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
♦
Follow me on Twitter @JeffSchultzAJC; friend me at Facebook.com/JeffSchultzAJC
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
1,115 comments Add your comment
thrasherdawg
June 3rd, 2011
11:03 pm
KellyinWinnipeg:
Only 7100 seats? I figured it would have been well over 10,000 by now, easy. So the general population that never bought season tickets at $22.00 to $42.00 per month are going to buy 5 years at $129.00 per. I hear most of the seats season tickets sold are not the expensive ones. Time will tell but I don’t think 7100 is a number to brag about.
BomberRiderFan
June 4th, 2011
12:26 am
thraserdog, 7100 tickets are for corporate sponsors and Moose season ticket holders. The general public hasn’t even had a chance yet (Saturday at noon). They’re going to sell 13000 by Saturday night. When the walk up tickets go on sale (only 2000 per game) they’ll be gone in a day. Winnipeg is going to have a sell-out season… Atlanta NEVER did that.
Oh and Bettman the Loser, Winnipeg is the Slurpee champion of the world over ten years in a row…. we have waaaaaaaay more than one 7-11. And we bought your team because no one else wanted it.
Bettman the Moron
June 4th, 2011
12:31 am
Yeah you’re right BomberRiderFan. I guess I don’t have many brain cells left after drinking all of Pa’s moonshine (that fermented wood sure do taste good!) I’m just a bit bitter ’cause I don’t have a girlfriend…. at least one that’s not my cousin. I never actually went to a Thrashers game ’cause that costs money, and I spent it all painting my ‘76 Dodge Dart to look like the General Lee.
The Truth
June 4th, 2011
12:34 am
Well Done Winnipeg
If Atlanta had that kind of support, they wouldn’t have moved.
Winnipeg = Poverty
June 4th, 2011
1:22 am
That drive to 13 website is some pretty funny stuff. I’ve never heard of a 3 or 4 or 5 year contract being put on season ticket holders unless it was to pay off the construction costs of an arena or stadium but not an already existing arena. Looks like True North has crunched the numbers and know what they’re facing financially attempting to operate the NHL out of an arena with 15,015 seats and 50 sky boxes and not to mention the limits of corporate advertising in the hamlet of Winnipeg. I’d sat this team bolts from Winnipeg in about 8 to 9 seasons losing something like $40 million a year. I’ll bet they ask the Manitoba government to own something like the 32 percent they owned of the old Winnipeg Jets before they cut the welfare to the Jets and the move to Phoenix was on. 7100 seats sold also shows the NHL about how little disposable income there is among the Winnipeg population. I don’t think the NHL Board of Governors and all the other NHL owners are going to be too impressed by this showing in Winnipeg. You’ll probably get other NHL owners in 8 or 9 years saying “I knew Winnipeg wasn’t going to work but our hands were tied in Atlanta but Winnipeg wasn’t the right move for the NHL”.
Real Deal
June 4th, 2011
2:58 am
And the second Tin Foil hat award goes to…………..
Winnipeg = Proverty
First for just not seeing the reality that Winnipeg selling more season tickets in 3 days than the Thrashers had and yet……..wait for it….wait for it. ……………more days left to go……and………with 3 to 5 year commitment.
Additionally at not seeing the effort that ASG attempted and still couldn’t get a fan base in a city of 5 mill+.. Even with thousands of both cheap($5-20) and/or free tickets the arena was empty.
Hockey just didn’t work here,
I’m curious about a few things
1) What is your true motive for commenting on this blog. Were you one of the 700 Thrasher season ticket holders that braved the car jackings and gang violence to get to the games or just an angry redneck with an different name for every forum using it as an avenue to vent whiile avoiding your crappy and wasted life..
2) Show us the “Ciphering” and “guzinta”s you used to a arrive at the 40 million yearly losses.
Please quit making us Georgians look like hillbillies…so please stop posting or at least come up with a realistic view of what happened with the Thrashers.
Atlanta = 10.1% Unemployment
June 4th, 2011
5:26 am
Some of the postings here are more than sad, they are pathetic. Imagine somebody in a city of 5.5M whining that Winnipeg, a city and surrounding of 800,000, should have taken the Coyotes or an expansion team. Are you really whining about being bullied by Winnipeg? Guess the “home of the brave” doesn’t mean what it did at one time. It’s this simple, ASG had something to sell. True North had money and wanted to buy.
And then there is that pathetic Wpg/Pvrty – there he is like a 6 year old with his face pushed up against the window peaking into the Drive to 13 site. He looks so pathetic. He’s really a child and he can’t contain his envy so his only choice is to criticize the website. C’mon man, give it up.
Winnipeg = Poverty
June 4th, 2011
11:15 am
@ Real Deal I’d rather come up with a realistic view of what’s going to happen in the future in Winnipeg, the Atlanta chapter of this story is over. Winnipeg is the supposed lovers of NHL hockey with this NHL franchise being the only major league entertainment option in that sorry excuse of a town, cannot sellout 13,000 season tickets because they have sticker shock is some really funny stuff. This says plenty of how this marriage of Winnipeg & the NHL is going to go. I wonder if Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver fans are going to be so tepid about buying tickets when they get their season ticket invoices like Winnipeg has with its brand new team. Winnipeg cannot afford to have even one unsold ticket is this franchise is to survive there, because it will never thrive there.
Les Habitants
June 4th, 2011
11:42 am
Only in this blog and only the low-IQ who calls itself Winnipeg = Poverty.
The new team manages to sell 7138 long-term commitment season tickets in 57 hours for its selected clients. That effort even sold out all the best seats (CAD 5805 p.a., 5 years commitment). And that before the sales even opened to the general public.
And somehow, that effort is deemed to be worst than what happened with the Thrashers. When was the last time the Thrashers’ premium seats were sold out for the whole season?
Real Deal
June 4th, 2011
11:47 am
@Winnipeg = Poverty
LMAO
Again you show your worthiness of the Tin Foil hat award.
You are so blinded with bitterness that you can’t see that the sales in Winnipeg are going well. But then again your posts have never been about facts. You should also note that Toronto’s ticket prices are much higher.
You never answered my question about you being a season ticket holder. I was by the way up until 2009 when I moved out of the city.
We here in Atlanta were shielded from the true cost of having an NHL team which is why so much money was lost. ASG just couldn’t afford the welfare anymore.
And again congratulations on your award.
Les Habitants
June 4th, 2011
11:59 am
Winnipeg = Poverty,
You really do not know what you are talking about, do you? In fact, I think facts do not really matter to you as long as you can just write whatever in that low-IQ brain of yours.
Prices of season tickets for the best seats:
MTL: $8459
OTT: $5637
CGY: $7135
And they are sold-out already. So you see that the price of season tickets in Winnipeg is nothing spectacular compared to other Canadian cities. And oh, by the way, the prices are in Canadian dollar.
BomberRiderFan
June 4th, 2011
12:44 pm
Boy W=P, you really are looking at this through poop coloured glasses. All 13000 tickets will be sold TODAY (Saturday), which means Winnipeg will have sellouts for every game for the next three seasons (100% attendance) which matches all the other Canadian clubs, and at the very least they will have money making attendance for the next 5 years. You’re $40 million loss seasons prediction would be at worst case scenario 6 years from now, and with the demand on tickets and the waiting lists that will be occurring for the next 10 years, the team is here to stay.
Les Habitants
June 4th, 2011
1:08 pm
BomberRiderFan,
Not related to the Thrashers. How can you be a Bomber and a Rider fan at the same time? Who do you cheer for in the Labour Day Classic and in the Banjo Bowl?
BomberRiderFan
June 4th, 2011
1:30 pm
Les Habitant: Born in Saskatoon, raised in Winnipeg. I always cheer for the home team between the two games and if they’re both in the Grey Cup (like a few years ago) I cheer for the team that has teh longest cup drought (currently the Bombers)
Real Deal
June 4th, 2011
1:31 pm
Congratulations Winnipeg…you sold out the 13,000
I can now see that our team is in good hands. I’ll be following on NHL Center Ice.
The Truth hurts
June 4th, 2011
1:33 pm
W=P ’s mommy caught him on her computer…….he’s on a time out right now
Smart Goat
June 4th, 2011
1:33 pm
Season tickets in Winnipeg went on sale to the general public today at noon. Sold out in 13 minutes. Your Thrashers are in very good hands, Atlanta!!!! Woot!! Woot!!!
BomberRiderFan
June 4th, 2011
1:34 pm
There you go folks. A sell out in 17 minutes! All 13000 tickets sold for the next three years, and half the arena sold out for 5 years. So what now W=P? Waiting for your next prediction of doom.
Smart Goat
June 4th, 2011
1:35 pm
@ Winnipeg = Poverty …..WOW, are you ever an idiot. You appear to be a total waste of skin. And, and Winnipeg air you breathe is also a complete waste.
You think they are going to FAIL??? Because only 7200 seats sold to less than 3500 buyers. How the heck do you explain every availabel seat left sold out in less that 13 minutes? Come on, put your idiotic spin on this fact!!!
Atlanta/fellow readers, on behalf of all Winnipegers,, I apologize for this idiot even existing!!!!
Smart Goat
June 4th, 2011
1:58 pm
Hey Phoenix, Hey Atlanta, Hey Buttman, Hey NHL, Hey World!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 We sold out, AND there is now a 7000 fan waiting list. If we had the seats, we’d be #1 in the NHL.
Come on WInnipeg = Poverty. Cat got your tounge???? Idiot!!!!
Realist
June 4th, 2011
7:25 pm
The fact that the ajc doesn’t have a peep in it about tonite’s game 2 of the cup final speaks volumes about the reason the team is dead and gone.
Redneck crackers don’t give hoot about hockey.
And you chitlin eating hillbillies ought to take note of the fact that in Winnipeg, 13000 season tickets were sold at the second highest prices in the league in a heartbeat. All 750K people in Wiinipeg are hockey fans. The five million yokels in Atlanta could not average 13000 a night on a real butts in seats count.
You can whine all you want about the owners, Don Wadell, or the price of tea in China, the real problem is simple – crackers don’t follow hockey!
Real Deal
June 4th, 2011
7:30 pm
@Winnipeg = Poverty
You still hvan’t answered any of my questions.
Realist
June 4th, 2011
7:38 pm
One more thing – would that pinhead Winnipeg equals be so kind as to explain how the 13K tickets were sold in a heartbeat, and at three to five year commitments, in a town that is supposedly so poverty stricken!
What! silence from the hillbilly cracker!
Figures
Les Habitants
June 4th, 2011
7:59 pm
Smart Goat and Realist,
Canadian to Canadian, I am really happy with the move and really looking forward to watching the new Winnipeg team come to town or to catch the Winnipeg game on HNIC. However, your statements about being number one in the league attendance wise and about the second most expensive tickets are factually false. Toronto and Montreal are way ahead of you, and I honestly can not see how Winnipeg can catch up with those cities, in business terms.
Having said that, I wish the Winnipeg team and its fans good luck and plenty of enjoyment and entertainment in 2011 – 2012. Congratulations in proving that a city as small as yours can actually do more than a city as big as theirs.
Realist
June 4th, 2011
9:01 pm
To Habs
I am not a Canadian – I am a rebel from Alabama
Atlanta = 10.1% Unemployment
June 4th, 2011
9:38 pm
Took a break from my job at the doughnut shop today to buy tickets, here in my outpost. Will be dropping $50,000+ for five years of NHL hockey. My particular doughnut shop here in the outpost pays very well.
Bettman the Moron
June 4th, 2011
11:39 pm
Congratulations mindless citizens of Winnipeg. You all just spent tens of thousands and made multi-year commitments to watch another city’s team. They may play in your local building, but they are still just the Thrashers.
Bettman the Moron
June 4th, 2011
11:42 pm
BTW….to the fool who stole my handle above….grow up…if you have something to say, come up with your own name. However, having said that, I would be thrilled to have my car (or anything else I own) decorated with the rebel flag.
Bettman the Moron
June 5th, 2011
12:11 am
While placing NHL teams in little burgs where there are many hockey fans may work for ticket drives, it does nothing to cure the NHL’s problem of being a fringe league with little to no TV revenue. The concept of placing teams in large southern cities such as Atlanta is not flawed. Placing them there and then having the league do nothing more is the problem. A team can succeed in Atlanta (or many other southern cities), but the league needs to ensure there is solid and committed ownership; the league needs to ensure the team gets some playoff appearances and wins under its belt quickly to gather a fan base; the league must ensure the team is properly marketed; and the league needs to encourage and promote local youth hockey (most may be surprised to find out that we have many high quality ice facilities here in Atlanta with many good youth leagues).
However, if you place a team in Atlanta with pathetic ownership, no marketing, one winning season out of eleven, every star player shipped out of town, and a moronic commissioner with an apathetic league, then yes, hockey will be doomed to fail in Atlanta and any other southern city.
While the NHL in Winnipeg is a nice, quaint little story, it does nothing to expand interest in the NHL. With all due respect, the average person has no idea what Winnipeg even is let alone where it is located. If the NHL is serious about ever becoming a league that can complete with the big boys, then they MUST be successful in cities like Atlanta rather than abandoning cities like Atlanta.
Winnipeg = Poverty
June 5th, 2011
12:56 am
@ Real Deal Your postings seem to be a Winnipegger posing as someone from Atlanta, therefore I feel very little need to answer to your posts. Considering the poverty levels in Winnipeg if I was True North I wouldn’t get to excited until I see lots of the actual Monopoly-like money that Canadians pay for things with. Anybody can make a promise but I’m sure they want to see the cash.@ Bettman the Moron let’s go a little deeper. The Winnipeg/Thrashers are soon to be a talent-thin glorified minor league team that NHL Free Agent star players will avoid like the plague and other teams will raid for any talent still left there. Also having the Winnipeg suckers pay through the nose to watch this gives me endless joy. We have mentioned how cold and isolated and how ugly the tiny city of Winnipeg is thus giving players plenty of reasons to avoid it. No one has really talked about the rotten taxes the players are going to have to pay in Winnipeg. This is just another reason that this new Winnipeg franchise is probably going to be filled with guys playing for the minimum $500,000 salary and just hanging on to a job in the NHL. This isn’t exactly a successful way to win the NHL.
Real Deal
June 5th, 2011
1:33 am
Winnipeg = poverty
LOL
Still avoiding my questions
Nice try at making up an identity for me but wrong, wrong, wrong.
I lived in Atlanta from 03-09 and had season’s tickets. What about you?
You’re just an angry troll that has a different name for every forum…
Winnipeg = Poverty
June 5th, 2011
1:43 am
@ Real Deal Are you an American? Hillbillies?? Angry Rednecks??? Car Jackings???? Gang Violence????? That sure sounds like it comes from the lips or keypad of an insecure prairie loser from Winnipeg. Is that what you think Atlanta is?
Real Deal
June 5th, 2011
1:51 am
Winnipeg = Property
Why won’t you answer my question about season tickets…… Yes I’m an American and never been to Winnipeg…I gave you something now answer my question.
Realist
June 5th, 2011
2:02 am
To Winnipeg
You ever take a drive through East Atlanta at night you ignorant redneck cracker? Talk to me about poverty then.
And ain’t it interesting how you did not admit how full of bovine fertilizer your comments about only selling 7100 season’s tickets were.
Go back to your still in Cobb County.
Winnipeg = Poverty
June 5th, 2011
2:08 am
As I stated before I was never an Atlanta Thrasher fan but a supporter of the NHL in the U.S. If the Thrashers couldn’t make it, the franchise should have been folded and a dispersal draft held to strengthen the bottom feeders in the NHL. Winnipeg is not needed in the NHL and I will continue to hold that view. Now that you know my views. Why does what I say about minor league Winnipeg ruffle your feathers so much my fellow American wink: You lived in Atlanta from 03-09, so where in the U.S. did you originally come from to take such offense at my attacks upon foreigners from Winnipeg?
Winnipeg = Poverty
June 5th, 2011
2:23 am
@Realist I’m an ignorant redneck cracker? Yet you posted above about being a rebel from Alabama?? Which means your not African -American because you can’t be a rebel as well and yet you call me redneck cracker which means you’re not white either. I get it!!! You’re an escaped alien from area 51 here to support all things Canadian.
Frank in Manitoba
June 5th, 2011
2:30 am
If the fans of this hockey team in Atlanta really wanted it why couldn’t they come up with season ticket sales the same way the team just did in Winnipeg (13000 sold in 45 seconds) with 7000 more on a waiting list. That’s a total of 20,000 people wanting season tickets – I say if the fans wanted it so bad why didn’t they put their money where their mouth was. Hockey never was or will be a southern sport – it is the idiotic to think that it will survive in those cities. And Atlanta has almost the same population as Winnipeg maybe a couple hundred thousand less, but close – can they get 20,000 season ticket holders? 13,000 season ticket holders? Maybe 6000 – well with one of the lowest attendance records in the league I doubt they could break 5000 – better to go to a city and fans that really appreciate the game of Hockey – So Atlanta hockey fans – do what we in Winnipeg have been doing the past 15 years watch it on TV
Real Deal
June 5th, 2011
2:41 am
Winnipeg = Poverty
I’m now in Nashville and have actually support the NHL by having Preds seasons. You are one of the main reasons the Thrashers(& the NHL) failed in Atlanta.
Atlanta is needed in the NHL but moral support won’t cut it. Nashville has never had any real sucess either but the city has really started to embrace and support the team.
You ruffled my feathers because in your posts you and others avoided any responsibility for the Thrashers having to move and instead lashed out at a place you’ve never been.
Winnipeg = Poverty
June 5th, 2011
2:42 am
@ Frank in Manitoba It isn’t all about ticket sales it is also about the corporate sponsors that buy sky boxes advertise on local sports channels and in the arena. Compare the corporate presence in Atlanta to Winnipeg and you will see why this incarnation of Winnipeg in the NHL won’t even last half as long as the original Jets did. NHL players want to be paid and they won’t be playing in Winnipeg.
Winnipeg = Poverty
June 5th, 2011
3:03 am
@Real Deal I lash out at places like Winnipeg because I hate Canadian entitlement and a sense that having an NHL team is their birthright, very similar to Hamilton. The NHL operated with only two Canadian teams from 1942-1967 3 from 1970-1979 and 7 from 1980-1992. The only reason the NHL accepted Winnipeg the first time in 1979 is because they had to end the WHA and its raising of payrolls. Winnipeg was never wanted by the NHL the first time around and will almost certainly fail this time as well with angry Winnipeggers blaming player salaries and those mean Americans not giving us help to keep the team, just like in 1996.
Real Deal
June 5th, 2011
3:08 am
W=P
Why weren’t you a Thrashers fan? I’m assuming you at least went to some games.
Frank in Manitoba
June 5th, 2011
4:54 am
@ Winnipeg = Poverty – you still need to fill those seats – Oct 21 2010 “Last night, the Thrashers drew just 8,820 fans to watch them lose to Buffalo. It was the worst crowd in franchise history. The place was less than half full.” It doesn’t matter how many corporate sponsors you have if you don’t have a fan base you have nothing – hence the reason most southern teams are having problems.
Real Deal
June 5th, 2011
11:11 am
@Winnipeg = Poverty
Do you live in Atlanta or Phoenix?
ATLANTA SUX
June 5th, 2011
11:44 am
For all you WINNIPEG HATERS!! ATLANTA is the WORST SPORTSTOWN for a major Metropolitan city. You had your chance to support the Thrashers and you missed the boat. As in for Winnipeg, they sold out there season tickets in 3 days. Atlanta lost their 1st NHL team to Calgary because, it is not a hockey town and did it the second time again BECAUSE it is not a hockey town. GOOD LUCK with your Hawks, Falcons, and Braves. Support them or you will probably lose them!!!!
P.S> QUIT BASHING WINNIPEG!!! THEY LEFT BECAUSE OF 2 THINGS. THE CANADIAN DOLLAR WAS LOW AND THE STADIUM SUCKED!!
Jasper
June 5th, 2011
11:56 am
Face it…. There are not enough people that want to support the Thrashers. Who cares abou the ownership, if fans love the game they will show up. A rally that draws 250 people in that market is an embarrassment. A rally in Winnipeg based on the mere thought if getting a team draws thousands. FYI – Winnipeg sold out the arena in 17 minutes. That means no season tickets available for 3 years and now 8000 people on a wait list. This is why Winnipeg has a team and Atlanta doesn’t.
Brendan
June 5th, 2011
4:04 pm
Where are people getting this notion that there was a rally to save the Thrashers? There was a hastily put together “Say Goodbye to the Thrashers” FANCLUB event for fans to reminisce about the time the team was in Atlanta. Nothing that “fanclub” event did was going to save the franchise. I’m pretty sure that everyone knew that, too.
If it had been a “Save the Thrashers” event, it would have been put on by City Hall, on the Steps of the Courthouse, on Martin Luther King Blvd., with streets closed off, and been planned for weeks! But the Mayor of Atlanta did nothing to try to save the team. Nor did the Governor of Georgia. Nor did the Atlanta Sports Council. Or any of the supposed leaders of the community.
thrasherdawg
June 5th, 2011
8:00 pm
BTW Atlanta had over 12,000 season tickets sold for the first season here and averaged over 17,000 per game which broke an NHL record for attendance (for an expansion team) in doing so. Does that mean Atlanta is or is not a “Hockey Town”?
The thing is, people here are smart enough, over time, not to pay for an inferior product. I’m sure, in Winnipeg, if the product fails to produce over time the fans will not show uip either. The difference between Winnipeg and Atlanta is Atlanta got an expansion team ,that after 11years is on the verge of being good. Winnipeg will not have the same growing pains.
Bettman could have covered his ass if he would have addressed the Atlanta fans and gave them a choice 13,000 season tickets or the NHL would move the team. The only problem, he thought he my loose that bet, and with that 60 million dollars.
It’s easy to buy season tickets for 5 years when you only have to put $1000.00 down. Wonder what would have happened if the fans were required to pay for at least half the games up front? You get my point. It’s not what the tickets cost, it’s how much can you afford a month…not to worry, no credit check required. Sounds like buying a house several years ago, and we all know how that turned out.
The Truth
June 5th, 2011
8:44 pm
thrasherdawg
Its time to let it go…….
I hate Winnipeg
June 5th, 2011
8:52 pm
SCR*W YOU WINNIPEG
Bettman the Moron
June 5th, 2011
9:23 pm
Smallest NHL market with smallest NHL arena. Nothing more then a holding tank for Bettman the Moron until he can get the team back to a major city.