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
HappyAboutMove
June 1st, 2011
9:20 am
Personally, I am very glad that hockey is coming back to Winnipeg. The team should never have left in the first place. It seems that Gary Bettman Screwed Winnipeg and Quebec City long before he screwed Atlanta. I am actually surprised to hear all the negativity towards Bettman from the people in the Confederate states; I thought y’all loved him. Bettman seems hellbent on forcing the NHL on markets that are not naturally hockey markets. The game has changed for the worse, in my opinion over the years because of this. Such things as the fight instigator rule and tampering with the rules to try to increase the amount of scoring were all done to try to make hockey more appealing to the non-hockey markets. You think that you feel bad about the move. Winnipeg and Quebec City were crushed when their teams left for Phoenix and Colorado. Both these cities are quite small and had nothing much going for them except NHL hockey. While your economy has gone into the tank and houses are selling for a fraction of the price, the economy is booming in Manitoba and much of Canada. The dollar has gone from about 62 cents when the Jets left to over $1.00US. The notion of expanding hockey into the southern USA has been only somewhat successful. I hope that more teams will leave the south and come back to Canada where they will have more fans than they know what to do with and be the number one sport in those cities. Hopefully Phoenix will be next, followed by Long Island.
Gladiator
June 1st, 2011
9:21 am
Hey, we still have the Gwinnett Gladiators of the ECHL!
Double-A hockey for a Double-A hockey city.
Let’s face it folks, Atlanta is not a major-league hockey town. (I live in Buckhead)
we were lucky to get a second shot.
Don’t ‘hate’ Winnipeg – they’re a solid hockey town that will be on board for ever. point your finger at Bettman and ASG for their mismanagement.
For all you no-it-alls, do your home work and open your minds – the arena Winnipeg had when the left was built in the 1950’s and had no concessions other than hot dogs and plastic-cheese nachos and the owner back then was an idiot. the facility they have now is near the best and most well appointed in the league. at 15,000 seats, it will be full every single night. The owners will build a contender; not like the ASG who did everything they could to save money!
I hate to say this, but when the Winnipeg-Whatevers make the play offs next year, I just might have to fly up in my parka to see get a sense of the energy and the “white out” in the stands.
Ray B
June 1st, 2011
9:21 am
HockeyFan: The Jets are in Phoenix….you would have had to steal that team to welcome the Jets home. What you are getting is a team that started in Atlanta and should remain in Atlanta. Once your little town discovers the cost of attending a modern NHL game, the team will be looking for a new home…..probably within five years.
Minus NHL, did Atlanta just drop to Triple A of sports towns? | Jeff Schultz
June 1st, 2011
9:25 am
[...] team (which remains the funniest thing in sports, only because it drives Roger Goodell nuts). But when Atlanta was officially mugged by Atlanta Spirit, LLC and the NHL on Tuesday and the Thrashers were sold and moved to Winnipeg, the city dropped out of [...]
Bettman the Moron
June 1st, 2011
9:29 am
HappyAboutMove : Sure…continue moving teams from cities of 5 million people to towns with a single traffic light….that way, you ensure your league remains the fringe sport it is, with no TV coverage and little fan support south of the arctic circle. The NHL had a golden opportunity in a city like Atlanta….but 11 years of mis-management and league indifference lead to this. Gloat now Winnipeg….we’ll see if you’re singing the same tune in five years as bettman the Moron searches for his next relocation fee.
Don Ron
June 1st, 2011
9:30 am
On the other hand you can’t blame the owners for this move. Who would want to be in money losing business?? Now, does anyone have an idea as what it means for the Hawks? Same $$s, same players? Or, perhaps little more?
Let NONE in
June 1st, 2011
9:31 am
I hope the ASG group loses so much money. I will never set foot in Philips arena. EVER.
Bettman the Moron
June 1st, 2011
9:34 am
Evander Kane…you say “So glad to get out of this dirty crime infested city and go and play in a city with true fans who will support us.”
What? All ten of them? Have fun playing in nowhere-land.
Let NONE in
June 1st, 2011
9:38 am
SCREW ASG and the Hawks. Srew the NHL and the former Thrashers. I hope they all fail.
kevin Jenkins
June 1st, 2011
9:40 am
i live in a small town, city whatever, east of Toronto and have followed this story from day one. I am not sure if Winnepeg will survive but to check on your news i was somewhat shocked to see that this was minor news to you people. In Canada it is front page news everywhere. And that was from the beginning. The big problem here wasn’t Bethead, it was the ownership. Greed as usual. Happens up here a lot too. Truly sorry to see you lose the team and i do hope you get one back in the future.
Bettman the Moron
June 1st, 2011
9:42 am
Hey Homegrown Winnipeg…you are in nowhereville and I am in Atlanta…nothing more needs to be said. You may have our hockey team, but I still wouldn’t trade places with you. Have fun attending those games as I can’t imagine what else you can do in nowhereville.
kevin Jenkins
June 1st, 2011
9:50 am
I am from peterborough, outside of toronto, and it is a shame you lost your team. But the culprit here is not Bettman but the terrible ownership the thrashers had. Typical greed. Not sure if winnipeg will work but there definitely be a lot more exposure in a small city that wants a team and is willing to back it no matter what. Up here it was always front page news while down there you were lucky to get a honorable mention. All i know is that is strike two and i doubt there will be a chance for strike three.
Rutherford Seydel
June 1st, 2011
9:51 am
Ok, who egged my door last night?
The jokes on you b/c I don’t have to clean it up. That’s what the concierge service in this building is for.
Stuart
June 1st, 2011
9:52 am
I hate to burst everyone’s bubble, but this really isn’t about the ownership group. It IS about Atlanta sports fans. This city simply does not support teams in the same way that many other places do. Even in the Falcons Super Bowl year, the Dome wasn’t close to selling out in most games. I’ve seen Braves playoff games with plenty of unsold seats. I watch Georgia Tech football and basketball games that are not sold out. Do people of Atlanta really live and die with the Hawks? I don’t think so. Even NASCAR pulled a race out of Atlanta because of lack of overall support.
People think Atlanta is a great sports city because they love to come to the city for championship games, bowl games, special games (the early neutral site football games). And Atlanta can certainly put on a good show when it’s a singular event. But let’s face it. The people of Atlanta just are NOT great sports fans. They don’t support teams through thick and thin, and they don’t live and die with a passion for their teams the way people do in Chicago, Boston, New York, Philly, or other “real” sports towns.
Sorry Atlanta, you are a great place to visit to attend an event, but your own citizens are second rate sports fans.
Gary Bettman, aka PT Barnum
June 1st, 2011
9:55 am
Look, we couldn’t allow the Coyotes/Jets to move back to Winnipeg. That would look too ridiculous…even for our traveling circus of a league.
kevin Jenkins
June 1st, 2011
10:00 am
to: bettman the moron. you are the typical ignorant american. When you do not know a place, person or thing,(in case you can’t figure it out, these are nouns), usually it is in the best judgement to keep ones big mouth shut rather then embarrassing themselves. I live south of the Peg but they do have warm weather, quite a few traffic lights and do not live in igloos. Nor do they have to lock their doors at night. I am glad you live there because quite frankly, you live where you belong. But hey, good luck in the future. With your intellect you should survive at least a nother two minutes.
Islander Fan
June 1st, 2011
10:04 am
Can someone give me a ride to Quebec City when the Isle’s move?
Agent
June 1st, 2011
10:06 am
I just saw Gary Bettman and a team of suits just get off the plane in Atlanta this morning. I saw an old Atlanta Flames logo sweater draped over his arm!
Richard Puckhead
June 1st, 2011
10:18 am
Bye-Bye Wadell (unemployed= could not happen to a nicer guy) Bye-Bye to $200 tickets……. Hello to $20 tickets…Hello to players and an oraganization that really gives a sh*&^.,….. SEE YA AT THE GLADIATORS
Bernie
June 1st, 2011
10:20 am
Methinks you doth protest too much. Atlanta is a FOOTBALL town, nothing more, nothing less. And college football at that. Ask the Braves about the “great sports fans in Atlanta.” They’ll laugh too. Even with their success they don’t sell out. Then stop ten people on the street and ask them to name 3 players on the Thrashers.
The Thrashers are dead and I'm not feeling too well myself
June 1st, 2011
10:23 am
You’ll have to excuse us here a bit, Winnipeg fans. We’ve lost something we dearly loved, and if we seem a bit prickly at the moment it’s because, well, we are. It’s not your fault, but this stinks. We’ve been through ten seasons of lousy hockey (and only one good one), lousy ownership which left an underqualified GM in place for way too long, and managmeent which gave away all the really good players we ever had.
For years, the other NHL owners could call on our management for a sucker deal that would help them get better and make our team worse. When that gravy train ended and Rick Dudley finally became GM, the other owners pulled the plug on the Atlanta franchise altogether and accepted a payday from True North.
Ever since the Atlanta Spirit Group bought the Hawks, Thrashers and the arena, they’ve treated the hockey team like an unwanted stepchild. They’ve spent less on players, marketing and community outreach than they have on their favored sons, the Hawks and the arena and their own disputes with one another. On top of that in the last six months they’ve started saying they’ve been trying to find an Atlanta buyer for the Thrashers for years. But that was after saying for years the team wasn’t for sale. So which is a lie? I believe Anson Carter’s group and any other that stepped up got nowhere because ASG didn’t want another owner coming in here and doing things right and winning and making them look bad. We feel we have been used and abused by ASG.
Gary Bettman has talked about the NHL’s commitment to its fans in every city. But with us, he’s said nothing except what a lousy bunch of fans we are. All he wants now is to line the owners’ pockets with a quick money grab to ease the pain they’ve gone through in trying to save the team in Phoenix, where, by the way, they’ve consistently drawn worse than us – and with a better team, no less.
And then there’s you, the loyal fans of Winnipeg. We don’t blame you one bit for being happy that you’re finally getting another team. We’re actually quite jealous. Your owners want to win and with the young talent that you’re about to get, which we’ve seen first hand night after night, we are sure that you are about to enjoy the success that we so longed for.
But what has been your reaction toward us? some have been sympathetic and we appreciate that. But there’s also been loads of gloating and joining in with Bettman, ASG, the other othere NHL owners and even our mayor (what in the H#%! is that all about, by the way?) as they kick us Atlanta hockey fans while we’re down. Our loved one is now dead and the life support has been removed while we sit in the hospital room thinking of what could have been. And it feels like all you people can do is kick dirt on us and talk about how bad we are. Sorry, but we’re feeling a little prickly today.
LaRon
June 1st, 2011
10:24 am
So Don Waddell is not moving with the new team. What a surprise. The man probably got a cut of the Thrasher’s sale and is probably set for life for running a team into the ground. In a few years we will be reading about Gary Bettman and other members of the ASG going to jail for some sort of scheme. I will not be attending another NHL event until Gary Bettman has nothing to do with the NHL and I will NOT attend any Hawks games or events at Phillips Arena until ASG is gone and has no affiliation with either two.
rob
June 1st, 2011
10:30 am
why are people calling it alanta hawks isnt it called atlana thrashers?
Kevin
June 1st, 2011
10:42 am
what they should do is still have The Outdoor Frozen classic at The Ted anyway…and show Belkin n the ASG crew if u have owners who win we show be best have Winnipeg vs Calgary here for that Jan1 game too u see 50,000 people show up….
gayb
June 1st, 2011
10:43 am
guess we will have to buy atlanta dream tickets now
Kevin
June 1st, 2011
10:51 am
Oh of course he would he black he same former mayor no give a &*&Y*( when flames left so that why when the Puck drop in 1st game they Booooed Mayor Campbell off ice…..same with Reed if ever get one if we do don’t let that idiot drop a puck in 2015 when Phoenix moves here!
Barb
June 1st, 2011
10:51 am
A disgrace. Atlanta is a hockey town. All we needed was management that was interested in providing a hockey team.
Gary Bettman
June 1st, 2011
11:00 am
Look, there was no way we could allow the Coyotes/Jets to move back to Winnipeg. The PR from that back and forth would be horrible…even for this traveling circus of a league. The $25 million that Glendale is giving this year really wasn’t the determining factor.
Haha
June 1st, 2011
11:04 am
I gotta be honest – I am loving reading all the bitter tears on here. It’s hilarious and making my work week go that much faster. So glad the thrashers are gone. What a disgrace the team and their fans were! And thank the heavens we no longer have to look at that eyesore of a jersey anymore. Without a doubt the worst jersey in NHL history! Bye, you won’t be missed!
P. S. I’m not even Canadian, just and American fan of an ACTUAL hockey team in an ACTUAL hockey market that will never be moved due to the fact that we have fans and $$$$. Can’t wait till next season!
tdotson
June 1st, 2011
11:08 am
I caught the “Atlantic Spirit” flub in Bettman’s address. Does he not even know who is selling the team to Winnipeg? He did not even attempt to correct himself.
NHL fan
June 1st, 2011
11:14 am
I enjoy getting my salad tossed by Gary Bettman. He’s a terrific leader.
Kasim Reed
June 1st, 2011
11:21 am
C’mon people, why would I say anything negative about the Atlanta Spirit when they give me free Hawks tickets? Why would I jeopardize that relationship? They’re great businessmen and they’re committed to excellence.
Bill Swerski
June 1st, 2011
11:32 am
Your team should have won the Stanley Cup or had the best record in the NBA during the regular season. That would boost attendance and then you could lecture other cities about how your city is a great sports town, even though you would really be full of sh*t and talking out of your ace.
Now please don’t make me explain why attendance for Blackhawks and Bulls games was terrible as of a few years ago…
Billsen
June 1st, 2011
11:44 am
Last ditch effort to petition the NHL Board of Governors to not approve the relocation. Yeah, I know, a waste of time – but really, ten seconds is all it takes:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/saveourthrashers/signatures
Haha
June 1st, 2011
11:48 am
Good idea billsen, those things always work!
Oh wait, no they don’t. Give it up, the chance to protest this has long passed. The announcement has been made. The thrashers are dead and they are celebrating in Winnipeg!
Jets vs. Flames
June 1st, 2011
11:54 am
Mark your calendar… how perfect would this be:
Jets versus Flames Jan 1, 2012 at the Winnipeg CanadInn Stadium for the NHL outdoor classic – 50,000 dihard HOCKEY fans coming out to cheer for two former Atlanta teams in -20F temperatures.
that is what real hockey is about. I bet 99.9% of most in Georgia have not even seen a real frozen hockey pond.
a proud sports tradition
June 1st, 2011
12:03 pm
Canada is such a great sports country. They have:
- Ice Hockey
- Curling
- Canadian Football
- the Toronto Raptors
- the Toronto Blue Jays
…
Haha
June 1st, 2011
12:03 pm
Jets vs flames,
You are so right. Hockey is back where it belongs, where it deserves to be!
Steve Belkin
June 1st, 2011
12:04 pm
You’re welcome Winnipeg. Now please invest in some of my surge protectors.
Winnipeg = Poverty
June 1st, 2011
12:05 pm
@ Jets vs Flames I bet 99.9% in Georgia haven’t see sister kissing just to keep warm like they do in Winnipeg either.
Gary B
June 1st, 2011
12:07 pm
You Winnipegers BETTER sell more tickets than last time…OR ELSE!
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on ME!
Haha
June 1st, 2011
12:11 pm
@Gary B
Sooooo….exactly like atlanta then, right?
Chris Selley’s Full Pundit: Meet the Jets! | Full Comment | National Post
June 1st, 2011
12:32 pm
[...] people and a couple of doughnut shops since,” the Journal-Constitution‘s Jeff Schultz writes. “They will be discussing this decision one day at business schools, right after the sections on [...]
focus on NASCAR Rednecks
June 1st, 2011
12:34 pm
HAHA I love you all talk about how Winnipeg is an outpost, but you likely can’t even locate Texas on a map. Don’t forget to put sunscreen on the back of your neck while watching NASCAR with your fatass redneck women.
kamalkaze
June 1st, 2011
12:39 pm
@Haha
Hey now! We may have some fat people down here (Canadia has a few of it’s own) but there’s no proof that we _ate_ Seattle. Come on now, that’s just silly and unfounded.
RIP Thrashers.
Really?
June 1st, 2011
12:41 pm
I don’t think that many of the Winnipeg “trolls” on here are from Winnipeg at all, or even Canadians. The tone from the Winnipeg fans has been conciliatory in general. Normal people don’t gloat when they’re happy – that’s what people with personality disorders do.
I live in a city where we lost our professional football team after 120 years of operation. Yep – 120 years. Needless to say, I know how you feel.
G52PlM228
June 1st, 2011
12:43 pm
I hope Atlanta gets another expansion team so it can move to Canada as well.
Let NONE in
June 1st, 2011
12:46 pm
Hey now, Canada has the Montreal Expos….Gary Carter is the bomb
Haha
June 1st, 2011
12:52 pm
Just wanted to have my presence known on the next page – couldn’t have happened to a worse franchise! So happy the thrashers are dead and gone forever! Maybe if you would have supported them….haha I can’t even finish that sentence without laughing, we all know your terrible sports town never even had the inkling to do so. Haha, Atlanta hockey “fans”
Let NONE in
June 1st, 2011
12:52 pm
move the team to Glendale !!