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Is the high cost to play hockey the reason it isn't as popular?
Posted on 2/22/26 at 9:13 pm
Posted on 2/22/26 at 9:13 pm
Obviously I'm biased I grew up playing hockey and watching hockey as a child. Generally when I discuss it with people in the South they generally say the like the sport, but basically don't watch it even though they have local teams. I'm assuming without exposure as kids you don't understand the rules and makes it less enjoyable?
Hockey is clearly less accessible than other sports due to you are unable to play it easily, even though roller hockey was popular with youths 20+ years ago.
Soccer clearly has no barrier to entry and is gaining in popularity every generation.
But I don't find it nearly as entertaining.
Hockey is clearly less accessible than other sports due to you are unable to play it easily, even though roller hockey was popular with youths 20+ years ago.
Soccer clearly has no barrier to entry and is gaining in popularity every generation.
But I don't find it nearly as entertaining.
8
Posted on 2/22/26 at 9:21 pm to UltimaParadox
It’s a major factor. It’s hard to get into a sport you’ve never once played.
Posted on 2/22/26 at 9:37 pm to UltimaParadox
I think that whole lack of ice plays a part
Posted on 2/22/26 at 9:39 pm to Jax Teller
quote:
think that whole lack of ice plays a part
This… it might be life in Minnesota but it’s at best a curiosity here
Posted on 2/22/26 at 9:41 pm to Jax Teller
Don't most medium sized cities have an ice rink for kids to play?
Funny that roller hockey facilities are even less common now
Funny that roller hockey facilities are even less common now
Posted on 2/22/26 at 9:45 pm to UltimaParadox
As a kid there was one ice rink in the entire state of Alabama, and the ponds never ever ever ever froze over
Posted on 2/22/26 at 9:46 pm to UltimaParadox
Is New Orleans medium size city? We don’t have a rink. Think Lafayette has one but that’s over 2 hours away. Think part of coast Mississippi has a rink but that’s still over an hour away. Baton Rouge has one but that closed several years ago
This post was edited on 2/22/26 at 9:48 pm
Posted on 2/22/26 at 9:47 pm to genro
Pelham (South Birmingham) ice complex and Huntsville has multiple ice rinks.
Guessing it doesn't go much further south?
Guessing it doesn't go much further south?
Posted on 2/22/26 at 9:48 pm to UltimaParadox
quote:
Huntsville has multiple ice rinks.
And they have a college team. Guessing with the space industry the city has people from across the world/country. Not so much native Alabama residents who may not even own a coat
This post was edited on 2/22/26 at 9:49 pm
Posted on 2/22/26 at 9:49 pm to UltimaParadox
Ok so there’s like 4 now in the state? Are they open for practicing youth hockey? I’m telling you that it literally wasn’t possible to play even if we wanted to. That is the number one reason. It may be technically possible now, but still not really feasible. Like even if your parents can get you to the arena with your equipment, you have to learn just how to ice skate first. We can’t just go outside in the winter and do that
This post was edited on 2/22/26 at 9:54 pm
Posted on 2/22/26 at 9:53 pm to genro
quote:
Are they open for practicing youth hockey?
Yes. They both have open ice time for general public and stick and puck hours for kids to play.
Plus multiple youth leagues for different age ranges for organized.
Obviously a lot more rinks in North Carolina.
Looks like there isn't many in South Alabama, Louisiana, or Mississippi.
Less than I expected
Posted on 2/22/26 at 9:53 pm to UltimaParadox
quote:
Don't most medium sized cities have an ice rink for kids to play?
having one ice rink in a city doesn't really make help get a lot of kids to play, though. Look at soccer, baseball, etc, for instance. There are dozens of field complexes and leagues all across the metro areas of medium sized cities. Having just one solitary ice rink doesn't provide convenient access to most of your city. Whereas if parents saw there was ice within a 10 min drive of their house they may be more likely to have their kids try it out. IDK, expecting a cold weather sport played on ice to take off in the southern united states just doesn't seem realistic.
Memphis I don't think would even be called medium but rather a large city. In the metro area of 1.5 million people, there is one ice rink...in Olive Branch, MS. That's a hike for the vast majority of the people who live in the metro area.
This post was edited on 2/22/26 at 9:56 pm
Posted on 2/22/26 at 9:56 pm to lsufball19
quote:
expecting a cold weather sport played on ice to take off in the southern united states just doesn't seem realistic.
Really wasn't the point of my question, but I guess you guys are reinforcing why it isn't more popular in your area.
Obviously hockey is much more popular in Huntsville, Nashville area, Atlanta, and triangle area in north Carolina.
But there are a lot more rinks.. reinforcing that hockey won't be more popular if it isn't accessible to kids
This post was edited on 2/22/26 at 9:57 pm
Posted on 2/22/26 at 9:59 pm to genro
quote:
We can’t just go outside in the winter and do that
I'm not disagreeing with you on your point. But would imagine the majority of all kids learn to ice skate on ice rinks not outside. Even up north
I even played roller hockey in my youth which was inline skates on a sport court. Generally played in the summer, but it pretty much died off in the last decade
This post was edited on 2/22/26 at 10:00 pm
Posted on 2/22/26 at 9:59 pm to UltimaParadox
There are 8 locations in Columbus, most have two rinks each. Its definitely expanding pretty rapidly here.
Posted on 2/22/26 at 10:01 pm to UltimaParadox
I don’t think it ever will be accessible because of the lack of natural ice. The vast majority of southern kids have never been ice skating at all. How are they gonna develop basics?
Posted on 2/22/26 at 10:02 pm to UltimaParadox
quote:
Obviously hockey is much more popular in Huntsville, Nashville area, Atlanta, and triangle area in north Carolina.
I live in the Nashville area and while, yeah, compared to the rest of the south it is more popular (for obvious reasons), of all of my friends, I think one has a kid that plays youth hockey.
quote:
But there are a lot more rinks
There are definitely more rinks but they're very spaced out and in kind of random spots. The closest rink to my house in Franklin is in Bellevue 30+ minutes away. There really aren't as many as you'd think having an NHL team in the city. There's one downtown, one in bellevue (west of Nashville), one in Antioch (south east of Nashville), and one in Nolensville. There's also one in Clarksville, but that's an hour north of downtown Nashville.
So even in a large city like Nashville that has an NHL team, there are four spaced out ice rinks in the entirety of a pretty large (land wise) metro area. And honestly, if Nashville didn't have an NHL team, it would be like the rest of the South. All my buddies who grew up here didn't grow up giving hockey (or ice skating) a second thought
The problem is there can't be natural ice in the south, and having an indoor facility is expensive and potentially not profitable given the interest of sports like that being low in this part of the country.
This post was edited on 2/22/26 at 10:06 pm
Posted on 2/22/26 at 10:03 pm to genro
quote:
don’t think it ever will be accessible because of the lack of natural ice. The vast majority of southern kids have never been ice skating at all. How are they gonna develop basics?
I would venture to guess the large majority of people learn to ice skate indoors on an ice rink.
Natural ice rinks are not that common and can't be utilized all that often.
Guessing it's chicken and egg issue because it requires someone to build the facility
Posted on 2/22/26 at 10:07 pm to UltimaParadox
quote:
I would venture to guess the large majority of people learn to ice skate indoors on an ice rink.
Natural ice rinks are not that common and can't be utilized all that often.
I think another thing that's relevant is we can play sports outdoors more months of the year in general than northern states can, We literally have year long baseball and soccer played outside. A lot of the north doesn't have that because you just can't play those sports outside from like November until April for the most part. I guess maybe you technically can, but not have any fun doing it at least
This post was edited on 2/22/26 at 10:09 pm
Posted on 2/22/26 at 10:10 pm to lsufball19
That's true and definitely explains soccer continued rise in popularity. Almost everyone plays it.
I think I'm coming to the realization, that access to ice rinks in the South is much more limited than I understood. Places I have been just happened to have multiple rinks, but going through Google maps. That seems to be the exception to the rule
I think I'm coming to the realization, that access to ice rinks in the South is much more limited than I understood. Places I have been just happened to have multiple rinks, but going through Google maps. That seems to be the exception to the rule
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