Cowardly Bettman ignoring evidence of Thrashers fans
Gary Bettman is blaming Atlanta hockey fans for not supporting a bad product. (AP photo)
In his most recent spoken example of the Wile E. Coyote/Acme explosives/NHL public relations disaster, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman somewhat admonished Thrashers fans for not buying tickets to what has been a crummy product for most of their 11 seasons.
Quoting here: “Demonstrating your dissatisfaction by not going to games is an interesting strategy. It’s your absolute right. But if it becomes a turnoff for anybody who might want to buy the franchise, the long-term consequences could be severe.”
Imagine if we applied this philosophy to other aspects in our life.
Buy a new car. If the doors fall off two blocks down the street, that’s OK. Just make sure you support that dealership by buying another one next year. Eat at a new restaurant. If dinner makes your stomach feel like there are a thousand screaming piranhas in it, that’s OK. Eat there the following week, because you wouldn’t want that restaurant to go out of business. And this time, bring friends!
Bettman doesn’t want to leave the impression that the NHL is on the verge of abandoning Atlanta again (which it is). So he is trying to lay the ground work for the Thrashers’ exit to Winnipeg. He’ll point to attendance and stupid stuff like only a few hundred fans showing up at a rally. He’ll do everything possible to try to convince you that this mugging wasn’t his fault and he had no choice.
Don’t fall for it.
All aboard for Winnipeg . . .
Let me tell you a story. The Braves averaged about 10,000 fans per game in 1988, which they finished 54-106. In one late-season game, attendance was announced at 3,017. Ex-Brave Gerald Perry mused, “Sometimes, we look up from the dugout and say, ‘This’d be another good day to paint the seats.’”
Let me tell you a story. In 1989, 7,792 fans showed up for an NFL game, or at least one between the Falcons and Detroit Lions at old Atlanta-Fulton Stadium. When one fan was asked why he purchased a ticket, he responded, “It was a Christmas present, and I didn’t want to let my brother down. He could be here, but he said he’d rather go to grandma’s.” The Falcons finished 3-13 that season.
Postscript: The Braves started winning in 1991 and attendance doubled. It tripled by 1992 and quadrupled by 1993. Falcons’ attendance spiked under Jerry Glanville, dropped again when the team lost, then returned after Arthur Blank, Michael Vick and success arrived (38 straight sellouts).
Most of you probably understand where I’m going with this. The cowardly Bettman is in the corner with his eyes closed, ears covered and loudly humming, pretending not to notice.
If a team wins, it draws fans. If a team does the right thing – or sometimes even just leaves the impression it’s trying really hard to do the right things – it draws fans. Atlanta losing an NHL team isn’t about Atlanta not having enough hockey fans to support a franchise. It’s about the fact that people grew fed up with supporting a bad product run by bad ownership.
Let me tell you a story. In their inaugural season, the Thrashers sold out 14 games and averaged 17,205 fans per game in a 61-loss season. A year later, they averaged 15,265 in a 47-loss season. In three year, the team got worse and attendance dropped even more.
The Thrashers made the playoffs in 2006-07 for the first (and only) time in their history. Funny thing happened. They sold out more games (11) and averaged more fans (16,239) than in any season since the first.
Millions of Braves fans didn’t suddenly move here in 1991. Blank didn’t hand out $500 bills across state borders to get people to come to Falcons games. Thrashers fans didn’t move after two seasons, then come for the playoffs, then move again. This isn’t about a market. It’s about a fan base that has seen too many car doors fall off.
In 2003-04, Chicago, an “Original 6” team, had the second-worst record in the league and ranked 27th in attendance at 13,253 (2,000 less than the Thrashers). Six years later, when the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, they drew 21,356.
Could it be there’s a connection?
Bettman will try to convince you Atlanta just didn’t want hockey bad enough. He’ll ignore the reasons. He’ll grab millions in a relocation fee from a city that he moved a team from 15 years earlier.
The Winnipeg Jets averaged 11,316 fans in their final season — 2,000 less than the Thrashers drew this year. Don’t expect to read that in the news release.
By Jeff Schultz
♦
Earlier: Countdown: Bettman, Spirit on Facebook, angry beaver, Monta’s tattoo
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455 comments Add your comment
Todd
May 24th, 2011
10:14 pm
I prefer to call gary thewless
Coach Grohbo
May 24th, 2011
10:17 pm
Billsen,
I am 100% american and even I realized long ago that ASG and their puppet Waddell never could grasp the fact that a hockey rink has two ends to it. When it came to personnel, they focused nearly all of their efforts on the offensive end.
The same is true with UGA and their football coaches. Most of their personnel focus was on the “skill positions” and very little was on the line.
Their time too is nearing the end.
Hal
May 24th, 2011
10:19 pm
Great article Jeff. I wrote some similar things to that dunce kincade.
Florida jacket
May 24th, 2011
10:20 pm
@florida jacket where have you been for the last 50 years? Professional sports is about television markets Winnipeg can sell 40,000 tickets a night and it won’t make $.10 worth of difference, why, because the next television contract won’t pay the NHL enough to buy a good handkerchief, why, because by that time they will of lost half of the top 10 markets in the United States. And yes Mexico City has six times as many people as Atlanta, and the people in Atlanta have six times as much money as all of the people in Mexico City. The next time you want to talk about something that you don’t know anything about do it somewhere else.
david
May 24th, 2011
10:21 pm
you guys avg 6000 fans watching the games on tv..and you have the 8th largest tv market..dont blame bettmen,,if ANYONE WANTED TO BUY this team locally it wouldnt have moved…no one wants to take a loss every year ..
Guffman
May 24th, 2011
10:21 pm
A question about the Waddell bashing… When I look at the Thrashers roster, I see a very young team that has a lot of potential if you add a few more parts to the mix. Looks like a very good core to build off of for the years to come.
ukyo(ths)
May 24th, 2011
10:27 pm
Guffman -
Yes we have a good young core. A core that would either be not properly developed, traded, or would walk in free agency. How do we know? Look at Waddell’s track record and the lack of funding from the ASG. Make sense?
ukyo(ths)
May 24th, 2011
10:29 pm
Correction – We *had* a good young core. Thank you again, ASG…
@ukyo
May 24th, 2011
10:33 pm
If the game had gotten more expensive, there would not be a team moving back to Winnipeg. In current dollars, the league is more affordable now than it was in 96. Salary cap and a Canadian dollar worth 1.05 make the above true.
Your delusion that the Canadian dollar will drift back down to the .77 cent level or lower is naive. ( Even if it did, the Jets would still succeed in Winnipeg ) China has surpassed the US on so many levels and with India and other emerging markets swamping your exports ( do you even have any exports anymore? ), the likelihood is that the Cdn and US governments will manipulate the currency to keep it between .90 and 1.10 – if they can. We would only dip down to the sub .80 level if the US had some kind of power over us, which they don’t anymore ( except for the obvious, if they point a missile at us) .
We may have a small population but we’ve got more natural resources than anybody and at least as much oil as the Middle East -resources in demand by emerging markets which provide us with a very stable economy and thereby a stable dollar; the only economy in the G8 that didn’t tank during the last economic crisis ( caused by the US of course )
It isn’t that our billionaire owner has lots of money he’s willing to lose because he has so much, its that he’s a savvy businessman that has the might and the pedigree to get this deal done – and make a small profit to boot.
Your ignorance precludes me from negating anymore of your ridiculous arguments. Go Jets.
glen
May 24th, 2011
10:36 pm
To be honest, the citizens of winnipeg are no fans of Mr. Bettman either going way back to how the situation with the Jets was handled. Mr. Bettman has never been an avid supporter of hockey in Canada. Regardless of market size, I think the NHL has grown too big, too costly for most cities.
Countdown To Team Seven: Jets Imminent | One Stop News Stand
May 24th, 2011
10:37 pm
[...] The paper’s Thrashers section is here. But perhaps you should start with this piece, from which I excerpt: In his most recent spoken example of the Wile E. Coyote/Acme explosives/NHL [...]
@@Florida jacket
May 24th, 2011
10:38 pm
“And yes Mexico City has six times as many people as Atlanta, and the people in Atlanta have six times as much money as all of the people in Mexico City. The next time you want to talk about something that you don’t know anything about do it somewhere else”
People of Atlanta have six times as much money as the people of Mexico City? And I’m the one who doesn’t know what I’m talking about? Good one. This from a guy who probably can’t find Mexico on a map. Go study some economics and get back to me.
EA
May 24th, 2011
10:39 pm
Guffman-about Waddell-don’t even go there. Zhitnik for Coburn. Goaltending is a myth . . it goes on and on. He also has thrown everyone but himself under the bus. Lying mouth piece for this ownership group ASG. Bogosian # 1pick now a -27. The GM for 10 out of 11 years that has only made the playoffs ONCE. Never won a playoff game. Every star player has left. Is that enough or should I go on? The positive from this years team mostly happened under Dudley.
@@Ukyo
May 24th, 2011
10:39 pm
If the game had gotten more expensive, there would not be a team moving back to Winnipeg. In current dollars, the league is more affordable now than it was in 96. Salary cap and a Canadian dollar worth 1.05 make the above true.
Your delusion that the Canadian dollar will drift back down to the .77 cent level or lower is naive. ( Even if it did, the Jets would still succeed in Winnipeg ) China has surpassed the US on so many levels and with India and other emerging markets swamping your exports ( do you even have any exports anymore? ), the likelihood is that the Cdn and US governments will manipulate the currency to keep it between .90 and 1.10 – if they can. We would only dip down to the sub .80 level if the US had some kind of power over us, which they don’t anymore ( except for the obvious, if they point a missile at us) .
We may have a small population but we’ve got more natural resources than anybody and at least as much oil as the Middle East -resources in demand by emerging markets which provide us with a very stable economy and thereby a stable dollar; the only economy in the G8 that didn’t tank during the last economic crisis ( caused by the US of course )
It isn’t that our billionaire owner has lots of money he’s willing to lose because he has so much, its that he’s a savvy businessman that has the might and the pedigree to get this deal done – and make a small profit to boot.
Your ignorance precludes me from negating anymore of your ridiculous arguments. Go Jets.
Mike
May 24th, 2011
10:40 pm
I admit I am not a hockey fan – never been to a Thrasher’s game, never played the game as a kid and could personally care less. But that’s just me. Having the Commish blame the fans for running the franchise out of town is crazy. It’s up to any sport or business to make the product appealing to the customer. It’s not up to the customer to buy their crap and keep them in business. As I remember, this is the second hockey team that has failed in Atlanta. Anybody getting the hint? But for you true hockey fans out there, I do feel for you. Bettman’s crazy. The customer (fan) does not have to buy the crummy product, nor do they have the duty to protect the franchise’s value down the road to protect some future prima-dona buyer. Sell ‘em and use the money to pave the pot holes. Give Bettman a shovel …
Scott
May 24th, 2011
10:42 pm
Great piece Jeff. There is no doubt that this is an opportunity for Bettman to save face and recoup some of the losses the owners have incurred while propping up the Phoenix franchise. He hasn’t even made a trip to Atlanta to meet with the Mayor or other city officials. He has been criticized for years by the Canadian markets and media for trying to “Americanize” the league and now he is placating those critics.
Ray Ferraro's Bobble Head Doll
May 24th, 2011
10:43 pm
The Balkan is sure being awfully quiet for a guy who wants to buy the Hawks, Thrashers, and Philips.
Gary Bettman
May 24th, 2011
10:45 pm
Listen tools, you can cut me down all you want. I get paid 7 million dollars a year to be a bullhorn by 30 owners in the league. ( okay, 29, Mayor Sruggs doesn’t own the Coyotes, the league does – oh, and there’s those Spirit guys – okay, lets call it 28 owners )
Don’t kill the messenger. I am carried everywhere I go by the owners of every franchise in the league who pay me very well to say what they want me to say.
Go Jets Go.
@uk yo
May 24th, 2011
10:47 pm
If the game had gotten more expensive, there would not be a team moving back to Winnipeg. In current dollars, the league is more affordable now than it was in 96. Salary cap and a Canadian dollar worth 1.05 make the above true.
Your delusion that the Canadian dollar will drift back down to the .77 cent level or lower is naive. ( Even if it did, the Jets would still succeed in Winnipeg ) China has surpassed the US on so many levels and with India and other emerging markets swamping your exports ( do you even have any exports anymore? ), the likelihood is that the Cdn and US governments will manipulate the currency to keep it between .90 and 1.10 – if they can. We would only dip down to the sub .80 level if the US had some kind of power over us, which they don’t anymore ( except for the obvious, if they point a missile at us) .
We may have a small population but we’ve got more natural resources than anybody and at least as much oil as the Middle East -resources in demand by emerging markets which provide us with a very stable economy and thereby a stable dollar; the only economy in the G8 that didn’t tank during the last economic crisis ( caused by the US of course )
It isn’t that our billionaire owner has lots of money he’s willing to lose because he has so much, its that he’s a savvy businessman that has the might and the pedigree to get this deal done – and make a small profit to boot.
The Kasim Reed SPIN ZONE
May 24th, 2011
10:49 pm
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed stated
” I think anytime we lose a major sports franchise it is tough. It’s going to hurt the city, but we are going to withstand it just fine. … We have a lot of positive things going on in the sports-franchise space that I think we will be announcing pretty soon to offset it a bit.”
As if we didn’t know the College Football Hall of Fame is slated to move to Atlanta from South Bend, Indiana in the spring of 2013.
This was happening anyway Kasim, wake up, pretend to be intelligent and quit the spin.
Krusty
May 24th, 2011
10:53 pm
Schultz, while Gary Bettman is a complete moron, you’re not far behind. The Thrashers could come in first place next season, and their first round playoff games won’t sell out. That’s Atlanta for you. Hell, I’ll bet the people who filled out the Arena for the round two series of the Hawks and Bulls averaged 2.5 games per person all season. The Braves can’t sell out playoff games. There were tickets available for the Falcons/Packers game up until game time. That’s Atlanta for you.
First off, you compare franchises that had competent or at least near competent owners. The Spirit Group does not fall into either category. The Thrashers aren’t going to get better in Atlanta. Ever. That’s if they don’t move. Hockey can not and will not EVER make it in Atlanta. Why? Because more than 50% of the hockey loving population of Atlanta grew up in a city that had a team, and they are loyal to that team. Not a poorly run organization that can’t get out of its own way. Same goes for every other sport in Atlanta. Go to various sports bars in Atlanta on a Sunday and you’ll see each one hosts an out of town NFL team’s fans. You think football is the only sport that has this dynamic? Don’t you remember the Cardinals fans outnumbering Braves fans in Turner Field in the early 90s? Same with Cubs fans? You don’t remember the Cowboys playing in the Georgia Dome like it was a home game in Irving? Nah.. of course you don’t. Because right now, you can look like someone who actually cares about the hockey team staying in Atlanta…. since you’ll probably be out of a job when they leave.
Let NONE in
May 24th, 2011
10:54 pm
@ukyo: No doubt Canada has some great hockey fans but outside of that…stop patting yourself on the back. When the US wants a Canadian opinion we’ll give it to you.
TD
May 24th, 2011
11:00 pm
to be fair, Winnepeg is a much smaller market with a smaller ice rink. the fans that do go there will appreciate the team more than atlanta ever will, but i do agree that the thrashers are cursed by bad management. if there was an easy fix to that problem (maybe giving tax payers a say since they fund your stadiums, and buy your merch), then this situation could be resolved. sadly, there is not.
Let NONE in
May 24th, 2011
11:02 pm
Has the Globe and Mail hack explained how the deal was done and going to be announced on/by Tuesday. Well, we have an hour to go so I look forward to the official announcement. Sounds to me like the hack just sprayed his shorts.
Saywhut
May 24th, 2011
11:03 pm
You’re lucky if the NHL Commissioner doesn’t sue the AJC for libel.
Steve
May 24th, 2011
11:04 pm
I have a story for you. The Toronto Maple Leafs have missed the playoffs for the past six years but have sold out the ACC since 2002. Maple Leaf Gardens was sold out from 1946 until it closed in 1999. Want season tickets? Sign up on the years long waiting list. Do you think this team will be moving soon?
I have another story. Since the lockout every Canadian NHL team has sold out every game except for Ottawa. Edmonton is rebuilding and a perennial cellar dweller. Calgary has struggled to make the playoffs. Yet the buildings are full.
Arguing that “well, we were just waiting for the team to be good” is pathetic. If you don’t go to games, don’t be surprised when the team can’t pay the bills.
Moving to a city of 600,000 diehard hockey fans simply makes more sense than a city of 5 million with 20,000 fair-weather fans who wouldn’t support the team through hard times. Minnesota hasn’t always had the greatest team since they got the Wild back, yet they have sold out every game since. They learned their lesson. Atlanta did not.
And don’t hate on Canada, Winnipeg is simply the best option available at the moment.
It’s sad for the diehard Thrashers fans that do exist, but the fans that stayed at home share some of the blame in losing this team.
AYF from Phoenix via Montreal
May 24th, 2011
11:07 pm
Why are so many Atlantans insulting the City of Winnipeg, a place they know nothing of? Until the news broke that the Thrashers might be re-locating to the Manitoba capital, most of those Hee-Haw watchin’, banjo pluckin’, El Camino drivin’, road kill B-B-Qn’, chewin’ tobacco spittin’, cousin-marryin’ inbreds couldn’t have found Canada on a map of North America if their lives depended on it. At least the transfer fee keeps the Coyotes in Phoenix. Thanks for helping us keep our team in Phoenix.
Freedom of the Press
May 24th, 2011
11:07 pm
Bettman is lucky the AJC doesn’t sue the National Hockey League for fraud.
Oklahoma kid
May 24th, 2011
11:08 pm
Hey, did you know there’s a basketball team in Oklahoma? I think its in Oklahoma City. I’m from Winnipeg and didn’t even know there was a professional NBA team there. How long have they been there?? Point is, how many people in the States even know there’s a hockey team in Atlanta? I’m a hockey fan, and watch a couple basketball games a year if Raptors play the HEat or something, ..anyway, be honest, you really won’t miss the Thrashers. High school football draws more people there. its cold up here, sure, but thats why we play hockey. If it was just as cold down there and hot up here then you’d win all the olympic gold medals in hockey and we’d win them all in basketball. so just give it a rest already
Kevin
May 24th, 2011
11:13 pm
Atlanta has hockey team? Sweet, when does season start?
Atlfan
May 24th, 2011
11:13 pm
Please stop comparing Atlanta to Winnipeg. It makes no logical sense. When you are building a foundation it doesn’t happen overnight, it takes time. If you think 10 years time of a losing product is what will win people over i’m not sure if you’re even making an attempt to think logically. In order for the NHL to become a big time league, it needs more than just the great support it gets in Canada because quite frankly its only 33 million people in Canada and every last one of them could love hockey and it wouldn’t be enough to carry this league.
Personally I think the league expanded to quickly and to much but the idea about expansion wasn’t bad. He should have added only about half the teams and seen how the markets responded before adding more. Atlanta is not the worse franchise out there, it just has the worse owners. As bad as this team has been the fans have organized road trips to follow them and have been much more loyal than most given the on ice product and ownership issues and this in a non traditional market.
Kevin
May 24th, 2011
11:17 pm
Atlanta has hockey team? Sweet, when does season start?
Canadians for Reality
May 24th, 2011
11:19 pm
@Florida Jacket…. Just an asinine comment in a sea of idiocy on this blog right now. Congrats. You’re the winner for least productive effort of the day. As for everyone else — on both sides of the border — who are flinging the insults and doing everything they can to be petty about this situation, give your heads a shake. Try to have a bloody intelligent discussion, if not beat it. I do however find it funny that so many folks from the U.S. are suddenly experts on my hometown and the inner-workings of its finances and abilities to support an NHL franchise, when two months ago they couldn’t locate it on the map. If you’re angry about losing your team, I get that. But slamming the people who are trying to buy it isn’t going to stop the reality.
Kevin
May 24th, 2011
11:20 pm
Hey AYF, you are upset with folks insulting winnipeg? Then your very next lline insults folks in the south…..think about it Einstein
Sidney 87
May 24th, 2011
11:20 pm
Just move the team to Halifax Nova Scotia and let Sid take over. Its obvious everyone in Atlanta rather go play horseshoes
Jets Fan
May 24th, 2011
11:21 pm
Florida Jacket……”The NHL has 30 teams, with no teams in Baltimore, Houston, Seattle, Denver, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Kansas City or San Diego.”
Remind us again where the Avalanche play out of????????
Florida jacket
May 24th, 2011
11:21 pm
@@Florida jacket have an MBA, where did you get your GED.
Alberto Vee-Oh-Five
May 24th, 2011
11:22 pm
If Winnipeg is such a wonderful destination, why did the Hurricanes not move there eleven years ago? Why hasn’t Phoenix relocated there? Why hasn’t Nashville?
The truth is that Atlanta fans haven’t been given a good team to support. When it has been good, it’s gotten support. That would be a clue on Scooby Doo, but apparently it is over the heads of the Thrashers ownership group. Bring in a real GM, give him time to build a great farm system in the draft and make smart trades and free agent acquisitions. That’s how you win on a regular basis, that’s how you build a fanbase and that’s how you entrench a new team in a new market. But…again…that’s news to Atlanta’s owners.
Atlanta needs a Lou Lamarillo to come in and take the team over and rebuild it from scratch. It won’t be quick, and it won’t be easy but it can be done. If Tampa and Carolina can win Cups, so can Atlanta. The difference is ownership, management and coaching. It sure as heck ain’t the fans down there.
Then there’s this richness: “its cold up here, sure, but thats why we play hockey. If it was just as cold down there and hot up here then you’d win all the olympic gold medals in hockey and we’d win them all in basketball. so just give it a rest already”
How many times has Lord Stanley’s Cup been lifted in Canada since 1993?
Zero.
And your vaunted Edmonton Oilers were defeated by the Southeast’s Carolina Hurricanes in 2006.
The next year, the legendary hockey market of Anaheim dispatched the Sens in a series over before it began.
Oddly, the Hurricanes play in an area where the national championship for college basketball is often won…they sit about 15 minutes from Duke and UNC. And draw fairly well besides.
And the Ducks? Well, their competition are the Lakers.
But as for Canada, once Boston or Tampa dispatches Vancouver, it can spend another summer telling the world how it is the home of hockey and how it deserves to have all of the NHL’s teams.
Harry
May 24th, 2011
11:23 pm
NHL is a joke, nobody watches, goes to games ( outside of a few cities) , or cares who wins, smallest Mkt out there, tough product to sell. Plus with al gore global warming NHL might just melt away soon!!!
Harry
May 24th, 2011
11:27 pm
Steve, you are right, there is not much to do in Canada so it’s a good move I agree
Bye bye thrashers, too many other fun things to do in georgia hockey is not one of them ….I will say ….all the transfers to Atlanta are who attend games, moat are not Ga products:)
Howard
May 24th, 2011
11:28 pm
Alberto, there is nothing to do in Raleigh, lets be honest now
Ga boy
May 24th, 2011
11:32 pm
Hey….
You folks hard on Ga fans and Atlanta, feel free to go back where you came from, delta is always ready!!!
GO
May 24th, 2011
11:34 pm
Jarvis…..if hockey sucks and it sucks everywhere then why are you wasting your time in this forum. Go back to football or baseball…they’re much slower and you might actually grasp one of those. As Canadians we love it because we understand the game in all its detail and our passion for the game is why we are fighting to keep it here. Get a life and stop wasting your time in forums of subjects you know nothing about. Congrats Jeff Schultz…a well written article but let’s not lose focus that the basis for all of this is that Don Waddell with mimimal backing from ownership did a horrible horrible job putting a product on the ice worth watching. Gary Bettman is what he is but the problem is not him….
Southernhockeyfan
May 24th, 2011
11:56 pm
AYF from Phoenix via Montreal: Why have I read on more than one post from our Canadian posters how Atlanta is a crime ridden city only known for shootings and crime. One guy suggest we all wore bullet proof vest. My guess he has never been to Atlanta. Or maybe he is not real smart since we have 5 million people in this city, so yes the crime rate is going to be higher than in Winnipeg. If he knew anything about this city he would know how many major companies do business here and how many great universities educate our future leaders. The only thing this city is guilty of is having its government officials not step up and support the hockey team.
@Altardo Vee oh
May 24th, 2011
11:57 pm
you guys make such bold triumphant statements built on a logical foundation of spooge and then sleep well at night. First you knock me, thinking you’re superior with ‘Then there’s this richness’ followed by ‘How many times has Lord Stanley’s Cup been lifted in Canada since 1993? ‘
Notice I said ‘Olympic gold medals’ which means its a win by citizens of that country. You try to say my argument is hogwash because no Canadian teams have won the Cup since 93. You can be from any country and belong to an NHL team, the Olympics is national. So Canada does well at the Olympics because most hockey players are Canadian. And regardless of where an NHL team is located, most of the players are Canadian. You’re making my point. To make my point further – how many Canadians play for the Toronto Raptors?
Better water down that Wild Turkey a bit before you go debatin an’ll y’all
scottbravesfan
May 24th, 2011
11:58 pm
The Jets never drew well and in Ontario they are already talking about the new Jets moving to Metro Toronto in 7 years, since the deal only requires the Jets to stay in Winnipeg for 7 years. So this is Bettman’s way of getting another team in Toronto, which is what he has wanted the whole time.
Thrash
May 24th, 2011
11:59 pm
All this BS in the forum “Winnipeg will sell tickets”… Yeah, Atlanta sold tickets that first year too and unless the product DRASTICALLY improves in Winnipeg with new ownership, there won’t be ticket or TV money enough to pay the beer vendors let alone keep a team there.
Brendan
May 25th, 2011
12:08 am
Glovesave29, such a great post at 9:49.
DW’s 15 yr plan, excellent post at 6:50.
I’ll just say it. It’s not possible to defend the indefensible. Retaining a GM without a playoff win in a decade … screams apathy. It’s not even incompetence at that point; it’s just utter disdain. It’s so, so clear that this ownership never WANTED to own this team, and tried, secretly, to sell it for YEARS. Doesn’t that inspire confidence?
I am very sincere when I say … “Thank God Winnipeg will not have to deal with that.” When you, as a fan, realize … that everything starts with ownership, and that ownership doesn’t care, it leaves you to ponder, “then why should I care?” For the better part of a decade, the Atlanta Thrashers served as schedule fodder for the rest of the league. They didn’t and couldn’t develop talent, but was Dan Marr, Head of Scouting, ever fired? No! He’s STILLLLL here. Without a 3rd through 5th round selection to show for it, in all that time. He has one (1) second rounder (Ondrej Pavelec). That’s pathetic. For more than a decade’s work, even if Don Waddell is the one that pulls the trigger.
It’s beyond incompetence. It’s all quite deliberate. This was a systematic dismantling of an unwanted NHL franchise. But unlike in other markets, the Commissioner’s office made no attempt to step in and bail it out, install new ownership, or run the team. I promise you, had the NHL stepped in, there would have been a rush of season ticket sales.
For that matter, if the Spirit, LLC had just fired Waddell after the 2007 sweep by the NY Rangers, or at any point thereafter, there would have been 200-300 Season Tickets purchased the following morning. With many more to follow during the rest of the week. Having Don Waddell and the Atlanta Spirit, LLC as a tandem … is like trying to fight a war on terrorism with Pakistan as your ally (Copyright 2011, poster R.Stroz, all rights reserved.).
This market never had a chance beyond 2002, when it became crystal clear that ownership (Time/Warner) wanted to ditch the team, and wouldn’t spend to retain any players. Then it sold to the Atlanta Spirit, LLC, who 5 minutes later, began their campaign to try to ditch the NHL franchise they were FORCED to inherit. None of this escaped the hockey-going public, as they watched incomprehensible decisions being made, with regard to the operations of the franchise. We were all left to say, “What in the wide, wide world of sports is a goin’ on here!” This wasn’t about winning and losing. This was about NOT TRYING. And not HIDING that fact.
Let me ask you, “How would this play out in Canada?” The morning paper basically says, “Owners to hockey fans: Up yours! Deal with it! We don’t care what you want or what you think. We’re raising ticket prices. Go buy ‘em.” Hmmn. Interesting marketing strategy. What can you call that other than “antagonistic.” These die-hard hockey fans were thoroughly and systematically driven away. The message received, loud and clear, “Why not set your money on fire?”
It’s moments like that, that George Carlin’s comedy routine surfaces. “Hello consumers. We’re selling a bunch of cheap crap, at extremely high prices, that you don’t want or need. Come on down, and be treated rudely by our poorly-trained staff.” Is there anything more to add, I do wonder. Yes, there is. “Gary Bettman WATCHED it happen. He knew what was going on, including the ire of the hockey fans.” His response? “What can we do, while possession of the team is still in litigation?” A total copout answer. He could have revoked their operating license and assumed control of the team, to save the market. He didn’t. Bygones. The team is gone. But remember this, when Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Tampa Bay, and Phoenix were rescued … they all made the playoffs soon thereafter. Their markets were RESUSITATED. The same would have happened here … if ANYONE in authority ever, ever CARED about making hockey work … in Atlanta, GA.
Nicolas
May 25th, 2011
12:11 am
Hockey is going to work in Winnipeg. The poor attendance figures can be attributed to a weak Canadian dollar and a league without the new collective bargaining agreement. Don’t be upset with Winnipeg getting a team back, again..remember the Atlanta Flames? I can agree that Buttman is a poor commissioner, however he’s not just moving the Thrashers for a relocation fee.
P. Bull Terrier
May 25th, 2011
12:50 am
Great column, Jeff. I can’t imagine how a Bozo like Bettman, with so little public relations sense, got into position to be a league commissioner – even if it is just the NHL.
Other pro sports leagues think about their TV contracts before they think about anything else. The last thing any other commissioner would do is insult the entire population of one of the 10 largest television markets in the country while in the process of taking their team away. Even Bud Selig is aware that he needs TV viewers in markets without pro teams. Bettman has no clue that fans in Atlanta could still help increase the NHL’s revenue after the team is gone if they were willing to watch the NHL on TV often enough. The die hard hocky fans who moved here from somewhere else may continue to follow their favorite teams on TV after the Thrashers are gone, but I would rather watch “Dancing With The Stars” reruns than spend a minute of my time supporting the NHL after the way Bettman has handled pending sale of the Thrashers. Maybe incompetent leadership is part of the reason that the NHL trails so far behind all of the other major sports in TV revenue.
The crazy thing is, I don’t have a problem with the ASG selling the team to whoever is willing to give them the most money. I don’t even have a problem with the NHL allowing the team to relocate so they can collect a few million from the sale. The thing I have a problem with is everyone involved lying about the process and blaming the fans in an effort to cover up their own self interest. If the ASG would have said from the beginning that they were planning to sell the Thrashers so they could invest more in the Hawks, I would have understood. If Bettman would have simply said that the tax the league plans to collect for approving the relocation is too good a deal to pass up, I would understand that too. When the league and the owners want to blame me, while they stuff their pockets with cash, I have a problem. Next time the NHL comes looking for fans in Atlanta, I’ll be busy doing something else – even if it means watching “Dancing With The Stars” reruns.