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

[Romang67]

But I'm not talking about the Coyotes right now am I?

And I don't know if a owner group which made it very clear from the beggining that they were only interested in the basketball team and not the hockey team is that much better than your old owner.

 

[Dado]

Trying to catch up - does the ticket drive start on May 9th or is it supposed to complete by May 9th?

 

[DungeonK]

http://www.examiner.com/atlanta-thrashers-in-atlanta/thrashers-decline-to-comment-on-speculation-of-move-to-winnipeg

Solid article about Atlanta vs the Dreger/Oilers Writer Guy/Atlanta is moving tomorrow rumor

 

[Retail1LO*]

That is more of a reflection on their division, since they are tied with Carolina and in nearly the same ballpark as Tampa and Florida.

I don't see how you can look at that list and imply the Thrashers are less relevant than other teams.

I guess there are only so many things to gauge relevancy by. Currently, the Canes and Lightning have won Cups. Florida even went to a Cup final. Atlanta hasn't. Most of the other teams in the division have made multiple playoff appearances in the last decade...and most have some bona fide star power on their team. Atlanta just doesn't have that going for them. I don't think they've had a high profile free agent signing ever. I'm sticking by what I said. Yes. Less relevant.

Put it this way. How many players, owners, and fans outside of Atlanta, would bemoan the loss of the Thrashers?

 

[btn]

See, that was much easier than pulling some garbage statistic.

I would submit, as you just said, the relevancy of the team has to do with the on ice performance. If it was Nashville or Tampa that had only made the playoffs once in their history...we would be talking about them not Atlanta.

I don't think you should relocate teams based on their W-L record, that it pretty much what you are doing in Atlanta's case.

 

[Retail1LO*]

See, that was much easier than pulling some garbage statistic.

I would submit, as you just said, the relevancy of the team has to do with the on ice performance. If it was Nashville or Tampa that had only made the playoffs once in their history...we would be talking about them not Atlanta.

I don't think you should relocate teams based on their W-L record, that it pretty much what you are doing in Atlanta's case.

You're 100% correct. Outside of being in a traditional market, there's not much else to put an NHL team on the radar.

I'm suggesting Atlanta move for a lot of reasons. Low attendance, ownership issues, perpetual losing, poor TV rating, non-traditional market where the NHL tried previously.

Even good ownership and winning don't solve everything. You could have world champion rugby, cricket, curling, etc. in a given place...with great management, marketing, the works. But if people just don't have a natural affinity for product, you're forever going to be a niche/fringe product perpetually fighting to remain relevant.

 

[bodybreak]

A "no comment" from Atlanta doesn't mean much, when they were saying the same thing during that 5 year period when they were, contrary to public comments of the day, trying to sell the team.

Meanwhile in Winnipeg, someone who has been close to the negotiations for the past x number of years agrees with this Atlanta report that there's no legitimate offer from the Balkan.

And while I'm not saying anything is going to be announced today (nor is that the "drop dead" date for any of this) there's also been a "dream" divisional alignment mentioned by the same person whose news last spring that Winnipeg would be in the Northwest Division if the Coyotes move was picked up by media outlets across the continent.

In this model, Dallas moves to the Central division (Detroit appears to be headed East, but no new Eastern divisions were given), Vancouver takes the Stars spot in the Pacific (which still includes Phoenix by the way). A new Manitoba team fills the void the Canucks left in the Northwest.

Pacific: SJ, LA, ANA, PHX, VAN
Northwest: COL, MIN, EDM, CGY, MB
Central: CHI, STL, CLB, DAL, NSH

 

[Freibahlen]

Meanwhile in Winnipeg, someone who has been close to the negotiations for the past x number of years agrees with this Atlanta report that there's no legitimate offer from the Balkan.

I don't recall a claim being made that "The Balkan" had made an offer nor that one was imminent but that the process was in the very early stages and had only gone beyond simply kicking the tires.

 

[Buck Aki Berg]

I'm suggesting Atlanta move for a lot of reasons. Low attendance, ownership issues, perpetual losing, poor TV rating, non-traditional market where the NHL tried previously.

Remember that Atlanta didn't "fail" previously. The Flames were moved to Calgary because somebody showed up with a gigantic bag full of money and said "This is for you if you let me move this team to Calgary."

 

[Hawker14]

There's something in the air today.

 

[Freibahlen]

There's something in the air today.

That'd be the chili.

 

[ATHF]

See, that was much easier than pulling some garbage statistic.

I would submit, as you just said, the relevancy of the team has to do with the on ice performance. If it was Nashville or Tampa that had only made the playoffs once in their history...we would be talking about them not Atlanta.

I don't think you should relocate teams based on their W-L record, that it pretty much what you are doing in Atlanta's case.

There's always got to be someone on the bottom. Yes, Atlanta has seemingly been there more often than others, but I don't buy that success on the ice is the only way to be profitable and not bleed red ink every season.

If that were the case, teams like the Thrashers, the Coyotes and Florida would have to be playoff teams every single season and even then, it would likely take three or four years of that before things would turn around.

And what happens if Atlanta makes the first round of the playoffs three years out of four and loses that series all three times. Then the people will stay away because "they can't get past the first round, so why should I bother" in the same way that they are now apparently doing regarding making the playoffs.

As I understand it, in order for all of the Southern teams to be a success, they all need to make the playoffs every season while having some sort of round-robin draw to decide which one of them gets the Cup every five years or so.

Success on the ice will only go so far. At some point, the fans have to take some sort of personal responsibility for not filling the building and I'm tired of having to hear excuse after excuse as to why they didn't come.

 

[cbcwpg]

Remember that Atlanta didn't "fail" previously. The Flames were moved to Calgary because somebody showed up with a gigantic bag full of money and said "This is for you if you let me move this team to Calgary."

Funny how history could be repeating itself. Depends how big a bag TNSE puts on the table.

 

[fokkerfan]

No update to the TSN Jets Meter for 2 days. Also no Dreger report???

 

[Grudy0]

Remember that Atlanta didn't "fail" previously. The Flames were moved to Calgary because somebody showed up with a gigantic bag full of money and said "This is for you if you let me move this team to Calgary."

Funny how history could be repeating itself. Depends how big a bag TNSE puts on the table.

Sure, but I'm one that believes it is more relevant to the Phoenix situation than Atlanta.

The NHL needs to unload the team. The proposed deal with Mr. Hulsizer looks to be completely finished, as in done, as it has gone literally nowhere since Goldwater Institute has become involved.

Unless we see any action from City of Glendale regarding either selling the bonds or changing the terms of the current agreement, this is over:

The NHL of course had to hold a cash call from the other 29 owners to purchase the Coyotes out of bankruptcy. Those owners want their money back. If there is to be a relocation, the NHL would like a slice of it. The NHL would hardly get any money from the sale of the Thrashers compared to the direct impact regarding the sale of the Coyotes, and I'm still convinced that it is more important to have a hockey team in Atlanta than in Phoenix.

 

[Koss]

http://www.examiner.com/atlanta-thrashers-in-atlanta/thrashers-decline-to-comment-on-speculation-of-move-to-winnipeg

Solid article about Atlanta vs the Dreger/Oilers Writer Guy/Atlanta is moving tomorrow rumor

“We did everything possible in Winnipeg. There was no prospect of a new building and nobody wanted to own the team there anymore." GB

That last quote makes me rage.

 

[cheswick]

“We did everything possible in Winnipeg. There was no prospect of a new building and nobody wanted to own the team there anymore." GB

That last quote makes me rage.

Why's that?

 

[Dado]

I don't think you should relocate teams based on their W-L record...

I don't recall any team in the entire history of the NHL being relocated for that reason. If either of Atl/Pho end up relocated, it won't be for that reason, either.

 

[cbcwpg]

“We did everything possible in Winnipeg. There was no prospect of a new building and nobody wanted to own the team there anymore." GB

That last quote makes me rage.

I don't have an issue with what Bettman is saying, because in simplistic terms its true, BUT the quote should really be.....

“We did everything possible in Winnipeg. There was no prospect of a new building and nobody wanted to own the team there anymore, given the lack of revenue sharing, cost certainty, a salary cap, and in general a way for small market teams to survive."

Leaving my bolded addition out makes it sound like nobody wanted to keep a team in Winnipeg. This is absolutely untrue. People wanted to keep a team here, it just wasn't practical, at the time.

 

[dj4aces]

I don't think you should relocate teams based on their W-L record, that it pretty much what you are doing in Atlanta's case.

But Atlanta has better prospects and players! Young players, who could stick with the team for a long time! Wouldn't it be so awesome to see Kane and Little in Jets sweaters on opening night while facing Doan and Bryzgalov??

On a serious note, when is this announcement supposed to take place?

 

[peter sullivan]

when is this announcement supposed to take place?

ask mayor scruggs.

 

[manisback121]

http://arizona.sbnation.com/phoenix...hip-saga-now-has-unofficial-deadline-from-nhl

Atlanta has the brakes on right now according to this article staing tha they have until the 6th to get things done in phx. Something tells me phx sale to TNSE is trigger ready. However bettman is working OT to exhaust all options in AZ

 

[headsigh]

But Atlanta has better prospects and players! Young players, who could stick with the team for a long time! Wouldn't it be so awesome to see Kane and Little in Jets sweaters on opening night while facing Doan and Bryzgalov??

On a serious note, when is this announcement supposed to take place?

Kenward backtracked on his proclamation that we would be moving today. So at most, May 9th when the supposed ticket drive begins, but something tells me things will happen before then.

This reminds me of the Nashville to Hamilton debacle and we all know how that ended.

 

[Koss]

Why's that?

because an ownership group was denied the opportunity to buy the team due the NHL fabricating a rule that a team could only be owned by one individual and that individual most have a certain net-worth threshold. If that same standard was used for ownership issues of southern teams, there would be a couple of relocations already.

To say they did all they could in 1995 is quite hypocritical when one can witness the business theatrics happening with the modern NHL. Opportunities to save a franchise that were never given to the two Canadian franchises that GB cherry-picked for relocation when he took over as commissioner.

 

[dj4aces]

ask mayor scruggs.

My post was really pretty sarcastic. Sorry about that. I just recall all the tweets people were posting from individuals who have no clue about the situation.

A friend of mine actually works near Portage and Main. I can call and ask how the celebration is going, if I were sure this thing really was going to happen today.