While Bettman hides, Thrashers’ slow death near complete
Burning of a Winnipeg Jets banner this weekend likely won't stop move. (AP photo)
So the slow death continues.
Still waiting for commissioner Gary Bettman to show his face in Atlanta so he can reaffirm the NHL’s “covenant with our fans” that he recently spoke so eloquently about.
Our Chris Vivlamore has a new blog posted this morning, stating that the last potential bidder to purchase the Thrashers and keep them in Atlanta is “probably, but not completely” out of the picture.
The team’s sale to a Canadian outfit and move to Winnipeg seems to have been a fait accompli for a while now, notwithstanding the constant denials by Bettman, Thrashers’ ownership and anybody else who’s worried more about their own reputation than what’s wrong or wrong.
The only reason we know the move won’t be completed today is that it’s Victoria Day in Canada and the banks are closed. Alas, Bettman/NHL (relocation fee) and Bruce Levenson/Atlanta Spirit must wait on their millions.
I’ve written a lot on this subject and I’ll have more to share with you if and when this deal is complete in the next few days. But I can’t top what was stated by Thrashers winger Chris Thorburn, who was interviewed by Fox 5’s Buck Lanford. There’s no embedding code for the video but here’s a link to it and the transcript of Thorburn’s comments:
“Just for owners to turn their backs on you, it kind of makes you mad. Obviously we don’t know every aspect of the deal and where they’re coming from because it hasn’t been publicly noted in the paper. But from everything we’ve heard, from rumors that we’ve heard, it’s discouraging just knowing that they’re trying to dump us. That makes a guy mad.”
Chris, I’m sure the fans thank you for speaking out.
By Jeff Schultz
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252 comments Add your comment
Joe Friday
May 23rd, 2011
1:08 pm
The blame, in order, goes to Waddell for his inability to build a team, ASG for mismanaging the operation once they took control, the NHL for abandoning us, and the local politicians, Chamber of Commerce/Atlanta Sport Council for being asleep at the wheel and not standing up for the community.
Kincade should go out of town on the second set of rails for his ludicrous Balkan nonsense followed up by blaming the fans.
lombardi
May 23rd, 2011
1:10 pm
Jeff, what time you calling Kincaide today?
Joe Friday
May 23rd, 2011
1:11 pm
Oh, and the fans who continually supported Waddell’s “building it the right way” ineptness and the goofballs who’d come on here and attack Schultz for not writing glowing praise about these boobs for all these years. AJC called it as they saw it for years, as many of us did.
DaveDawg
May 23rd, 2011
1:15 pm
How many does Gwinnett Arena seat for hockey? I image an NHL team would do well or better in the Atlanta suburbs.
Thrasher Fan
May 23rd, 2011
1:17 pm
ASG created a poison pill to anybody interested in keeping teh team in atlanta when they separated the Hawks and the arena from the Thrashers. Nobody in their right mind would would to pay rent to ASG and tehrefore going forward the only legitimate offers would be from entitites looking to relocate. The disappointment in as to the league. According to ASGs own pleading there was cloud over the team until last December preventing them from selling. As a result the team has only truly been for sale less then 6 months. There is no eveidence whatsoever that Bettman has done anything to try and keep the team here and in fact he appears to be blessing a quick sale. Is there really any question that if this team became seriouslycompetitive that attendance inAtlanta would be back up in the top third of the league.
Sage of Bluesland
May 23rd, 2011
1:19 pm
It’s humorous reading some of the comments (wink to Joe-Bob-Friday-Revisionist); where once there was a lone voice in the wilderness, now there’s a virtual chorus…
I ‘used’ to think Waddell was at the top of the Thrashers-Failure-pyramid, as Joe-Bob-Friday-Revisionist ‘currently’ does….but then realized that he’s merely a symptom of a much bigger problem: Ownership indifference.
There is NO excuse for keeping that buffoon employed after the first “Five-Year Plan” and the meagre results of “building through the draft!”….
My return was contingent ONLY upon two items: 1. The long-overdue firing of Don Waddell; 2. The resources made available to succeed. I can handle “rebuilding”; it’s a necessary function over time. I can handle “bad” decisions, as well….as long as those making them are held accountable, when more bad ones happen than good ones do over time.
Neither conditions were met by ownership. Thus, my boycott continued.
But, Joe-Revisionist is correct about one thing: the goofballs who would come on here and continually defend the indefensible was abhorrent. He should know, after all…
Your Mammy
May 23rd, 2011
1:35 pm
NHL is corrupt, just like the NFL…its time to pay attention to more important things in life…..as much as I love the Thrashers, I’m sick of what pro sports have become all together. If I find I need them, Im going to put my money into alternative sports, like ECHL hockey, or arena football…
JBR
May 23rd, 2011
1:39 pm
Jeff – What is the deal with Kasim Reed and the rest of the elected officials around here? Are they saying absolutely nothing because they are trying to duck? It seems to me that some shots at Bettman about the treatment of Atlanta vs. Phoenix, etc. might have put some pressure on the league (and maybe ASG) to slow this down and try harder to find a buyer to keep the team here. If there are any shenanigans going on with ASG about trying to keep the Hawks and Philips at the expense of the city, it may have pushed them to get out of the way if selling all three would have been easier. I know they’re talking about the guy from San Diego, but I have a suspicion that that guy is going to keep “basketball guy” Gearon and egomaniac Levenson in as partners rather than kicking them out the door, where they belong.
Shutterpups
May 23rd, 2011
1:49 pm
Ox Baker – I am so sorry that you’re losing your team. Please take some solace in the fact that we will love them here in Winnipeg and treat them like a part of our family – like the fans in Atlanta tried to do in spite of ASG’s best efforts to sabotage that.
Atlanta-to-Winnipeg update: Last local bidder apparently out of running for Thrashers | ProHockeyTalk
May 23rd, 2011
1:49 pm
[...] patiently to celebrate in earnest at the return of the NHL to their Canadian prairie city. Schultz isn’t expecting to see anything from the NHL home office, however. The team’s sale to a Canadian outfit and move to Winnipeg [...]
Atlanta-to-Winnipeg update: Last local bidder all but out of running for Thrashers | ProHockeyTalk
May 23rd, 2011
1:50 pm
[...] patiently to celebrate in earnest at the return of the NHL to their Canadian prairie city. Schultz isn’t expecting to see anything from the NHL home office, however. The team’s sale to a Canadian outfit and move to Winnipeg [...]
BlahBlahBlah
May 23rd, 2011
2:03 pm
Section 119 – Los Angeles is in that “3 sport city” club too. I don’t think they’re too sad about it.
Peter
May 23rd, 2011
2:12 pm
The save the rally Thrashers was pathetic only had 200 fans show up. It is clear hockey is not meant for Atlanta. Even if the spirit found local ownsership the new owners would still lose tonnes. It doesn’t make sense to prolong the inevitable.
atlthrasher Fan in Rome GA
May 23rd, 2011
2:20 pm
I’ve got one Tattoo on my body, and that is an Atlanta Thrashers tattoo on my left arm. Sad thing is, I just got it in January. No regrets though. I got it because it is what symbolizes ME. I’m a native of Saskatoon, Canada and grew up outside Toronto. Moved to Georgia in the mid 90s. I love Atlanta and its sports teams. Georgia has been home as I have no intention of mving anywhere else. The Thrashers experience was awesome! I loved the fan friendly atmosphere and what lengths the team will go to to make sure the kids are having fun. No other team has constant open practices and look how accessible the players were to fans. I was going through a bitter divorce 6 years ago, and I would go to Thrashers games all the time in 2005 and the atmosphere really helped escape the heat (no pun intended). Since then I’d been a regular at the Bulb. I also travel from Rome and battle through Traffic just to get there. I’m always there for warmups. It was sad to see the Bulb go from a decent crowd and sellout games to about half that this year. The only blame here lies on Atlanta Spirit. They did absolutely nothing to grow the game. Hockey in the South takes time to build. You have to plant the seed and feed the plant to watch it grow. The seed was planted, but it wasn’t given any water or sunlight.
Joe Friday
May 23rd, 2011
2:21 pm
Schultz, the arena and Hawks are back in play? You would think that would benefit us as the only way someone buys the hockey team is to buy all three so they hold the arena rights.
Or do you think the Spirit is going to try to retain the Hawks and arena?
StingerSplash
May 23rd, 2011
2:21 pm
Monsieur Schultz,
An opining from noted hockey scribe Kevin Paul Dupont:
http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/articles/2011/05/22/its_hard_to_see_winnipeg_as_a_winning_move/
Rutherford Seydel
May 23rd, 2011
2:22 pm
I would pay money to see someone sucker punch Ed Peskowitz.
mark
May 23rd, 2011
2:24 pm
Let’em leave, the spirt group is the most dysfunctional group in all of sports today. Spirt Group should be renamed to Disspirted Group. What a bunch of idiots. Leave the sports business all togehter get out now!
Eileen
May 23rd, 2011
2:33 pm
Only 200 fans at a rally, blah blah blah. Give it a rest. Tonnes. Do you mean tons?
genius logic by Johnny Kincade
May 23rd, 2011
2:48 pm
You should be buying tickets anyway even if the product put on the field/court/ice stinks year after year. That’s what they do in Philly except for the Sixers and the Phillies before they built the new stadium. That’s what they do in New York except for the Mets and Islanders. That’s what they do in Detroit except for the Tigers and Lions. That’s what they do in Cleveland except for the Cavs and Indians. That’s what they do in Washington except for the Nationals and Wizards. That’s what they do in…
ATL hockey fan
May 23rd, 2011
2:56 pm
Jeff – Why hasn’t there been more noise from Kasim Reed, Nathan Deal and other elected officials around here? I’m not suggesting tax dollars should go to subsidize any pro sports franchise, but if they had made some noise about how Atlanta is not getting the treatment other NHL locales (most notably Arizona) have been getting, it might have at least slowed Bettman down a little bit to give someone more time to put something together to keep the team here.
Reed, Deal and others should call out the ASG partners as well. If they are called out for betraying the trust they were given when they were allowed to buy the teams, they might try harder not to benefit themselves at the expense of metro Atlanta. If those guys are making it harder to keep the Thrashers here by trying to figure out a way to keep their fingers in the Hawks, someone ought to get after them on that. Those guys ought to get the total boot if that’s what it takes to keep the Thrashers here.
Are the elected officials just ducking? It seems those types in other cities facing this situation have been much more vocal.
Matt from MN
May 23rd, 2011
3:02 pm
Ha Ha, ASG can’t work out sale for arena and Hawks!! Enjoy your tremendous support from the fans of Atlanta you scum!! I’ve already pledged NEVER again set foot in Philips Arena until you utter, lying, filth encrusted scumbags have sold the arena. Doubt I’ll even go to Hawks game then, cause NBA basketball is soooooo boring.
timthebrave
May 23rd, 2011
3:02 pm
Good bye Thrashers and good bye NHL. I stopped watching the playoffs when I got the feeling the Thrashers were moving. I will never watch another NHL hockey game EVER!
timthebrave
May 23rd, 2011
3:07 pm
I too won’t be stepping into Phillips arena until ASG has nothing to do with it. They just lost 10 hockey games a year, 5 concerts and a few basketball games a year. The ASG won’t get a penny from me
schmeckdawg
May 23rd, 2011
3:07 pm
Patrick in Canada
Baseball is not thought of as a religion. College football in the SOUTH is thought of as a religion and Saturday is The Holy Day!!!!
Hope this helps!!!!!!!!!!
moriler
May 23rd, 2011
3:11 pm
If you expected help from the Atlanta elected officials, good luck — they have their hands full dealing with the crime-infested trainwreck that is “downtown”. Oh, look… that’s where the arena is. That’s a shame, isn’t it?
And if you expect help from Deal, that’s even funnier — he’s a good ol’ boy and if it ain’t football, he don’t care. Damn fine job we did electing another pig-ignorant redneck after we just got rid of Perdue. At least this one believes that Sunday liquor sales aren’t the tool of the devil.
Jeff, my final request is that you close commenting when you finally make the ’sold’ post; there is little need to provide the Whinerpeg donkeys a soapbox to bray from.
HillMan
May 23rd, 2011
3:11 pm
If the folks in the PEG really hate Bettman and some fo the other NHL clowns, why would you support this effort? You are not getting back the Jets, just someone elses expansion cast off. You guys could send a message for all hockey and sports fans everywhere. Don’t give us someone elses castoff, give us back our old team or give us a new expansion team – period!
schmeckdawg
May 23rd, 2011
3:15 pm
Note to Chris Thornburn: I don’t blame you for being upset with your owners, they’re complete incompetent morons with no scruples; however, if y’all didn’t suck for 10 out of the 11 years that the Thrashers have been here, would we be having this conversation?
HillMan
May 23rd, 2011
3:18 pm
By the way, this would also send a message to all mismanaged team owners, you don’t get rewarded for poor ownership. You either sell locally or you go out of business and a new expansion team will take your place. We need to stop letting failed ownership move and get rewarded. Force failed team to fold and allow expansion to replace them.
Ed Peskowitz
May 23rd, 2011
3:18 pm
Rutherford! You still owe me that $20 you little snotnose punk! Your father-in-law is going to be very annoyed when I tell him that you won’t pay me back.
Mooseberg
May 23rd, 2011
3:18 pm
File you Kincade complaints to this guy his boss at 680thefan
jimmahanay@680thefan.com
schmeckdawg
May 23rd, 2011
3:19 pm
And as far as John Kincade goes that gutless moron is trying to save face by putting this on the fans when the real truth is that he has been shouting it from the highest mountain and at every turn that the Thrashers were never in danger of leaving Atlanta.
The little man from Fulladelphia knows all…NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
schmeckdawg
May 23rd, 2011
3:21 pm
@Mooseberg
It’s a waste of time my friend. If I thought that would work, I would have filed so many, Mahanay’s inbox would have exploded by now!
Michael Gearon, Jr.
May 23rd, 2011
3:21 pm
Ed,
Please stop making our disagreements public. It’s bad press.
Thanks,
Mike
Mooseberg
May 23rd, 2011
3:25 pm
Never like the little runt anyway….wish we could get him back to philly where he belongs and deserves to live.
Steve Belkin
May 23rd, 2011
3:26 pm
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!
You boners should have invested in my surge protector and pizzeria businesses! Maybe then you wouldn’t have to sell the teams.
schmeckdawg
May 23rd, 2011
3:29 pm
Agreed 100% Mooseberg. I can’t listen to him and Buck anymore, I have to wait until Buck, Leo and “The Lemmer” do their pre-game show to tune back in.
Hockey Guy
May 23rd, 2011
3:29 pm
Is the NFL lockout over yet?
Ga30306
May 23rd, 2011
3:30 pm
How long till kickoff of college football season?
schmeckdawg
May 23rd, 2011
3:31 pm
Is it college football season yet?
ATL hockey fan
May 23rd, 2011
3:31 pm
Seriously – I think I’m going to start a website about boycotting the Atlanta Spirit Group. Not only should we not buy tickets to the Hawks until they sell, we need to list every business that buys a sponsorship at Hawks games so that people will know not to patronize them. If we can make buying a sponsorship and putting money in the ASG partners’ pockets a potential negative for a business, they’ll spend their marketing dollars elsewhere. More pressure for the ASG to get out of town.
We also need to boycott any other businesses owned by those clowns, including Seydel’s law firm, the publishing business owned by Levenson and Peskowitz, etc. And when Michael Gearon Jr. is out of a job, I hope no one in Georgia will hire him.
terrible
May 23rd, 2011
3:32 pm
Buck Belue is even dumber than Kincade. That show is horrible. It’s worse than their morning show.
schmeckdawg
May 23rd, 2011
3:33 pm
ATL hockey fan
Get it going, I’m in!
Jackets21
May 23rd, 2011
3:34 pm
Isn’t Belkin one of the owners and the manufacturer of Belkin internet routers – one and the same? May choose to boycot purchases of these products in protest.
Rutherford Seydel
May 23rd, 2011
3:36 pm
ATL hockey fan,
I dare you.
And Ed, I already told you that I’m not paying you back. Eat it.
HillMan
May 23rd, 2011
3:37 pm
ATL Hockey fan – I think it becomes real painful if we also put new Hawks/Arena owners that we will boycott them for 3-5 years. That paints the ASG in a corner they can’t get out of.
Sage of Bluesland
May 23rd, 2011
3:38 pm
I think an A$G listing of businesses is a wonderful idea….so, we can ensure a proper boycott of those that deserve it.
Thank you to the person who provided the 680 manager’s email. I will be sending an email within the day. It may not make an impact…but I’ll feel better about it.
I always do.
This is what happens to “false” prophets and those who commit fraud….
CharlieAlphaBravo
May 23rd, 2011
3:38 pm
So once this deal is done, can we stop acting like we care???
Gary Bettman
May 23rd, 2011
3:39 pm
steelerboy,
Kiss my ace. I do what I want. I’ll spit on you if I feel like it. This is MY league.
Vince
May 23rd, 2011
3:39 pm
terrible, I have to agree, Buck is a boob. Never seen anyone leverage being Herschel’s caddy for so long. Gave up that show some time back. Couldn’t take his babbling anymore.