re hockey and the hispanic community in article saross starbase spd louisville edu saross starbase spd louisville edu stacey a ross writes in c i s bt odin corp sgi com rickc wrigley corp sgi com richard casares writes you ll have a hard time selling any sport to a community that can t play it on account of availability or financial reasons hockey is pretty much a sport for the white and well off what white yes well off definitely not hockey season ticket owners have the lowest average income of any of the four major north american sports do you have a basis for this claim try these stats taken from playboy magazine june percentage of pro football fans who have attended college percentage of pro baseball fans who have attended college percentage of pro basketball fans who have attended college percentage of pro hockey fans who have attended college percentage of pro football fans who earn more than k percentage of pro baseball fans who make more than k percentage of pro basketball fans who make more than k percentage of pro hackey fans who make more than k and think of where the majority of hockey players come from from a farm out in boondock saskatchewan or weedville alberta the biggest advantage that kids from boondock or weedville have is the availability of ice in the san jose area we have a population of and that population is served by ice arenas in contrast kamloops british columbia has a population of about and has rinks there are also myriad ponds pools etc that freeze in the winter down here it s hard to find a kid without a bicycle up there it s hard to find a kid without a pair of skates and before you say what does he know he s from california let me say that i was born and raised in trail british columbia a town of about with lots of ice in the winter my father did radio play by play for the local team the trail smokeaters who by the way were the last canadian team to win the world championship back in i was on skates almost as soon as i could walk and have been playing recreational hockey for about years when was the last time you saw a hockey league in the inner city the insurance alone is a big enough barrier the inner city isn t the only place that is poor i think the biggest barrier to hockey in the inner city is no ice to play on lack of ice is a big factor but costs is a bigger factor both my kids play for the santa clara valley hockey association and this season which just ended cost me per kid for membership in hockey usa plus per kid for club dues the hockey usa fees cover excess medical insurance and the club dues cover ice time officials trophies etc other areas have similar fees unless the city government subsidises some of the costs as stockton does by the way most ice arenas are located in what could be called the inner city areas eastridge and vallco are exceptions redwood city s rink is in an industrial area on bay rd near berkeley s is near ashby and martin luther king stockton s is in oak park sacramento s is in an older section of downtown i forget the name of the street fresno s is out on the edge of town just west of santa rosa s is a nice rink but it s in an older section of town dublin s is outside of town off most of the rinks are old and expensive to run with huge electric bills and insurance premiums if you want to buy ice time expect to pay around per hour at any of these rinks some of them give you a minute hour for your money others give you a minute hour and include the resurfacing time in the fee alan hepburn a man doesn t know what he knows national semiconductor until he knows what he doesn t know santa clara ca alan berlioz nsc com thomas carlyle
