that much better, but it's not essential. Dragons have nothing to do with Calgary, but dragons are epic so it's an awesome name. The Forge however is a wonderful tie in to Philadelphia (and not as overused as the Liberty Bell). The last step, or arguably the most important, is the logo design. You could pick a great city and a great name, but if the artwork sucks then it's dead on arrival. Fortunately I don't feel that's been the case with any of the expansion teams thus far so it hasn't really been a big issue. In the past it wasn't too concerning if the artwork wasn't original, but since like season 30 there's been a huge push for original team artwork and I believe every team now has original logos. If an expansion team were to drop with a recolored version of an existing logo (NHL, AHL, BCHL, etc, etc) it would be a big miss as well.

MuNk22 · 02-25-2025, 05:10 PM

written option 2

Great care and deliberation has to go into choosing an appropriate brand for a new expansion team. I believe the branding has to reflect the city's character in a positive light. That branding has to be relatable to the city or state its within whether it be from its history or a symbol it represents. The fans have a certain expectation that they can relate and connect to this new team. It is up to the new owners of the expansion team to convey their hopes in a tangible manner. The success of the franchise depends on it. The logo, the uniforms, the colors, the name of the team, the merchandise, and even the mascot are everything to a new team. It's their identity, which can make or break a new team. If it works, excitement for this new team will fuel support for years to come. If it fails, it costs the owners and the league precious time and money.

hannahg32 · 02-25-2025, 05:41 PM

Written Option 1: there are plenty of great cities around the world, and many of the shl teams the currently exist reside in those cities, so you think it may be hard for ally mathieson to choose which of the cities she visits every year is her favorite, but it is mostly an easy choice. when ally got drafted by atlanta, she decided to live in atlanta full time rather than going back and spending the offseason in norway. after she got traded, she still kept her home in atlanta and lives there in the offseason, so when they visit atlanta in the season, it is a nice stop for her to be home. for cities she hasn't lived in / played for, seattle is her favorite, as she loves the entire pacific northwest, the weather and environment and everything else about the area. but overall, ally loves being about to travel all over and experience what each stop has to offer - 159

Juho · 02-25-2025, 05:43 PM

option 2: I think for a good expansion location you need a location what has either an established hockey marketplace but with no team of high level or a marker what has potential to become an SHL team also the location if speaking of realism should be located in north america because for travel and other reasons. for the brand if the town has had previous teams of high level i think it would be important to include those teams a perfect example would be kiekko espoo whats goal song is a combination of the old kiekko espoos goal song from the 90s and espoon blueses who let the dogs out. and for other stuff from the branding i think it would need to refrence the city somehow like kiekko espoo including the coat of arms of the city in its logo almost directly (you can look up kiekko espoos logo and espoos coat of arms and you can see how they are very similar) and lastly the colours should be somewhat assioisated with the city.

***Ace*** · 02-25-2025, 06:01 PM

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