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
hockeyfan
May 31st, 2011
1:45 pm
Reverie, hockey survives in Buffalo because it’s part of the culture, but you’re not far off on the reason why hockey did NOT survive in Atlanta: it has too much competition, and it’s below SEC, ACC, NFL, MLB, and NBA on your sports attention ladder. (For the same reason, an NBA team likely would not survive in Buffalo (if the Clippers ever returned); the Sabres would kill it.)
chc4
May 31st, 2011
1:45 pm
Jeff — The Spirit clowns have been trying since at least ‘07 to find a major investor or buyer. You think something will magically happen in the next year? Economy still sucks. Sorry but that’s weak.
Alex Hankewicz
May 31st, 2011
1:45 pm
The problem know other investor was going to step up in Atlanta they have tried for 3 years. This js surprising as Atlanta is home to such major companies such as Coca Cola and others Ted Turner can probably own every team in the NHL. The fact is not making playoffs hurts attendence and no single player fans could identify with.
ATL Observer
May 31st, 2011
1:47 pm
@pureevil, please, do tell: name 41 bands/artists that Atlanta has failed to attract because of the NHL. We’ll be waiting…..
ATLien
May 31st, 2011
1:48 pm
That letter really pissed me off.
rooster
May 31st, 2011
1:48 pm
Tickets cost too much for me to ever want to go to a game. Pro sports in general are way too expensive to take a family. I’ll stick with Gwinnett Braves and let the millionaires entertain each other.
David
May 31st, 2011
1:48 pm
Jeff, I agree the NHL only has a handful of teams to make money because there is no major network to help them. NBC only show a few Sunday games a years, and TV does not really work well in hockey because you have a different view from TV than being there in person. NHL lose ESPN many years ago, and they are not making very much money with Versus. Good news, Atlanta, you still have Hockey in Gwinnett, and they have the best arena in the minor league. I would not be surprise even if that team moves up to the AHL (AAA of the NHL teams) in the next couple years.
tre
May 31st, 2011
1:49 pm
Jeff thanks for the best opinion piece ever written on this subject. You told the truth!
Marko
May 31st, 2011
1:49 pm
We here in Toronto have the beloved Maple Leaf’s who have not made the playoffs this decade, but yet we pay top dollar to see them and the games are almost always sold out. If this was the case in Atlanta, the team would not be moving and would at least be profitable. From what I have read, the games rarely had a large crowd. At least Winnipeg will have sell out games on a very regular basis. Go Jets Go
TNBUCO
May 31st, 2011
1:49 pm
Hockey, Eh
May 31st, 2011
11:07 am
This is the best news to us Winnipegers. If you people would’ve sold out your games this wouldn’t have happened. Shame on you Atlanta. Don’t worry, we will sell out every game no matter what. The NHL does not belong in most US markets
You do realize that the Jets averaged 84% of capacity in the 17 years that they were in Winnipeg?
I know, it will be different this time. YOu know with ticket prices and player cost being so much more affordable than they used to be.
I only hope that the put the name Seattle on your jersey so that they don’t have to redo them in five years when you lose another team.
Personally, I am a Flyers fan but my seven year old loves the Thrashers and will be crushed.
Brad
May 31st, 2011
1:49 pm
thank you for writing exactly what needs to be said. I just hope the pathetic ASG reads this article.
thrashers forever
May 31st, 2011
1:49 pm
For the first time in maybe my lifetime, I am listening to Elton John music, mostly his sad songs. Goodbye Thrashers, we hardly knew ye.
HandOvThrawn
May 31st, 2011
1:50 pm
@ David… “Good news, Atlanta, you still have Hockey in Gwinnett, and they have the best arena in the minor league. I would not be surprise even if that team moves up to the AHL (AAA of the NHL teams) in the next couple years.” You must work for the Gladiators in some form or fashion if you believe Double-A hockey is a viable alternative to NHL hockey.
Andre
May 31st, 2011
1:51 pm
You people are a joke. Atlanta is the WORST SPORTS CITY in North America. You can’t even sell out world series games for god sakes! You don’t deserve hockey, you don’t deserve pity.
AGTFan53
May 31st, 2011
1:52 pm
As I’ve been saying for a while, the NHL is dead to me. I’ll never watch another NHL game on TV or in person. There is nothing they can do to get me back. I’m glad I have minor league hockey and college hockey nearby. Now AJC, it’s time to stop reporting on the farce that is the NHL. Who cares about anything they ever do again? Not I.
hockeydad
May 31st, 2011
1:52 pm
I’ve read this post many times but never got in the middle of the fray. While I agree with everything that has been written about the Atlanta Spirit, they basically had no clue and never understood what they were getting into, unless it was their ultimate business plan to eventually sell the franchises as a business model. In any case, stupidity portrayed at its best.
But what has not been spoken about much is the actual management, or lack thereof, of the Thrashers since they first appeared here is 1999. They had a successful business model to follow in the Dallas Stars when the North Stars moved to Dallas. But no, they thought marketing their “hockey in the streets” would kick off ticket sales. Seriously?? Adding ticket sales means going to the community that will actually buy tickets and it starts with owning the rinks in town and getting involved and sponsoring youth hockey. It’s called marketing to your base to expand your base.That’s what Dallas did. The Thrasher organization only got involved with youth hockey after their “in the streets” campaign failed. Too late, the Spirit showed up and management but a lousy product on the ice. End of story. Textbook case of how to fail at business.
TheAntiMe
May 31st, 2011
1:52 pm
This article sucks!
You basically trash the City of Winnipeg as second rate
lol – Please, Hutch, don’t flatter yourselves.
Buff-n-stuff
May 31st, 2011
1:53 pm
My Last Post:
Bye Bye Thrashers, it was fun while it lasted. Good Luck to all the players, it is not your fault !!!
………..and here is to hopes that one day – in an Arena “not named Phillips”, and certainly not owned by the Ass-clown ASG – that we all again assemble on a blog, like this one, to talk about our “new hockey team”, likely one that comes from another city, that suffers the same as we in Thrasherville do today.
Thanks to Schultz, Rawhide, Bradley, and a host of others (sorry, i cannot thank the ever-mis-spelling Vivlamore, who already has bought a home in Winnepeg) Your columns over the years, some contoversial, others absolutely stupendous, will be missed.
By to my fellow bloggers…..to “Thrash”, J-Bird, the rest of the crew.
….and HELLO to more time to spend complaining and arguing about other things “not hockey”.
Thanks for the ride, it was fun, and I would do it over again in a heartbeat.
Buff-n-stuff
spaceman109
May 31st, 2011
1:53 pm
it is true what jeff says about the commish not trying to save hockey in atlanta, but what did anyone expect? after all, bettman had repeatedly badgered this ownership to get their act together. when they repeatedly failed to do so, bettman washed his hands of the entire situation. one can hardly blame him given that asg doesn’t have enough sense to pound sand in a rat hole.
lombardi
May 31st, 2011
1:54 pm
Today was not the nail-in-the-coffin day. That’ll come next spring when they’re in the playoffs.
ASG = bunch of clowns
May 31st, 2011
1:54 pm
These goobers are a complete joke.
Realsportsthanx
May 31st, 2011
1:54 pm
Goodbye and good riddance. Hockey is right up there with soccer and synchronized swimming, i.e. NOBODY GIVES A SH1T ABOUT IT!
get real
May 31st, 2011
1:54 pm
Kevin,
You’re a total a$$hat if you think that the Lightning or Panthers would have survived as long as they did with this ownership and management.
Kevin
May 31st, 2011
1:56 pm
I’m having a difficult time understanding the anger here. Poor ownership, and management happens everywhere in professional sports. You still have to fill the building, sell advertising, and have TV viewers. therese are all areas where Atlanta failed not once, but twice. Why do the Florida panthers, survive? Why did Tampa make it through tough years? This blaming everyone but the poor support Atlanta has shown the NHL is insane. Here is a novel idea,look in the mirror for why you lost the team. Hartford did a hell of a lot more for their franchise than Atlanta ever did, and they lost out too.
Tuesday reading - Eye of The Tigers - Colorado Springs Gazette, CO
May 31st, 2011
1:57 pm
[...] announcement of the Thrashers’ move to Winnipeg Tuesday morning. And yes, some in Atlants do care. Also, former Tigers Bill and Lee Sweatt will have a new home next season whether they get called [...]
Bruce Mac
May 31st, 2011
1:58 pm
I don’t think I will be able to sleep tonight. Please take the Hawks with you Thrashers. I think playing in friggin Winnipeg would be poetic justice for overpaid Joe and friends.
allen981
May 31st, 2011
1:59 pm
Went to one Thrashers game, froze to death and was completely and utterly bored the entire night.
It’s just soccer on ice, with a near-invisible ball (puck), and it’s just not meant for the masses. If you grew up with it, great, enjoy. But for anyone who didn’t grow up with it- and nearly all people in Atlanta did not – hockey has no meaning or entertainment value.
Besides, now there’s more time for Disney on Ice for me and the grandkids…
Alex L
May 31st, 2011
1:59 pm
I think that the NHL did the right thing. Take the franchise away from ASG and sell it to a multi-billionaire. ASG knows you do not make money on the average do-nothing team in hockey. It’s not a big money-maker even in Canada. You make the money side on the arena in concerts and the like. When I heard that they were going to sell just the hockey team, I knew it was gone. Because you’d have to pay ASG for the arena and get only the hockey money. You’d have to be crazy or the city of Glendale to go for that deal.
ASG is like the owner in the movie ‘Slap Shot’ who did not go to the games and folded the team for a tax write-off. I feel for the fans. Winnipeg is actually a decent city, a solid city, no need to insult Winnipeg. But if you think that the NHL doesn’t need Atlanta, I’d have to say you are right. They seem to need Phoenix. Bizarre. Nevertheless, the NHL will go where the money is.
The NHL is okay with being number 4 or 5 in the States. That’s still pretty good. Worth billions annually. And they get money internationally, especially in Europe. What is needed is some re-organization of the NHL, so that teams can break even while developing markets. Split the league into Canadian and American conferences. And they need to be more hands-on when you’ve got poor ownership.
fat, dumb, and stupid
May 31st, 2011
2:02 pm
Gotta love the rednecks with major inferiority complexes who feel the need tell everyone else as often as possible how they do not like hockey, soccer, tennis, and basketball.
And not one of them could ever be any good at any of those sports. Fat, lazy pieces of crap.
Alana
May 31st, 2011
2:03 pm
Thanks for your commitment Jeff. If only the ones raking in the cash were half as commited to our Thrashers or our city, maybe they could have stayed, or even won a championship…. But sadly, we have been betrayed one again. I am from Miami, and being a hockey fan in South Florida, is about on par with being a Saddam fan, yet they can maintain a hockey team and even make it to a few playoff games. Why did they give up on us? Just doesn’t make sense….
now what
May 31st, 2011
2:03 pm
since winnipeg also has a history of losing its’ nhl teams then we will probably be unfortunate enough to get the thrashers back in a couple of years.
Kevin
May 31st, 2011
2:05 pm
First we lost by fact no could hear games after 7pm when 680 The lame go off air….as would 920 which own by same and Kincade been invited to Espn i hope Espn will remove the Espn logo off and instead of Espn 680 the Fan…Be Crappo 680 the lam….Sorry see u go Gwinnett Next too and belkio n ASG will enjoy see people reject buyin Hawks season Tickets now..( we should but we not) Cause ole Mayor crack will cry if Hawks leave he sure not try save thrashers are Mayor Cammpbell when flames Moved in 1980…11years and we showed up Owners GM and stupid coach again Waddell killed us…and Bettman said what said when Thrashers came on we have a great market here change Put Winnipeg there…and i not bash Winnipeg we wish You good luck next season too…Bye
Habs Fan in the Peg
May 31st, 2011
2:06 pm
First of all, I extend my sympathies to those hockey fans in Atlanta who are genuine and regularly went to the Thrashers’ games for all the right reasons. You did your part to support your team.
The only harsh reality I can suggest is hockey will continue to remain a novelty in the American sun belt. Fans in the South as a whole tend to be much more fairweather for hockey than they will ever be for baseball and especially for football.
Nevertheless, this lost franchise need not spell the end of junior or high school hockey programs in your area.
We in Winnipeg have been through all that you’re going through now. I will try to get to a few games next season; but the new Winnipeg team will be my second favourite team.
No matter how well the team does here, we do not become the equivalent to Toronto or New York. We’re still the same modest, slowly-growing city that loves hockey, has a team in the Canadian Foootball League (for over 80 years now), and the only Canadian franchise in the largest independent baseball league in N.A. As a city, we can be thankful for what we have; and I firmly believe that we are now in each of the leagues we belong in respect to our sports teams.
Atlanta is no less a city today than it was a few weeks ago and will remain a strong, major market in sports and other cultural events.
kreedham
May 31st, 2011
2:06 pm
So let’s keep looking for a local owner and moved the Coyotes here!
Jeff97
May 31st, 2011
2:06 pm
Cheapest ticket in WPG will be $39 for a season ticket holder. thats waaaay more than here in ATL. Also, you will have to buy for 3 years.
I paid less than that for 3 season tickets here. ($10 season tickets).
its such a shame. in the end, only the fans cared. nobody else did. Not that owner, the NHL or the city itself.
Bettman and the ASG, you all suck.
I dont blame the WPG fans, i would want hockey back in my city too. But there is no waaaaay that it is a more viable city than ATL IF….i say….IF we actually had competetant owners who gave a sh*t. that is the biggest shame of it all.
now what
May 31st, 2011
2:07 pm
MARKO…explain to me again…why will winnipeg have lots of sellouts. they never did before and they lost their team in 1996.
allen981
May 31st, 2011
2:08 pm
Whoa there, ‘fat, dumb and stupid.’ We ‘rednecks’ could be good at any of the above sports, if they were any fun at all. But dang it, we just can’t top 4-wheel boggin’, fishin, and dating your cousins.
By the way, this ‘redneck’ who despises hockey carries a 1-handicap on the golf course, has won three AA-1 ALTA tennis tropies, and if I were 60, could kick your Yankee behind in one-on-one any day of the week.
Hillbilly D
May 31st, 2011
2:08 pm
Hockey is a great game that’s being run by a bunch of damn idiots.
USAF92
May 31st, 2011
2:08 pm
F@#% em. I just nixed my Hawks season tickets in protest. Not another dime to those clowns.
25%
May 31st, 2011
2:09 pm
of voters at the winnipeg free press ticket poll state NO TICKETS FOR ME, I’M NOT A HOCKEY PERSON!!! Good Luck with that Winnipeg!
AcidQueen
May 31st, 2011
2:09 pm
Upon further review, NORM STILL SUCKS.
Oh wait, wrong team. Same situation though. Ah well, I’m sure that the guys will have a great time boning all the hookers that congregate down on Portage Avenue.
Horsehockey
May 31st, 2011
2:10 pm
Where’s C-Viv in all of this. Does he still have a gig at the AJC? His last post still has another local suitor stepping up. Is it too much to ask the AJC to remove outdated information from their web site – or at least to update it?
Country Boy
May 31st, 2011
2:10 pm
In the South we use ice for Sweet Tea, not to play a game on, GOOD RIDDANCE, you Yankees can move to Winnipeg since you like Hockey so much.
Bryan
May 31st, 2011
2:11 pm
One of the best sports in the world, and we can’t even find a buyer?
Don’t blame Atlanta for that — the problem is with the NHL. No one wants to touch that toxic league with a Chara-sized hockey stick. Invest hundreds of millions of dollars into an over-expanded joke of a league led by dishonest idiots? Uh, no thanks — I’ll just stick it under my mattress.
With no one in their right mind looking to buy a hockey franchise, the only option is to go to new cities, where the excitement of seeing hockey again overwhelms the little voice saying “you’re about to buy a piece of something run by Gary Bettman…run away!” But that wears off, and then it’s back to the sales table.
My prediction? When they move to Las Vegas in 10 years, the former Thrashers will be known as… the Craps.
hockeyfan
May 31st, 2011
2:12 pm
allen, you do realize that the “yankee” you’re (justifiably) upset with is probably not a yankee, but a Canadian, right?
BartenderBart
May 31st, 2011
2:14 pm
HandOvThrawn – “You must work for the Gladiators in some form or fashion if you believe Double-A hockey is a viable alternative to NHL hockey.”
_____
If you were going to a hockey game and you wanted to sit 20 rows off the ice, you could $65 for the Thrashers, or you could pay $14 for the Gladiators. Is the product the same? No. But that’s what you get with a minor league team. Plus, in the minors you get guys who are really trying to make it, so they’ve got just as much heart/effort, if not the same level of talent. Also, you get the rare occasions where one of the pro players are down for rehab (I saw Jair Jurrgens at Gwinnett earlier this season). The promotions for minor league games are better. But yeah, if the only way you enjoy games is seeing the typically over-paid professionals, then go ahead.
By the way, if they move the Glads to Philips Arena, that team will die soon also. Philips is not in a good place.
Non-Hockey Fan
May 31st, 2011
2:14 pm
Thank GOD and Greyhound they are gone!!!
Steve-o
May 31st, 2011
2:15 pm
Non-Hockey Fan,
Oh, so you’re glad the Thrashers are gone because you don’t like the sport? What a narrow-minded idiot. Beyond sports, this is an economic loss for the city. I can’t stand people like you.
Miami Screaming Eagle
May 31st, 2011
2:17 pm
Country Boy-your postis exactly why re refer to some of you as idiots.
How do you make it out of the house in the morning, stupid?
no hockey love anymore
May 31st, 2011
2:18 pm
The Spirit was and still is a corrupt and incompetent company, but we can’t completely blame them for this happening. This team wasn’t supported by the people of Atlanta just like every other professional team here. Go to most other cities and they actually go to the games to support their pro franchises. Let’s be honest here folks. Unless the next pro hockey team that somehow makes it here renames themselves the UGA bulldogs, they don’t stand a chance. Go to a Braves or Hawks game during a weekday and you’ll understand.
Living in the Bay Area now, it’s refreshing to go to Giants and Sharks games where the fans actually sell out stadiums and arenas and the fans wear jerseys and hats of the Home team rather than being outnumbered by opposing fans or people wearing UGA football gear. I was born in raised in Atlanta but it is an absolute joke of a pro sports town filled with fair weather fans. Maybe if you guys actually went to the games, the owners could invest more into the team…?