Ryan Hamell
As of right now, the National Hockey League, also known as the NHL, currently has 32 teams across 19 states. Each one of those 32 teams brought in an average of 5.09 billion dollars before COVID hit and still brought in a total of over 4 billion dollars even when COVID was in full swing. On a different note, Wisconsin is ranked 13th nationwide for the highest concentration of hockey players and even though it has three professional sports teams including the Brewers, Bucks and the Packers, an NHL team is still missing. If a team was brought to Wisconsin, there would be no lack of fans. Just recently, the Milwaukee Bucks built a brand new stadium which has had an immense impact on the near by community. Jobs were created, restaurants and stores gained more customers, and because of that, the economy in general benefited. If a NHL team was brought to Wisconsin, the few costs would not be nearly as great as the many benefits.
The first reason that bringing an NHL team to Wisconsin would be beneficial to the economy is that there would be a large amount of jobs that would become available. The stadium would need people to help build it, people to design the interior of the arena, workers to run venders during games, and security members to stay within the arena at all times. Right now, the unemployment rate in Wisconsin is at 3.1 percent. Even though this is a pretty low number, it still means that there are people out there who do not have any job or sources of income. According to Chicagotribune.com, Building a sports stadium requires about 12,000-14,000 different people in order for it to be ready to hold games in and about 1,200 employees to maintain the stadium while games are going on.
In addition to supplying jobs to people who don’t already have one, a professional sports team will help people in the community running restaurants or shops maintain their job. When people come to watch the game, they most likely will be doing something else while they are there. This usually includes eating at restaurants both before and after the game because food in the arena is expensive. As for other shops, they will have more traffic outside than they normally would have. Because there are more people walking by, more people will decide to stop in and buy something. Small business and larger businesses alike will thrive. As you can see above, the income of the Milwaukee Bucks skyrocketed around the year 2018. That same year is when their new stadium, the Fiserv Forum, was built. This shows that there will be a great amount of income right away after a new stadium is put up.
As I mentioned before, Wisconsin is ranked 13th nationwide for the highest concentration of hockey players. Along with the players, an additional 460,000 people tuned in regularly to watch hockey on television during the past season. Even though this might not seem like a lot, these people are watching teams that they might like, but they don’t have a connection to. If an NHL team was created, these same fans would watch more hockey along with other citizens that might not have previously watched. Many people that don’t know a lot about sports like football or basketball still attend games because they find that the stadiums are a fun environment to be in.
With an addition of an NHL team to Wisconsin, we will see an increase job openings that will be filled quickly by citizens. Restaurants and small shops will be impacted in a positive way from the increased amount of customers, and fans will be brought together to support a home team. All of these different things will positively impact the economy of Wisconsin as a whole.
Works Cited
“NHL Teams By State.” NHL Teams by State, https://state.1keydata.com/nhl-teams-by-state.php.
Collier, Jamal. “Bulls and Blackhawks Will Pay United Center Employees - Approximately 1,200 People - through the Remainder of the Scheduled Season after Coronavirus Shutdowns.” Chicagotribune.com, Chicago Tribune, 15 Mar. 2020, www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-chicago-bulls-blackhawks-coronavirus-united-center-20200314-767l7tkwlnga5kq2bfrk72zmwi-story.html.
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