Thrashers Bombshell: Owners have wanted to sell since 2005

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peter sullivan

Winnipeg
Apr 9, 2010
2,356
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The Thrashers, currently, have no such "renegade" trying to purchase them and therefore the NHL is allowing the franchise to crumble to pieces with the eventual intent of selling it to an owner and moving it on their terms, per the league constitution.?

it seems to me that the NHL had one of the richest men on earth approach them to become part of their club and they looked around to see where they could fit him in....phoenix was available but had a determined civic government willing to prop the team up for the next 23 years....the next best option is a team with a fractured ownership group that isnt all that influential wanting out of the game.

someone has to lose...either the NHL tells thomson he is not welcome or they find a team for him....atlanta might be that low hanging fruit that they can pick off without much backlash.
 

Evil Doctor

Cryin' Hank crying
Apr 29, 2009
2,400
6
Cambridge, ON
Hopefully that doesn't result in bankruptcy court and then some Coyotesesque two-year saga.

Bankruptcy court wouldn't be necessarily a bad thing. In 2009 (I think) the Chicago Cubs used bankruptcy court to expedite it's sale to new owners. It's just another tool in the legal toolbox.
 

Finlandia WOAT

js7.4x8fnmcf5070124
May 23, 2010
24,135
23,681
it seems to me that the NHL had one of the richest men on earth approach them to become part of their club and they looked around to see where they could fit him in....phoenix was available but had a determined civic government willing to prop the team up for the next 23 years....the next best option is a team with a fractured ownership group that isnt all that influential wanting out of the game.

someone has to lose...either the NHL tells thomson he is not welcome or they find a team for him....atlanta might be that low hanging fruit that they can pick off without much backlash.

If the NHL didn't accommodate for Balsillie, why in the world would they accommodate for Thompson??

Because he is rich?
 

Whileee

Registered User
May 29, 2010
46,061
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The league has no intention of ever letting either team move. That much is obvious. Their mentions of Winnipeg and Quebec are little more than lip service.

The reason given for this so far has been that the NHL wants to "grow the game." That is bogus. The reason there are teams in Southern cities is that, quite simply, there's a better chance of getting a big TV contract in the U.S. when there are more Atlantas and Phoenixes and fewer Winnipegs and Quebecs. Hell, if the NHL could move all the Canadian teams (save Montreal and Toronto - someone has to keep the coffers full) down south today, they'd do it in an instant. Anything to get ESPN or NBC or whoever to sign that cheque every year.

Even if I bought this argument, ownership issues trump these considerations. If the NHL can't find a buyer to keep the teams in these cities, these cities will not have an NHL franchise. Phoenix is down to its last chance. Atlanta's owners have wanted to sell for 6 years, and I think that there is reason to believe that the odds are stacked against a local owner. How will a new owner in Atlanta hope for a financially viable operation while sharing the arena with Atlanta Spirit? The general goals of the NHL certainly include maintaining the current geographic footprint. But they can't force owners to buy teams in cities if the economic model doesn't work. I know that it seems a bit prosaic given Bettman's grand vision, but at the end of the day relatively straightforward business principles apply.
 

Fugu

Guest
Obviously, they are looking to recoup their losses.

and also obviously, there is no potential buyer now who will keep the team in Atlanta.

So Spirit has two choices.

1 - sell to someone who will move the team (what Daly has been threatening will happen).

2 - get some bucks out of this lawsuit. Hey - they may have a case, but who wants to wait the 5 to 10 years for it to go through the system?

(literary reference alert warning.)

Just rename Philips Arena, Bleak House and be done with it.


edit - and how much of that $130 mil in losses is rent they pay to themselves as operators of the arena and concession revenue that's counted on the arena side of the books and not on the teams?

Nice Dickens reference.


All those rumors seemed to have something to them.
 

Finlandia WOAT

js7.4x8fnmcf5070124
May 23, 2010
24,135
23,681
Even if I bought this argument, ownership issues trump these considerations. If the NHL can't find a buyer to keep the teams in these cities, these cities will not have an NHL franchise. Phoenix is down to its last chance. Atlanta's owners have wanted to sell for 6 years, and I think that there is reason to believe that the odds are stacked against a local owner. How will a new owner in Atlanta hope for a financially viable operation while sharing the arena with Atlanta Spirit? The general goals of the NHL certainly include maintaining the current geographic footprint. But they can't force owners to buy teams in cities if the economic model doesn't work. I know that it seems a bit prosaic given Bettman's grand vision, but at the end of the day relatively straightforward business principles apply.

Which is why any deal is going to either have all three assets owned by Atlanta Spirit sold to the same buyer (which could be a lucrative deal), or, the much more likely course, a deal is brokered around dual ownership of the arena, while one party gets the Thrashers, and the Atlanta Spirit keeps the Hawks.

BTW, I believe that relocation is going to be the final option in this series, due to the fact that;

1. The no-out clause that Atlanta Spirit signed, and
2. The amount of money it would take to break the deal with the arena (I'm going to go out on a whim and say that Atlanta Spirit is not paying for that).
 

Mr. Canucklehead

Kitimat Canuck
Dec 14, 2002
39,974
29,798
Kitimat, BC
If the NHL didn't accommodate for Balsillie, why in the world would they accommodate for Thompson??

Because he is rich?

Because to this point, Thompson has played by the rules. Balsillie came in with demands and conditional offers and an attempt to circumvent the league's constitution with a move. There have been no such aggressive tactics from Thompson and his group, which is why I believe that if the NHL were going to allow a team to be sold and subsequently moved, it would be sold to Thompson and TNSE.
 

Whileee

Registered User
May 29, 2010
46,061
33,043
May I make the rather dull observation that at this point what happens in the ownership situations in Phoenix and Atlanta, and the fate of TNSE's efforts to obtain an NHL franchise for Winnipeg has very little to do with the "future of the game", or "returning to hockey's roots", or Bettman's "sunbelt strategy". Instead, it is all about whether local sales can be made in those cities. If Hulsizer is successful in purchasing the Coyotes and the NHL can find a buyer to keep the Thrashers in Atlanta, there is no way that the NHL would consider selling either team to TNSE, regardless of Thomson's riches and reputation. Conversely, if a local sale in either city is not possible, the NHL needs to find an owner that is suitable as an NHL owner, willing and able to pay the franchise price, and has a suitable arena and lease arrangement for a financially viable operation. Right now, the NHL has signaled that TNSE is that option.
 

Whileee

Registered User
May 29, 2010
46,061
33,043
Which is why any deal is going to either have all three assets owned by Atlanta Spirit sold to the same buyer (which could be a lucrative deal), or, the much more likely course, a deal is brokered around dual ownership of the arena, while one party gets the Thrashers, and the Atlanta Spirit keeps the Hawks.

BTW, I believe that relocation is going to be the final option in this series, due to the fact that;

1. The no-out clause that Atlanta Spirit signed, and
2. The amount of money it would take to break the deal with the arena (I'm going to go out on a whim and say that Atlanta Spirit is not paying for that).

Relocation is always the final option. But it comes right after an ownership group wanting to sell and not being able to complete a local sale. I think the only viable option would be a local sale of the whole kit and kaboodle. I can't see how it would work to share the arena in that setting. But on what basis do you think that Atlanta Spirit has any interest in selling the Hawks?
 
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Finlandia WOAT

js7.4x8fnmcf5070124
May 23, 2010
24,135
23,681
Relocation is always the final option. But it comes right after an ownership group wanting to sell and not being able to complete a local sale. I think the only viable option would be a local sale of the whole kit and kaboodle. I can't see how it would work to share the arena in that setting. But on what basis do you think that Atlanta Spirit has any interest in selling the Hawks?

They don't. Atlanta Spirit wants to own the Hawks.

Which makes this news very interesting.
 

VOB

Registered User
Feb 27, 2002
1,692
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Michigan
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And so G.B's house of cards begins to fall......Atlanta today, the Coyotes next week and soon Florida and then perhaps Columbus.

At the end of the day, its about money folks and if you can't make it then you have to run.
 

Bear of Bad News

Your Third or Fourth Favorite HFBoards Admin
Sep 27, 2005
13,361
26,528
And so G.B's house of cards begins to fall......Atlanta today, the Coyotes next week and soon Florida and then perhaps Columbus.

At the end of the day, its about money folks and if you can't make it then you have to run.

That's one of the best "jump to conclusions" examples I've seen on these boards in awhile. I'm only surprised that you didn't find a way to add in Dallas and San Jose.
 

Whileee

Registered User
May 29, 2010
46,061
33,043
They don't. Atlanta Spirit wants to own the Hawks.

Which makes this news very interesting.

I think that makes this news very troubling. I think that the likelihood of a new local owner wanting to buy just the Thrashers and then trying to hammer out a financially viable plan to share the use of the arena with Atlanta Spirit and the Hawks is low. But time will tell.
 

Killion

Registered User
Feb 19, 2010
36,763
3,211
You know, that explains quite a few of the NHL's otherwise-incomprehensible actions. The ludicrosity they've engaged in in Phoenix makes more sense if they knew they had an "immediate" relocation situation in Atlanta that could go off at any moment.

:huh: :laugh: The rest of CT?. Yepp.

...but I wonder if the NHL's passive efforts with respect to Atlanta vs. their dogged determination to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix is tied quite simply to Jim Balsillie?

Initially that was clearly their motivation. However, with the exception of advancing Moyes a chunk of change fall 08 they were "passive" with respect to Phoenix; passive with Koules/Barrie until it became untenable, passive in Sunrise, passive in Dallas......just, err, you know, passive.....:)

Wouldn't that be some strange sort of twisted poetic justice if, hypothetically, ATL were to move to QC and they won a Stanley Cup that year? haha I would be interested to hear Killion's post if something like that were to happen :D

Wouldnt happen. They'd never get out of the Eastern Conference and past the Leafs roccerfeller. No one will again. Starting next year. You just watch.
:baghead:
 

dfk711*

Guest
Take a look at the Thrashers attendance figures from the lockout, when they wanted to sell, through now.

How much do you think they put into creating a winning product? How much do you think they spent on cultivating fanbase for a team they didn't even want to own 10 years in the future?

Hopefully a local owner comes forward.

I hope Arthur Blank buys the team
 

Telfo

THRASHERS(and Golden Knights too)
Oct 31, 2008
4,889
4
Atlanta, GA
Mod: deleted.

everything implies they could have sold the team easily after the lockout and the lawsuit prevented them from doing that.

nothing says that nobody ever wanted the team. unfortunately they spent 6 years running it into the ground and now it will be a lot harder to find a buyer than it was 5 years ago.

who knows what will happen, all this lawsuit proves is that all the fans that have been saying Atlanta Spirit doesnt care about the team at all were right all along, and that they lied for years claiming that the team was never for sale.

they got a sweetheart deal on both teams and the arena, clearly the original plan was to flip the thrashers ASAP after the purchase and try to make a quick profit, that plan got derailed by the first lawsuit...unfortunately everyone (fans and owners) would be a lot happier if they competent enough to carry out there own plan from the beginning.

we dont want them just as much as they dont want us
 
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Telfo

THRASHERS(and Golden Knights too)
Oct 31, 2008
4,889
4
Atlanta, GA
I asked this earlier in the thread (and probably missed the response)

Is Atlanta one of the "in danger" teams of threatened contraction by the NBA?

no not at all, Atlanta Spirit loves there basketball team, Thrashers were just something that had to be included. they dont care and never have
 

CC Chiefs*

Guest
everything implies they could have sold the team easily after the lockout and the lawsuit prevented them from doing that.

nothing says that nobody ever wanted the team. unfortunately they spent 6 years running it into the ground and now it will be a lot harder to find a buyer than it was 5 years ago.

who knows what will happen, all this lawsuit proves is that all the fans that have been saying Atlanta Spirit doesnt care about the team at all were right all along, and that they lied for years claiming that the team was never for sale.

they got a sweetheart deal on both teams and the arena, clearly the original plan was to flip the thrashers ASAP after the purchase and try to make a quick profit, that plan got derailed by the first lawsuit...unfortunately everyone (fans and owners) would be a lot happier if they competent enough to carry out there own plan from the beginning.

we dont want them just as much as they dont want us

But 130m in losses? Please explain that.
 

Telfo

THRASHERS(and Golden Knights too)
Oct 31, 2008
4,889
4
Atlanta, GA
But 130m in losses? Please explain that.

what is there to explain? that is there claimed number, which is 100% going to be inflated as much as possible for the purpose of trying to win the lawsuit.

obviously they have lost money, but that number has to be taken with a grain of salt considering the source. they own the arena too, the team "pays" the arena rent and whatnot, it all goes to the same people.
 

Dado

Guest
what is there to explain? that is there claimed number, which is 100% going to be inflated as much as possible for the purpose of trying to win the lawsuit.

Geez, this is total deja vu to the phoenix situation, circa 24 months ago.

"What is there to explain", indeed.
 

CC Chiefs*

Guest
what is there to explain? that is there claimed number, which is 100% going to be inflated as much as possible for the purpose of trying to win the lawsuit.

obviously they have lost money, but that number has to be taken with a grain of salt considering the source. they own the arena too, the team "pays" the arena rent and whatnot, it all goes to the same people.

So explain why a new owner would want to get involved in this mess?
 
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