Bring Back the Jets....the Rally to End All Rallys

[BigE]

I think that people want a team back in Winnipeg because it's a city with a hockey tradition. Regardless of what happened in the past, the economics and other issues have been somewhat resolved. The fact is, and you really can't dispute it, Carolina and Florida are not hockey markets. If you can't sell out a Stanley Cup Final, or even when the best teams come to town, what are we really talking about here?

From all indications, Carolina and Florida will both still lose $5-10 million dollars. Estimates put Winnipeg's operations at a slight profit with parallel salaries, and other various operating costs.

 

[Roke]

There was a bring back the Jets rally? I haven't heard anything of it here in Winnipeg. I think the closest thing I can recall is the Minnesota-Canucks NHL Exhibition game a couple years back where fans were chanting "GO Jets GO" during the game. Mind you, they got fleeced when they had to buy the tickets so they were probably already delirious.

 

[Le Golie]

Hmmm, I'm from Winnipeg too and this is the first I heard of this 'rally'. Don't make it sound like it was a public/organized event worthy of guaging fan support...

 

[pit]

The fact is, and you really can't dispute it, Carolina and Florida are not hockey markets.

Florida has had the Lightning for 14 years and the Panthers for 13 years. The Jets were in the Peg for 17 years. Can we say in 4 years that Florida had a longer NHL tradition than Winnipeg?

I'll agree with nomorekids. It would be great to see Winnipeg get a team. When you start slagging other teams and markets to explain why you should have a team, it belittles your argument.

As for why there is actually a hockey market in Florida, one word: snowbirds. Where do you think Canadians go to retire? Southern Ontario isn't far enough south.

 

[BigE]

Florida has had the Lightning for 14 years and the Panthers for 13 years. The Jets were in the Peg for 17 years. Can we say in 4 years that Florida had a longer NHL tradition than Winnipeg?

I'll agree with nomorekids. It would be great to see Winnipeg get a team. When you start slagging other teams and markets to explain why you should have a team, it belittles your argument.

As for why there is actually a hockey market in Florida, one word: snowbirds. Where do you think Canadians go to retire? Southern Ontario isn't far enough south.

I said hockey tradition, not NHL tradition. Realize that hockey existed in Winnipeg long before the Jets, and contrary to what you might believe, it still exists today.

That's the thing with some of you guys, you get ahead of yourselves and fail to read anything that anyone else says. I wasn't slagging another city; rather I was pointing out the obvious deficiencies in the fan base, and market of current teams.

Great argument though, and I'm sure that's what the NHL was hoping for -snowbirds! Yes, lets build a fan base off of snowbirds. There are 675,000 of them in Winnipeg...how many are in Florida?

 

[BigE]

Hmmm, I'm from Winnipeg too and this is the first I heard of this 'rally'. Don't make it sound like it was a public/organized event worthy of guaging fan support...

I think the thread starter meant it as a joke, because I haven't heard of a damn thing either. The last big thing I remember was the discussion stirred up by some reporter in Ontario.

 

[djzeus]

Yes, lets build a fan base off of snowbirds. There are 675,000 of them in Winnipeg...how many are in Florida?

Judging by the traffic on I-275, about 675,000

 

[garnetpalmetto]

I said hockey tradition, not NHL tradition. Realize that hockey existed in Winnipeg long before the Jets, and contrary to what you might believe, it still exists today.
That's the thing with some of you guys, you get ahead of yourselves and fail to read anything that anyone else says. I wasn't slagging another city; rather I was pointing out the obvious deficiencies in the fan base, and market of current teams.

Great argument though, and I'm sure that's what the NHL was hoping for -snowbirds! Yes, lets build a fan base off of snowbirds. There are 675,000 of them in Winnipeg...how many are in Florida?

And hockey existed in Florida long before the Lightning and the Panthers and in North Carolina long before the Hurricanes. Let's go through a few teams and their eras of activity:

Florida
THL:
Coral Gables Seminoles (1938-1939)
Miami Clippers (1938-1939)
Miami Beach Pirates (1938-1939)

EHL:
Jacksonville Rockets (1964-1972)
Florida Rockets (1966-1968)
St. Petersburg Suns (1971-1972)
Suncoast Suns (1972-1973)

AHL:
Jacksonville Barons (1973-1974)

North Carolina

EHL:
Charlotte Clippers (1956-1960)
Charlotte Checkers (1960-1973)
Greensboro Generals (1959-1973)

SHL:
Charlotte Checkers (1973-1977)
Greensboro Generals (1973-1977)
Winston-Salem Polar Twins (1973-1977)
Winston-Salem Mammoths (1995-1996)

ACHL:
Pinebridge Bucks (1983-1985)
Winston-Salem Thunderbirds (1981-1982)
Carolina Thunderbirds (1982-1987)

AAHL:
Carolina Thunderbirds (1987-1988)

ECHL:
Carolina Thunderbirds (1988-1989)
Winston-Salem Thunderbirds (1989-1992)
Charlotte Checkers (1993-present)
Greensboro Monarchs (1989-1995)
Raleigh IceCaps (1991-1998)

AHL:
Greensboro Monarchs (1995-1997)

 

[puckhead103*]

It's called marketing. The promotion is a way of apologizing for the Lockout.

I'd like for you to define 'Real NHL Markets'......

When Atlanta lost the Flames, they didn't take to the streets for a rally; folks in Atlanta sucked it up and knew that the NHL would return one day. In the meantime, we supported our minor league team, and whenever a neutral site NHL game was played in The Omni, those games would usually sell out.

Instead of being jealous of Nashville, Atlanta, Raleigh, Columbus, Tampa, Anaheim, Phoenix and Miami for having an NHL team, perhaps you should support your local club and hope that a team will potentially relocate to Winnipeg in the future. Further expansion in the NHL is slim to none for the forseeable future.

winnipee don't have the polictical and financial will to bring nhl back.....

i remember looking at a boxscore of a certain 'peg game during their lean years and they had only 8000 people....u talk about hockey passion in the 'peg..yeah right.....

i frequently go to the jetsowner website and gosh...those people on that website need to take a course in business ...knowing that small cities like winnipee don't have the demographics and purchasing power to pay NHL prices....

people in that city should've done enough to keep the team in the first place.....i'm sorry but winnipee had their chance and they blew it.....case closed......

 

[puckhead103*]

Santa Fe you know i hear that a group from hawaii has interest they'll be the hawaii surfers.

and Atlanta,Minnesota,colorado had there chances too. but minny and col i think are good places not atlanta tho

so why did those teams get there teams back?? i'll tell you why because Gary bettman is a canadian hockey killer hes american and is jealous that canada has something to call there own. an american runing canadas sport.

HEY WAYNE BRING THE COYOTES HOME WHERE THEY BELONG!!!

u coulda call frank calder,the first nhl president, a "canadian hockey killer" when he expanded in the US in the mid 1920's......if it wasn't for frank calder's plan to do that....the NHL would've died a century ago.....

Calder's plan to expand in the US in the mid 1920's put end in hamilton's hopes in getting a NHL team....it ended the run western canadian profressional leagues because they could not compete with the NHL and their wealthy US markets.....

 

[Spankatola Jamnuts*]

so why did those teams get there teams back?? i'll tell you why because Gary bettman is a canadian hockey killer hes american and is jealous that canada has something to call there own.

Yeah. That's what it is. We sit around down here, giving a big old crap about Canada.

 

[Stammer Time*]

Florida has had the Lightning for 14 years and the Panthers for 13 years. The Jets were in the Peg for 17 years. Can we say in 4 years that Florida had a longer NHL tradition than Winnipeg?

I think when he says Florida he means Ft.Lauderdale (The Panthers home market) because the Lightning sold out their Stanley Cup finals and sell out often, of course he could mean Florida in general and be talking out of his *** like most people who have no idea what they are talking about, thats always possible on HF.

 

[rwilson99]

Judging by the traffic on I-275, about 675,000

Yeah... and your not getting your cup back until at least half of them go home.

That goes for all of Canada.

 

[Sotnos]

I wasn't slagging another city; rather I was pointing out the obvious deficiencies in the fan base

Oh, well that's ok then.

 

[Michael Morbid]

Florida is averaging about 15,000 even with a 11 game losing steak, we're doing just fine.

16,763 showed up to see the Islanders hand us our asses (loss #11 in the streak).

"(Insert City) should have a hockey team and (insert city) shouldn't", will always = a pissing contest.

Nobody wins, and everything will smell like piss.

 

[jamiebez]

Some background: this rally was a group of guys from the Jetsowner.com forums looking to blow off some steam... that's all. It wasn't publicized beyond the forums, so it's not like it was designed to accurately gauge the support for the return of the Jets and attract 35,000 people. Besides, we'd already done that in 1996

Also, I've been a poster in those forums for over two years. A lot of the spamming/trolling that took place on other message boards was done by one overzealous poster who has been banned from jetsowner.com for several months now.

And painting all of us with the same brush is about as mature as Canadian NHL fans trashing southern US based NHL fans. If people want these boards to be more mature we all have to take the high road.

 

[Michael Morbid]

And painting all of us with the same brush is about as mature as Canadian NHL fans trashing southern US based NHL fans. If people want these boards to be more mature we all have to take the high road.

 

[Saint Teemu]

Another Winnipegger here...

1) This is the first I've heard of this rally.

2) And man, is that video embarassing.

3) By the way, the guy doing the little shuffle is an unofficial Winnipeg sports mascot known as "Dancin' Gabe" - he shows up at virtually every sporting event in Winnipeg and moves around the stands doing that weird little shuffle.

4) After looking through the umpteen hundred threads on potential hockey markets and the economics of the NHL, I'm convinced that Winnipeg hasn't got a prayer of starting a team from scratch. As much as I'd like to see the Jets come back, it'll only happen if Winnipeg has a Mark Cuban-like figure (i.e. a huge sports fan with truckloads of money to burn) step forward to relocate a failed team from somewhere else - not that I wish ill on any team. Except maybe the Rangers.

5) As for Winnipeg screwing up it's first kick at the NHL, insofar as it infers a slap to the Winnipeg fans, I disagree.
a) The fans stuck around a long time, despite having a team that sucked hard for a long time, when the WHA Jets were pretty frickin' good (3 championships from 72-79). Of course, the team was essentially dismantled when it moved into the NHL.
b) Hockey historians and economists can correct me, but I believe the Jets had a brutal lease arrangement that didn't earn them much money.
c) The Winnipeg Arena SUCKED. When you were in the upper deck, you couldn't even see the scoreboard. If you were in the nosebleeds behind the nets, you needed to be part mountain goat to get you up and down the stairs safely.
d) If Barry Shenkarow was better at backgammon, Winnipeg would have landed Gretzky.
e) Fans didn't draft Jimmy Mann instead of Michel Goulet or Kevin Lowe or Mats Naslund or Pelle Lindbergh.
Anyway, I don't think it's fair to blame the fans for the demise of the Jets.

:

 

[Transported Upstater]

I wasn't slagging another city; rather I was pointing out the obvious deficiencies in the fan base, and market of current teams.

Oh, OK, I was worried there.

 

[Transported Upstater]

Some background: this rally was a group of guys from the Jetsowner.com forums looking to blow off some steam... that's all. It wasn't publicized beyond the forums, so it's not like it was designed to accurately gauge the support for the return of the Jets and attract 35,000 people. Besides, we'd already done that in 1996

Also, I've been a poster in those forums for over two years. A lot of the spamming/trolling that took place on other message boards was done by one overzealous poster who has been banned from jetsowner.com for several months now.

And painting all of us with the same brush is about as mature as Canadian NHL fans trashing southern US based NHL fans. If people want these boards to be more mature we all have to take the high road.

Classy post.

Too bad there are too many people on this board, from ALL locations, that do not agree with you.

 

[Fish on The Sand]

I had to save the file to my hard drive to watch it. Basically it shows about 5 to10 semi-drunk guys running around in jets jerseys with alot of media people (close half the people in the clip have either cameras or microphones). Even the person making the clip gets bored and focuses on a girl walking by in a pink top and follows her walking if you know what I mean.

It's not like People (partically from Winipeg) don't make fun of Preds fans, and want to take away our team. When you get a heart transplant remember some one else had to die first.

you must have seen a different clip than me because I saw 3 guys yelling and no girl in a pink top.

 

[Gnashville]

you must have seen a different clip than me because I saw 3 guys yelling and no girl in a pink top.

It's near the end of it.

 

[GSC2k2*]

Every time a Jets fan wishes Winnipeg had not lost its team, I am sympathetic.

Every time a Jets fan belittles the fan support of a Southern team, openly wishing for relocation, that sympathy evaporates instantly.

The irony of a fan base, which has had to endure losing a team, to then hope that another fan base has to endure the same thing, is palpable. Classless.

Well posted.

 

[GSC2k2*]

And hockey existed in Florida long before the Lightning and the Panthers and in North Carolina long before the Hurricanes. Let's go through a few teams and their eras of activity:

Florida
THL:
Coral Gables Seminoles (1938-1939)
Miami Clippers (1938-1939)
Miami Beach Pirates (1938-1939)

EHL:
Jacksonville Rockets (1964-1972)
Florida Rockets (1966-1968)
St. Petersburg Suns (1971-1972)
Suncoast Suns (1972-1973)

AHL:
Jacksonville Barons (1973-1974)

North Carolina

EHL:
Charlotte Clippers (1956-1960)
Charlotte Checkers (1960-1973)
Greensboro Generals (1959-1973)

SHL:
Charlotte Checkers (1973-1977)
Greensboro Generals (1973-1977)
Winston-Salem Polar Twins (1973-1977)
Winston-Salem Mammoths (1995-1996)

ACHL:
Pinebridge Bucks (1983-1985)
Winston-Salem Thunderbirds (1981-1982)
Carolina Thunderbirds (1982-1987)

AAHL:
Carolina Thunderbirds (1987-1988)

ECHL:
Carolina Thunderbirds (1988-1989)
Winston-Salem Thunderbirds (1989-1992)
Charlotte Checkers (1993-present)
Greensboro Monarchs (1989-1995)
Raleigh IceCaps (1991-1998)

AHL:
Greensboro Monarchs (1995-1997)

Ziiiiiinnnnnnnngggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And ... mate.

 

[nomorekids]

Ziiiiiinnnnnnnngggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And ... mate.

Nashville has a similar background going back into the early 60s, including an ECHL team that was consistently at the top of the league in terms of attendance despite generally being a first round choker, but those types of facts usually just garner the, "LOLZ WELL OKAY GIVE EM BACK AN ECHL TEAM AND WE'LL TAKE THA PREDZ AS THA NEW JETZ, LOLZ" type of response, so I've long sinced stopped bothering.

Jamiebez's last post was a good one. As I've said before...I'm there with you in wishing that Winnipeg could have a team again... but knowing how it feels to lose your team...how could you, in good conscience, wish that upon another fanbase?