Updated: Another suitor for the Thrashers?
In response to a television report that once again named a filmmaker as an interested party in purchasing the Thrashers, team president Don Waddell issued the following statement on Friday afternoon. It indicates that another party this week expressed an interest in the Thrashers to keep the team in Atlanta.
Here is the statement:
“Along with all other groups who have expressed an interest in pursuing an ownership opportunity, which has happened as recently as earlier this week, we have said continuously that ‘until an agreement is signed and approved by the board of governors, it’s never too late but they will have to move very quickly and decisively. Ownership still is committed to selling at a greatly reduced price to anyone committed to Atlanta.’ ”
The potential suitor stepped forward Thursday and would be considered in the preliminary stages of interest. The introduction of the possible suitor to the Spirit may have come from a season-ticket holder. A great deal of work would need to be done, if proven a serious suitor, and time is an issue.
As I reported Friday, negotiations with True North to sell and relocate the Thrashers to Winnipeg continue, but a deal is not done. Should it be completed, it won’t be done before Tuesday following the Memorial Day weekend.
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384 comments Add your comment
G52PlM228© snow monkeys don't deserve the NHL..ATLANTA THRASHERS FOREVER!!
May 29th, 2011
7:52 pm
sea monkeys have all me money
TheAntiMe
May 29th, 2011
8:02 pm
Just want to say thanks to Pegger8 for demonstrating that most of the folks from Winnipeg do have class. Cheers!
Get The Puck Out
May 29th, 2011
8:11 pm
WHO ARE THESE BLOGGERS? All but a few of the bloggers that i have associated with are GONE. AJC has got to get control of this. I applaude all my blogging friends for not associating with these trolls. Maybe we can talk some more when all the blog trash has gone. GO THRASHER’S!!
litz
May 29th, 2011
8:20 pm
Nah, not gone … just not willing to provide ammunition for the trolls.
Sooner or later this will be over one way or another, and we can return to our regularly scheduled programming.
G52PlM228© snow monkeys don't deserve the NHL..ATLANTA THRASHERS FOREVER!!
May 29th, 2011
8:23 pm
Glendale ownz… i ain’t leaving… sucka
c. todaro
May 29th, 2011
8:30 pm
why are theyre people in atlanta that are hoping to keep the team there nobody goes to the games its not and never will be a hockey market and you have the falcons braves and hawks . also tru north does not need the jets they are making a killing on the moose and will never overpay im amazed they would even agree to the 60 mill. tranfer fee where the hell else would the nhl put this team bettman better be careful here before he blows this sale true north will not put up with much more of this they need to start selling season tickets one way or the other
G52PlM228© snow monkeys don't deserve the NHL..ATLANTA THRASHERS FOREVER!!
May 29th, 2011
8:30 pm
will someone answer that damn phone
now monkeys don't deserve the NHL..ATLANTA THRASHERS FOREVER!!
May 29th, 2011
8:35 pm
Come on little stalker buddy, you can talk to old G, did it make you mad at all that the Coyotes did not move..
G52PlM228© snow monkeys don't deserve the NHL..ATLANTA THRASHERS FOREVER!!
May 29th, 2011
8:38 pm
feels like i’m talking to myself
now monkeys don't deserve the NHL..ATLANTA THRASHERS FOREVER!!
May 29th, 2011
8:43 pm
word
@G52homo228
May 29th, 2011
8:59 pm
G52 is a meth head just like the rest of the good people of Phoenix. Not only does he reply to his own posts, he replies to the replies. Either he’s impotent or is likely a janitor or both. He tries to compensate for the frustration he feels constantly in his meaningless life by trying to stir people up in meaningless sports blogs. Future serial killer for sure.
I’m sure that after the Thrashers end up staying in Atlanta he’ll go to Dallas blogs or St Louis or wherever the hell else the NHL uses Winnipeg as the gun-to-the-head to extort money from somebody.
Keep whackin off G52, maybe you’ll pull it off.
now monkeys don't deserve the NHL..ATLANTA THRASHERS FOREVER!!
May 29th, 2011
9:05 pm
glendale forever
now monkeys don't deserve the NHL..ATLANTA THRASHERS FOREVER!!
May 29th, 2011
9:12 pm
too bad atlanta sucks. losing your second team. black mark forever.
@G52homo228
May 29th, 2011
9:14 pm
http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/Deputies-serve-warrants-on-suspected-dog-fighters-104412454.html
ATLfan
May 29th, 2011
9:16 pm
am I in manitoba site? G52… and rest of elks get outta here…AJC is for atlanta fans
now monkeys don't deserve the NHL..ATLANTA THRASHERS FOREVER!!
May 29th, 2011
9:17 pm
seals suck anyways. I prefer the dolphin that comes with my tuna
@G25hoblow228
May 29th, 2011
9:23 pm
There’s as many seals in Manitoba as there are dolphins in Arizona. G52 is another product of the 3rd world public education system in the United States.
@G25hoblow228
May 29th, 2011
9:38 pm
Too dumb for dolphins. Cold you can overcome, stuipidity you cannot.
its imminent
May 29th, 2011
9:40 pm
I”m sorry Atlanta thrashers fans,big money there does not want a hockey team,they don’t know how to run a hockey team (big money don’t). Winnipeg gains from your failure(big money) (Canada twice) any Atlanta thrashers fan’s who come to future NHL game’s in WPG wear your Atlanta thrashers jersey.I am positive that the Winnipeg NHL (don’t know new name yet)fans around you will treat you to as many beer as you can drink to help you drowned your sorrows and hope you embrace the team like are going to,WARNING DRINK SLOW SO AS YOU DON’T PASS OUT BY THE END OF THE FIRST PERIOD THE BEER HERE IS STRONGER
its imminent
May 29th, 2011
10:04 pm
PBR is the best, rotflmao
now monkeys don't deserve the NHL..ATLANTA THRASHERS FOREVER!!
May 29th, 2011
10:08 pm
i prefer semen… slides down easy
its imminent
May 29th, 2011
10:40 pm
“roundhouse kick” ROOAAD HOOOUUSSSEEE
MrBill
May 29th, 2011
11:15 pm
Mr Bill
May 29th, 2011
11:10 pm
To late for Thrashers to move if you think about it, just think of everything that has to go on in Winnipeg to get ready for season thats only a few months away. Training camp starts in September, they have to get a team name uniforms but before that you have free agency and Atlanta has some free agents also you have a draft coming up plus they have to get a staff in place looks like they won’t keep Dudley or Ramsey also a test ticket drive has to be done to see if Winnipegers will committ to three years of Season Tickets also the NHL needs to consider they have an arena that will hold 15000 and we averaged just over 13000 this season. Just think they are trying to fill up about 1500-2000 more seats not that big of a deal. They need an Arena that will hold atleast 18000 or 19000, also lets say you have 15000 a game that is still average and its not a sell out compared to other arenas. Even if you get 15000 a game and there are another 3-4000 who want to get in well they won’t be able to. That means they lose money. If I were True North I would seriously consider walking away from this because they won’t be able to get good quality players and the end result they will be left out in the cold a financial melt down. If I were them I would have that arena expanded so it could sit more people because its the NHL and not the AHL and right now its not NHL ready, I don’t care what they say.
@Mr Bill
May 29th, 2011
11:30 pm
Would you clowns once and for all forget about the attendance?! Winnipeg could sell 10000 tickets a game and still make more money than the Thrashers.
By your logic if the Thrashers had 18,500 people a game who paid 5 bucks a ticket then having a team in Atlanta would be better than having a team in Winnipeg because Winnipeg has less seats. ( really it was 13,500 seats a game at 5 bucks a piece that Thrashers were selling)
REVENUE!!!!!!! Look it up on the internet, if you know what that is.
ATLfan
May 29th, 2011
11:47 pm
@Mr Bill : you are the clown… where did you see games with tickets for 5 bucks? You probably have no ideas about thrashers situation and came to this site to troll?
its imminent
May 30th, 2011
12:06 am
Enter your commenWinnipeg Jets Saskatchewan Fan Clubts here
TheAntiMe
May 30th, 2011
12:11 am
Would you clowns once and for all forget about the attendance?! Winnipeg could sell 10000 tickets a game and still make more money than the Thrashers.
I must admit that the new Winnipeg ownership’s strategy for attracting fans is well thought out. Because there is little chance that such a small-time little barf bag of a town can possibly hold it’s own with the rest of the league in attendance the ownership has announced what will be an ongoing promotion for all home games.
During intermission, the first 500 fans at each home game will get to bend over and crack a smile for Bullwinkle Moose. That’s one promotion that is sure to pack ‘em in!!!
Fred Klein
May 30th, 2011
12:28 am
If the Thrashers do move to Canada, the new team should be called the “Winnipeg Carpetbaggers”.
its imminent
May 30th, 2011
12:29 am
we don’t have to beat the rest of the league in attendance ,we will always be in the middle when it comes to attendance not 2nd or 3rd last
thrasherdawg
May 30th, 2011
12:45 am
The Hawks’ final regular-season average of 15,648 fans represented a 5.4 percent decline from the previous season.
The Thrashers, who still belong to Atlanta for a few more days, retreated by less than 1 percent to 13,489, 28th in the NHL.
Obviously all the money going to the Hawks. Play-off team and that’s all they can get ? Thrashers only 8% less in attendence with no payroll. We are not a basketball town. All the owners spend money on basketball at the expense of the hockey team…it’ all smoke and mirriors.
Livetoride
May 30th, 2011
1:19 am
As many of you requested to have us Canadians leave this site, we will. But I guess you still need 80% of our players to support NHL in any state. Americans rule Football, Canadians rule Hockey. Thats the way it is. G52’s comments remind me of my teen daughters fighting with all the disrespect and imature comments based on his or her ignorance. Profanity is a lazy mind trying to express itself forcefully.
Getthepuckouttahere
May 30th, 2011
1:59 am
Mr. Bill spends so much time tryingtot impress us with his verbal BS, such as the team will undoubtedly be here next season and he has a grand he’ll put up that he’s remained relatively quiet whenever I’ve asked him to raise it to $5,000. Like CViv they send more time talking out their butt they neglect to inform you that this deal per owner Michael Gearon is over 80% compete with the group from Winnipeg. Talk about holding onto the drea,, CViv, why not spare the copy/paste time and just concentrate on sending reumes to the Village Voice or maybe AutoTrader. You hardly can consider yourself an investigative journalist and Bill, those welfare checks your betting will take so much time to even equal $1,000 you’d be better of pan handling outside of CNN center while dispensing pencils in a cup with blacked out glasses pretending to be a blind man.
If it’s a real story on the sale you’re looking for, contact FOX Atlanta and or MichaelGearon, this team is gone. CViv, he’s hanging on because he’s in such denial he’s had nothing new to report for 2 plus weeks now. Same headline, no deal yet…key word YET! It’s over.
Hockey is gone, there’s no new group coming in when this deal is so close to being complete (where were they all these ptential local buyers weeks before, only now, with a few pages left to close it out they appear, what a bunch of suckers) I’m suddenly growing the hair on y palms. What I’m waiting for is when this is a totally doen deal and I can come here, crucify this blogger for leading you on and the really taking to task these so-called hockey fans that insist there’s a local person toying with this team like a mouse in a corner before the kill! Unfortunately it’s not going to happen. But if CViv says it is, rest assured, it’s NOT!!!! Why not try to get a reporter from Hokey NEws, the Boston GLobee like Bob Ryan or even Barry Melrose to actually call the NHL front office, or ASG’s front of ffice and see if they can even come close to what this hack has been routinely ramming down your through throat which is the same thing daily, the only difference the daily cost of the paper. Notice CViv isn’t even denying he’s more out of the loop than virutualy eevery other credibe sport writr in this country. Someone should pull his press pass away. …oh wait a minute they will….once th Thrashers leave, and eh’ll go bac to covering the flower show or the Real housewives off Atalnata! Good Luck with that….inquiring minds want to know!!!
its imminent
May 30th, 2011
2:03 am
correct me if im wrong ,i don’t care im a modest Canadian and deal in fact not BS.the league avg this year was 17,132 . Atlanta’s avg was 13,469(72% capacity) ,MTS Center(Winnipeg) capacity is 15,015 they are expanding box seating right now.the seating capacity when the renovations are done ? is there going to be more general seating included in the renovations ? from what I’ve read ,announced attendance at Atlanta thrashers games is exaggerated every game. I have seen pictures of the arena when the Atlanta thrashers play, you must get alot more blizzards then we ever do.There is the rule about supply and demand ,never let your supply exceed your demand (seating) i enjoy a good argument but lets deal in facts ,yes the BOG fact is really starting to bother me, but its true in the end it just might kill hockey in Winnipeg next year not anyone or group in Atlanta
Getthepuckouttahere
May 30th, 2011
2:03 am
Excuse the typo’s, breaking in my new laptop! Fact remains – CViv is a hack, has no news to report…tomrrow’s headlline….”Sale is not complete yet – no news to report, could take another week or so”….where have we heard that before?????
Getthepuckouttahere
May 30th, 2011
2:06 am
et The Puck Out
May 29th, 2011
8:11 pm
WHO ARE THESE BLOGGERS? All but a few of the bloggers that i have associated with are GONE. AJC has got to get control of this. I applaude all my blogging friends for not associating with these trolls. Maybe we can talk some more when all the blog trash has gone. GO THRASHER’S!!
GO THRASHERS…OUT OF ATLANTA WHERE PRO HOCKEY WILL NEVER EVER RETURN AGAIN!!!!!
Getthepuckouttahere
May 30th, 2011
2:11 am
At least wth Monkeys you need only give them a banana and they’ll be more than happy to watch a game where ATL loses by 6-8 goals a game!!!!
Getthepuckouttahere
May 30th, 2011
2:16 am
Mr. Bill …me and G52 want our money!!!! But you talk out of both sides of your mputh. No tem next season, well not in Atlanta….and you also don’t have $1,000 either. Two true facts, you’d have to seel that traler you live n, and it even if you did it’ not worth the $1,000 each you’d owe us for thinking there will be a hokey team here next season. Dream on, Dream on, Drean unitl those dreams come true!!!!
Getthepuckouttahere
May 30th, 2011
2:21 am
Let me guess the last minute buyer for the Thrashers is Mr Rogers? Or is it CViv who will only keep his job if he’s able to assemble a group to keep him on the payroll.
I hear a carnival in the midwest is lookng fo someone to guess the weight of the fat lady, and since you’re wrong about everything else, what’s the difference? Th fact is you’ll remain consistent, no facts to back you up heresay and if the price is right you’ll tell everyone what they want to hear right You’ve made a career of doinjg that since you got here. Try a blogging career down in Jackson Mississippi. I hear Jackson State and that corrupt AD Robert Braddy Sr, (whose son is in federal prison in Atlanta for tax evasion is looking for someone to spin all kinds of BS!!!) I can even give you a reference through the attorney we used to sure the both!!!!
Guffman
May 30th, 2011
3:11 am
I think it is better to have a 15,000 seat arena in Winnipeg as opposed to 17,000. Really, adding 2,000 nose bleed seats does not make or break a team. Having a smaller capacity will make tickets more scarce and thus in hot demand.
The worst situation to be in is to be like Atlanta. People know that they can always buy a ticket as a walk-up, and therefore don’t need to commit in advance. Buying season tickets at full value is stupid when they deeply discount tickets during the season. It just creates downward pressure on ticket revenue.
15,000 seats in Winnipeg is fine. If they create ticket scarcity and force people to commit in advance, they will generate plenty of revenue per ticket.
BigMomma2
May 30th, 2011
6:17 am
When will you sheep realize the reason no local buyer has stepped up is because buying the Thrashers is a bad investment. Don’t you think if anyone with money thought there was a .000000000000001% of ever making money they would have stepped up? Don’t feed me this 13,500 average attendance either.
now monkeys don't deserve the NHL..ATLANTA THRASHERS FOREVER!!
May 30th, 2011
6:23 am
OK as bad as loserpeg is, atlanta is worse
they have the worst sports fans PERIOD.
that is why the BoG will save Glendale and not you idiots
TheAntiMe
May 30th, 2011
6:26 am
maybe if they were named the Klan, more people in Atlantla would have shown up.
G52PlM228© snow monkeys don't deserve the NHL..ATLANTA THRASHERS FOREVER!!
May 30th, 2011
6:28 am
it’s ATLANTA genious. I agree “Klan” is a sexier name than thrashers.
G Connor
May 30th, 2011
7:21 am
Like I have stated before, you need to get someone to promote the game in the Atlanta area to create a fan base.
A film maker realizes that inorder to get people to see a move you have to promote it, this might be your solution to keep your team.
I like all Canadian would like to see another team back in Canada, but would also like to see the game become the best sport in the world aswell.
ATLThrasher
May 30th, 2011
8:10 am
Well, since we are all here talking about NHL matters and getting along so well. How about we talk about hockey . . .
Which team do u think will win the Finals? Canucks or Bruins?
I think Canucks win in 6.
WINnipeg Jets
May 30th, 2011
8:30 am
A “film maker”? LOL.
Sorry, but this is just a story made up to get more leverage from True North.
True North will call the bluff and the deal will be done this week.
hockeyfan
May 30th, 2011
9:18 am
Sorry folks but even with the new “potential” buyer, this deal is done. From all sources, the deal will be completed either by tomorrow and announcement is expected by Thursday.
For those following the Coyotes, they are not out of the woods either. City Council still have to pass the motion and come up with the rest of the money for the NHL. Failing that, the team is still up for grabs. 50m for 2 years of renting a team; that imo, is worse than what TNSE is paying for the Thrashers.
Lowest bidder
May 30th, 2011
9:27 am
I too have decided to make a bid for the Thrashers. Can anyone find the link on ebay for me?
Can the Blog
May 30th, 2011
9:48 am
Chris, on behalf of the “real” fans of the team and your blogs, I think it is time to shut the blog down. This blog is being populated by morons and is making a bad situation worse.
its imminent
May 30th, 2011
9:51 am
sale price of the Atlanta team 170 mil ,110 mil to ASG ,60 mil to NHL. From what i’ve read the reason the NHL wants 60 mil is so that they have Winnipeg pay for Phoenix’s loses next year