Let's play a little game of free association. I'll give you two words or phrases and you tell me what comes to mind. Here we go: North Carolina and sports.
You thought about college basketball, didn't you?
With three Atlantic Coast Conference powerhouses within an hour of one another, the Triangle is traditionally famous for its intense rivalries between Duke, North Carolina and N. C. State, especially on the basketball courts. But this October, the area will step its athletic events up a level and truly become a major league region. With the relocation of the Hartford Whalers to Raleigh, the Triangle is going pro. The Whalers never enjoyed great success in Hartford, compiling a 32-39 record this year and breaking .500 in only three of their 18 seasons.
Still, it was not their losses on the ice but their losses in the bank that spurred the move. After racking up $45 million in debt in the last three years, Whalers' owner Peter Karmanos decided to vacate Hartford. Connecticut state officials put up a fight over Karmanos' contract, which stated that the Whalers would remain in Hartford at least through the 1997-1998 season, but on May 7, it became official: The Whalers were moving south. The squad, ironically renamed the Carolina Hurricanes, will provide Triangle residents with another choice for entertainment. But first it will have some imposing hurdles to clear.
First and foremost, hockey and North Carolina will have to get acquainted with each other. With the exceptions of Florida and Texas, hockey is neither well-known nor popular south of the Mason-Dixon line. North Carolina natives unfamiliar with the sport may be reluctant to spend their time and money to see an exorbitantly expensive sporting event they don't know if they will enjoy.
While this may prove to be an obstacle that the Hurricanes will find difficult to overcome, the Triangle possesses an advantage over the rest of the South when it comes to finding hockey fans who will bring in revenue. With several major universities and Research Triangle Park in the near vicinity, the area attracts experts in science, technology and other areas of knowledge from all over the country.
The Triangle's strong economic base in technology and education and its plethora of upper-level job opportunities draws both wealthy North Carolina natives and transplanted northerners who hail from areas where hockey games are as common as real winters. If they attend hockey games, and bring their southern friends, a conversion might be possible.
Unfortunately, because hockey season takes place in the winter and spring, it will have to compete for attendance and revenue with ACC basketball. The Greensboro Coliseum-the Hurricanes' temporary home until the construction of the new Sports and Entertainment Arena in Raleigh is completed in 1999-is most famous not for being the future venue of the region's NHL debut but for hosting the ACC Men's Basketball Tournament.
Basketball is what Triangle natives have grown up with; hockey is a newcomer to the area. Here, where basketball tickets sell like hotcakes and students camp out for weeks to get into their home games, the Hurricanes will be hard-pressed to tear sports fans away from the basketball courts they so love.
Perhaps the most effective way for the Hurricanes to lure spectators is to convince basketball aficionados that instead of choosing one pastime over the other, they can be basketball fans and hockey fans at the same time. While hockey is not nearly as much of a high-scoring game as basketball, both are fast, physical and intense. Once ACC basketball fans are introduced to hockey, these similarities will only further draw them in.
The Hurricanes can do two things to bring new fans into the fold. The first is to publicize. They will have to maximize their advertising dollars to let Triangle residents know that hockey exists, hockey is coming and hockey is one of the most exciting sports in the world to watch in person. Only if the Hurricanes promote their sport can they persuade potential fans that an afternoon or evening of hockey is worth the arduous commute to Greensboro.
Publicity will be one of the keys to the Hurricanes' success in North Carolina, but it only goes so far. The Hartford Whalers lost revenue because they lost games. The Hurricanes can't afford to disappoint their fans here. If they bombard potential fans with publicity, they will have to live up to spectators' expectations-and win.
The NHL playoffs don't conflict with ACC basketball and could provide the perfect opportunity to attract more spectators, but the Hurricanes will soon have to make the playoffs, something the Whalers failed to do since 1992.
Lose, and the Greensboro Coliseum will be as sparsely populated during hockey games as Wallace Wade Stadium was during football games last fall. Win, and the Hurricanes could someday have a following nearly as dedicated as the Cameron Crazies.
A big advertising push and a winning season could give the Carolina Hurricanes the statewide presence the NFL's Carolina Panthers attained in just two years. These two ingredients compose the recipe for the Hurricanes' success in North Carolina. Only time will tell whether this recipe will please the tastes of Triangle residents, or whether, like their new nickname, the Hurricanes will rapidly blow away.
Yvonne Krywyj is a Trinity junior and an associate sports editor of the Chronicle. She has been an avid hockey fan since the age of three and will attend at least one Hurricanes game-preferably against the Red Wings-this year, even if she has to hitchhike to Greensboro.
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