When the Carolina Hurricanes reached the 2026 Stanley Cup Final, they did more than advance in the National Hockey League playoffs — they highlighted how a professional sports franchise can influence a region’s public image and strengthen local civic pride.

“A successful team does not simply represent a city or region; over time, it can help shape the way that place understands and presents itself,” said Mike Edwards, a professor of parks, recreation and tourism management at North Carolina State University. 

Edwards, who studies the economic and community impacts of sport, said playoff runs and championship moments such as the Hurricanes’ Stanley Cup Final appearance can give communities “a shared story, a shared identity and a shared emotional experience.” 

In moments like these, the value of a team’s success goes beyond wins and losses, showing up instead in a sense of pride, excitement and connection that becomes visible in packed arenas, crowded watch parties and everyday spaces filled with team colors, conversations and celebrations that make fans feel part of something larger than themselves.

Many of those connections occur among people who might not otherwise interact: coworkers, neighbors, classmates or even strangers wearing the same jersey who find common ground through their support of the team, according to Edwards.

“These connections are not necessarily deep relationships, but they still contribute to a sense of community and belonging,” Edwards said. 

Edwards added that shared support for a sports team can even temporarily bring together people who might normally be divided by college sport loyalties, hometown identities, political views or how long they have lived in the region. 

“A shared sports moment can give people a relatively easy way to participate in local identity.”

In the Triangle, where college sports rivalries often divide fans, the Hurricanes can “serve as a kind of social glue for the region,” uniting NC State, UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke supporters behind the same team for a few weeks. 

“A shared sports moment can give people a relatively easy way to participate in local identity. That is one of the powerful things about a playoff run. It creates a low-barrier point of connection,” Edwards said. 

He added, “That does not mean sport eliminates the real differences among people in a growing region. It does not erase political divisions, economic inequality or different lived experiences. But it can create a temporary shared identity and a common civic conversation.” 

Most importantly, playoff runs create memory-based connections among fans. They remember where they watched, who they watched with, what the arena or watch parties felt like and how their communities rallied together.

Those memories matter because championship runs are typically infrequent and become part of a community’s collective memory, as evidenced by the Hurricanes’ 2006 Stanley Cup win, which remained a source of pride for fans even when the franchise struggled in the mid-2010s. 

“It became a reference point for what the franchise and fan base had experienced before, even when the present moment was frustrating,” Edwards said.

Those shared memories and moments of connection, Edwards said, point to something larger at work: the way repeated seasons of success can gradually embed a team more deeply into the cultural fabric of its region.

Built for a Nontraditional Hockey Market, Shaped by It

The Hurricanes’ success shows a reinforcing link between performance, community identity and organizational stability. Winning builds civic pride and strengthens fans’ emotional connection to the team, giving people a shared symbol around which to build community and regional identity.

As that identity grows, fans are more likely to attend games, follow coverage, purchase merchandise and share their support with others. These forms of engagement enhance the franchise’s visibility, financial position and long-term viability, which in turn create conditions that can support continued success on the ice.

Nontraditional NHL markets like Raleigh lack the long-established hockey traditions and deeply rooted fan bases commonly associated with cities in Canada and the northeastern United States, leading some observers to question their long-term viability.

During much of the 2010s, the media frequently highlighted the Hurricanes as an example of a nontraditional hockey market facing challenges, largely due to a lengthy playoff drought from 2009-2018 and years of on-ice struggles that contributed to low attendance.

But the Hurricanes have since rebuilt themselves into one of the NHL’s most consistent playoff contenders, earning multiple division titles and advancing far in the playoffs, including Eastern Conference Final appearances in 2019 and 2023. 

Edwards said the turnaround is best understood as a result of several factors working together: organizational leadership, coaching stability, player development, a clearer team identity, population growth in the Raleigh-Triangle area and stronger fan engagement efforts.

“I would not say Raleigh was always a great hockey market waiting to be discovered. The Hurricanes helped build that market over time,” Edwards said. 

For teams in nontraditional markets, one path to stronger fan engagement is building a brand that reflects the culture and character of the community rather than relying on a generic professional sports model, according to Edwards

In the case of the Hurricanes, the franchise has developed a strong and expanding fan base built around what Edwards described as an identity centered on “being a little different,” as evidenced in some of its most distinctive fan traditions and branding choices.

This includes a uniquely energetic fan culture where “Caniacs” and the self-described “Bunch of Jerks” have embraced a college football-style tailgating atmosphere at Lenovo Center that is uncommon in most hockey markets.

“Raleigh does not have to look like Detroit, Boston, Toronto or Montreal to be a successful NHL market,” Edwards said. “The Hurricanes have built something that fits this region.”