The only way you'll have any chance of becoming anywhere close to the loudest playoff atmosphere if you build a new arena in Charlotte.
Let's face the facts here, the biggest reason why the Canes are struggling with attendance is because nobody wants to go to the hellhole known as Raleigh to watch a mediocre, if visibly improving team play a sport that lags far behind football and basketball (if not baseball as well) in the state of North Carolina.
Why a new arena? The arena used by the NBA's Hornets suffers from the same design flaw as the Barclays Center; it's great for basketball, but awkward and unusable for hockey. This is why the AHL's Checkers moved back to Bojangles Coliseum, an aging minor sports venue built in the 1950s that is only being kept alive by the fact that the Checkers moving back convinced people to renovate it for like an eleventy billionth time.
Speaking of the Checkers, they're a decently-supported minor league team for what's considered a "niche" sport in that particular region of the United States. They finished 10th in AHL attendance in the 2016-17 season, ahead of more hockey-friendly markets such as Toronto, Syracuse, Winnipeg, Milwaukee, and Hartford. I think it's safe to say that a move to Charlotte would begin to remove the laughingstock label from the fan support for the Hurricanes. |