The Influence of Demographics and Psychographics on NHL Team Expansion and Relocation

Napoleon, Brady

The Influence of Demographics and Psychographics on NHL Team Expansion and Relocation

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10456/59213

Author(s)

Napoleon, Brady

Date Issued

May 10, 2025

Abstract

This senior project examines how demographics and psychographics affect where relocated and expansion teams move to in the National Hockey League (NHL). After looking at demographic factors such as population, population growth, income per capita, other sports teams, and Fortune 500 companies and taking psychological factors like fan engagement and passion into consideration, I show why certain cities were chosen and why others were not. Patterns of team location are examined by running regressions and predicting them using these five variables. The main focus will be on four NHL teams: the Utah Hockey Club, Las Vegas Golden Knights, Winnipeg Jets, and Seattle Kraken. Determining the difference between these teams, either chosen for expansion or relocation, provides insights into how the NHL chooses which city is the best fit for a team. By the end of this thesis, I predict cities that are the best fit for an expansion or relocation team.

Major

Business

First Reader(s)

Nonnenmacher, Tomas W.