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
nikolas
June 1st, 2011
12:59 pm
I do feel badly for the fans of the Thrashers, Phoenix should have been the team to have been relocated to Winnipeg. In stating that, I am not sure what the uproar is about Winnipeg getting the team… they had a group that was patient and did their due diligence in terms of getting a franchise to Winnipeg. David Thomson of True North is now hands down the wealthiest owner in the NHL which tells me that financially his time around, Winnipeg have some very big shoulders. Congrats Winnipeg, a city that has had a very strong economy over the last ten years, is very cold in the Winter months and may not be as exciting as Atlanta or Phoenix, but far and away have greater support and passion for Hockey… the one thing that Bettman was right about yesterday is that Canada is the heart and soul of the NHL from the players to the huge revenue that the current six Canadian teams generate for the NHL.
kamalkaze
June 1st, 2011
1:01 pm
@Haha
I’m confused by your statement about the “thrashers” being “dead and gone forever”. According to all-birds.com there is no reason to believe that the thrashers are extinct. Please cite your sources.
http://www.all-birds.com/thrasher.htm
G52PlM228ver2
June 1st, 2011
1:09 pm
http://driveto13.com/
idcmc
June 1st, 2011
1:14 pm
Winnipeg is a wonderful little city, With only one sport on it’s mind. Don’t be mad at them, ASG and Bettman (NHL) are to blame, If they knew how to run a Hockey team, things would be much different!
nikolas fan.
June 1st, 2011
1:50 pm
@ nikolas: well put.
NHL and Bettman
June 1st, 2011
1:54 pm
Atlanta: What a bunch of yahoos. You have just been punked.
G52PlM228ver2
June 1st, 2011
1:55 pm
Don’t look for the NHL to abandon the facility in Glendale when the city there is so agreeable to helping fund the facility..
G52PlM228ver2
June 1st, 2011
2:00 pm
Don’t look for the NHL to abandon the facility in Glendale when the city there is so agreeable to helping fund the facility.
Anthony
June 1st, 2011
2:09 pm
This city can’t even pack 50% of the stadium as the Atlanta Braves were in the midst of a penant race…
WB
June 1st, 2011
2:40 pm
This is the second chance Atlanta has been given, and it has again failed. Yeah, the arena is great, but while the team didn’t have playoff success it also did not suck. You cannot say “it wasn’t a winner so nobody came”. The mark of a successful team is one that has connected with fans and draws them even when it is struggling, because all teams will struggle. The simple fact is Canadian markets have been screwed by the NHL with first Winnipeg going to a relative outhouse in terms of connection to hockey, and Quebec going to Colorado only to win the Cup the first year there. Atlanta lost the team to Winnipeg, I believe, because GB didn’t want the symmetry of a team that was once moved under his watch going back to the city from which it came. That, and the fact the NHL will continue to up the price to account for losses until a group purchases it to bring it not to Atlanta, as you think, but to Quebec or Southern Ontario.
The population of a city isn’t the same as the market; the market is better thought of as the existing plus potential fan base. Winnipeg, in that sense, is much, much larger than Atlanta will ever be with respect to NHL hockey. It just doesn’t work there. As for Winnipeg losing, Mr. Thompson is one of the world’s richest individuals and he could throw $100’s into his fireplace all winter long in Winnipeg and laugh while doing it. It’s not going anywhere.
Hockey88
June 1st, 2011
2:57 pm
Gary JUDAS Bettman & the Atlanta EVIL-spirit group will never get a dime from my family!
G52PlM228ver2
June 1st, 2011
3:14 pm
that’s why your team left Hockey88. You never spent a dime on them.
Jimfromwinnipeg
June 1st, 2011
3:15 pm
Outpost? Sour grapes, guy..
thrasherdawg
June 1st, 2011
3:15 pm
Just a question:
Why did Bettman not give Atlanta the chance to sale 13000 season tickets to keep the team here. If the fans didn’t step up it would have their own fault.
The fans were never given the chance. Bettman was to scared to offer Atlanta fans the same deal because it would have cost him 60 million dollars.
G52PlM228ver2
June 1st, 2011
3:32 pm
wah wah wah, you people are still whining
give it up, it’s over.
atlanta has and will always be an lousy sports city.
GoalChanger
June 1st, 2011
3:58 pm
I agree that the Thrashers were NEVER REALLY GIVEN A CHANCE. I also believe that luck was NEVER ON THE SIDE OF THE THRASHERS. Sometimes in sports you need the luck of the Gods smiling on you to succeed. I think of how the Thrashers failed and I can only heat of the Danny Heatley incident in Dunwoody where Heatleys friend died after a severe car accident following a drinking binge. To be honest and truth be told, had Heatley not wrecked his car which killed his friend and goalie of the Thrashers, the Thrashers may have become one of the most successful hockey franchises in history. At the time of the accident, the Thrashers had been improving dramatically every year. Then after Heatley was traded, the Thrashers drafted Illya Kovulchuk and you just wonder what would have happened if you had a hockey scoring line that included HEATLEY-KOVULCHUK. Both Heatley and Kovulchuck were in their prime and would have created probably one of the higest scoring lines in NFL history, not to mention how many stanley cups they might have won. Years ago, the New York Islanders had HALL-OF-FAMERS defenseman Dennis Potvin AND Brian Trottier on the same scoring line. They ultimately won three or four stanley cup championships. The same thing would have happened with Heatley and Kovulchuk. They both are hall-of-fame calibre players. Instead the Thrashers traded Heatley for Hossier, who was not as good as Danny Heatley and because of economic reasons, we had to trade away Hossier and Kovulchuk before eventually moving and relocating to Winnepeg. Had Heatley not gone out that night and the accident never occurred, Heatley would have never asked to be traded and when Kovulchuck signed on with the Thrashers, a dynasty would have been created. AGAIN, SOMETIMES IT TAKES A BIT OF LUCK FOR THESE THINGS TO HAPPEN.
JPVJ
June 1st, 2011
4:01 pm
Mr. Schultz and all,
I am very disappointed with this outcome. Many questions are replayed over and over in my mind. Through out this drama, this tragedy, the tin-foil cup guy has remained silent as if a permanent mask had eclipsed his icy shame. But why ???? This I do not understand. Do any of my brothers or sisters know this answer ?? If you hear my words I plead for you to speak to us all!! In our time of need his silence had spoken more than words could say but we could not hear. The tin-foiled Stanley cup did not protect us like ice melting on a summer day. Was not the cup but a bad dream of an arena of weak willed, ignorant, amateurish fans which could not sustain and support the emptiness of thousands and thousands of vacant seats ? Or was the cup the unseen, silver wind of our destiny that was the foundation of the Thrasher’s wings waiting for the chance to rise above a seventh game storm ?
I wonder about this as I try to make sense of this new world of thinning ice from my loneliness of my failing resolve. Will the tin-foil cup now be pulled apart for the barbecue and smoke of our twice faded and disappearing history ??? I despair from the echoes of the world’s laughter which helps along the thawing of my heart. With all my humility and strength I can only whisper: Vive la feuille d’étain !!!!
Jean
WayneGretzgy
June 1st, 2011
4:16 pm
I think the reason why MOST fans are lamenting the losses of both the Atlanta Flames and the Atlanta Thrashers. Ok, Ill fix things for you. Lets pretend for just a minute that the Atlanta Flames won 2 stanley cup championships when they were here in atlanta, and the Thrashers won 4 stanley cup titles when the Thrashers were town. It could have possibly happened but it didnt. So when someone outside of atlanta asks you how did the atlanta hockey teams fare in atlanta: say flames won 2 cups and thrashers won 4 cups. It happened only in my dreams and its the only reality that I know.
GeoergiaBorn
June 1st, 2011
4:35 pm
Well said, Mr. Schultz.
insider
June 1st, 2011
5:06 pm
you’re still the hack you’ve always been. you know nothing about the business of sports and nothing about the NHL. Your posters have more knowledge than you. Your paper gets thinner and thinner, and you are one of the reasons why.
yurtle_the_turtle
June 1st, 2011
5:35 pm
Hey “mike in buffalo”…you blow! I’m a Sabres and a Thrashers fan, having moved to Atlanta in 1976. Please don’t tell me anything about Thrasher fans, becuase you are a dirt bag. When the Sabres were owned by the Rigas family, they were averaging less than 12,000 fans a night, you moron. So don’t tell me that ownership didn’t have anything to do with the fans not showing up. We were there and we were behind the team. Ownership NEVER put a quality product on the ice. So, go blow, you butt wipe!
AngryRedMarsWoman
June 1st, 2011
5:54 pm
I unsubscribed to the NHL(dot)com newsletter – they asked me why….I had fun telling them. Screw you, Gary Bettman and the NHL. I am done after 41 years of supporting the NHL. And Mike in Buffalo can wank off – I was born and lived in Buffalo until 93 and remember more than a few “way less than packed” games at the Aud.
The Truth will set you Free
June 1st, 2011
5:56 pm
At last someone tells the real Truth! Hats off to Jeff who tells it like it really is: a money grab by the NHL and the Atlanta Spiritless. According to Canadian radio, the NHL did not have a relocation fee in the past. The NHL (slimball Bettman) came up with a figure when asked by a judge in Phoenix. When Phoenix ageed to pay Bettman $25 million to keep their team, Bettman was out $60 to 80 million. Enter the Atlanta Spiritless who were will to be bought. Bettman gets a $60 million relocation fee from Winnipeg and he walks with $85 million. Not bad for fleecing Atlanta and Phoenix. As for the Atlanta Spiritless, they couldn’t sell the Thrashers until the litigation with Belkin was completed last December. Then the Thrashers were put in play because the current ownership had to buyout Belkin. Their claims of exhausting all options is BS.
Brendan
June 1st, 2011
6:06 pm
The Spirit never packaged Philips Arena with the Thrashers, and because of that, no Atlanta local buyer was interested in purchasing. Why sugarcoat that? We were sold down the river, for $60 million, for a relocation fee that never previously existed in NHL transactions.
Brendan
June 1st, 2011
6:10 pm
Well, it’s official. Don Waddell ruined hockey in Atlanta.
While you digest that one, I make a plea to the Gwinnett Gladiators. Do not let this man into your arena, even as a paying customer, to see your hockey team. He is the scurvey curse that haunts this city.
Sage of Bluesland
June 1st, 2011
8:09 pm
Hey “GoalChanger”–your ignorance is astounding.
Heatley was drafted in 2000; Kovalchuk in 2001…They laced up for the 2001-2002 season as rookies together. See, they DID play together for all of 2.5 years.
Oh, and Heatley crashed in Buckhead, not Dunwoody.
I stopped reading pretty quickly after reading such ignorant tripe. Get your facts straight before embarrassing yourself. I could add more if I could even stomach your clownish “observations”.
(I’m guessing you’re a product of the ‘public’ school system?)
BomberRiderFan
June 1st, 2011
8:58 pm
Over 1300 season tickets sold in Winnipeg the first day alone…. how many were sold in Atlanta’s ticket rally ticket “rally”? One. It ain’t the size of the market to the team it’s the size of the fans in the market… of which Winnipeg has more.
BomberRiderFan
June 1st, 2011
9:07 pm
Just found $129 in my couch to pay for the opening night game. Petty cash up here… of course that’s $132 in U.S. and we now know Atlanta residents can’t afford that without selling their painted orange Pintos with the doors wired shut. Heck soon our penny will be worth more than the U.S. Peso…I mean dollar.
illputitoncspan
June 1st, 2011
9:23 pm
Kinda ironic that Stan Kasten played a key role in the early running of the Thrashers. Not sure whether it was him or Harvey Schiller who made the call to hire Don Waddell to be GM. Why ironic you ask?… Guess who was a good friend of Kasten’s growing up in New York?… That’s right, Gary Bettman.
yurtle_the_turtle
June 1st, 2011
9:28 pm
BomberRiderFan.. go blow to Loseipeg…We not only had more fans than you, we’ll see what transpires in 3 years when you are averaging 10,000 fans a night. Go build an igloo.
illputitoncspan
June 1st, 2011
9:34 pm
It took the team moving for Waddell to get canned. He’s not moving because True North doesn’t want him to be part of the organization. Sounds like they have a clue. Something ASG never had.
rooster
June 1st, 2011
9:47 pm
@illputitoncspan – I was merely pointing out that many things go to make up the image of a place, and in Atlanta’s case having an NHL team wasn’t one of them. Nor did I say Atlanta doesn’t have its serious problems, just that losing an NHL team isn’t one of them.
illputitoncspan
June 1st, 2011
9:48 pm
To all the people who are bashing Winnipeg & Canada, I’m guessing you are some of the same morons who bought into all that Blueland nonsense. Blueland? – un-freakin’-believable!!! Get a clue losers. It’s not Winnipeg’s or Canada’s fault the team is moving.
And yes, the team will be fine attendance wise. And if they’re not it won’t be a big deal. Their owner is worth more than $17 Billion!!! They aren’t going anywhere. And their local TV ratings are going to dwarf those we had here.
Things have changed a lot in Winnipeg and Canada since the Jets left. Of course they have changed a lot here too – and not for the better. Think about that next time you’re sitting in traffic or getting car-jacked!
Sage of Bluesland
June 1st, 2011
9:48 pm
“It took the team moving for Waddell to get canned….”
How sad is that? How sad.
They [the new ownership group and its fans\ are already a light-year ahead based on this factor alone. They wouldn’t put up with the bluster, the failed promises, the incompetence….that so many Thrashers fans made excuse after excuse for.
Don’t kid yourselves–where there is now a virtual chorus on bumbling Donny, there were only lone voices a number of years ago….Those who made the excuses and subsidized the incompetence woke up and realized it was too late…
Too bad they didn’t vote with their wallets when the team was locked into the no-move clause…Maybe it would have made a difference?
Oh well, too late. To the sheep who kept bewieving in the figurative joke otherwise known as Blueland…and to those who refused to see the obvious writing on the wall when it came to the “Five-Year Plans”, the “building through the draft”, the “legends of Blueland”, the playoff promises, et. al.
illputitoncspan
June 1st, 2011
9:57 pm
Good thing Waddell didn’t draft one of the Sedin twins instead of Stefan. Those guys s*ck!! …lol
Bettman the Moron
June 1st, 2011
10:02 pm
BomberRiderFan: You state “Over 1300 season tickets sold in Winnipeg the first day alone”…that just goes to show you how frozen your brains must all be…or how stupid you all are. Paying that much money and committing that much time and resources into another city’s team. This is not Winnipeg’s team…..that would only happen if you got an expansion team and watched them grow..I actually saw a post today that said “welcome home Jets”…..you do realize this is not the Jets? I guess if you had stolen the franchise from Phoenix, that might at least slightly apply. But this team is the Thrashers….go ahead and throw away your money….but keep in mind, that is what the NHL wants you to do….blind masses dropping their cash on a team that was created by and built in another city. Slap a Jets emblem on their chest, and the mindless goons of Winnipeg will shell out gobs of cash to run around saying “welcome home Jets” and “this is our team.” Enjoy…we here in Atlanta are smarter than that and did not blindly support and inept ownership group, an inept commissioner, and an inept league….Winnipeg, you’re getting what you deserve and I, for one, will spend years laughing at your foolishness.
Bettman the Moron
June 1st, 2011
10:13 pm
AngryRedMarsWoman: Amen to you….I grew up in upstate NY and have been at empty hockey games in Buffalo, New York (both Islanders and Rangers), have been to Jersey games where there were 3000 people, etc. What is the common denominator that occasionally sells out those locations? Winning.
Atlanta has a very good hockey fan base…..far better than the Florida teams, Nashville, Carolina, etc. This team and market have been abused for 11 years….then an ownership group that does not care about hockey ties the team to the arena (no new owner would get arena revenue) and that’s all she wrote….NOBODY would buy this team under those conditions, and the gutless moron Bettman decided to do nothing about it….far better to cr*p on the fanbase and move the team to a prairie outhouse for a cool 60 mil.
As sad as I am to see the Thrashers go, I am not sad to be done with this inept league and its hideously inept commissioner. Not to mention, we have plenty of quality sports here in Atlanta,,,,baseball, football, and basketball. Good riddance NHL….don’t let the door hit you in the behind.
Rob S
June 1st, 2011
10:19 pm
I live in Chicago (go Wolves!) and work for a company HQ’d in ATL. Believe me when I say this franchise was practically DOA.
My company had a luxury box at Philips and some of the top guys were excited about hockey in ATL. Two years later, they could not give away tickets/box passes to Thrashers games. If people won’t even take the tickets for FREE then you have a major problem. It got worse when it came time to renew the lease for the box – they had to pay for the Thrashers games even though they just wanted everything BUT the hockey games and decided to forget it. hey wer not the only ones doing that. That means the non-interest in the Thrashers cost the Hawks customers. My company has a box at the dome and uses it for employee incentive programs – but the Philips box was seen as a sort of booby prize.
Bettman’s sole purpose when hired as NHL commish was to expand the footprint of the league in order to generate a good-sized national TV deal in the US. The footprint came but the TV money didn’t happen. All the teams in the south are drawing only 80% capacity – good for other leagues but mediocre for the NHL. Dallas and Colorado are formerly great teams – now they are merely good and THEY can’t even get to 85%.
The funny part is MLS handles expansion with a million times more intelligence than the NHL. I still think the whole idea of rapid NHL expansion was Bill Wirtz’s idea and he never made an intelligent hockey decision in his life.
Bettman the Moron
June 1st, 2011
10:26 pm
Rob S….were you at Phillips in the early to mid-2000s prior to Atlanta Spirit ownership? No? I was. That building used to be routinely packed and rocking. To the bitter end the fans would always yell KNIGHTS during the national anthem….this was not some clueless southern town that did not understand the game…..there is a large and knowledgeable hockey fan base in Atlanta….however, they are smart and savvy shoppers and they will not be made fools. Atlanta Spirit and Gary Bettmann’s destruction of this team was apparent….every talented player was routinely shipped out of town. Eventually, even the dedicated fans started staying home.
This is not an indictment of Atlanta and Atlanta hockey fans….this is an indictment of Atlanta Spirit, the NHL, and Bettman the Moron. With everything said and done, my only comment is GOOD RIDDANCE.
Rob S
June 1st, 2011
10:27 pm
Bettman The Moron, you are wrong about Winnipeg. I’ve been up there for Wolves v. Moose games and that will be a great Green Bay-like atmosphere for an NHL club. Bettman will screw that up too, but I don’t see him being around in 5 years. The league needs to be where paying customers ARE, not “where they might be someday”.
The NHL could have handled southern expansion better, but they were after the quick buck more than the sustainable buck.
The best part is this “relocation fee” guarantees at least one BOG vote that NEVER goes Bettman’s way!
TJ
June 1st, 2011
10:36 pm
From the perspective of people in Winnipeg, Atlanta is an American outpost.
And why would the NHL give Atlanta yet another year when the first 12 were so stellar?
If hockey fans there are so loyal, how do you explain ESPN ranking Atlanta at #28 in terms of attendance for the 2010-11 season (ahead of only the Coyotes and the Islanders)? On average, attendance for home games was 72 per cent of capacity. For Canadian teams, the attendance was almost always 100 per cent: Edmonton (100.0), Ottawa (99.3), Vancouver (100.3), Montreal (100.0), Calgary (100.0) and Toronto (102.9).
http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance
Bettman the Moron
June 1st, 2011
10:37 pm
Rob…while I am sure that Winnipeg is a fine city (as arctic cities go), the model is non-sustainable, no matter how deep the owner’s pockets. In the modern game, NO free agents are going to want to play there…..this is a fact…look at Edmonton, great hockey town, cannot get and sustain star players. The current 6 Canadian teams make up one fifth the league, meaning they should win one cup every five years, statistically. However, they have not won a cup since 1994. Why? All the star players want to be in big cities or warm climates.
Also, if the NHL truly wants to expand TV revenue, they MUST figure out a way to promote hockey in the biggest cities (ie, Atlanta). Moving to Winnipeg does NOTHING for TV revenue, and probably reduces it. As most Americans would say “Winnipeg? Where’s that?”
I’m sorry, but all the Green Bay Rah Rah in the world will not change facts. Within five years, Bettman will be bent on moving that team back south of the border with some new lame “non-sustainable” excuse.
Bettman the Moron
June 1st, 2011
10:46 pm
TJ…yeah, sure, the International Olympic Committee typically awards the Summer Olympics to outposts.
Get a clue…..Atlanta is a major international city….Winnipeg is somewhere between civilization and the north pole. The NHL took a major step backwards with this and they know it…..however, 60 million will lead greedy men to make foolish decisions. Since we have plenty of other entertainment outlets here in Atlanta, I say good riddance to that inept league with its cowardly commissioner.
TJ
June 1st, 2011
10:57 pm
Well, Bettman the Moron, the Canadian “outpost” to which you refer now has an NHL franchise, while your very “international” city doesn’t!
By the way, the IOC has awarded the Summer Olympics to all kinds of places, including St. Louis, Missouri and Antwerp, Belgium.
Bettman the Moron
June 1st, 2011
11:08 pm
And TJ, as I have mentioned in numerous other posts, not having an NHL franchise does nothing to diminish a city’s reputation. In fact, considering the level of ineptness of the league and its commissioner, it might add to a city’s reputation NOT to have an NHL franchise.
I really hope Winnipeg enjoys their stolen team…..I really do. I mean, what else do they have? My empathy is with them.
Bettman the Moron
June 1st, 2011
11:16 pm
Well TJ, considering the inept nature of the NHL and its moronic, cowardly commissioner, I doubt that losing an NHL franchise is a negative reflection of a city.
Frankly, I wish the best to Winnipeg and their stolen team….I really do…I mean, what else is there for them to do? They have my empathy.
TJ
June 1st, 2011
11:37 pm
I don’t think a sales transaction constitutes theft. You know, willing seller, willing buyer, that whole thing?
And I think you meant to type “sympathy” instead of “empathy”, unless you actually meant to say that you can relate to the people of Winnipeg because you too live in a city where there is supposedly not much to do.
thrasherdawg
June 1st, 2011
11:56 pm
WOW! Only 1800 tickets tickets sold today in Winnipeg. I thought it would be closer to 7000. It all sounds good until you have to put your name on the dotted line for $58,000.00 ( 2 tickets for 5 years).
So I would assume that the average number of tickets bought per person would be 2.5 per. If that is true then only 720 people showed up to buy tickets today.
Bettman should have given Atlanta the chance to sell 13,000 tickets.
Rob S
June 1st, 2011
11:56 pm
BTM, I understand the support the Knights got, the Wolves owner Don Levin owned the Knights at the beginning. So we both have first-hand knowledge of how important strong ownership is to the game.
And the NHL has NEVER had ANY interest in strong ownership – all it is interested in is short-term dollars. They crapped all over the fans familiarity with the Knights by not allowing the Knights name to be used – they simply would not pay one red cent to the IHL even though that league and original ownership did a lot of the early work to generate interest.
You know it better than I do, but there are good 50K hockey fans in ATL. A good owner can make money with that, but with a bad stadium deal the franchise is worth only about 70-80 million. You can bet that Don Levin was contacted but he was not going to pay what True North offered, not even close. And ASG is getting seriously behind on their loans and need to pay ASAP or the Hawks and Thrashers would get foreclosed and liquidated. (Enough bank closures in Georgia that none are going to put up money for a hockey franchise at this time). I’d bet ASG itself does not exist 5 years from now, but it’s one of those cases where the assets are worth more individually than as a whole.
I don’t blame the fans for staying away from bad ownership. I don’t think ATL will ever be as strong an NHL market as Winnipeg, but it doesn’t have to be. Just remember that ATL lost its team because enough owners are foolish enough to save the Phoenix market – a market that typically drew LESS than the Thrashers with a BETTER team. But they had a stadium deal and free city money there – which tells you what the league owners really value.
Thrashers Fan
June 2nd, 2011
12:28 am
“TJ
June 1st, 2011
10:36 pm
From the perspective of people in Winnipeg, Atlanta is an American outpost.
And why would the NHL give Atlanta yet another year when the first 12 were so stellar?
If hockey fans there are so loyal, how do you explain ESPN ranking Atlanta at #28 in terms of attendance for the 2010-11 season (ahead of only the Coyotes and the Islanders)? On average, attendance for home games was 72 per cent of capacity. For Canadian teams, the attendance was almost always 100 per cent: Edmonton (100.0), Ottawa (99.3), Vancouver (100.3), Montreal (100.0), Calgary (100.0) and Toronto (102.9).
http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance”
TJ, why don’t you finish looking at those attendance records. 5/10 years, Atlanta had BETTER attendance than Chicago, NY, NJ, Washington, Boston, Pittsburgh, etc..
Kinda hard to argue AGAINST those #’s.