"Sorry we're sold out."

That's Jamie Spencer's favorite phrase these days. After all, as manager of customer service for the Minnesota Wild, he utters the phrase with more frequency than "hi" or "bye."

Perfect timing in Minnesota

The Wild will obliterate the record for expansion sellouts this year, despite being in the smallest metropolitan city to feature four major sports teams. The city's size and already crowded sports scene was one of the reasons critics said NHL hockey, even in Minnesota, might not have a stable future. But some outsiders believe that the sport and the seemingly crowded market had little do with the North Stars' demise. "The exit of the North Stars to Dallas years ago was not a function of fan support for hockey. In my opinion, it was more organizational mismanagement," said Dean Bonham, president of sports consultancy firm The Bonham Group. Bonham represented Xcel Energy in the arena's naming-rights deal. "Minnesota is truly a hotbed for hockey support and will continue to be. In fact, one could argue that Minnesota is the heart and soul of hockey in the US." The Wild's entrance into the sports world in Minnesota, could not have come at a better time. The NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves have been severely penalized for violating league rules; the Twins fill the Metrodome to 26-percent capacity and are not even close to being competitive. Yes, the Vikings are doing well, but they still don't have their new Metrodome, and they could end up shopping around for other cities to go to. "Across the board, Minnesota seems as unstable as Phoenix does as far as being a smaller metropolitan city taking on all the sports that it does," said David Carter, Principal of the Sports Business Group. "Baseball is not doing well. Football talks of moving, and there's a change in ownership in hockey. It seems to me that fans in Minnesota are just looking for a refreshing outlet. They are sick of all the talk of posturing, relocation and management lapses." While the Timberwolves' recent off-the-court woes haven't hurt their attendance -- they are on pace to fill the Target Center to 88-percent capacity as they did last year -- Bonham stills says that the Wild might get the general sports fan's vote in the state as "the fair-hair boys of the Minnesota sports scene." -- Darren Rovell

"It's a great feeling to say those words," said Spencer, who has been with the organization since it started operations in 1997. "Sellout has become synonymous with our organization. Guys from around the league look at us, and it's almost embarrassing how they are scratching and clawing."

Sunday's game at home against the Stars is undoubtedly big. The Stars' first visit since moving to Dallas in 1993 sold out in minutes three months ago. Not only will a new rivalry begin -- although some say it began seven years ago -- but the Wild also will tie Nashville for the NHL expansion team record of 17 sellouts in a season.

And the Wild still will have 24 homes games left.

While sellouts are commonplace among new teams -- Atlanta racked up 14 last year, and Columbus has already sold out six games -- the way the Wild have done it sets the franchise apart from the pack. With a season-ticket base of 15,500 and about 200 tickets remaining to most games -- which doesn't leave a lot for walk-up sales -- Wild executives have no guess as to how many sellouts they'll end up with.

"People come to the box office, and after we tell them we're sold out, they say 'It's a new arena, how do you not have enough seats?' or 'It's impossible that it's sold out," Spencer said.

The Wild actually have two types of sellouts. The first number is the normal sellout of 18,064 fans. The second number is a standing-room-only sellout, in which the Wild add 504 "bar rail" seats along the club level for the big games -- thus far, those tickets were sold for games vs. the New York Rangers and the Chicago Blackhawks.

What's more impressive is that the Wild have sold out every game, placing the team among six NHL clubs -- Dallas, Detroit, New York, St. Louis and Toronto being the others -- to have sold out every home game.

But the team can't be called a success as of yet. Honeymoon periods -- which are associated with expansion teams or teams that move into new venues -- usually last two to three years. During that time, performance on the ice does not dramatically impact ticket sales. However, in the Twin Cities, which has previously had a professional hockey team, the time to coast on a low payroll without winning might be limited.

"Getting a win in the win column is the expectation of the fans," said Derek Schiller, vice president of and marketing for the Atlanta Thrashers. "But that's not to say that there is an exact point where if you don't win, the fans just won't show up. So, as long as a team can stay relatively competitive on a nightly basis, everyone won't just get up and not come back."

This year, Schiller's team already has 10 wins -- the Thrashers only had 14 for the 1999-2000 season -- but the average attendance has dropped by a greater percentage than any of its league counterparts: about 3,000 fans from 17,205.

The Thrashers aren't the only team from the last decade's expansion to struggle this season. Anaheim, Carolina, Florida and Tampa Bay -- all of which have losing records -- are in the bottom third in attendance this season.

But even the thrill of setting sellout record doesn't replace on-ice success -- to both players, fans ... and team employees.

"Hey, I'm worried about beating Dallas," Spencer said.

Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at darren.rovell@espn.com.