Top 5 Reasons You Can’t Blame The Colorado Rockies for Moving to New Jersey

May 27, 1982, 40 years ago: The National Hockey League approves the move of the Colorado Rockies from Denver to the Meadowlands of East Rutherford, Bergen County, New Jersey. On June 30, a new name is selected: The New Jersey Devils.

Some people think the move was a bad one. After all, in Denver, the Rockies only had to compete with the NBA's Denver Nuggets in the Winter season. Whereas, in the New York Tri-State Area, they had to compete not only with the nearby, ancient New York Rangers and nearly-nearby, defending Stanley Cup Champion New York Islanders for hockey interest, but with the NBA's New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets for overall Winter sports interest.

Throw in the fact that the Philadelphia Flyers, a fairly successful hockey team at that point, were not that farther away, and it looked like moving the team to New Jersey was a fool's errand. And, just on the eve of the team's 1st Stanley Cup win in 1995, there was a rumor that the team would be sold and moved to Nashville. It came to nothing, but Devils fans have booed NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman ever since.

Indeed, neither good hockey nor good attendance were attached to the team for over 10 years. Then, general manager Lou Lamoriello and head coach Jacques Lemaire began building a team that won 3 Stanley Cups in a span of 9 years. They also lost 1 Stanley Cup Final in that period, ironically to the team that replaced them in Denver, the former Quebec Nordiques, now renamed the Colorado Avalanche.

Both the Avs and the Devils built new arenas to replace their inadequate old ones, and look like they're going to be in place for a long time. But was it really a bad idea to move the Rockies to New Jersey?

Top 5 Reasons You Can’t Blame The Colorado Rockies for Moving to New Jersey

5. The Ownership Situation. Peter Gilbert bought the Rockies from Jack Vickers in 1980, and it was the 2nd time the team was sold since 1976, when they first moved, having been the Kansas City Scouts in the 1974-75 and 1975-76 seasons. Gilbert lost money just like Vickers did, and needed a buyer.

He found one in McMullen, a naval engineer worth over $1 billion, who headed a group that included former Governor Brendan Byrne, for whom the Meadowlands arena was named from 1981 to 1996. Whatever else the Devils had going against them, they had an owner who could afford to keep the team afloat.

4. The Arena Situation. The McNichols Sports Arena opened in 1975, and it did its job: It kept the Nuggets in Denver, and lured a hockey team. Two, in fact: The World Hockey Association's Denver Spurs began play in 1975. But they quickly failed, moving to become the Ottawa Civics.

Named for William H. McNichols Jr., the Mayor who got it built, the McNichols Arena seated 16,061 for hockey, but was a bit cramped, and didn't have luxury suites. In contrast, the Meadowlands seated 19,040 for hockey, with wider seats, and had some luxury suites. It was also more accessible, as it was just off the New Jersey Turnpike, and a bus line came from Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York and went directly there.

As time told, the Meadowlands wasn't that much better a site. Being built for car and bus access led to nasty traffic. New Jersey Transit ended up building a rail spur. By the time it opened, the Devils had already gotten the Prudential Center built in downtown Newark, so the rail spur only helped football fans. Another major flaw: One level of concourse for two levels of seats simply doesn't work, and the Prudential fixed that as well.

But the Meadowlands was still a better arena than "Big Mac." A condition for the NHL allowing the Nordiques to move there was a new arena. After 3 seasons at McNichols, the Avs, along with the Nugs, moved into the downtown Pepsi Center, now the Ball Arena, a huge improvement.

3. Denver Didn't Care. It's true that the Devils didn't top 14,000 fans per home game for a season until 1989-90, or 15,000 (and then 16,000) until the 1st Cup season of 1994-95. But the Rockies would have considered even that to be a huge improvement. In their 6 seasons of play, they averaged 8,550, 8,923, 6,080, 9,788, 8,889 and 8,180. The Devils' lowest attendance ever, 11,049 in 1986-87 (the year a snowstorm that they refused to postpone a game for led to attendance of 334), topped the Rockies' best ever.

Not until the Nordiques arrived, becoming the Avalanche, as an already good team, did Denver put up good numbers at the hockey box office. They didn't seem to miss the NHL much from 1982 to 1995. After all, this is the skiing capital of America, the State of Aspen, Vail and Telluride.

2. It Worked -- for New Jersey. As bad as the Devils' attendance has looked, it's been better than it was in Colorado. It's never topped that for the Rangers, but it's frequently been better than that for the Islanders, and occasionally even that for the Flyers. Indeed, in the 30 seasons the Devils and the Nets were both in New Jersey -- and, in 27 of those, they played in the same building (the Meadowlands, 1982-2007; the Prudential Center, 2010-12) -- the Devils had the better attendance 18 times. The Nets had better attendance in 2002-03, the year both Meadowlands teams made their sports' respective Finals; but the season before, 2001-02, when the Nets made the NBA Finals for the 1st time, the Division-winning Devils had the higher attendance.

1. It Worked -- for Colorado, Too. The Centennial State loves its Avs, perhaps more than the Garden State loves its Devils, and they're not going anywhere anytime soon.

VERDICT: Not Guilty. Both places benefited from the move, and both teams benefited, too.