Part 7: True North Sports & Entertainment's efforts to acquire an NHL team (Winnipeg)

[AugustBurnsRed*]

So.... Winnipeg is getting a team no matter what

 

[GSC2k2*]

The one thing to watch out for - if I was ASG and faced with the NHL taking a huge cut of the selling price as a relocation fee - I'd consider waiting until the offer was firm and then promptly putting the team in bankruptcy.

Yeah, that worked out so incredibly well for the first guy who tried it. I would think that folks who have been around for the whole ride would know that putting your team into bankruptcy accomplishes absolutely nothing except shrink the owner's eventual recovery (as it did for Moyes).

People do realize, I hope, that when you acquire an NHL team you also sign a $30M personal guarantee if you breach your agreement with the NHL (which includes putting your team into bankruptcy). That is why the NHL is currently suing Moyes personally as well.

 

[pucka lucka]

Yeah, that worked out so incredibly well for the first guy who tried it. I would think that folks who have been around for the whole ride would know that putting your team into bankruptcy accomplishes absolutely nothing except shrink the owner's eventual recovery (as it did for Moyes).

People do realize, I hope, that when you acquire an NHL team you also sign a $30M personal guarantee if you breach your agreement with the NHL (which includes putting your team into bankruptcy). That is why the NHL is currently suing Moyes personally as well.

Well, I would think if the NHL tried to hang ASG out to dry, there might be some debate about the enforceability. Does a version of such a contract exist online?

 

[Dado]

Well, I would think if the NHL tried to hang ASG out to dry...

Yeah, apart from creating legal ambiguity, getting hung out to dry has a tendency to get people's backs up and putting them in scorched earth mode.

Human nature is a messy beast.

 

[Potrzebie]

Your post brought back this memory: Remember when Hugh McFadyen guaranteed the NHL's return if elected, saying he had been in talks with a group of "young turks" that could finance a purchase? Good lord, what an idiot that guy was is.

fixed.

 

[kingbrutis]

I hope you guys get your team. It is just hilarious that all of a sudden the thrashers team is way better than the Coyotes. Really? I think this would be a great rivalry. To actually say the talent in ATL is better than the Coyotes is crazy. Points dont lie over the past few seasons.

 

[Ripper]

Go Jets Go

I posted back in July that a construction company was hired to add to the MTS Centre, it could turn out that the media boxes were doubled to accomodate the NHL broadcasts for 2011-2012 season, just saying that it could be.
Also the speculation at the time was that a deal had been worked out to move the Moose should an NHL franchise move to the MTS and that the NHL team that was coming in was the Thrashers...pure speculation but where there is smoke....so more speculation from this led to a schedule being worked out to include Winnipeg.

Lately I think I heard somewhere that Bettman approached Mike Illich about moving into the Eastern Conference because an Eastern team was moving West. Does anyone have a link for the Detroit rumor?

I think the delay in the annoucement could be that GWI stepped in and almost spoiled the TV contract party (Phoenix #5 or 6 in the US TV and AD revenue market) of course Winnipeg would want the Jets back but speculation from last summer was that it was done with Atlanta.

There is no-one that I can give credit to for supplying this information last summer but really isn't all of this speculation until it's confirmed?

I know one thing, in about a Months time we should all have less to speculate about and an underwelming amount to read about!

 

[AugustBurnsRed*]

In a months time, there better be just about nothing to speculate about.

 

[Jet]

Uh oh... the lawyers found this thread

 

[FlareKnight]

In a months time, there better be just about nothing to speculate about.

Well there's always something to speculate about. But be nice if in a month's time Winnipeg has a team and that at least is settled.

 

[AugustBurnsRed*]

Well there's always something to speculate about. But be nice if in a month's time Winnipeg has a team and that at least is settled.

Well that's why I said just about Hopefully the big, important thing's are settled.

 

[Whileee]

Remember that Glendale citizen who spoke out publicly against the Hulsizer lease at a Glendale City Council meeting (December 14, 2010)? He urged Mayor Scruggs and the Glendale city council to "call the NHL's bluff" and force the NHL to either make concessions or lose the opportunity to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix.

The reality is that Phoenix is at least as good a market as many other southern US cities, with growth potential, so if the NHL can't imagine financial stability their then they might as well pack it in. Furthermore, they will absolutely not find a more advantageous situation in terms of arena and lease concessions anywhere. Their problem has been intransigence on the purchase price, a severely depressed economy and a franchise that needs a whole lot of TLC to mobilize a fan base. I think that they (and ownership hopefuls) have preyed upon the public desperation of the City of Glendale to retain a tenant for the Jobing.com team to push a very harsh deal, using relocation to Winnipeg as a stick. Now that it appears that they might need Winnipeg and TNSE for Atlanta, I wonder if it is actually time for Glendale to "call the NHL's bluff". Until now, the clock was in the NHL's favour. Now that they need a solution for both Atlanta and Phoenix, literally within days, I expect that Glendale might find the NHL more receptive to altering the conditions of the sale.

Ironically, if the NHL and Hulsizer do make concessions and a better financial deal emerges for Glendale, the City of Glendale and its citizens can thank the GWI for protecting their financial interests. That result would be like having your birthday on Christmas for the GWI, and don't think that Darcy Olsen wouldn't find all sorts of ways of reminding Mayor Scruggs and the rest of the world about it.

 

[peter sullivan]

^good points.....the NHL has seen the two trains heading at each other on the same track for more than a year......TNSE may have once been used for leverage but without a solution in phoenix there are hard decisions to make.....even with all of its pitfalls, the easiest solution remains figuring out phoenix and moving atlanta....likely why the NHL has gone to what appears to be the end of the earth for that franchise....it is not necessarily just about wanting to keep the phoenix market....it is about having two problems to solve at once.

it gives an answer to the oft asked question 'why would the NHL fight so hard for phoenix and then simply let atlanta go'?......it might not be about either city....it might simply be the only solution....if there was a second, perhaps the coyotes would have been long gone.

 

[AllByDesign]

People do realize, I hope, that when you acquire an NHL team you also sign a $30M personal guarantee if you breach your agreement with the NHL (which includes putting your team into bankruptcy). That is why the NHL is currently suing Moyes personally as well.

litigation... the only thing the ASG enjoys more than Golf. Seems like a dare when you put it that way.

 

[Whileee]

^good points.....the NHL has seen the two trains heading at each other on the same track for more than a year......TNSE may have once been used for leverage but without a solution in phoenix there are hard decisions to make.....even with all of its pitfalls, the easiest solution remains figuring out phoenix and moving atlanta....likely why the NHL has gone to what appears to be the end of the earth for that franchise....it is not necessarily just about wanting to keep the phoenix market....it is about having two problems to solve at once.

it gives an answer to the oft asked question 'why would the NHL fight so hard for phoenix and then simply let atlanta go'?......it might not be about either city....it might simply be the only solution....if there was a second, perhaps the coyotes would have been long gone.

And a cursory analysis of the two situations would suggest that Phoenix has much more to offer a new owner than Atlanta. They have a nice new arena owned by a municipality that will give huge concessions in the lease to any new owner. Conversely, it is hard to see how a new owner could get a half-decent lease deal in Atlanta, so the Atlanta transaction would have to be the whole shebang (including the Hawks), which makes things much more complicated. The Hawks are looking good in the playoffs now, and previous interviews with the current owners suggested to me that they really like owning the Hawks. An impending NBA lockout and renegotiated CBA might entice them to hang on to the Hawks for now.

In terms of market size and past attendance performance, there isn't a huge amount to choose between the two, I suppose.

I just think that the NHL hasn't been forced to make any concessions on Phoenix until now, hoping that the COG could break the logjam and give a sweet deal to Hulsizer. The NHL might not have that luxury any more with time running out.

 

[Whileee]

bush call for the mod to close the atlanta to wpg thread. that rumor is being widely reported by msm.

I doubt that they will close this thread...

 

[Dado]

Remember that Glendale citizen who...urged Mayor Scruggs and the Glendale city council to "call the NHL's bluff" and force the NHL to either make concessions or lose the opportunity to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix.

As you know, I have for some time expressed the opinion that the only reason CoG hasn't closed the deal is because they don't actually want to close the deal. In those rare brief moments when I don't think of CoG as grossly incompetent, I do wonder just what you wrote above, if perhaps the gang that couldn't shoot straight is managing to back the NHL into a corner.

 

[MAROONSRoad]

I hope you guys get your team. It is just hilarious that all of a sudden the thrashers team is way better than the Coyotes. Really? I think this would be a great rivalry. To actually say the talent in ATL is better than the Coyotes is crazy. Points dont lie over the past few seasons.

The only problem with your comment is that a large number of the key Coyotes players are either in their mid-30s and/or UFAs that could sign anywhere next year. The most important Coyotes' player, Bryzgalov, is a UFA and wouldn't likely be part of a relocated-Winnipeg team. Some people are more excited about the core group of young players, prospects and picks (7th overall this year) that the Thrashers have to offer than what the Coyotes have in that regard. That view is hardly "hilarious." I tend to agree with it.

GHOST

 

[Whileee]

As you know, I have for some time expressed the opinion that the only reason CoG hasn't closed the deal is because they don't actually want to close the deal. In those rare brief moments when I don't think of CoG as grossly incompetent, I do wonder just what you wrote above, if perhaps the gang that couldn't shoot straight is managing to back the NHL into a corner.

My own view is that if the NHL is indeed backed into a corner, with a more favourable deal for Glendale being the result, then it should not be credited to the City of Glendale so much as to the interference of the GWI. I think that had the GWI not stepped in, Glendale would already have sold the bonds and paid Hulsizer his $100 million plus the $10 million in arena management fees for this year. No wonder Hulsizer and Bettman seem to be so annoyed with the GWI. Also, it will be some delicious irony if Glendale keeps the Coyotes with a much more favourable financial deal thanks to the steadfast efforts of their arch-nemesis the GWI. I wonder how many ways one can say "I told you so".

 

[Le Golie]

The only problem with your comment is that a large number of the key Coyotes players are either in their mid-30s and/or UFAs that could sign anywhere next year. The most important Coyotes' player, Bryzgalov, is a UFA and wouldn't likely be part of a relocated-Winnipeg team. Some people are more excited about the core group of young players, prospects and picks (7th overall this year) that the Thrashers have to offer than what the Coyotes have in that regard. That view is hardly "hilarious." I tend to agree with it.

GHOST

Don't lie. You toss and turn at night thinking about your first jersey order. Stempniak or Schlemko, Stempniak or Schlemko....

 

[BrianSTC]

I hope you guys get your team. It is just hilarious that all of a sudden the thrashers team is way better than the Coyotes. Really? I think this would be a great rivalry. To actually say the talent in ATL is better than the Coyotes is crazy. Points dont lie over the past few seasons.

The Thrashers are up-and-coming. The Coyotes are already there. Talent-wise I would rather the Thrashers just because of the bright future they have.

 

[danishh]

go check parts 1-6. There have been plenty of winnipeg fans arguing for the thrashers over the coyotes because of the players.

Coyotes lose jovo and bryzgalov this year, plus doan may have to be traded. Not the hottest team with those 3 gone. Atlanta loses... freddy meyer? With the thrashers, at least their key players are all under contract, and if they dont want to come to winnipeg, they can be traded for fair value as they havnt made a stink about it to the media.

 

[King_Stannis]

Yeah, that worked out so incredibly well for the first guy who tried it. ...

Could you imagine the look on the Commissioner's face if he found out they were stupid enough to do that?

 

[jorbjorb]

i wouldn't mind getting an evander kane jersey

 

[cutchemist42]

So if Atlanta is the team to come, any chance of the Jets name being used?