News and notes XXXX: Mascot is in their place cuz its Anniversary season time

[Chrispy]

100%

though definitely can make one wonder just how much that was intentional destruction by ownership. Which raises a whole set of its own questions.

I agree, it wasn’t Waddell’s fault, but he was certainly the face of the franchise as they stripped it down, kicked it out of Phillips Arena, and eventually sold it.

Also, an on-topic chance to reference the Futurama Atlanta episode couldn’t be passed up. Don’t know when I’ll get that chance again.

 

[AD Skinner]

I agree, it wasn’t Waddell’s fault, but he was certainly the face of the franchise as they stripped it down, kicked it out of Phillips Arena, and eventually sold it.

Also, an on-topic chance to reference the Futurama Atlanta episode couldn’t be passed up. Don’t know when I’ll get that chance again.

"We have sea lions on land too. We call them land sea lions"

 

[HisIceness]

Atlanta Spirit Group if I remember correctly constantly cried poor regarding the Thrashers yet they threw at the time, a lot of money at Joe Johnson to play for the NBAs Hawks. It was one of the richest contracts in league history at that point.

Really the Thrashers were set back by the death of Synder but ASG buying them f***ed things up even more. Waddell had his faults but he also had his hands tied. His bosses were Basketball guys and cared very little about Hockey.

 

[Unhinged Finn]

Everybody makes mistakes. Smart people learn from their mistakes. Most people are not smart. Some people think they don't make mistakes, but they certainly aren't smart.

Unfortunately reputation is a whole different animal. You will always be remembered of your biggest mistake, not your achievements. Reputation is also subjective, so it doesn't even have to be your mistake or a mistake at all.

Now I'm repeating my favorite mistake of not sleeping instead of catching up with the internet.

 

[Sigurd]

The Thrashers had cool jerseys. Just wanted to say that while talking about them.

Talking about hockey in the South, I'm curious to know what the Hurricanes organization has done in recent years to reach out to fans in South Carolina? I couldn't think of anything right off hand, but maybe I've forgotten. I kind of wonder if we could do more to get fans there.

 

[To Be Determined]

100%

though definitely can make one wonder just how much that was intentional destruction by ownership. Which raises a whole set of its own questions.

Pretend i responded to this with a .gif of bender smoking a cigar underwater, and hermes saying "that just raises further questions!"

Great, great episode.

 

[HisIceness]

The Thrashers had cool jerseys. Just wanted to say that while talking about them.

Talking about hockey in the South, I'm curious to know what the Hurricanes organization has done in recent years to reach out to fans in South Carolina? I couldn't think of anything right off hand, but maybe I've forgotten. I kind of wonder if we could do more to get fans there.

The brief affiliation with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits. That's it. Best thing the Canes can do is play a preseason game in Greenville or Charleston. Other than that? I mean Raleigh is closer to Virginia than SC. And not to get too off-topic but SC doesn't love the Carolina Panthers all that much either.

What gets me is why the Hurricanes didn't come back to Charlotte after the successful preseason game they played here in 2010 and instead opted to play as the home team in cities like Quebec and Halifax. I went to the game here and it was awesome and I was hoping it would be a yearly thing, but for some reason it never happened again.

 

[LostInaLostWorld]

This will sound bad, but at the current rate the Canes may not need to reach out much more. As fast as this region is growing they will be able to fill the arena fairly easily. Any hockey fans in SC or elsewhere nearby will gravitate to the Canes. Where else they gonna go unless somehow ATL gets another team? How much in extra merch sales or whatever offset extra marketing/outreach costs?

Keep winning. That's the Holy Grail.

 

[MinJaBen]

Also, an on-topic chance to reference the Futurama Atlanta episode couldn’t be passed up. Don’t know when I’ll get that chance again.

I knew someone would clap back with Atlanta. You did it in the best way.

 

[VibesAlive]

If they survived, the Thrashers and Canes would be celebrating 25 years at the same time. Go figure.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

is this for real? if so, awesome

 

[Joe McGrath]

is this for real? if so, awesome

So the digital ads are the home team’s responsibility not the broadcaster? I mean it makes sense, but these kind of hilarious things are going to happen all the time.

 

[Borsig]

The Thrashers had cool jerseys. Just wanted to say that while talking about them.

Talking about hockey in the South, I'm curious to know what the Hurricanes organization has done in recent years to reach out to fans in South Carolina? I couldn't think of anything right off hand, but maybe I've forgotten. I kind of wonder if we could do more to get fans there.

When the canes first came here, I lived just across the border in SC. I don't see SC as excluded, but like anything a lot of the regional coverage is STUPID. Like right now I live way closer to Raleigh than I do to washington. But since I am back in VA (I actually was raised in deep SW Va, now I live in SE VA) there's a magic line that tells me I am now a caps fan. I am most certainly not. Getting more choice and expanding coverage outside of NC borders would be a start.

Even with the Thrashers, I was still a Carolina fan since the early days.

The other thing, is simply that NC is receiving a flood of massholes and people from up north. I LOATHE NoVA and frankly, NoVA has become a place where actual virginians are vastly outnumbered by a bunch of people from MD / DE / NJ etc. When I turned down the job a few years ago in RTP, even the guy that interviewed me had that Mass speech impediment. He'd just relocated south because "it's better down here".

Meanwhile I can't even find a face value ticket for the outdoor game. So I don't think drawing in fans is a big issue, honestly. I liked the crowd we had. The tailgaiting, the non insanity and such. Hockey in the south is supposed to be different. I don't want 100.00 seats and 20.00 beer. Just keep winning and don't try and be a NE team.

If they survived, the Thrashers and Canes would be celebrating 25 years at the same time. Go figure.

Hockey was doomed in ATL from the start. Sorry, my wife lived there for years. The demographics for that city and state don't fit the NHL. It doesn't matter how poorly the team did. The demographics were wrong.

 

[cptjeff]

is this for real? if so, awesome

Marketing a good team to all the poor saps watching Sharks-Blackhawks?

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

Lol what if Dundon actually paid for ad space on the boards for other teams games...

 

[cptjeff]

Lol what if Dundon actually paid for ad space on the boards for other teams games...

"Attention Capitals fans: Tired of rooting for an aging core and a top Putin supporter? Try the Canes instead!"

 

[HisIceness]

Hockey was doomed in ATL from the start. Sorry, my wife lived there for years. The demographics for that city and state don't fit the NHL. It doesn't matter how poorly the team did. The demographics were wrong.

I'm going to disagree. There's plenty of surburban white-collar types living there to make it work. And just speaking of my personal experience doing service projects there, the black community loved the Thrashers and spoke highly of them compared to the Hawks (apparently the Thrashers were better with community projects and interactions than the Hawks I guess).

I know the league didn't really have a choice at the time but I bet the BoG and whatnot would reverse the decision to move them to Winnipeg if they could turn back time. Lot of corporate money in the ATL, and TNT airs the Finals this season.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Atlanta is three times the size of Raleigh or Nashville. There is no demographic issue that doesn’t get overwhelmed by sheer volume.

Hockey should have worked out just fine, but there’s a lot more in the secret sauce than just picking the right city. Everything about the Thrashers turned out to be a worst case scenario.

 

[Borsig]

I'm going to disagree. There's plenty of surburban white-collar types living there to make it work. And just speaking of my personal experience doing service projects there, the black community loved the Thrashers and spoke highly of them compared to the Hawks (apparently the Thrashers were better with community projects and interactions than the Hawks I guess).

I know the league didn't really have a choice at the time but I bet the BoG and whatnot would reverse the decision to move them to Winnipeg if they could turn back time. Lot of corporate money in the ATL, and TNT airs the Finals this season.

They don't really live in Atlanta proper. Or Dekalb. Or Fulton..... Those area's have increasingly been pushed out, especially toward TN. I get what you're saying, but it's not just race. Race is a big part of it in ATL, but ATL is kind of a weird place. The taxes are VERY high there, sales tax alone in ATL is like 9%, while its generally like 4% in GA. Part of my wife's family is from that area. The other part is from WV. There really isn't much Atlanta has in common with the rest of GA, and a lot of people that would watch hockey are pushing out toward Marietta (where wife's family is) and Kennesaw / Cartersville. ATL is.... Well I won't even go near there unarmed, but that's just me. It's changed a LOT in 20 years. A lot. Whatever remains of affluent areas or gentrifed places are just not worth it to people any more.

ATL is a majority black city in the south. That's never going to work for an NHL franchise.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

Atlanta’s problem will always be is the product worth seeing when considering fighting the traffic to get to the game.

Also we may have volume but the interest in hockey is very low. We have 2 ice rinks and one is showing its age. I haven’t been to the other one.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

Atlanta’s problem will always be is the product worth seeing when considering fighting the traffic to get to the game.

Also we may have volume but the interest in hockey is very low. We have 2 ice rinks and one is showing its age. I haven’t been to the other one.

Last week was GT homecoming and we put a big Google Sheet up to coordinate amongst friends and I could’ve had the opportunity to drive 30 min to see a huge swath of my best friends who I haven’t seen in varying amounts of time. I chose to skip it because the notion of driving into Midtown on a gameday and finding parking stressed me out.

When the Braves moved up to Cobb County it was criticized at first but they clearly saw something the rest didn’t. You’re gonna have to drive either way, might as well drive out of the city instead of into it. They have the most pleasant logistics of any Atlanta team with regard to actually going to see them.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

Last week was GT homecoming and we put a big Google Sheet up to coordinate amongst friends and I could’ve had the opportunity to drive 30 min to see a huge swath of my best friends who I haven’t seen in varying amounts of time. I chose to skip it because the notion of driving into Midtown on a gameday and finding parking stressed me out.

When the Braves moved up to Cobb County it was criticized at first but they clearly saw something the rest didn’t. You’re gonna have to drive either way, might as well drive out of the city instead of into it. They have the most pleasant logistics of any Atlanta team with regard to actually going to see them.

The Braves didn’t have great attendance numbers in cobb the first 2 seasons. They had to start winning. Now they are printing money.

They did lower the car break in percentages by leaving turner.

Cmon robot overlords, we need you to drive so that Atlanta can be cool again

 

[Cardiac Jerks]

Lol what if Dundon actually paid for ad space on the boards for other teams games...

Didn’t we joke last year about him becoming the jersey/helmet sponsor for the habs

 

[MinJaBen]

There is nothing wrong with Atlanta that a little Sherman can't fix.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

There is nothing wrong with Atlanta that a little Sherman can't fix.

Sherman couldnt even get around the city to burn it down so......