Bettman wants to make Thrashers’ sale hurt for Spirit

Said team, meant group.

• Link
• Report this comment

Aaron I hate to tell you this but the Hawks have been held back by these guys already.

• Link
• Report this comment

Is there no window of opportunity for a Local bidder to step in now and make an offer that see’s ASG profit more than from relocation?

It would seem ASG stands to gain more by just accepting a $110 million offer locally.

• Link
• Report this comment

If nobody wants the team in Atlanta- it needs to move. If Bettman kills the ASG then it will kill the Hawks and hopefully they will be forced to sell the Hawks- which it looks like is in the works.

The ASG makes the Smith’s (former owner of the Falcons) look like geniuses.

• Link
• Report this comment

anyone know where these “Spirit” guys live. Why aren’t they being held accountable for destroying hockey in Atlanta forever. Haven’t heard a peep from them, but I guess thats just par for the course.

• Link
• Report this comment

Jeff, can you please do what no one else seems to be doing in the media and actually post the attendence numbers averages for the Thrashers and then compare them to “traditional” hockey teams who have gone through ups and downs (i.e. the Blackhawks)? I’ve seen them and none of it supports ASG’s smear campaign about lack of hockey fans in Atlanta. When the Blackhawks sucked – their fans didn’t show up either. It’s true of any NHL team. Then, compare our numbers against Winnipeg’s attendence when they had the Jets… then, tell me that this all isn’t about what I’m calling a $60 million “bounty” on the heads of the Thrashers -to pay back the NHL owners.

Not to mention, there has NEVER been a relocation fee when teams were moved in the past. Not for Phoenix, not for Dallas, nor anyone else.

I’m sick of the lies from ASG and the NHL. Bettman is just as much a scumbag as Levenson. I realize that the NHL is a business – but don’t lie to me and say you care about the fans and are doing everything you can to support them. Just own it -you’re here for money, not integrity of the game.

• Link
• Report this comment

Without a major TV deal in place,a great deal of a team’s revenue comes from ticket sales. At a 72% occupancy,the Thrashers just don’t cut it. What does Winnipeg offer? Sold out houses for the only game in town. Looks like Atlanta deserves to be 2 time losers.

• Link
• Report this comment

@blondie.
very true, blackhawks attendance did tank when they have poor ownership and only improved with them finally getting TV coverage locally.

as for the Jets, you can’t compare those number from the early 90’s. but they did bring in about 13K a year. the new team in Winnipeg will be soldout for many years.

the issue about relocation fee is also true. it does appear the nhl is paying off their loss in phoenix by this deal.

sorry about having to have the Thrashers move, Atlanta is far more classy in this whole ordeal than Phoenix, but it doesn’t change the bad news. don’t know what to say – we lost them 16 years ago and it was like the heart of the city being ripped out and never healing.

• Link
• Report this comment

Could we please have a 3-4 year prolonged lawsuit after the sale that eventually ends up in the worthless scum that is the ASG suing ANOTHER law firm?

It will be a grand day when the wrecking ball gets taken to Phillips Arena.

• Link
• Report this comment

As a Winnipegger, if this really is happening, please know the majority of us here feel very bad for you true hockey fans. Ignore the folks who say stupid things, this is not indicative of who we are. Winnipeg will go ape over the return of the NHL, but at the same time understand the difficult situation it must be. We have been there. you can always come and say hi, we love you American types

• Link
• Report this comment

I’m a hardcore Thrashers fan and would love to fight to the death to keep the Thrashers in Atlanta. However, there is not a damn thing I can do about it, and it’s inevitable they’re gone. Thus, go ahead and get the hell out of town now and stop dragging this out into a long goodbye.

FASG!

• Link
• Report this comment

Here’s some breaking news… the Thrashers have officially released their new fight song, linked below. Beauty, eh?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BFPt001PYU&playnext=1&list=PLD84F644DE9D43FFA

• Link
• Report this comment

As an 18-year resident of Atlanta, transplanted from the north, here are some impartial observations about the Thrashers situation. And yes, my sympathies to Thrashers’ fans…it’s never good to lose a team.
1) Harder to fill hockey seats in a town where a large proportion of the long-term hockey fans grew up rooting for their home teams and still want to root for them (Pens, Rangers, Flyers, etc…).
2) Harder to fill hockey seats when the arena is downtown and the vast majority of the fanbase lives 30-60 north in the burbs.
3) Even harder yet to fill hockey seats when there is, in many ways, a more family/budget-friendly hockey option available in the burbs (Gwinnett Gladiators — yes it’s ECHL hockey, but if you’re looking for a family entertainment option and value, this wins hands-down for many people).
4) NHL Center Ice package…this facilitates point #1 above. You can follow your traditional team and don’t have to attend Atlanta games in order to see hockey.
5) On-ice product. 11 years, one post-season appearance, in which they were swept. Hard to generate fanbase (especially of the bandwagon variety) when your teams isn’t winning.

• Link
• Report this comment

Do Unto Others What Others have done unto US/ATL!!

Let’s start courting the owners of the Hurricanes and see if they will move to ATLanta!!! They play in a pitiful part of the world — maybe their owners would like to come to ATlanta and bring a real contender to town where they could play hockey…….

ZZZZZZZZZZ……

Five years down the road the next hockey team in Atlanta? I’m just asking ——- AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH another nightmare!!!!

Oh, if WE don’t start supporting the ATlanta Dream, they will be the next ones to go….but does anyone really care about them? Seriously?

• Link
• Report this comment

So why is Atlanta losing thier hockey team? So Phoenix can keep thiers…. bottom line.

$60M will go a long way to covering losses in Phoenix that the $25M the CoG is paying, doesn’t.

• Link
• Report this comment

I love the Manitoba Skorts.

• Link
• Report this comment

Gee…look at all those 13,000 averages for ‘traditional market’ teams when they have a lousy product. Buffalo, Boston, Chicago, Colorado, LA, NYI (11,000!), St. Lous (12,520!) etc. etc.

• Link
• Report this comment

How about a class action lawsuit for all season ticket holders that have already paid for tickets next year?!? Get some the the purchase money for interest on the seat payments? raise the price of the sale.

• Link
• Report this comment

I am about fed up with all professional sports at this point. The NHL is just becoming a disgrace, and has been ever since the lockout. F all the owners. Do what Green Bay did and go public and let the fans own the team. There can be majority owners or controlling shareholders or whatever, but at least we’d all get a say in what happens to our teams before they get whisked away to another city and we have to watch &%(^$$*^%&*^$ millionaires bicker over what is probably chump change to them while they are robbing fans of their entertainment. Seriously, what a bunch of jerks. With all the bad things that happen to good people in this world, when oh when will it finally be their turn? F Bettman, F the ASG, F all those money-grubbing childish brats ruining the sport that they claim to love and support. F you, dudes. F you.

• Link
• Report this comment

Jeff, great work. Please continue to skewer the SOB Group (otherwise known as the ASG). I hope these clowns never have a chance in dabbling in any type of sports management ever in Atlanta, again.

• Link
• Report this comment

No love for ASG, but I think I’m done with the the NHL forever.

• Link
• Report this comment

As much as I liked Bradley’s article about the Atlanta fans, I have to ask why would it be o.k. to let these guys run our basketball team?

• Link
• Report this comment

If Bettman gets his cut it doesn’t make me feel any better. It doesn’t pay season ticket holders back for all of the years of low investment by the owners. It doesn’t get our money back or unbreak our hockey-loving-hearts.

Clearly, this doesn’t have anything to do with people in seats at home games, it doesn’t have anything to do with the fans or the players, it has to do with owners who had no intention of owning a hockey team but took them because they were a part of the deal. Kind of like the man who loves his girl friend, but in order to get her to marry him, he has to accept her two kids as part of the deal. The difference is the team and the fans were treated like the step-children. We were unwanted and we knew it, and Levenson and Gearon can tell us they wanted to make it work all they want, but we’ve seen the truth every time we’ve watched the Thrashers step on to the ice.

• Link
• Report this comment

Since the league has made it clear that their original team Phoenix is not available, the spirit really should raise the price. Make it 150 million if they want.

• Link
• Report this comment

“Everyone know that a Canadian isn’t anything more than an American who thinks he’s a European.”

Nope. A Canadian is a European who knows he is not an American.

• Link
• Report this comment

Brad, why would it be embarassing? The Flames simply left. Nothing you can do about that. The owner wanted to move the team.

The Thrashers, same deal, the owners didn’t want the team.

Losing a hockey team to Canada is hardly embarassing. Now, losing a football team to Canada… THAT would be embarassing.

• Link
• Report this comment

Hey Atlanta Thrashers fans, it is time to start talking in the only language that the A$$ CLOWNS understand – Class Action Lawsuit!! If they sell the team to move it, they will have plenty of money that really belongs to the fans of Atlanta who have only been given incompetent management and been lied to about commitment to winning for seven grueling years. Let’s give them what they deserve for once and get our piece of the pie that they are taking away from us. Season ticket holders and fans of the last seven years unite!! Fight back in A$$ CLOWN language!!

• Link
• Report this comment

From what I’ve heard (and Stephen Brunt may have heard similar) the deal is done from the cost perspective of TNSE. The deal is most certainly NOT done from the revenue perspective of the AS and the NHL. The question remains: How can you close a deal when the two beneficiaries squabble about who gets what?

• Link
• Report this comment

It’s not done then. Levinson has leverage the Canadians are more than willing to overpay for this piece of crap franchise. Let them pay for it out the nose for it. Leveinson won’t turn it down.

• Link
• Report this comment

ASG = Anal Sucking Group

• Link
• Report this comment

can they take the HAWKS?????

• Link
• Report this comment

Seems to me if Bettman wants to stick it to the ASG, he would make them retain ownership until a local buyer is found…whether thats this week, this year, or longer. Then ASG would really be desperate and a local investor who actually cares would get a bargain to keep the Thrashers in Atlanta.

• Link
• Report this comment

What is that guy in the picture waving the Jets flag wearing? Are those Capri jean shorts? I guess Winnipeg and University of Florida fans have similar taste.

• Link
• Report this comment

Thank you Jeff for staying with this story. It is sad…grew up a Flames fan and now the Thrashers are going to the Great White North as well. Thanks for the link to the Kovy article I believed ALL along that he didn’t want to be here because he knew this was coming. This is obviously the reason they weren’t able to sign Ladd to a long term deal as well. Buff just wanted to get his payday…as this is probably the height of his value(plus he is from Minnesota which isn’t much different than Manitoba.

Again thanks for writing these articles and Levinson can GO!! He hates this town and ALL it’s fans. Gearon has good intentions(I do believe it) but he DOES not have the cheddar to make it happen. Ted Turner should take a little heat in this too(remember David McDavid) he was instrumental in assuring ASG would get these teams….

• Link
• Report this comment

I hope to see the bulk of you at the tailgate/rally/wake tomorrow. Let’s not go down with apathy – DO SOMETHING. The CBC and TSN are going to have reporters there to interview fans.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=124735637607320

• Link
• Report this comment

@GaVaHokie
Is there no window of opportunity for a Local bidder to step in now and make an offer that see’s ASG profit more than from relocation?

It would seem ASG stands to gain more by just accepting a $110 million offer locally.
________________________________________________________________________
That is the only hope I have of the Thrashers staying in Atlanta. The possibility of a financial tug of war between Bettman and Levenson and if the one unreported group trying to keep them in Atlanta can make an offer that would be more beneficial to ASG than True North. Of course True North could always raise their offer.

The one thing I don’t want is for the season to start here in Atlanta and then they are sold to True North early in the year for a lame duck season.

• Link
• Report this comment

To those trying to make comparisons with the Blackhawks’ losing seasons and attendance: just because fans didn’t turn out during the lean Blackhawks seasons was never a cause to pull the plug and sell the team. The team has history, tradition, and oh yes 4 Stanley Cups!!!! The Thrashers have no history other than losing and letting the best players in the league come through for a season then go on to greatness. Why would anyone in Atlanta want to pay the high price of tickets to see the team lose on a regular basis? Another thing that ruined it for the Thrashers is how nearly one half of Philips Arena is set aside for the ultra wealthy with VIP boxes, suites, club seating, etc. Go to Nashville, Chicago and other arenas and you don’t see this. That’s because they know how bad it looks to have one half of your arena empty each night because the corporate goons buy those club seats and never use them. That looked so bad each home game in Atlanta. ASG just wanted pre sales and forget about everything else. The other NHL teams want people in the seats, not just a pre sold ticket. Maybe the 3rd time around Atlanta willl get it right. In the meantime, better start looking for Predators jerseys and hats so you can be ready to support your new team in October!

• Link
• Report this comment

Atlanta sports fans, like those everywhere, except for the pitiful, cursed Cubbies’ fans, will not support a team that consistently loses. The Thrashers have been terribly mismanaged. Comparison to the Braves of the 70’s is accurate. I was certain back then that Ted wanted the Braves to lose as a tax writeoff. The same may well apply to the Thrashers. We may compare the firing of Bob Hartley to Ted’s firing of Joe Torre in the 1980’s. It will be a shame for the Thrashers to leave because fans in the southeast will support a decent hockey team.

• Link
• Report this comment

JS- Thank you for posting the attendance – makes me madder though- Atlanta’s attendance historically and relatively is not only not bad, but pretty good.

Is there any way that the purchaser of the Hawks would be interested in the Thrashers with another investor? Could the NHL award TNSE an expansion franchise? (for much more than the relocation fee)

Atlanta and Philips are too good for the NHL to walk away from.

• Link
• Report this comment

The question isn’t whether they are going to Winnipeg. The question is where they will move after they fail there again, too.

• Link
• Report this comment

Blondie, you asked a very smart question. How does Thrashers attendance compare to the league? Unfortunately people say that when the Thrashers doen’t do as well as an Original 6 it is apples to oranges or that Chicago was blacking out home games so it is tough to compare apples to oranges again. There’s always something that throws things off. But there is 1 case where you can truly have apples to apples. Atlanta and Columbus. Both came into the leauge in the same year, both have had 1 playoff appearance and neither have ever won a game in the playoffs. So you can’t use the argument of “we had bad ownership” although some have tried to say that there is nothing else in Columbus other than Ohio State (which unfortunately for you is an argument to move the team to Winnipeg where there is nothing else). Onward. Lets look at attendance rankings year by year.

Year CBJ Atl
’01 12 23
’02 08 28
’03 11 28
’04 15 22
’05 NA NA
’06 17 23
’07 19 21
’08 28 22
’09 25 29
’10 22 28
’11 27 28

It is only in the last few years that Columbus fell in attendance. But they were in the top 10 in attendance at the same time when the Thrashers were owned by Ted Turner. Atlanta has been at the bottom from the start. In addition, Columbus has local tv ratings for Blue Jackets games in the top 10 markets. They only get beat by traditional markets like Boston, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Detroit. Atlanta on the other hand can only beat out Miami and is in the bottom 2-3 year after year.

When looking at other hockey events, Columbus 2 years ago was the #4 market for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals and was tied for 7th for Game 2. As well, they were the #10 market for this year’s Winter Classic. Atlanta is nowhere to be found in those tv ratings/market rankings. What you also have to consider is that the 2 teams involved in those games will always place #1 and #2. So to be #3 is really like being #1 in some aspects and to be #7 is like being #5.

So there is an expansion market out there that deserves new ownership and has shown it can be a hockey town. But it is not Atlanta. It is Columbus. If Atlanta had put up numbers and support like the city of Columbus, I highly doubt True North would have targeted them months ago.

• Link
• Report this comment

OHL – The first season every game was a sellout. STFU or get that facts right.

I’ll let you do the research for the other seasons….if you are capable.

• Link
• Report this comment

OHL, you are a great example about the saying about everyone having an opinion.

Your representation of ATL vs. single-team, snow bound COL is ridiculous. The difference in attendance in each of those seasons is just a few hundred, w/ ATL having some very, very bad teams to endure as well as labor issues, which do not sit well here.

Bottom line – attendance shows ATL supports hockey well enough, and TV HHs (not share) show as many folks watching as in most comparable markets.

When the Flames left, ATL missed them. I think this time it will be the NHL that regrets not having ATL when the league is made-up of the Original 6 and a bunch of towns like Columbus, Winnepeg, and other places with roller derby franchises.

• Link
• Report this comment

I love the picture of all the financially poor Winnipeg farming hicks celebrating the potential return of NHL hockey to nowhere town. Says plenty of what kind of dull life they live doesn’t it? I wonder how much money that True North will be willing to lose in frozen hicksville before they start going to the NHL looking for financial help? I think it will probably be after only 3 seasons.

• Link
• Report this comment

Don’t know how it can be done, but the ASG needs to be forced to sell both the Thrashers AND Hawks and Philips Arena Operating rights to one Atlanta owner. These guys should be ashamed at what they’ve done to both franchises and their total disdain for the fan base. If they had an ounce of respect for the City of Atlanta they would get out of town and turn the franchises over to someone who cares.

I could tell folks that the ASG offices are at 101 Marietta St. but any protesting at their offices will only hurt the poor folks that work for these clowns, trying to do the little things necessary to run pro sports franchises. I’m sure the ASG principals rarely if never set foot in the door. Losers!

• Link
• Report this comment

Word is the new Winnipeg team will be called the WinniPIDS and a Pig will be the mascot. That’s what I head.

• Link
• Report this comment

OHL, maybe hockey just doesn’t belong in ATL. Come here and you will realize there are too many things to do and weather that is too nice to sit inside watching hockey on TV. It’s been proven over and over, if there is a good product to watch Atlantans will fill up the seats, no matter what the sport is.
I loved going to Thrashers games, because watching hockey live is great. It won’t be such a big deal if I don’t get to go to a hockey game 10 times a year. I’m just mad that this loser bunch of owners so bungled the thing that they are having to sell at a loss and it will also impact the Hawks.

• Link
• Report this comment

Atlanta has a hockey team? Who knew? Who cares?

• Link
• Report this comment

Not that it’s needed…………….but just another reason not to support the hawks! AZZ-CLOWNS!

• Link
• Report this comment

@EA

About the DASG question about the Hawks, it is going to affect them deeply, I think that is the reason why DASG is now talk to John Moores about ownership of the Hawks/Phillips Arena because the backfire of this situation is going to hurt them and anything team that they still connect to. My belief is that ASG is getting out of the sport ownership business, they tried but it didnt worked.

We, Hawks fans is watching this situation as well, because off-season comes soon and we need to know what steps we need to take next.

For the Thrashers and NHL fans in Atlanta, I dont know what I can say about this, for the second time, we lose a NHL team and for what, just pick up a tab for another team problems. I hope that Thrashers stays here but if they do go, NHL should never poke their head in the State of Georgia, never again, for expansion or anything.

• Link
• Report this comment

I wish that Hawks/Thrashers and even Braves have a person like Mr. Blank as a owner, then we wont have any of those problems. Atlanta Falcons is a very forture team.

• Link
• Report this comment

One year down the road will the NHL take the Phoenix team to Hartford?
One year down the road will Gary Bettman still be stuffing money into his pockets from his kickback deals with Phoenix and Winnepeg?
One year down the road will Thrashers fans really care or remember?

• Link
• Report this comment

Seems to me that the NFL has gotten along just great without a football team in Los Angeles. I believe the NHL will just as well without a hockey team in the “8th Largest” market…..Please

• Link
• Report this comment

So Winnipeg = Poverty , from a business stand point, since Atlanta ( and Phoenix as well ) are such good markets, why is it nobody is stepping up to buy the teams?

Also, Atlanta isn’t losing its team because of Winnipeg. If Winnipeg didn’t buy them this year, then it would have been Quebec next year, or Kansas the year after. The ASG owners wanted out, and nobody was willing to replace them.

The $60M that TNSE just paid the NHL to move the team will get split 29 ways, which means each team will have to claim $2M more income, which based on the current CBA has to also go to the players. Seems the sale of the Thrashers just caused the salary cap to go up in the future, which will help the players.

• Link
• Report this comment

To the good folks of Winnipeg: Good luck. I hope you fare better your second time around than we did. And because I love the Thrashers, I’ll pull for them even if they belong to your city.

• Link
• Report this comment

i hope the nhl comes back manitoba we need a team too its been a long time comeing for the many people who LOVE HOCKEY

• Link
• Report this comment

FYI, Atlanta does not have a Hockey Problem
they have an OWNERSHIP problem

Attendance Figures for Atlanta Hockey Teams:
Year Team/NHL Total Average Percent Team/ECHL Attendance Ranking
2010-2011 Thrashers 552,230 13,469 72.6 Gwinnett 5128 5th out of 19
2009-2010 Thrashers 557,897 13,607 73.4 Gwinnett 5166 7th
2008-2009 Thrashers 599,673 14,626 78.9 Gwinnett 5559 4th
2007-2008 Thrashers 649,081 15,831 85.4 Gwinnett 5656 4th
2006-2007 Thrashers 665,862 16,240 87.6 Gwinnett 5624 5th

Look at the numbers for both teams…Notice Gwinnett didn’t even make the playoffs this year and was 5th in Attendance.
There are plenty of hockey fans in Atlanta.
This is truly an Ownership Problem. Also, Note: Florida Panthers/Miami averaged 15k a game and did not make the playoffs. I don’t think attendance in the Sunbelt is the problem it is ownership.

Hip Czech: I did see your comment about low attendance…especially in St. Louis. That also was after their ownership debacle. Some heirs to the Walmart family had bought the team and wanted to sell their interest….They got rid off ALL of their high salary players to lower the team’s payroll so they could sell them…in the process a team that had been in the playoffs for 25 straight years did not make the playoffs. They have been terrible the last 5-6 yrs since this happened. By the way the new ownership and management has brought back attendance — they sold out every game this year …but failed to make the playoffs! Scott

• Link
• Report this comment

I can see an NHL Final one day consisting of the Winnipeg Hornytoads and the Tampa Bay Lightning. A record number 56,219 people will watch the Finals on TV Land. Winnipeg has so much upside! Screw Betteman and ASG.

• Link
• Report this comment

Jeff, that’s assuming the Thrashers were actually available to Moores or anyone else locally. Were they really?

• Link
• Report this comment

It’s pretty interesting that the league has the abililty to carve out a piece of the purchase price for themselves. The team is apparently worth $170M to TNSE. Why should the NHL get a cut of that? They didn’t get a cut of the action for other relocations.

This would be an interesting legal issue if ASG wanted to be aggressive with this. Who knows? Maybe this issue may break the deal and result in a lawsuit with the NHL.

• Link
• Report this comment

Winnipeg celebrates the return at another teams loss because they aren’t a big enough market to pay and build an expansion team. It is cheaper to have a team in place and move than pay and build through expansion. Having a team move is Winnipegs only means of returning to the NHL. Quebec is also in tough for expansion but once the new arena is built will be an excellent place for relocation. Hamilton could be an expansion team with all indicators showing high profits. I would like the NHL to have 36 teams with Atlanta, Winnipeg,Quebec,Hamilton,Houston,Seattle and Kansas City all being a part of the League. However most don’t feel the same way or don’t believe these teams could make money.

• Link
• Report this comment

Have not heard any comments about adding two new teams to current NHL…..add Winnepeg and another out west/leave Atlanta alone and allow Nashville (or Columbus) to move “east”..Bettman???

• Link
• Report this comment

Its a very dark day in atlanta and the state of ga. the trashers are gone from atlanta. we just went through this in the 80’s when the flames moved. im big big fan of atlanta sports. but this one hurts. We the sports fans of atlanta have punished to much of all of the bad things that have happen to your teams. asg have been a cruch to the hawks and the thrashers for a long time. somebody has to step in and take control of the hawks and get them on track with ownership that cares and loves the hawks and the fans like ARTHUR BLANK does the falcons and the force.

• Link
• Report this comment

[...] HearsaySportsnet.caA comprehensive guide to the ThrashersCBC.caNational Post (blog) -Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) -The Canadian Pressall 775 news [...]

• Link
• Report this comment

Jon from Montreal. Indeed, that 1994 Expos team was ridiculous with Wetteland and Alou to name too. The Braves ALWAYS had trouble with the Expos (still do really)

• Link
• Report this comment

Posting from Canada: First of all, I’m sorry that Atlanta appears to be losing its hockey team. I love Atlanta. Love the city, love its people, love its architecture and natural beauty. (I didn’t love being at the Olympics, but that was only because of the organizing group’s mismanagement.) Before we Canadians get smug about Atlanta losing its franchise, let’s remember that this was a team operated my owners who didn’t give a damn about the product, yet people still supported a club that won 0 playoff games (out of just a possible 4) in 11 seasons. And before Georgians misdirect their anger towards Winnipegers, take a visit sometime, prefereably in the summer, when it’s delightful and daylight lingers until almost 10 o’clock at night. Yes, Winnipeg is cold, snowy and miserable in the winter — unbearable for people living in a sub-tropical climate. Atlanta is hot, humid and a challenge in the summer for people from the north. We’re different — something to celebrate, not throw stones about. And hockey for Canadians is akin to football for Americans — it’s that much of a religion. Having said that, I want Atlanta to have an NHL franchise again, one that can actually compete.

• Link
• Report this comment

The puck will be just as hard to follow on TV in Winnipeg. Other than that annoyance, just adopt a team to pull for.

• Link
• Report this comment

Well written, Barry. I hold no ill will to the people of Winnipeg.

As noted earlier, I’ll be a fan from Atlanta.

I’ll probably enjoy them more because they’ll have owners who actually wanted to buy them, as opposed to owners who only took them to get the other parts of the package.

• Link
• Report this comment

I just had a bowel movement and named it Gary Bettman before sending it on its way.

• Link
• Report this comment

Tim Bateman – I am from Wpg and I am ASHAMED of YOU!! Get out of the bottle and clear your head before commenting for Mnitobans and Winnipeggers.

• Link
• Report this comment

The extra money Bettman will make from this tainted deal really helps the Thrashers! Thanks Gary !! You really are gonna stick it to them and again… it will REALLY help the Atlanta Thrashers! Way to go Gary ! You and the NHL get more millions and we are still without a team! thank you so much !!

• Link
• Report this comment

Bluestreak: Believe me, some folks just like seeing their name/handle in print for the sole purpose of stirring up poo. Winnipegers are great people, just like Georgians. Believe me when I say that we’d all have a blast at the same bbq!

• Link
• Report this comment

“Winnipeg celebrates the return at another teams loss because they aren’t a big enough market to pay and build an expansion team. It is cheaper to have a team in place and move than pay and build through expansion. Having a team move is Winnipegs only means of returning to the NHL. ”

You’re an idiot. Expansion fee 10 years ago was only $80M. TNSE is looking to pay $170M for the Thrashers. You’re quite silly in thinking the NHL could charge an expansion fee in excess of this amount. In fact, I think TNSE is overpaying given the market of multiple trainwreck sunbelt teams.

• Link
• Report this comment

So if Bettman does make sale for the Spirit, that means it could be fire sale for the Hawks/Phillips?

• Link
• Report this comment

Manitoba premier was hinting today that next Tuesday should be an interesting day. Basically, he’s saying that the ink just needs to be dry. We’re at the 99% confidence level here.

• Link
• Report this comment

We can all focus on the fiasco of the ownership situation over the years, but the real problem was simply Don Waddell. While he didn’t always have the funding or ability to spend consistent with a championship team, there was plenty to work with and he failed miserably. As most truly knowledgable hockey fans know, the product placed on the ice was consistently horrible. Year after year of terrible drafting, terrible trades, and we can only assume terrible negotiations with players and potential players, made watching the games like torture. A good GM could have made that product reasonable…instead it was awful. And….there went the fans, the interest and ultimately quite likely the team. As fans…we didn’t fail the franchise….the franchise failed us. Thanks Don….

• Link
• Report this comment

adam – you are one dumb bast–d. atlanta did support the team. do some reading.

• Link
• Report this comment

It is hard to like Bettman but I sure like his style on this matter. If you got the hammer, use it. It would be a fitting goodby to the ASG from the Atl fans. “win if you can, lose if you must but always make it hurt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Link
• Report this comment

@blondie: That’s a great point about the Blackhawks (by the way, during the period you mentioned, the attendance numbers were padded; I was at the UC on many occasions where the announced crowd was 13K, but it sure as you-know-what looked like 9K). And the Minnesota North Stars went through the same thing in the ’70s. The team stunk, so empty seats outnumbered occupied ones, this in America’s hockey hotbed. Someone tell me how Winnipeg as opposed to one of the biggest markets in North America (Atlanta) helps broaden the NHL’s footprint.

• Link
• Report this comment

Does anyone still wonder why the Thrashes and the NHL are so completely irrelevant?

• Link
• Report this comment

Jeff Schultz, I just wanted to thank you for your honest coverage of the Thrashers, since Day One. You were a voice that called for “accountability” and you even offered up free advice, that if taken, might have helped this club become more successful. Instead, they chose the path they did, with Waddell remaining in charge, and league minimum budgets.

Draft parties won’t be the same, without Atlanta housed inside the lottery draft. That’s for sure. As I look back over 11 seasons, I do have good memories of the team. I have an entire room filled with Thrashers memorabilia. Give-a-ways. Signed photos. Team posters. Parking plaques. License plates. You name it. That room will now have to be radically altered, as looking at it will only bring unpleasant memories of what could have been.

I am, truthfully, a bit surprised by the utter lack of effort by the Commissioner to keep hockey in Atlanta. Surely, he knew how ownership was running the team into the ground. Surely, he had to know that if a good ownership group were properly vetted, that hockey would thrive here, and be a revenue PRODUCER, rather than a revenue CONSUMER. Bygones, as we say.

Jeff, I always appreciated what you tried to do for the team. I know that the organization felt that you were hindering them, but I think that’s entirely untrue. They, alone, are responsible for their poor decision-making and lack of effort or intent to win. Truthfully, the NHL should have stepped in to run the Thrashers after 2007. That’s what a league that wanted to keep the Thrashers in place would have done. It is a sad, sad day for the good hockey fans of Atlanta. But, perhaps, an AHL team will come? Who knows? If the Coyotes cannot stay in Phoenix, and the new owners of the Hawks and operating rights to Philips Arena want 41 more guaranteed dates on their schedule, they could consider purchasing the Coyotes. Honestly, I think Atlanta, with an ownership that is trying to win, is a better market than Phoenix is. Your thoughts on that, Jeff?

• Link
• Report this comment

Jeff,

2 angles you need to go on from here on:

1. Look at what the San Antonio Spurs have and the Cleveland Cavs have. NBA team, owning the facility and having a (gasp) AHL franchise in the same building as well. This makes sense for the ASG. Manitoba will have to jettison its AHL franchise, Spirit will have 44 more open nights now to fill the building as well as a full staff who can sell, service and work the franchise. The overhead will be far less than what it is for an NHL franchise and they can set ticket prices more in line with what the market has tolerated in Atlanta so far (Chick fil A nights, 50% off, BOGO offers).

2. If the Thrashers leave, the blood of many great ASG employees will be on their hands. There’s no way they keep the same staff numbers losing a hockey team and going into a lockout in the NBA. Bruce and company may get off as close to breaking even as possible (when you factor in the under valuation of the arena and Hawks in the Turner deal and whatever they get out of King & Spalding) but it would be at the expense of scores of innocent people who gave it their all for that franchise that Bruce and the Gearons could care less about. Don’t let the ownership group get off from that.

• Link
• Report this comment

Ford, Chevy, Fischer Body, and a Nascar race gone. And now the Thrashers. Atlanta is the new Detroit.

• Link
• Report this comment

I don’t care how long it takes, every effort must be made to keep the Thrashers in Atlanta. If they need to be sold, then a buyer who will keep them here must be chosen. This is the 2nd time we have lost a NHL team, this must stop. Canada has enough hockey teams!!!!

• Link
• Report this comment

Hey Jeff,
Where is the Atlanta mayor and any other leadership in keeping the team? Aren’t they concerned about losing $40million in tax dollars in ticket, food and merchandaising sales?

• Link
• Report this comment

Only reason Atlanta is going instead of Phoenix is that Glendale built an arena just for the NHL, and Bettman does not want to alienate cities that build arenas for the league. Stupid giving up a key US market for a Canadian market. Only way that is approved is that NBC / Comcast were advised of the move prior to the new contract

• Link
• Report this comment

Winnepeg mayor says it is a DONE deal and expect an announcement Tuesday…..

• Link
• Report this comment

Shall we boycott the Hawks games in person and on TV and every event at Philips? Lets get ASG out of this town once and for all. I will watch the Hawks ONLY in the playoffs next year and only on TV. I will NOT go to a game EVER again as long as ASG has ANYTHING to do with the Hawks. Atlanta Spirit…what a JOKE of a name! What kind of spirit? Cheapest management and coaches money can buy spirit?

• Link
• Report this comment

I agree totally with Tommy @4:38 and there would be more comments on here if, exactly as Tommy said, the team was not ran straight into the ground. It was methodical. They bailed out on the Thrashers almost immediately and crashed this plane into the ground and now are about to burn the city and it’s fans in 4 days. They make the city look like it is the problem but the real problem is that ASG NEVER cared enough about the Thrashers. How were they EVER approved by the NHL?

• Link
• Report this comment

It appears that Atlanta Hockey can be scuttled forever by inept ownership and management and Bettman. Where did this relocation fee come from? You can get paid for a franchise multiple times? For $60 million divided 29 ways you can’t even get a first class defenceman for one year.

I believe that the NHL is about to make a very bad mistake that in the end will have major ramifications. However it will be karma for Bettman. Why are things so quiet from the previous owner of the Coyotes who was forced to sell to the NHL (at their price) because the NHL rejected a very attractive offer to relocate the team to Hamilton. Further, Mr. Balsillie of Blackberry fame, the prospective owner has been unusally quiet as well.

While I am not a lawyer and Bettman is, it would seem to me that the NHL is open for a lawsuit from the previous Coyote owner for killing the deal. This is especially true with this new addition of a relocation fee. Unfortunately, for Atlanta this opportunity gets better after a deal with Winnipeg is agreed to. Then a good injunction stopping the deal would be interesting. It is amazing how a threatened lawsuit in Arizona stopped a sale of the Coyotes.

Then, why is Mr. Balsillie being so quiet. Well his Mark Cuban approach backfired with Bettman & his NHL owners cohorts. He is better off to keep quiet. This new relocation fee allows any team who cannot find a local owner the ability to sell to anyone? who will pay it. What a deal for Balsillie – he can have his choice of any other team in ownership trouble – Florida, St. Louis, Dallas, Islanders and even Coyotes again. Bettman is about to open a can of worms and in the future a whole line of carpetbaggers can acquire troubled NHL teams.

Another question. Why would a local owner want to have ASG as their landlord, as Phillips Arena likely needs two tenants to be viable. ASG is in the process of lowering value of the whole package and the Hawks are likely next.

ASG? What a class act? Going thru a Select Your Seat charade when they plan to sell the team to Winnipeg next week. Are they selecting seats in the Winnipeg arena?

• Link
• Report this comment

“Where is the Atlanta mayor and any other leadership in keeping the team? Aren’t they concerned about losing $40million in tax dollars in ticket, food and merchandaising sales?”

They are politicians, they do not understand “cash flow”, business, nor do they know how to add and subtract.

I wish the Braves, Falcons, and Hawks would all leave town. The Mayor and Governor stand by and put zero effort into arguing the case to keep the team here. What a bunch of losers.

Maybe they can explain to all the people who will lose their jobs why they sat around and did nothing. What a bunch of Lazy Losers.

• Link
• Report this comment

I don’t want to generalize, because most of the Atlanta fans did not do this. But notice some of the comments from “typical” Amercans about Canada. This is the reason why the rest of the world thinks negatively about the US. I live in Spain and have spoken to numerous south americans, Europeans, Asians, etc, and the general consensus is that Americans are ignorant and egotisical. (ie. invented democracy, are the greatest nation on earth, win all the wars).

Don’t send aggression to the Fans of Winnipeg. They are not celebrating you losing a team, they are celebrating getting a team back that was taken from them. If you want to point blame, try Bettman or the Atlanta ownership group.

As well, forget the size of Atlanta versus the size of Winnipeg. Yes, Atlanta is much, much bigger. However, how many kids in Atlanta grow up playing hockey as their go-to sport? How many of them grow up trying to play for the Braves or Hawks or Falcons. Winnipeg has no other major sports team and are Hockey Mad. Thus, even though the population is smaller, I would bet that on average a Winnipeg resident is 3 times more likely to buy a ticket/season tickets than an Atlanta fan.

In short, Americans, be humble. The rest of the globes opinion/negativity towards you will not change until you can accept other viewpoints. Don’t send aggresion towards Winnipeg. They are not the reason this team may relocate. Finally, understand that sometimes social-cultural factors play into sports decisions. Atlanta may be a huge market, but how many of your kids are playing hockey in their free time? I like the Thrashers where they are, but cleary something is not working the way it should be and maybe Atlanta is not an NHL market.

• Link
• Report this comment

Hands down the worst run league in sports!!! It’s not even close.

• Link
• Report this comment

Ryan
May 20th, 2011
10:34 pm

I don’t want to generalize, because most of the Atlanta fans did not do this. But notice some of the comments from “typical” Amercans about Canada. This is the reason why the rest of the world thinks negatively about the US. I live in Spain and have spoken to numerous south americans, Europeans, Asians, etc, and the general consensus is that Americans are ignorant and egotisical. (ie. invented democracy, are the greatest nation on earth, win all the wars).

you just did generalize….you cannot possibly think that a “typical” american is spewing negativity on a blog. the south americans, europeans, asians…etc can think what they want…if america is so bad then why do they still come here to live? I, for one, am sick of that attitude…….if you really think a typical american is like that then you don’t know much about the great people of our nation.

• Link
• Report this comment

Once again, I am not generalizing Katherine, because I know a lot of Americans do not feel this way, but your comment of “then why do they still come her to live? you don’t know much about the great people of our nation” is the epitomy of an egotistical American comment. I am Canadian. And I wouldn’t be caught dead saying something like “the great people of our nation”. I am a proud Canadian, but what make me think that people from my country are better than any others? They are not, and I can find fault in all aspects of my country and people. You have a facist attitude that cannot accept other viewpoints. What attitude are you sick of? An opinion. It’s called democracy. Listen to other opinions and stop with the “Us versus them” mentality. It gets you nowhere. And yes, I looked at the attendance. The Thrashers attendance has been going down over the last 4 years and is right there with a number of other teams that are being considered for relocation.

• Link
• Report this comment

JEFF:
As much as I hate the ASG, it’s not that simple. The reason Bettman wants his $60 million is because without the possibility of the Thrashers (or Coyotes) moving to the Great White Wasteland, he (and the league) could have raked in $100-200 million in expansion fees.

• Link
• Report this comment

And it is true, as someone said earlier, we hockey fans who grew up in other places are rooting for our hometown teams, not the Thrashers, so we could really care less. NHL Center Ice makes it possible for us to watch our hometown teams too.

• Link
• Report this comment

I hope the ASG reads these posts……. You should be ashamed of yourselves and leave Atlanta. You have set back sports fifty years and it goes to show you don’t have to have brains to have money! Now sale the Hawks and leave!!

• Link
• Report this comment

I AM SO SICK AND TIRED OF ESPN CRANKING THE VOLUME ON THEIR IDIOT DUMB GUY COMMERCIALS.. not only r they so ridicules, but they make it about 40% louder so all the dumb jocks might understand to buy some chemical laced shaving cream.

• Link
• Report this comment

Aurther Blank has 24 hours to show up with a check for 110 million or it’s over.

• Link
• Report this comment

Winnipeg = Poverty,

Would you mind telling us how you got the idea of that name? The median household income of Atlanta is USD 45 800 while median household income of Winnipeg is CAD 70 510. Taking into account that CAD 1 = USD 1.0272, the wealth of Winnipeg’s population is head and shoulders above that of Atlanta.

http://www.clrsearch.com/Atlanta_Demographics/GA/Household-Income
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Winnipegs-median-family-income-70510-103058584.html?viewAllComments=y

• Link
• Report this comment

WOW!!! Great post by R. Stroz at 11:36 pm. If you haven’t listened to it you need to. Unbelievable!!! Thanks for the post.

• Link
• Report this comment

Jeff,

I posted the same message below on Chris’s blog in hopes that one of you will read this comment.

While I am sure DW has tried to do this, we all know he probably doesn’t have the juice to pull it off.

Here’s an idea to get a last minute hail mary and maybe even a story. What if the 4 large sponsors that are headquarters in the ATL and already sponsor the Thrashers stepped forward now and said (a) each will provide $5M in funding to the owners this year, in addition to what they currently fund, to offset potential loses while they search for a new owner and the (b) also commit to any new owner that they would do the same for at least the first five year. I am sure if a new ownership group knew they could count on $20M to offset start up loses they would come.

I am a STH since day one and believe there are at least 15000 core fans that would become brand loyal for life and spread the word to family and friends. It would be a great PR tool for them, the league and the team. It would allow us to show the league and others that with a fresh start this town would support the team and turn out with more that 15,500 fans on an average night.

If these sponsors have been asked to do something like this and refused, I as a fan would like to know that as well as I could make other choices. The idea here of course is since we don’t have a city council willing to spend $25M a year to keep a team here, maybe some local commerical heros will.

• Link
• Report this comment

It is simple; instead finding someone that wants a team in another city; let work out a way to keep this team in Atlanta. I been to Winnipeg it reminds me of a northern version of Birmingham, Alabama. You got to be serious Atlanta Spirit; you can do a lot better than sell this team to those suckers that will bring no value to the NHL. We have resources in this city to keep this team here let use them. Plus, the commissioner does not like relocation because it like a cancer to the league. If Winnipeg wants a team; they need to apply to league like want we did! We just need a strong and sound ownership to keep this team from ever leaving this city and make it a strong and proud presents here in Atlanta. If I was rich, I would buy the team and yes find a way to make a profit each year owning this team unlike want this Atlanta Spirit did not want to do in the first place.

• Link
• Report this comment

Go have a beer and a laugh with some Thrashers fans today at the Glutch……Pavelec’s Dogs get the fans fired up one last time:

Video: http://www.keepthethrashers.com/thrasherstailgateglutch.html

GO THRASHERS!

• Link
• Report this comment

Exactly how disingenuous is this season ticket holder event the ASG is putting on today. It really is like rubbing salt in the wounds is it not?

• Link
• Report this comment

The Atlanta Spirit Group will never see another dollar from me, ever for anything…Hawks, any event in Phillips…etc. Merchandise.

My wish is that they get RUN OUT of this state.

It’s unforgivable what they did…managed to lose our hockey team to Canada due to multiple reasons.

DO NOT BLAME the fans. We were all there during the playoff run and the season after…but in a tough economy I will not support an organization who doesn’t have the COMMITMENT to putting a winning product on the ice!

• Link
• Report this comment

Die Atlanta Spirit, DIE!!

• Link
• Report this comment

The ASG couldn’t run a popsicle stand.

Why does the NHL allow a sale (ASG) to incompetent business people. The NHL is as much to blame as the ASG..

If they would have required the sale to someone who had a work ethic and a clue to what they were doing we wouldn’t be here today.

However, when you sale to “Trust Fund” brats with no work ethic…well you get exactly what you see today.

Shame on You Gary Bettman…Shame on you.

• Link
• Report this comment

Not much different attendance wise as 1/3 of the league. they have ups and downs. if you build a winner, fans will come. look at braves attendance after they started winning in 91 and through 2000. look at falcons the past 2 years. it’s that simple. thrashers stunk on the ice. who wants to watch losers. not me

• Link
• Report this comment

any NHL team that gets moved from now on will have to pay a relocation fee, not just the Thrashers. Remember, this is something that Balsillie would have had to do had he won the Coyotes in bankruptcy court. I know they didn’t do it in the past but the relocation fee is something the NHL feels entitled to now as a team moving to an open market is depriving the NHL of a potentially very lucrative future expansion fee giving them a nice excuse to take this money. If the Thrashers were moving to say Kansas City I’m sure the relocation fee would be much lower as the market is less valuable to the NHL than Winnipeg, just like Balsillie taking the Coyotes to S. Ontario would have been somewhere around or even north of $100 million due to the potential value of that market. People in Winnipeg are starting to complain over this fee but I feel it’s worth it for them to just shut up and take it. As much as people hate Bettman he knows what he is doing – you can’t beat him, even if he’s wrong in the beginning he will find a way to make money for the league out of a bad situation in the end. It’s better than paying $90-100 million for an expansion team and starting from scratch as far as team building goes. Plus with the state of the NHL I don’t see them expanding any time soon so getting the Thrashers is probably Winnipeg best chance of ever having a team. I’m sure the NHL will use this money to help cover the situation in Phoenix but rest assured Thrasher fans they would be charging this fee relocation regardless, even if the Coyotes already had new ownership.

• Link
• Report this comment

wow, can’t believe the pounding us Winnipegers are taking because of this. We lost our team in 96 and we know how you feel, only hockey to us is like college football to you. Believe me, nobody is celebrating the fact that Atlanta is losing its team here…..why would we? In fact almost everybody I have spoken to has expressed sympathy to Atlanta’s hockey fans. I go back to the 70’s with the Jets and when we joined the league in 79 I remember we played the Flames b4 they went to Calgary and there was a bench clearing brawl…I remember that because we were an expansion team and the Flames as recall were a big, tough team who weren’t intimated by anyone, even Philly. And that night they pretty much tore the Jets a new one.

The point is, I was a fan and I hated when they moved to Calgary and they took on the Flames name, if I was an Atlanta fan I would have been outraged. But I remember those games from the Omni, along with CBS games of the Hawks. Good memories. I definatley think Atlanta is 100% NHL material, you just got screwed by your lack of good ownership. I’d be totally pissed off to. It should have been Phoenix (OUR TEAM).

• Link
• Report this comment

Winnipeg = Poverty

Give it up, go back to school or something man – you sound like you have a 5th grade education. Why are you so pissed off at Winnipeg? We didn’t take your team – YOUR ownership didn’t give a damn for 11 years. Love your response to Les Habs – he slaughtered you with facts yet you had no response other than “you think Winnipeg is Paris – ` like I say, 5th grade education – So you guys only make on average 45 grand – thats pathetic – talk about poverty – oh yeah, thanks for the team, make sure you follow closley because we’re gonna dump that loser GM and coach and have a playoff team in YEAR 1. So besides being poor and riddled with uneducated losers like yourself, the so-called Great City of Atlanta is also a 2 TIME LOSER in the NHL. But you keep slamming Winnipeg little boy.

• Link
• Report this comment

Hey builder dawg

Thats great, its gonna average about 75 here for the next 4-5 months. Not quite HOTlanta, but not bad.
Then after that you know what? IT’S HOCKEY TIME! Can’t wait to start reaping baby. Suck on that Dawg

• Link
• Report this comment

Hey David
OK, I guess you haven’t been reading all the Atlanta geniuses posts. By the way – You just lost your 2nd NHL team, how does that feel? Has that ever happened to any city in any sport anywhere on the planet? Probably not – Atlanta = Poverty = Losers – Now get back to that gas pumping job boy.

• Link
• Report this comment

I am ready for this whoopla death throes movement to be over…..this rally had about as much believeability as the Harold Camping Rapture Date story. Get over it! The THRASHERS are gone – it is going to happen today, tomorrow, next week. Hockey is not a Southern interest…..By and large nobody down here cares….so just get over it……..

• Link
• Report this comment

na, na, na, na – na, na, na, na – hey, hey, hey – goodbye

• Link
• Report this comment

So if Winnipeg gets the Thrashers, can we then get the Coyotes? Hell, I think the NHL might pay us to take them off their hands. We can always rename them once they’re here. And hell, they even have good players and playoff chances unlike the ragtag drain circling salary toilet that is the ASG Thrashers.

• Link
• Report this comment

Lots of emotional comments here from the Thrashers fans. But the problem seems to be that there just were not enough of them. The owners needed bums in the seats. Same problem in Phoenix/Glendale.
Even in San Jose yesterday, there were 4000 unsold tickets (for a Conference final!!!) until fans in Vancouver bought them all and filled the available flights to the Bay Area.They made more noise than did the Sharks’ fans.

• Link
• Report this comment