Thrashers, Atlanta were never given a chance
Thrashers fans tried hard to keep hope, season after season. But the deck was stacked against them. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)
(Updated: 12:30 p.m.)
This is how it ends: With the weasel of a commissioner not stepping foot in the city, with another season passing without a playoff game, with a lying ownership group maintaining it did all it could to save a franchise that in reality it spent most of seven years wrecking.
Atlanta has lost an NHL expansion team to a Canadian outpost for the second time. The Thrashers are going to Winnipeg just like the Flames went to Calgary in 1980. A press conference was held in Winnipeg, while the Thrashers sent out this warm-and-fuzzy news release: “The Atlanta Thrashers announced today that they have entered into an asset purchase agreement with True North Sports and Entertainment …”
This isn’t about the fans or the market or certainly Gary Bettman’s fictional “covenant” with fans, which I believe he left in the same sock drawer with his conscience. It’s about greed and abandonment, plain and simple. It’s about a disingenuous ownership group, which had long lost any semblance of credibility, serving up fans swill and gruel and then wondering why the turnstiles sleep at night.
They’ll tell you they care. They don’t. They’re walking away with a fat check. While you mourn the loss of a franchise, they’re waving goodbye with one middle finger.
The NHL is leaving a city that never really was given a chance. It’s going back to a city that it left 15 years ago and that has grown by about 60,000 people and a couple of doughnut shops since. They will be discussing this decision one day at business schools, right after the sections on Charles Ponzi and Enron.
Atlanta didn’t fail. The franchise failed. But the NHL doesn’t care about that. This is a league that survives on franchise fees and relocation fees. It collected $80 million from Ted Turner for an expansion fee in 1997. (He joked in the Board of Governors meeting that followed that he could’ve saved $70 million by purchasing the Flames from Tom Cousins for $10 million. Nobody laughed.) The league reportedly will collect another $60 million for permission to move the Thrashers to Manitoba.
In five years, when another failing franchise wants to move into Philips Arena, Bettman will be happy to collect another fat relocation fee, and he’ll deliver the same canned, phony speech about how he always believed in this market. The guy has told so many lies, it’s a wonder he’s not an Atlanta Spirit partner. (One postscript: Bettman referred to them as the “Atlantic” Spirit on Tuesday.)
Now living in Calgary.
There are hockey teams in Tampa and San Jose and Raleigh, and I could go on. There’s still one inexplicably in Phoenix, which the NHL is floating for another year, maybe because Bettman plans to retire and open up a pawn shop there one day. Is Atlanta an inferior market to any of those cities? Or does product have something to do with it?
There was no reason to do this now. When the Phoenix-to-Winnipeg deal fell apart, the NHL (which owns the Coyotes) was out $170 million. Bettman panicked. So he crossed out Phoenix and wrote in Atlanta. But why couldn’t he have waited a year to see if another owner for the team
Now living in Winnipeg.
emerged? Winnipeg wasn’t going anywhere. Was Bettman that desperate for the $60 million?
“I have absolutely no doubt that this market can support an NHL team,” said Bob Hartley, a native Canadian, a Stanley Cup winner in Colorado and the only coach to get the Thrashers to the playoffs. “It’s a huge disappointment to see the Atlanta franchise leave before so many other cities in the league. I loved it there. My last two years in Atlanta were as exciting as what I went through in Colorado. We had only two [home] playoffs games but it was a Stanley Cup atmosphere. But Hoss [Marian Hossa] left, Kovy [llya Kovalchuk] left, I was gone. It felt like the organization was drained of its energy.”
First player: Damian Rhodes. First draft pick: Patrik Stefan. First coach: Curt Fraser. First general manager: Don Waddell. That was only the beginning. Eleven seasons: one playoff berth, no wins.
Turner was followed by AOL/Time Warner, a bad marriage that was followed by an even worse one: Atlanta Spirit, LLC. Hossa saw no future here. Kovalchuk, given so many misdirections by part-owner Bruce Levenson in negotiations, wasn’t even sure the team would stay. Both wanted out.
There never was a commitment. There never was hope. There never was a plan — at least not one that worked.
A city just lost a franchise. While you mourn, they laugh. It’s nothing less than shameful.
By Jeff Schultz
♦
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1,115 comments Add your comment
Goodbye Forever Atlanta
May 31st, 2011
4:26 pm
Goodbye G52, goodbye all the other tools here. I heard its warmer in Atlanta? Great. Its cold up here and great for hockey. I have never watched a Hawks or Falcons game and never will unless maybe they are in a final, and even then its a maybe and probably not the whole game.
We have hockey. You don’t. We missed it a lot. You won’t miss it a bit. We may have a smaller city, a colder city, a city with less money but NOW, we have an NHL team and its here forever.
Don’t bother replying. I will never ever come here again and I thank God for that.
GO JETS GO GO JETS GO GO JETS GO GO JETS GO GO JETS GO
lmao Thrashers
May 31st, 2011
4:26 pm
Screw you bitter Thrashers fans that are taking shot at the Hawks. The Hawks have had better playoffs success than all the teams in ATL these past few years. Stop being bitter because the Thrashers suck. GOOD RIDDANCE SCRUBS!!!
TruthSeeker
May 31st, 2011
4:27 pm
These people who keep referring to Atlanta as a NASCAR city are clueless. They probably also think we wear overalls and live on dirt roads. I know maybe three people who genuinely care about NASCAR.
Atlanta is crazy about college football, and the Braves and Falcons to a lesser extent. Everything else is an afterthought, including, sad to say, the Hawks.
Atlanta = City that doesn't deserve an NHL team
May 31st, 2011
4:29 pm
This move is proof that Gary Bettman’s dream of U.S. expansion was a failure. Quite simply, Atlanta be a bigger market but the fan base isn’t there. Sorry to say it, but hockey is Canada’s game, not yours.
Brian
May 31st, 2011
4:30 pm
Sour grapes folks. You had eleven years to make this work and you couldn’t. Step back and let the Canadians show you how it’s done. You’ve still got that silly game where they bounce a ball, nobody runs or plays defence and if you touch a guy he goes down likes he’s been shot. If you want a second team we’d be happy to send you the Raptors.
Bean Counter
May 31st, 2011
4:32 pm
We have had 2 NHL franchises that have called Atlanta home and played to sell out crowds that have supported the franchises. Both have moved to Canada because they couldn’t make money in Atlanta. If you are sellng out every game why can’t they make it in Atlanta? In both cases it was obvious the owners lacked good business sense. Once again the hockey fans in Atlanta have been SCREWED!!
Ken Stallings
May 31st, 2011
4:34 pm
While I share the sense of outrage and betrayal that nearly everyone in Atlanta has with this decrepid sale and move of the Thrashers, I must take umbridge against you Schultz when you inferred that Raleigh is an inferior market for hockey. Nothing could be further from the truth!
North Carolina is a heavily populated state, much more so than Georgia, which concentrates its populations in three major cities. North Carolina has many more cities. Additionally, while Phillips Arena sat half or more empty, the RBC rocked with sellouts nearly every game played there!
The entire NHL is very pleased with the move from Hartford to Raleigh. A lot of that happiness is the loyalty of the fan base in the Carolina area. While I agree that within all reason, Peter Karmonas has supported the team, sending it to two Stanley Cup Finals with one championship banner, the truth is that the fan base supported this team before it won anything.
I feel genuinely badly for Atlanta that the Thrashers were owned by a group so devoid of any talent to lead sports teams. But, that is hardly any reason to draw negative comparisons to other cities. I lived in Atlanta for five years, and frankly the city is a bit fickle when it comes to supporting teams. If the teams win they attend, and if they do not, then the empty seats outnumber the warm bodies!
That is not a way to sustain a franchise. While the Atlanta Spirit Group made fan loyalty a very difficult thing, ultimately the people of Atlanta voted with their wallets. The people have every right to do this, but there are many cities that support their teams even when they do not win. Atlanta Thrashers attendence was never the worst in the league, but considering the potential fan base, it was certainly less than impressive even considering the lack of quality ownership.
Native to the ATL
May 31st, 2011
4:34 pm
Hey guys/gals…….I know Im in the minority here, but good riddance. I suffered thru 30 yrs of the Clampetts owning my football team. We are better off without that crew of scum….(ASG) The only thing to do now is TOTALLY back the Gladiators…NHL will come around in 5-10 years when some other non-hockey town team wants to move when they see how much we support the minor league team. Happens a lot these days.
JohnC
May 31st, 2011
4:36 pm
Dear Winnipeg = Poverty…what are you talking about…apparently out of your butt
For starters Calgary did not have the Olympics in 1984…we had it in 1988. So therefore anything else you wish to rant and rave about is ‘dribble.”
I live in Calgary and I am one of the very many that loves the Flames, regretfully at the loss of Atlanta and now they have once again lost to Winnipeg. I do feel sorry for Atlanta, a city that I have visited many many times…and it’s a gorgeous wonderful city.
Winnipeg is not an “outpost”….for my southern readers who do not know this…Winnipeg is probably one of the few cities that has survived the recession very well. It continues to expand and grow at a great rate and in many forecasts….it is not going to stop for many years..
Please don’t get me wrong…I have always said, and always will say that in my opinion Winnipeg is not the best choice for the Trashers to go to, but they have. In the long term viability I believe there are many other more wonderful options in the states that would provide a long term financial option for them. But, they have moved….and like them, we have to move on as well.
Go Flames Go
Wayne
May 31st, 2011
4:38 pm
Sorry Atlanta, but the arena never filled to 90% capacity, never mind 100%, and recent numbers had them less than 80%. How can a team make money, especially to spend on good players, when no one goes to the games?
Not only the Thrashers who fill the arena to 72.6% of capacity, the Braves are only filling the stadium to 55.8% capacity, the Hawks fill 83.6% of the arena, and the Falcons fill their stadium to 95.2% when they had the best record on the NFC!! Hell, Arizona has more people showing up for games!! It seems it’s a problem with the city, not the sport(s). Below are the attendance numbers for each sport.
http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance/_/sort/homePct
http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance/_/sort/homePct
http://espn.go.com/nba/attendance/_/sort/homePct
http://espn.go.com/nfl/attendance/_/sort/homePct
Brent
May 31st, 2011
4:38 pm
North Carolina is a heavily populated state, much more so than Georgia
GA has more peeps than NC….
JohnC
May 31st, 2011
4:39 pm
I have read many comments about Canada vs USA….what stupid arguments. Can we not just stop this now. I have read about Atlanta doesn’t care about hockey and it’s only about basketball, football baseball and of course cars that go around in circles.
Can I remind my American friends…your owners of the Hawks and Thrashers didn’t give a rats ass about the hockey team. That’s why it died this slow death.
PS…to remind you y’all…Basketball was invented by a Canadian…Dr. James Naismith from Arnprior, Ontario. Ouch if they got rid of one Canadian game….watch out, they just might get rid of another one, LOL
TheAntiMe
May 31st, 2011
4:39 pm
Screw you bitter Thrashers fans that are taking shot at the Hawks. The Hawks have had better playoffs success than all the teams in ATL these past few years. Stop being bitter because the Thrashers suck. GOOD RIDDANCE SCRUBS!!!
@ lmao Thrashers – Spoken like someone who does quite a bit of sucking himself. lol – Bitter eh? I can only imagine.
no hockey love anymore
May 31st, 2011
4:40 pm
Allen–
“Same goes for anyone who complains about lack of support for any pro sports team, here or elsewhere. Why is it my civic obligation to support a bunch of out of town vagabond athletes in any sport?”
I think you missed the point, buddy. The real hypocrisy is the complaints about a hockey team leaving a town that has always been awful with supporting its pro teams. Bringing a Northern sport into a Sourthern city wasn’t going to help either. No city or suburban dweller should feel pressured or forced to support any pro team that could help stimulate the local economy. Just don’t act surprised when the pro team also doesn’t feel forced or obligated to return the favor of weak fan support by playing in another empty Atlanta arena. That’s why you’ll never see an MLS team make it here either despite a strong youth program and large Hispanic population. If it ain’t UGA football, then no one in Atlanta gives a crap
Correction
May 31st, 2011
4:41 pm
Ken Stallings, Check your figures on state population.
2010 Census
Norht Carolina Pop. 9,380,000
Georiga Pop 9,687,000
So NO, North Carolina is NOT a much more populated state than Ga. Although NC probably has a lot less homeless and crime for sure! lol
Paddy
May 31st, 2011
4:42 pm
I was out of town. Will there be another “pick your seats day” coming up anytime soon?
LOL
May 31st, 2011
4:42 pm
I have just one question left on this whole f*#k*d mess. If you were on the NHL Board of Governoors how would you justify APPROVING this sale and move. Because honestly if they are businessmen they can’t. If I represent any of the Eastern Conference teams how do I justify ultiple trips to Winnipeg next year? Not only is the travel going to cost more:the travel will hurt my teams chances of being the best they can be. As for the rest of the BOG’s how do you justify keeping a money losing team that the NHL owns and therefore would have kept ALL of the money to sell and relocate as oppoed to myabe 2 mil per team; and Phoenix is likely to lose more money next year, and that 25 million from Glendale may yet be challenged in court. So as we can see from a purely business point of view Gary Bettman and the NHL BOG has no clue, and we all thought just the ASG was bad, how in hell should anyone expect anything else when the NHL is just as screwed up.
Tucker
May 31st, 2011
4:43 pm
Hockey like curling should be left to the Canadians.
Ray
May 31st, 2011
4:44 pm
So why didn’t more people attend? Atlanta had the third worst attendance at 13,469. They lost 130 million over 5 years.
Keep whining Jeff ya commie effin socialist. If you lost a big chunk of change you would be willing to sell too.
http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance
No winterpeg just has to put their money where their mouths are to keep them there this time.
oh yes almost forgot…. go canucks!!!
TruthSeeker
May 31st, 2011
4:44 pm
“Screw you bitter Thrashers fans that are taking shot at the Hawks. The Hawks have had better playoffs success than all the teams in ATL these past few years. Stop being bitter because the Thrashers suck. GOOD RIDDANCE SCRUBS!!!”
The Hawks are a joke, too, and I say that as a Hawks fan. Sund and the ASG have shown no desire or willingness to build a championship-calibur team. All they care about is winning just enough to be an also-ran playoff team and staying under the luxury tax.
And saying they’ve had the most postseason success of any team in the city recently, while technically true, is misleading. The NBA playoff field is much larger than the NFL and MLB playoff fields. Needing 7 games to beat inferior Miami and Milwaukee squads only to get demolished in the second round in historic fashion by the Cavs and Magic weren’t impressive performances. The only time the Hawks have shown anything resembling a pulse in the playoffs was when they beat Orlando this year and were semi-competitive with the Bulls.
I’ll still support the Hawks because I like the coaches and players and I imagine they hate the ASG as much as we do (except for maybe the ridiculously overpaid Joe Johnson), but I don’t delude myself into thinking they’re a competently-run franchise. At the end of the day, it’s still the same clueless jerks who just ran this city’s hockey team out of town.
Dr Richard Handler
May 31st, 2011
4:46 pm
I still say when you hear the fans scream “Knights” during the national anthem, it shows this is not a major league hockey city. You have a good coach that wins a division and goes to the playoffs only to be fired by the then GM (Waddell). You lose all of the decent players what do the people expect?
Reyno
May 31st, 2011
4:47 pm
There is plenty of blame to go around in explaining the loss of the Thrashers. I would agree that the NHL owns a large part of the blame, and that has (at least in my mind) never enthusiastically supported a team in Atlanta, be it the Thrashers or the Flames. The Atlanta Spirit Group has provided the worst ownership oversight of any professional team I have ever seen. Neither Ted Turner nor Arthur Blank would put up with the kind of slipshod management the Thrashers have endured.
I really don’t believe that the problem is that the Atlanta metropolitan area cannot or will not support a hockey team. Look, for example, at the Gwinnett Gladiators. Though the Gladiators are not a “Major League” hockey team, they routinely draw a large and enthusiastic crowd to The Arena at Gwinnett Center. They Gladiators often compete for their league championship, and they put a quality product on the ice. Frankly, I am concerned that a significant portion of the Thrashers’ problems are related to the location where they played their games. Philips Arena is a beautiful building. But, it sits in a neighborhood that has struggled for years, mostly without success, to shed its image as a crime-ridden place where decent people are afraid to go. Add to that the fact that access to Phillips comes largely through MARTA, which, itself, continues to gain a “riot at your own risk” reputation.
If the Atlanta metropolitan area ever decides to dance with the devil( read that NHL) again, we should make sure that a strong, well-funded and homegrown ownership structure is in place. More than that, we should forget about Phillips and look to the northern suburbs in Cobb, or Gwinnett counties. Of course, Gwinnett already has a working hockey venue. Perhaps the Arena at Gwinnett Center could be expanded at a reasonable cost if the NHL demanded the availability of more seats. In any event, the quality of the on ice product will have to improve. Until that happens, though, I won’t miss the Thrashers very much. I can watch the Gladiators, in Gwinnett, and see a much better brand of hockey.
no hockey love anymore
May 31st, 2011
4:47 pm
I only feel sorry for the real Thrashers fans who went to 5+ games a year despite the weak product on the ice, awful management, bad coaching, and overpriced tickets
Jason
May 31st, 2011
4:48 pm
If this league survives on expansion fees and relocation fees….well, it’s been quite a while since they cashed a check for either of those, am I right? Just how far do you think $60 million actually goes? It has been 11 years since an expansion team entered the NHL. It has been 14 years since one relocated. Yet you think this is their business plan?
I know you’re hurt and bitter right now, but holy cow. I know columnism isn’t the same as journalism, but you lose credibility (with people outside Atlanta, anyway, who actually CAN read your stuff now) when you put stuff forward that doesn’t pass anyone’s smell test.
LOL
May 31st, 2011
4:48 pm
Ray – “So why didn’t more people attend?” Do you really have to ask. The ASG never put any money or real effort into this team. I mean Don Waddell still has a job, and you wonder why more people didn’t show up? It takes money, and effort to make money. You need to put a winning product on the ice, and they could have done that, but all this bunch of twits wanted to do was stay at the bottom of the salary cap and thus the bottom of the league followed. I mean c’mon the best move Wadell made in his 10+ years was, was, was,was Hiring Rick Dudley to REPLACE HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!
Brent
May 31st, 2011
4:48 pm
To contact the main offices of Atlanta Spirit LLC, please call (404) 878-3800.
Mailing Address:
Atlanta Spirit LLC
101 Marietta Street, NW
Suite 1900
Atlanta, GA 30303
GetReal
May 31st, 2011
4:50 pm
For all of you who think the Hawks are doing any better, considering they have made the playoffs for 4 straight years, they ranked 22nd of 30 teams in attendance in 2010-2011. The Thrashers with (1) playoff team in 11 years ranked 28th out of 30. But look at the average, not far off for all of those who think this city really cares about this NBA franchise.
Thrashers avegage 13,469 Total 552,230
Hawks average 15,648 Total 641,596
The Braves on the other hand through 26 games are 14th out of 30 teams, (10) of the teams ahead of them have played 2 to 4 games more at home. The Braves total through 26 games is 721,000 or average of 27,738 and summer JUST started.
The Falcons averaged 68.000 or 95% full for last season. The game against Carolina at the end of the year dropped their average.
The Georgia Bulldogs average a sellout for every game at 92,500+.
Why am I comparing, because people like teams that try to put a winner on the field, etc..
What does the Atlanta Spirit do? Get rid of the best coach they had in Hartley, get rid of star players, sign basketball players (Johnson being the highest paid player in the league) without the talent or heart, while the Braves and Falcons set standards, (the Falcons after Vick that is) and win. Most of the time.
I think no one will notice the Thrashers being gone, and if it wasn’t for being embarrassed, no one would hardly miss the Hawks. ( The Dominique Wilkens era Hawks would have been different) .
Plier
May 31st, 2011
4:50 pm
Winnipeg and Calgary are “outposts”? What a jerk!
Pucks n Snot
May 31st, 2011
4:52 pm
Ok, so I was a few hundred miles off……..they wound up in Winnipeg instead of S. Ontario.
Anyone who’s been on these boards for a few years knows that I called what happened today no less than 6 years ago. There was never a doubt in my mind that this team would fail in Atlanta.
Ownership,shmoanership. No one wanted to play there. Every single guy with a lick of talent got the hell out of that town as soon as he could.
Do you people even realize what a colossal embarrassment for your city this is? I mean, Atlanta is supposed to be one of the world’s great towns, isn’t it? 1980 was one thing…..Atlanta in 1980 does not even approach the Atlanta of today. And you just lost ANOTHER hockey team to ANOTHER cow town in Canada?
A HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!
ITsTooBad
May 31st, 2011
4:52 pm
What is Bettman to do if there is no buyer for the team? You guys can bemoan and blame Bettman but the previous ownership and lack of a local perspective buyer is the real cause for the move.
Don’t forget that is was Bettman that brought the team to Atlanta.
willie boy
May 31st, 2011
4:53 pm
Basically the owners and Bettman are full of hockey….
Curt
May 31st, 2011
4:53 pm
Hey Schultz. How much “greed” did the Atlanta Spirit have when they were losing 20 million a year on the Thrashers?
David Ellis
May 31st, 2011
4:53 pm
Congratulations Winnipeg. Most of Atlantans have no bitterness toward you whatsoever. I also have read with interest some of the e-mails htat have shed a negative light on your fine city. Some appear to be from posers who have nothing to do with Atlanta. Some have even hinted that yours is simply the wrong Canadian town. Having some knowledge of what’s happening in Canada, I think some may be from Hamilton, Ontario, another city which deems itself fit for the NHL.
Anyway, you need to understand something: we love hockey a lot more in the South than you think, and it has continued to grow. Youth hockey has grown by leaps and bounds in the Atlanta area, but that, I’m afraid, will be another institution that will take a blow from this.
We have been badly mistreated by owners who never cared a bit about the hockey team and by Gary Bettman. Why did he and the NHL save the Phoenix team and kick ours to the curb, when the evidence shows their attendance was worse than ours, even though they had a better team than ours? This hurts worse than anything, including the loss of the Flames.
Everytime we had a good player – Hossa, Kovy, Heatley – you name it – the owners let them go for less than they were worth.
Please don’t kick us Atlanta fans while we’re down. I know some of our fans have come out swinging against other fan groups, but they’re doing that in anger. Can you blame them? Everything about this hurts. As Jeff says, we never had a chance.
Ackshun
May 31st, 2011
4:54 pm
There will never, EVER be any support for an NHL team in the donwtown sports campus. If there is another deal that includes paying @ Phillips it will fail too. (I actually predicted this one bakc in 99). And it will fail whether Arthur Blank runs it or the collective trouser snakes of the spirit organization run it for one simple reason. There is absolutely NO INTEREST in watching professional Hockey in the demographic area surrounding the downtown sports campus. Now if you want an Atlanta team playing at an arena in Cobb or the Gwinnett Arena in Duluth you have a shot. That where the fans are and not too many of them will brave the perils of nightlife outside of phillips arena. You got a franchise here’s thought make it easy for their fans to wnjoy them and your money problems will be over.
lee
May 31st, 2011
4:54 pm
schultz, you should read scott burnside’s column at espn.com. he claims that bettman ‘beat the bushes’ for local ownership to save the thrashers but none was forthcoming. he also credited bettman for finding ownship that kept franchises in tampa and buffalo afloat. the people of atlanta need to know that they lost the thrashers due to the fact that no one in this town had the where whithal to stand up when it counted.
no hockey love anymore
May 31st, 2011
4:54 pm
Bean Counter –
Are you sure you were at Philips Arena? The only time I’ve heard about a sellout there is if Lady GA GA is performing
marc
May 31st, 2011
4:55 pm
wish it were the Hawks….
Tim
May 31st, 2011
4:56 pm
All you idiots can eat crow who said this wouldnt happen! EAT CROW YOU FAGS
Darkhorse
May 31st, 2011
4:57 pm
Thank you to the WORST ownership in all professional sports for showing us exactly how to run a up and coming franchise and market right into the ground and crush the fan right out of us here.
Bettman-you’re nothing but gutless and greedy. You watched this franchise get mismanaged and run into the ground over the years and just stood by, never taking a stand on finding a way to give this market or its fans a chance.
Now I am sadly proud to be a former NHL fan.
Dodgeroyal
May 31st, 2011
4:57 pm
To all those nay-sayers about Winnipeg. If Atlanta really cared about the Thrashers then why did ONLY 200 people show up to a rally to support the team. Oh yeah- it’s Atlanta. Do you even know what hockey is? As for fans not wanting to see Winnipeg play in their hometown, it could be equally said that no one wants to see Phoenix, Carolina, Tamp Bay, etc. Hockey doesn’t belong in the South. Stick to football and basketball. Welcome to Winnipeg! Go Jets Go!!!
Travis - Winnipeg
May 31st, 2011
4:57 pm
60,000 more people and few new donut shops? Get your facts straight Jeff Schultz. Since the Jets left in 96′ we have gotten more donut shops in Winnipeg enough said… But we have also been a very busy city on the mend.
A new Stadium is being built for a CFL team.
We are working on the Canadian Human Rights Museum, world attraction.
We built a world class sports and entertainment arena for a AHL team and have the best attendance record. The MTS Centre is the 3rd busiest in Canada and top 40 in the world. Ops what do you have?
We have a growing city line of new buildings popping up in every direction.
We also have more and more people spending money and moving to our city.
We also have a booming real-estate industry and a booming commercial industry. People love to spend money here.
I understand that you are all upset about your team leaving and the faults are no where to blame other then ownership. We had the same problem back in 1996 it was not the fans it was not the team, it was the owners and no one wanted to buy the team.
I feel sorry for your city for losing your team, but I also feel sorry for you for not getting your facts straight about Winnipeg, MB.
Overall our economy is booming what is yours doing?
Oh right… You guys gather 200 people to try and save your team with 4 days notice. We out call for people to save the jets 30,000 show up.
A failed a temp to sell news papers last week brings 2000 people out at 8 o clock at night to play road hockey on our busiest intersection in the city for something that isn’t even true screaming go jets go
We find out the NHL might return 20,000 people state they will show up for something that might never happen.
The NHL says Winnipeg is getting a NHL team. The crowd goes crazy we take the rest of the day off to go party in the streets play hockey at portage and main, drink beers and listen to music screaming go jets go.
Thanks for your time.
We love our hockey, we love our sport, we love our the NHL.
I am sure you will get my drift in this excitement rant.
amen
May 31st, 2011
4:58 pm
AMEN!
GetReal
May 31st, 2011
4:58 pm
Winnipeg population: 633,000
Look at this. Sounds like the Jets got dumped from the NHL, similiar to the Thrashers. Look familier. Look at Bettman quote.
As Winnipeg was the league’s second-smallest market (eventually becoming the smallest market after the Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver in 1995), the Jets were unable to retain their best players.[citation needed] Despite a loyal fan following, serious doubts were raised about whether Winnipeg could support an NHL team in this new environment. Various schemes were devised to save the team through a grassroots effort and government funds, but in the end the efforts were not enough.[citation needed] Attempts to find a local buyer were unsuccessful, with league commissioner Gary Bettman saying, “there doesn’t seem to be anybody, in a serious fashion, who wants to own the franchise.”[5] After a final last effort by a team of local businessman, dubbed the Spirit of Manitoba, fell through, team owner Barry Shenkarow sold the team to Phoenix businessman Jerry Colangelo.[6] The team was moved to Phoenix, where they would play the following year as the Phoenix Coyotes. The Winnipeg Jets played their last-ever game on April 28, 1996, a home playoff loss to the Detroit Red Wings by a score of 4–1. Norm Maciver scored the last goal in Jets history.
playmeortrademe
May 31st, 2011
4:58 pm
If they don’t name the team in Winnipeg the “Jets” and a team named something other than “Jets” does not win in the next two years, the NHL will have egg on its face as it Winnipeg will fail to fill the NHLs smallest arena. Mark it down. Those people want the Jets name back and I think a great number of them will be pissed off if the team is called the Falcons or Miners or whatever, and won’t support a “new” team at all unless they start winning immediately.
Grumps
May 31st, 2011
4:59 pm
My condolences to the Thrashers fans! As a Winnipegger I know all too well what it feels like to lose a team. I can guarantee that no true hockey fan from Winnipeg would be making any comments to “rub salt in the wound” on this posting board. I also can appreciate how loyal fans feel robbed and screwed over by the owner/management group.
While I am very happy that I will be able to see NHL calibre Hockey next season, I do honestly feel for the true fans of the sport residing in Atlanta (or those from other locales that chose to have the Thrashers as the team they supported).
I know that when the Jets left Winnipeg for Phoenix that I could not force myself to cheer for them. If we don’t go back to be called being the Winnipeg Jets, I truly hope that they opt for the Thrashers name to pay tribute to the original franchise.
TruthSeeker
May 31st, 2011
5:03 pm
“Do you people even realize what a colossal embarrassment for your city this is?”
It’s not a “colossal embarrassment.” The NHL is mostly irrelevant.
Dejay
May 31st, 2011
5:03 pm
So now it ends.
After months of speculation and rumors, the True North Sports finally puts Atlanta hockey fans out of its misery by buying the Thrashers and moving them north to Manitoba. And while it doesn’t equate to real life situations, watching this entire ordeal was like watching a loved one suffer in the final stages of a terminal illness; it only gets worse as the days go on, you pray for an 11th hour miracle, and when it doesn’t happen you still feel miserable after it’s over. Winnipeg is celebrating their return to hockey and all I can say to them is good luck. Hopefully, the first order of business in their agenda is not including Don Waddell on their travel itinerary.
I’ve already read the countless posts back and forth about whether Atlanta is a bad sports town, whether Winnipeg is an outpost or not, and what have you. Being that I’ve never traveled to Winnipeg, I wouldn’t dare as much to talk or criticize their fair city. I’m pretty sure that they’re as happy as citizens in Baltimore were when the old Browns moved there. But I can talk about the former topic and have more than enough ammo to support my case.
The fact of the matter is that while Atlanta isn’t the most ‘passionate’ pro sports town in America, it certainly is the most discerning one. No town in the country can discern a playoff phony from the Real McCoy better than this one can (just ask Chipper Jones and Joe Johnson; they’ll verify). Simply put, we don’t care about playoff appearances, division titles, and top seeds if the some other city is staging a parade at season’s end. And if you’re a team that didn’t even accomplish that, well, you’re lucky that ANYONE attends your games. And while many will gloss over the city’s loss as ‘well, you should’ve been going to the games, anyway’, I’ll call BS to that argument. For no sports town with multiple teams (so save the Green Bay, Sacramento, Salt Lake, and Portland arguments) will continue to support a losing product unless that town is comprised of an overwhelming group of lemmings (see Cubs, Chicago). Try and argue with that fact; name a city with multiple teams whose support didn’t go south when their place in the standings did….
NYC? How many decades it took them to draw over 2 million patrons to Yankee Stadium? Until the mid-‘90s?
Chicago? See the Blackhawks during the ‘Dollar’ Bill Wirtz days.
Boston? The Celtics’ attendance was just as bad as the Hawks’ before they Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett arrived.
St. Louis? Two words; Arizona Cardinals. And where did that basketball team of theirs go? I wonder…
Miami? Nah, too easy.
LA? Again, too easy.
Denver? See Boston before Carmelo was drafted.
Dallas? It took Mark Cuban buying the Mavericks. They were pre-Arthur Blank Falcon-esque before then.
I’ll even throw in a Canadian city…
Toronto? Didn’t they draw over 4 million with the Blue Jays before when they were winning world titles? Amazing how those numbers went down when those championship parades stopped coming.
Simply put, Atlanta isn’t some isolated case of bad/fair-weather sports fans. The folks here simply demand a top-tier product for the $$$, just like UGA football fans demand that they beat Florida, Tennessee, and Tech every year without fail. When it doesn’t happen after awhile, those big checks stop rolling in and the head coach starts updating his Career Builder account (see Donnan, James). When the Braves decided that competing for division banners was more profitable than winning world titles, folks stopped showing up to their playoff games. Funny, I didn’t recall any empty seats in the old Fulton County Stadium when they were in the playoffs in the early-mid ‘90s; you?
So fond farewell, Thrashers. I know I’m going to feel a little more jaded when your owners put more $$$ into your product in your first year there than the owners-that-shall-not-be-mentioned put in to it the past 5 years combined. And a little side note to the Notorious A.S.G.; pray for an NBA lockout. Pray really hard. Because unless you’re announcing a deal that brings in (insert NBA superstar here) you won’t be seeing any sellout crowds at Philips for a LONG time. Anyway, I truly hope that the Thrashers who have to uproot to Canada remember the stop in Atlanta and never forget the difficult times you went through here when you’re winning in Winnipeg. Hey, Winnipeg, no hard feelings. Take care of our team. The players and coaching staff deserve an owner who cares. Too bad the ones down here didn’t.
MVN » Thrashers, Atlanta were never given a chance
May 31st, 2011
5:04 pm
[...] is an interesting perspective from Atlanta. Jeff Schultz; AJC.COM — This is how it ends: With the weasel of a commissioner not stepping foot in the city, with [...]
SorryWinnipeg
May 31st, 2011
5:04 pm
But it won’t be long till Hockey will leave your city again, just like in the late 90’s. Remember….
As Winnipeg was the league’s second-smallest market (eventually becoming the smallest market after the Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver in 1995), the Jets were unable to retain their best players.[citation needed] Despite a loyal fan following, serious doubts were raised about whether Winnipeg could support an NHL team in this new environment. Various schemes were devised to save the team through a grassroots effort and government funds, but in the end the efforts were not enough.[citation needed] Attempts to find a local buyer were unsuccessful, with league commissioner Gary Bettman saying, “there doesn’t seem to be anybody, in a serious fashion, who wants to own the franchise.”[5] After a final last effort by a team of local businessman, dubbed the Spirit of Manitoba, fell through, team owner Barry Shenkarow sold the team to Phoenix businessman Jerry Colangelo.[6] The team was moved to Phoenix, where they would play the following year as the Phoenix Coyotes. The Winnipeg Jets played their last-ever game on April 28, 1996, a home playoff loss to the Detroit Red Wings by a score of 4–1. Norm Maciver scored the last goal in Jets history.
James Cameroon
May 31st, 2011
5:04 pm
Give you a “chance”? You had a chance. Years of chances. Hockey is Canada’s game, so deal with it. Winnipeg in a bad year with it’s 60,000 more people and extra donut shops will easily outsell Atlanta in even its best years. You folks seem to be obsessed only with crappy slow moving sports like football baseball and basketball, and there is no room in your towns for something that requires strategy, speed, and skill. So please, save us the pathetic whining, moaning and complaining. No one did to you other than yourselves. If you wanted a hockey franchise, then you should have bought some tickets.