They can get off their duff's & start making a real effort to try & secure ownership that'll keep the team in Atlanta. Im sorry, but Dalys' comment that the leagues been beating the bushes' rings hollow to me. The team hasnt been in a position, from a legal perspective, to seriously market itself. ASG has been engaged in its own little internecine war. No one wants to deal with them. Calm the waters. Find some bidders. The "easy way out" is TNSE. The league claims it doesnt take the easy way by running out on its fans. Do the right thing.
I’m not sure I’d equate the leagues public relations statements with the work behind the scenes to find ownership. I would have to think the league is just as concerned with Atlanta as Phoenix as markets.
Many also point to Ottawa, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh as cities where Bettman bent over backwards to save them, but really, those were all solid markets with solid business plans once the previous owners took their bath for incompetence, corruption, or greed, and the sales process was then rather easy. However many fans had confused their owners personal plight with that of their franchise.
Last I heard a while back, the multi-headed Atlanta ownership monstrosity was suing its lawyers for bungling the sale. Something regarding setting the price?
And as we can see from posts such as this which are not uncommon at all
Why is the NHL becoming so anti-capitalist? The purchase and sale of NHL hockey clubs should be something that the free market determines.
The argument that a "national footprint" in the US is important to give the league legitimacy is just wrong and misinformed. It has probably harmed the NHL to have expansion franchises in the US south. The constant ownership and attendance problems are damaging to the league. Further it has created considerable tension between the fans in real hockey markets and the league.
Cut the floor, install a soft cap, and leave the market for NHL franchises open and free of head office interference and then we will have a perfect market outcome. If that means 3 franchises in the golden horseshoe, 26 teams, and still no franchise in Winnipeg, then that's what it is and the NHL has to deal with it. US national footprint be damned.
In spite of all the information in this thread, there are still those that look at these situations and see nothing that another round of cba givebacks by the players cant solve.
The Atlanta ownership monstrosity does an absolutely terrible job running their business, but does anyone suggest they should try selling the franchise the way other badly run businesses would have to? At a loss? Of course not, the assumption is that they are owed their capital gain and if they cant sell at that gain, there is something wrong that needs to be fixed.
I bet many local buyers would step up if the franchise was selling for $50 mil.
And I think the importance of the “national footprint” is not just for legitimacy, but for national advertising and sponsorship dollars. If the Winter Classic is on in all the big TV markets of the States, the big advertising money comes in. Atlanta is an important market. Hopefully good new ownership gets the right price to try and restore it.