Potential Atlanta NHL Expansion Team Thread

[aqib]

Probably. Which should be soon.

I heard 2 weeks...

 

[sneakytitz]

Big day! Meeting starts at 5:00 PM EST.

Meeting agenda: https://www.forsythco.com/portals/0/PNM/Meeting/4675/083fe15c-27a9-47f3-a2ed-83a7a893e33b.pdf

Stream the meeting: www.forsythco.com

 

[sneakytitz]

Another blow to Anson's project: Roswell wants a 10,000 seat stadium for soccer.

Entertainment district anchored by soccer pitched in Roswell

Women’s, men's United Soccer League aims to build 10,000-seat stadium in North Fulton city

atlanta.urbanize.city

 

[rojac]

I'm a little confused. Based on the agenda for today's meeting, it would appear that all that may be on the agenda today is the land use entitlements and not necessarily anything about how much the county would be paying (directly or through tax breaks). Again, I may be misunderstanding, but it seems that the area is already "zoned" to allow the anrena and other commercial buildings and the housing is the only entitlement being added. And also that this housing entitlement is only added if they get an NHL franchise and build the arena and other things for that to happen.

So, doesn't this boil down to "If you, at some point, get an NHL franchise and build what you need for that, you can also build housing as part of the overall project?"

Does it really mean much at all as to the likeliness of them getting that NHL franchise?

 

[sneakytitz]

I'm a little confused. Based on the agenda for today's meeting, it would appear that all that may be on the agenda today is the land use entitlements and not necessarily anything about how much the county would be paying (directly or through tax breaks). Again, I may be misunderstanding, but it seems that the area is already "zoned" to allow the anrena and other commercial buildings and the housing is the only entitlement being added. And also that this housing entitlement is only added if they get an NHL franchise and build the arena and other things for that to happen.

So, doesn't this boil down to "If you, at some point, get an NHL franchise and build what you need for that, you can also build housing as part of the overall project?"

Does it really mean much at all as to the likeliness of them getting that NHL franchise?

They're discussing it now, you may be looking at another agenda?

They can build anything they want if the MoU passes today. They won't get any government money/subsidies if they fail to secure an NHL team.

 

[sneakytitz]

Noteworthy notes/commentary:

Practice facility will definitely be on site. Community ice rink may be offsite if developments exceed expectations. Likely landing spot will be Denmark Park

4 phases of construction. Arena and a majority of the project will be built in phase 1, with an option to run the arena into phase 2. If the NHL has not awarded a franchise by the end of phase 1, the arena is built in phase 2. Likely to account for any expansion delays outside of The Gathering's control.

 

[sneakytitz]

Well there it is. Vote passes 4-1, with slight concurrencies and review from bond management. Forsyth County has given Vernon Krause the go ahead to build his hockey arena. The only thing between Atlanta and another NHL team is....the NHL. Make the right call, Gary.

And if that comes to pass? Everyone in this thread, drinks on me first game. Until then, Believe in Blueland and, when the time comes, Unleash The Fury.

 

[nhlfan79]

One final step to go, and I'd like to believe it's a formality at this point. We'll see.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Well there it is. Vote passes 4-1, with slight concurrencies and review from bond management. Forsyth County has given Vernon Krause the go ahead to build his hockey arena. The only thing between Atlanta and another NHL team is....the NHL. Make the right call, Gary.

And if that comes to pass? Everyone in this thread, drinks on me first game. Until then, Believe in Blueland and, when the time comes, Unleash The Fury.

View attachment 841797

 

[sneakytitz]

https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/the-gathering-at-south-forsyth-gets-greenlight

 

[nhlfan79]

Channel 2's coverage of the vote. Forsyth County Commissioners approve deal to build new arena

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Well there it is. Vote passes 4-1, with slight concurrencies and review from bond management. Forsyth County has given Vernon Krause the go ahead to build his hockey arena. The only thing between Atlanta and another NHL team is....the NHL. Make the right call, Gary.

And if that comes to pass? Everyone in this thread, drinks on me first game. Until then, Believe in Blueland and, when the time comes, Unleash The Fury.

View attachment 841797

Technically, there's still the issue of a fat paycheck being written to the NHL, but yeah. Solid news for Atlanta's NHL hopes.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

Technically, there's still the issue of a fat paycheck being written to the NHL, but yeah. Solid news for Atlanta's NHL hopes.

I am skeptical until I see big names behind the project. Money wise.

 

[dj4aces]

I am skeptical until I see big names behind the project. Money wise.

I think a lot of us here still want to know who exactly is backing Krause.

 

[tucker3434]

I need a diagram with milestones, so I can know when to actually feel good about this. I know things are moving in the right direction, but I didn't pay close enough attention with Vegas or Seattle to know where the big hurdle is (prior to the official NHL announcement of course).

Edit: Oh, we might be close to something big then...

 

[dj4aces]

I need a diagram with milestones, so I can know when to actually feel good about this. I know things are moving in the right direction, but I didn't pay close enough attention with Vegas or Seattle to know where the big hurdle is (prior to the official NHL announcement of course).

I'm excited at the possibility, but I'm also not holding my breath. I've long said that Atlanta is a market the NHL cannot afford to ignore, and one the league will return to. The only questions are when (this summer? five years? more?) and how (expansion? relocation). But when a franchise is finally awarded, they'll at least have a place to play.

 

[sneakytitz]

I am skeptical until I see big names behind the project. Money wise.

At this point, I think it's Krause and Krause alone, and he has more money than we, or at least I, give him credit for. He mentioned taking his investment banker to the meeting with Bettman and this was the same meeting where Krause says Bettman told him to secure the approval from the county and he would tell Krause when to start building the arena.

I don't think he has a billion in cash on hand but I think he's secured funding via a financial institution and not a team of investors. JP Morgan has an entire group/department/whatever for these sorts of investments, for example, and they're not the only ones. I get the impression that investment banker was brought to that meeting to tell Gary, yes, my company has an agreement with Krause to finance the purchase of the team and possibly the arena.

 

[tucker3434]

I hope there's somebody else. Or that Krause is just shockingly wealthy, but I kinda doubt that. Atlanta 3.0 is definitely not the place you want to start out completely leveraged. Owners being cash strapped due to poor investments or economic downturn is not an uncommon way for a team to fail. The cost of doing business in the NHL has increased so much in the last 20 years, you can't just have a billion dollar net worth anymore and be comfortable.

But if talks with the NHL have advanced to the point that we believe they have, I'd assume that hurdle has already been cleared.

 

[sneakytitz]

I hope there's somebody else. Or that Krause is just shockingly wealthy, but I kinda doubt that. Atlanta 3.0 is definitely not the place you want to start out completely leveraged. Owners being cash strapped due to poor investments or economic downturn is not an uncommon way for a team to fail. The cost of doing business in the NHL has increased so much in the last 20 years, you can't just have a billion dollar net worth anymore and be comfortable.

But if talks with the NHL have advanced to the point that we believe they have, I'd assume that hurdle has already been cleared.

Just crunching some numbers here, Motor1 says new car dealerships average $7.1 million in profit each year. Krause owns 25 dealerships, with 9 being luxury brands. Let's just bump it up to $10 million for argument's sake since his dealerships are either high-volume or high-volume luxury brands, so I imagine he's a good bit above average. That is $250 million in profit a year. Using low/average estimates, that's still $175 million. And he owns them, he's not part of a group - he is the CEO/owner.

This guy has serious, serious money.

 

[RBH]

An agreement to commit millions in taxpayer dollars to support a Forsyth County arena trying to woo an NHL franchise back to Georgia was greenlit Tuesday — albeit after undergoing a significant overhaul and some last-minute changes.

Forsyth commissioners voted 4-1 to approve a memorandum of understanding for $225 million in bond financing for the proposed 18,500-seat arena at The Gathering at South Forsyth, a $2 billion mixed-use project. That’s considerably smaller than the $390 million package disclosed to the public in January when commissioners approved an earlier non-binding deal.

But the decrease in public incentives is offset with cheaper rent payments for the developer and the county receiving less money per ticket sold at the arena.

To obtain the taxpayer support, developer Vernon Krause must still land an NHL expansion franchise, despite league leaders saying they aren’t looking to expand at this time.

The $2 billion Gathering project is of an unprecedented scale for Forsyth, one of the metro area’s fastest-growing counties, and it has prompted some heartburn over its number of apartments, potential public subsidies and promise of bringing big-city events to the wealthy and conservative suburban enclave. Commissioner Todd Levent, the sole dissenting vote, warned his colleagues against letting their guard down for the pursuit of pro sports.

“If we’re putting a glistening carrot out there to attract all of this over hockey, great,” Levent said during three hours of debate Tuesday. “But let’s make sure that we’re protected and not looking at a (hooked) worm that we bite real quick and they snatch us up.”

On Wednesday, Krause said he was “shocked and extremely disappointed” by some of the changes, which followed months of negotiations. He said in a news release that his team will evaluate whether to proceed after the commissioners tweaked some of the multi-phased project’s timeline and asked for more ticket revenue.

GDPR Support

 

[sneakytitz]

They asked for more ticket sales, or rather Cindy Mill Jones said she asked and was told no, but that was not part of updates. The issue is when the arena must be completed, or rather how far along they must be with it, before building the remaining dwelling units.

 

[nhlfan79]

The lawyer in me thinks he got done a little raw, if these are changes he does not like substantively. The vote was supposed to be on negotiated terms, which the commissioners then unilaterally changed before voting. These are terms that he did not agree to.

I think this is more than just bluster or public posturing.

 

[sneakytitz]

The lawyer in me thinks he got done a little raw, if these are changes he does not like substantively. The vote was supposed to be on negotiated terms, which the commissioners then unilaterally changed before voting. These are terms that he did not agree to.

I think this is more than just bluster or public posturing.

Small county government meeting actual businessmen.

 

[Bijelo]

Atlanta would go.

The league grows.

Artist name for Atlanta?

 

[nhlfan79]

Anson speaks.

https://x.com/AnsonCarterLA/status/1773426363162091542?s=20