Thrashers, Atlanta were never given a chance

First!!!

The only hope now is other teams do not want to give up the ATL TV market, and they don’t want their team to travel to Winnipeg.

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Good riddance. Who cares? MOVE ON!

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Sad.

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I don’t want to move to Manitoba!!! Can I please void the contract I just signed?? PLEASE?!?!?!

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bobby, then why are you spending the time to stop by and comment on the article?

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Schultzie, I rarely agree with you, but I couldn’t side with you more on this. What a train wreck this whole sham of a franchise has been. Not only has Bettman insulted “the fan base” here in Atlanta, the franchise itself has tried to snow Atlanta with Don Waddell. What a fraud.

For those that are hockey fans – all 250 that showed up to the Gulch a couple of weeks ago – the best thing that can happen is that this cancerous organization is cut out and perhaps be replaced by one that is serious about competing. As Jeff said, maybe in five years.

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Well written and right on point.

Bettman and the members of the Atlanta Spirit ownership group should all rot in hell.

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Great article Jeff! We should all thrown in $$ for a billboard with a pic of Bettman and the Atl Sprit shaking hands and say ******* liars

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The NHL is dead to me.

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I hope the ASG partners all rot in hell!!! I for one will NEVER watch another hockey game, go to another hockey game or every step foot in Phillips Arena see the Hawks or support the Atlanta teams owned by the lowsey ASG again!!! I hope the NBA locks out and the NBA goes bankrupt and everyone on the ASG looses everything they have!! See you on the soup lines!!!

All I can say is if this was the Hawks this was happening to the Atlanta Mayor would have fought life and death to keep this in the city….and gee I wonder why! I hope when all the rebuilding and all the businesses around Phillips go belly up because there are now less people downtown he wonders why and people around the city are now out of work he can point his finger to not fighting for the Thrashers and keeping the hockey team here!

I hope the Hawks are the next to go! They suck just as bad and always have….lets get rid of them while we are at it!

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Great commentary, Jeff. It’s a sad day indeed. It will be revealing to see how anxious the Atlanta Spirit group will be to unload the Hawks and the arena now that they’re rid of the hockey team or whether that was a song and dance to make it look like they were in desperate straits as a whole.

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I’ll never set foot in Philips Arena as long as ASG owns it!

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This is an embarressment for our city. We just lost a major sports team to a Canadian outpost!
Now we have 3 major sports teams that win a championship every 50 years.
WE ARE THE CLEVELAND OF THE SOUTH!

Henry Hall-Waldron//do you understand this?

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The Atlanta “I have no spirit” ownership group, better sell the Hawks in the end. I will not support the Hawks as the ownership group has not supported our city. They will not get a penny out of me. I just hope ownership packs there bags and moves too.

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Hey Schultz, no need to take a shot at Winnipeg. They didn’t do anything to deserve your vitriol except have an owner who was willing to bid on a product that nobody wanted. Take a look around the city of Atlanta and place your anger where it is deserved, owners present and past who didn’t know how to market the product to your audience. I have no doubt that it could be done, unfortunately no one seems willing to put the effort and imagination into the project. Too bad, it should have worked in Atlanta. It almost seems that there are those who wanted it to fail, follow the money and there is much more than the $60 million relocation fee at stake. I’ll bet the Thrashers were used in some financing scheme involved with Phillips Arena.

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good riddance. in 5 years a struggling franchise will re-lo to here and we will have a real team instead of the bad joke that was the thrashers.

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Sad day for this City. This is a great article that is absolutely correct. The passion for this team was there from the outset, the electricity in the building for the two playoff games was unbelievable. One only has to look at all of the successful youth hockey programs in the area to see how great an interest is being taken in hockey in the Metro Atlanta area. This ownership group absolutely ran this franchise into the ground, Hossa commented that he would have liked to stay but he realized that the owners only real commitment was to the NBA, Kovy soon followed and the list of free agents looking to sign was short.

Gary Bettman’s actions are without a doubt the worst I have ever seen by a sports commissioner,He makes Selig look competent. Also, where has Kasim Reed been, his comments show his complete lack of understanding of how losing a NHL franchise will affect the City’s economy. Even with only 10,000 to 12,000 at the arena, money is being spent in the food court, at Taco Mac, Dan Tanna’s. People in the arena are working at the concessions area’s, ticket windows, money is being spent for parking. It is a big hit for a downtown area that is mostly dead after 500 PM, but the Mayor says we will be fine.

Shameful is right.

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Anyone know a good lawyer who can sue the league to stop this sale from happening? There have been reports of at least 3 other buyers (local buyers) who have come forward who ASG have not allowed to bring rightful rights of purchase for the team!! The NHL bylaws require this of local buyers before a team can be relocated. This has to be allowed and must be opened as public record!!

There must be something that can be done to stop this sale from happening????

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Let them laugh anyway, they are the ones on the hook for Joe Johnson the next umpteen years.

These guys manage money like the McCourts.

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Well said, Jeff.

I just wonder … fly on the wall, and all that … what the reaction will be (and who will they sue) next year when the NBA is locked out and Philips is dark 82 nights … with no income at all.

I guess we’re down to two hail-mary longshots … 1) BoG doesn’t approve (anyone wanna buy a bridge? ’bout same chances) … 2) ASG devolves into some kind of legal breakdown, and the deal falls apart.

Otherwise, better get out those maps and figure out how to get to Gwinnet Arena during evening rush hour ….

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Well said Jeff.

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Levenson- Dead, Gearon- Dead, Bettman -DEAD! Nothing this bad has happenned since the German’s bombed Pearl Harbor!

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What’s the NHL?

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Eh, not if your ownership spends like ours did. Hope the team burns in hell

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Atlanta= 40-50 degree winters and awesome women. Winnipeg= -40-50 degree winters and eskimos…SERIOUSLY, NO OFFENSE!!!!!!

Y’all enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Goodbye CNN Center! All you businesses are screwed! Nice going mayor! way to step up for your city! Nice going Bettman you useless airbag, I hope you rot in hell. Lots of jobs and businesses are going to be lost because you let this drag on for years. I grew up in the Northeast and if it were Boston New York Islanders NJ etc youd be all over it, after all the NHL approved the purchase of The Thashers by ASG originally! Nice due dilligence! What a bunch of losers….my last $ has been spent on the NHL> Good Riddance!

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It’s absolutely criminal what the ASG (Absolute Stupidity Group) has done with this team. They neglected it the entire time they had, then get rewarded money for making them go away.

If that’s not bad enough, they didn’t even have the decency to tell their own employees exactly what was happening….

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No mourning here. The Trashers are just an entertainment product that not enough patrons wish to pay to see. I can’t blame anyone for not going. The product was inferior at best. Life will go on and Atlanta will not cease to exist.

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Canada has been getting the shaft regularly as far as new teams go. the NHL actually would rather spend money to prop-up a dying franchise in Phoenix year after year than let them go to Hamilton, ONT

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I will never, ever step foot in that building again. Thanks for crushing my soul, ASG.

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At least with the Smiths, they tried but just didn’t know what the hell they were doing. This group of buffoons didn’t know what they were doing and didn’t care either.

As long as they own the team, I’m not setting foot in that arena…..

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I will miss NHL hockey more than I can put into words. Sure, there are still the Glads, but ECHL hockey is nothing like NHL-caliber hockey. I’ll still watch the Stanley Cup finals, but it’s going to be a long lonely winter without the Thrashers.

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Atlanta is a golf, football, baseball and NASCAR town. All other sports are just niche curiosities.

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ATLANTA COYOTES!

Too soon?

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Was wondering if you or anyone else had done any research on the Raine Group, the firm selected to vet and find a buyer for the Thrashers and Hawks?

I did some digging tonight . . because it just seems a bit odd that we have several reports of multiple offers being made, but the firm allegedly not moving forward with the due diligence process for potential buyers looking to keep the team in Atlanta.

Found some interesting items.

First, they are a new company, founded sometime in 2010. While the managing partners and founders have some relevant experience, the firm as a whole is new in the market. Couldn’t open their website: http://www.raine.com/

The biggest question raised from the research is that Raymond Chambers, Owner of the New Jersey Devils, sits on the board of the Raine Group. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/ex-bankers-start-fund-to-invest-in-media/ Wouldn’t he benefit personally if the Thrashers are moved to Winnipeg? Can we say $60 million relocation fee divided and sent to the owners??

Also found it interesting that Ted Forstmann, owner of IMG Sports Marketing also sits on the board and is an advisor to the group. http://www.businessinsider.com/eric-schmidt-investment-bank-2011-4?op=1
While they don’t have a big hockey presence, they do represent Alex Ovechkin as well as Steve Nash, Canadian NBA star. Forstmann was recently diagnosed with cancer and said in an interview on May 23, 2011: “What I want to do is build IMG,” he said, “and I’d like to do it quicker than I was going to.” He says he is in a rush for a reason: “I want to make a bunch of money now, stick it in a charitable trust and give it away.” http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/05/23/philanthropy-is-given-focus-by-brain-cancer/
It was further interesting that Raine Founder, Joseph Ravitch has been involved in several NBA deals and served on a panel for the NBA’s Technology Summit in 2009. But no hockey deals. http://www.nba.com/techsummit/bio_joseph_ravitch.html

I also noted that the other founding partner Jeff Sine was intimately involved with the AOL Time Warner merger in 2001.

So what does all this mean . . probably nothing. But you have a firm supposedly acting in good faith to vet potential owners . . yet the firm has a hockey owner, Chambers of the Devils, sitting on their board and lets see, who did we trade Kovalchuk to? Who benefits if the Thrashers relocate?

There is also a guy serving as an advisor who owns a major sports marketing company with a stated goal of making as much money as possible. Rabid hockey fans in Winnepeg, and in Atlanta fans want,a nd rightfully so, a winning team before supporting hockey. Where is there more “quick” money to be made through endorsement and partnerships?

One of the founders of the firm has done several NBA deals and seem very closely tied to the NBA and no hockey experience. Not that I believe there would be much difference between the sale of a NHL vs NBA team, but it would seem there would be more of an effort to sell the Hawks, because that is where their knowledge is with helping establish NBA China, the Sonics and Nets sales, and serving as a panelist for NBA tech seminar. Is it the best fit?

The other founder was a major player in the AOL Time Warner merger which, as a result of the financial disaster it caused for the new company, ultimately lead to the “unloading” of the Hawks and Thrashers to ASG. http://washingtonexaminer.com/sports/nhl/2011/05/atlanta-midst-another-hockey-death-watch?category=61 Seems like he benefitted in 2001 and will do so again . . . as a result of his first efforts. Got em coming and going.

Too many connections . . . too many questions. Why didn’t the ASG hire a firm that had experience in NHL transactions or at least employees/partners that had experience in NHL deals? Should we have hired a firm where there is a board member who has a vested interest in how the money from the sale is allocated?

I then also found this piece of information: http://www.schiffhardin.com/EXP-CS-PF-Atlanta_Spirit.htm It looks like the city was involved in re-negotiating the bond in November 2010. I wonder why the Thrashers were never tied to the bonds like the Hawks were/are? This press release goes on to say “This transaction allows our clients access to up to $125 million from the NBA League-Wide Credit Facility.” It seems as if the Thrashers were and continue to be the ugly step child. Humorous considering the following:
And this interesting quote from Seydel in 2004, “We have assembled an all-star team of owners with a great combination of local commitment, strong resources and significant experience in both basketball and hockey,” said Seydel, speaking on behalf of the partners. “We take these teams and Philips Arena in trust for the community, and our goal is to deliver exciting, winning hockey and basketball for our Atlanta fans.” http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2003/09/15/daily23.html

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People should drop the Winnipeg attacks. Honestly, they really don’t care about us and they don’t live here (they just want a team again). And if we don’t live there, why should we care about or judge them?

Now, the Spirit, on the other hand, we SHOULD care about. They’re ruining this city.

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Why the slams at Winnipeg, a city you obviously know little about? They had nothing to do with your franchise failing, with the teams, the losses, the AJC, and the lack of local people willing to put their money on your bet that if only it was given more time and less Waddell, this would succeed.

The shots at Canada and Winnipeg are just cheap and bitter.

As for Bettman – Weasal? Yes. But do you think he is enjoying this? He did nothing to save the Jets – it was part of his plan to expand the game to the south. He put the team back in Atlanta. This is a double failure for him, and he knows it. I am sure he is choking on this announcement and would have given anything for a last minute local white knight – but the fact is 2 years of searching, up to and including this weekend, and one could not be found.

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Never ever going to see Atlanta Hawks again.

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Sour Grapes. I was going to sit back and keep quiet until you ripped Phx. We have had owners WORSE than you. Ours stole money from the team to support another business. We have had no owner for 2 years and our attendance was just a little worse than you. Before you go ripping into us, why dont you look into the facts before you write such BS.

Maybe its a surprise to you but Atlanta is reguarded as the worst sports team in America, by most in the US. You dont even sell out Braves playoff games. When the Braves played the Cubs in the playoffs a few years ago, there were as many Cubs fans there as Braves fans. The attendance at the NBA games are below NBA standards. YOU DONT support your pro teams. You support the FAlcons, as long as they are winning.

You are a 2 time loser in hockey. Sorry, we can by it once, but not twice.

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Let’s go Gladiators?!!!!

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well said Jeff. RIP Thrashers

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Jeff,

How much longer before real registration is going to be required on these blogs?

Your Tressel blog has turned into Romper Room.

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Why is it SO hard for you bone headed Yanks to understand that POPULATION DOES NOT EQUATE TO MARKET. We have 700k people and 700k hockey fans. You have 5M people and 5k hockey fans. If population was the only important factor, than I suggest you all invest in the Karachi Thrashers of the Pakistan Hockey League.

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[...] Journal Constitution:  Thrashers, Atlanta were never given a chance.  Gotta feel bad for the city of Atlanta and its [...]

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Basketball ownership that had to take the unwanted hockey club as part of the deal.

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I know people are upset, but I don’t get the hatred being levied at the mayor. I think it says a lot that he refused to be blackmailed like the folks in Glendale. The city and state are already struggling; taxpayers don’t need to be on the hook for a struggling sports franchise.

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It’s pretty simple, if the team would have won, we wouldn’t be having this conversation!!!! Then again, if my grandmother had b@ll$ she would have been my grandfather!

Enjoy Winterpeg where those gorgeous summer nights get down into the 30’s and 40’s. Sounds fun doesn’t it!!!!!

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Sad thing is, with the possibility of no NFL or NBA next season, the NHL misses a great opportunity to earn new fans by default. We all know it just takes one good game seen live to win over new fans. Now that chance is gone.

I hope Phillips sits mostly empty next year.

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I hope the NBA and NFL both Lockout! Well be like Detroit…last one out turn off the lights!

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“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.”

Amen Schultzie! Hell hath no fury like a Commissioner’s ego. Making fans in ATL pay for the transgressions of another city’s non-support. And also because of a vendetta against a wealthy RIM stockholder.

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i think its funny the mayor is now in panic mode….are you kidding me right now?

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I have no annimosity towards Winnipeg…I wish you well just be aware Waddell is the reason we had a subpar product on the ice for years…he’s an idiot in a suit.

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dapperdan @ 11:29 – “If you can’t make an NHL franchise work in that size of a market, then it’s never going to work. I hope you never get another shot at the NHL because frankly, you don’t deserve it.”
____

Let’s see, an ownership group that tried to sell the team from day one, a GM/head coach that did all he could to drive them team into the ground, a lack of desire on the part of free agents to stay because the ownership group showed no signs of trying to build a winner, no playoff wins in 11 years, horrible trades, years of court cases as owner sued owner… you’re right, we don’t deserve soemthing like that. No one does.

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Arena Football! The Circus! Ice Follies! That’ll save us! LOL I wont spend a dime to travel to that armpit of an Arena full of homeless dregs and beggars and scalpers…they should have built the original arena in North Atlanta less traffic, less crime , less hassles ….

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I just checked the Thrashers website and wanted to “buy” season tickets — guess what, their not taking requests…..
Bye Team!

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Great article, Jeff. And you make a great point–given that about 1/3 of all NHL teams are in serious trouble, someone within 5-10 years is going to stick another team here. Third time the charm?

Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if the entire league bellied-up. Since they over-expanded, they are now surviving on relocation fees. At some point the cities and governments will see through this three-card monte, and when that happens, about 10 teams will go bankrupt.

No team in Atlanta, no team in Houston, no team in Seattle, no team in Kansas City, no team in Cleveland or Cincinnati. But teams in Winnepeg and Raleigh are cool.

Good riddance. Come back when you find some real leadership.

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What is with this “now we can some concerts” crap?

Seriously? Atlanta doesn’t get concerts? Could someone name me 40 concerts that the NHL prevented from coming to Atlanta?

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Hey Winnepeg, Please do one thing in front of God and everybody, something that ASG never had the balls to do….fire Don Waddell!!

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I think some of you “good riddence” and “glad their leaving” idiots/jerks need to be a little bit more sensitive to the people who will lose their jobs. There’s alot of people that will be on the streets as a result of this stupid decision.

Maybe your mothers should have taught you better! I hope ASG buys the palce where you work!

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Thank you Schultzie for having the guts to tell it like it is.

I’m going to have a hard time rooting for the Hawks if they’re still owned by the ASG. Let’s hope they get sold (to someone with a passion for winning).

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Atlanta averaged more than 2,000 fans a game more than Chicago AND Boston in the 2006-2007 season. The fans are here, they just got tired of being urinated on by the owners.

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@Rick – if you can find anyone who is blaming the mayor who doesn’t mention his skin color you might have your answer. As a fan, I’d have liked to see a little more effort from the mayor’s office, but ASG has been running the team into the ground for years and clearly negotiating in bad faith with locals – it wouldn’t have made any difference in the end.

As for the coming NBA lockout – ASG just got a nice sack of cash to allow them to weather that particular storm (though it’s going to do nothing good for Philips and Hawks employees), the only good news is that unlike most cities – the area around the arena also gets a lot of business from the convention center so a lot of those businesses should be able to make it.

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Kasim Reed could have at least publicly denounced ASG for the losers they are. Calling out the NHL would have been on the menu too. He will regret his decision here and soon. Lost jobs, prestige, etc.

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I am sick. This is all a bunch of BS; well said Jeff. I grew up in Georgia and Hockey became my favorite sport. I can’t imagine Atlanta without a team for a second time…. I think the NHL has lost a fan for life. I will continue to love hockey but loathe the NHL and ASG. SAD SAD DAY!!!!!!!!!!

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Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. What is it for fool me a 3rd time? If another team came to Atlanta why would any hockey fan step up to the plate just to be crushed again?

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This was a mistake from the beginning. Atlanta didn’t do right by the Flame and they were not going to do right by the Thrashers. The NHL should have never approved a Hockey franchise for Atlanta.

It’s the same thing that derails our other sports franchises. Horrible management (Waddell) Horrible Drafting, and Horrible trades.

This is the only city where professional players love to live, but hate to play.

This does not include Mr. Blank

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This has all been a charade for months. The lawyers didn’t work through the night, this thing was done long ago. The mayor, governor, Chamber, Atlanta Sports Council, where were all of them in this? Bettman never came here once, did nothing to defend us.

If anyone supports the NHL after this, they need their head examined. I’m done with them, and I’ve been a fan for 40 years.

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Atlanta sucks.

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What a sad day for hockey fans in Atlanta. You are probably not old enough to remember the Flames leaving (a loss that was even worse for me personally).

In addition to Thrasher games, my family and I also attend 2-3 Hawks games a year. That’s a modest expenditure but it will be one that will never be made again as long as the ownership remains.

The best way to vent my anger and sadness is to make certain that I never spend another dollar that results in any revenue for this ownership. If Tech basketball in the Arena this upcoming season includes any payment to this ownership, we will not see in Tech basketball. No more concerts, no more anything at the Arena if this ownership profits from the event.

Among the many, many reasons to be disappointed with the NHL Commissioner is also the fact that the League failed in awarding the franchise to a group that obviously did not have deep enough pockets to sustain losses through these troubling economic times.

Looks like we will make a road trip to Nashville or North Carolina a couple of times each season to see major league hockey.

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This is like a death. I was devastated when the Flames left town and went nuts when we secured the Thrashers franchise. I became an original Thrashers season ticket holder. I lived next door to one of the orignal Thrashers; many of the guys lived in my neighborhood. They were great – down to earth guys who were approachable and involved in the community. My kids would play hockey with theirs. We spent thousands on tickets and Thrashers gear. I even subscribed to Hockey News – and I grew up in South Georgia! My little girl grew up toddling around our section playing with her mini hockey stick and trying to get Thrash’s attention.(Unsuccessfully- he was a terrible mascot. But I digress.) Always enjoyed talking to Braveheart and the other great fans who sat nearby. For several years my family were the most rabid of Thrashers fans and supporters.

Then the malaise set in. We realized what the players began to realize in year two. That Waddell was a joke. Then the ASG became involved and things went from bad to worse. Showing up at Philips became harder and harder to do. Stroking the season ticket check became harder as well. We showed up and looked across at the corporate side of the ice where no one ever sat but where you would be arrested if you tried to enter. The Heatley incident happened, Hoss left. Kovy left (he looks to be the most prescient of all at this point.)

Through all of this Waddell stayed, and because of that, we finally realized the truth. It became too much and we reluctantly decided to give up our tickets. My family sat out in the burbs and talked about how much we missed the old days, but we were not motivated to return.

I still have some great memories of the early years, my opening night tickets in the commemorative case, and my favorite article of clothing, the old Thrashers pullover. Which is appropriate since ASG and Bettman “pulled one over” on all of us.

It wasn’t our fault as fans, guys. We showed up and did our part as long as we could be expected to do so. Bettman and Mike G. and the others, you have taken a lot away from my family and I. I believe in natural justice, and I hope that at some point down the road all of you are repaid in kind for your lies and your part in this debacle.

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Hey Winnipeg trolls – I do hope someone will look you up when this team leaves Manitoba in fifteen years and tells you “you lost hockey twice – you don’t deserve it again”.

If you’re ignorant enough to blame this on the fans in Atlanta, then you deserve all the vitriol thrown your way. It’s been easy to take pot shots at the Thrashers as a rival fan because this team has been run into the ground for the last five years and completely mismanaged during its entire existence. Give the fans here something to believe in and they’ll stay bought in – but everyone gets tired of supporting a team that is permanently a loser.

The business environment in Winnipeg hasn’t changed and another lapse in the Canadian economy is going to show that hockey can’t survive without a corporate presence. So enjoy this moment and enjoy the next few years… because in fifteen years, you’ll be in the same position as you were before and Atlanta is now.

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@Rick, nothing the mayor said would have made a difference. I think it’s clear that with Gary Bettman and the NHL, money is the only language. The city of Glendale kicked in $25 million in public funds to prop up a franchise most agree can’t be saved. Did you really want Atlanta to do that? As I recall from a previous AJC story, the Hawks are tied to Philips Arena until the debt service is paid off (someone correct me if I’m wrong), so they’re not going anywhere. The Thrashers, unfortunately, were not. I hate to see them go too, but I’d rather lose the team than bury the taxpayers under the debt.

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@Sympathetic Canes Fan

Funny the Winnipeg fans actually have been pretty good on here, so I have no idea what you are reading. The Phoenix fans were the ignorant ones.

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I don’t see this team making the playoffs in the next five years minimum…enjoy this crap team.

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Lets Stick it to ASG. I for one want potential buyers for the Hawks or the Phillips will not attend one hawks game or any event in the Phillips. If the Phillips is widely know for not being able to get attendees then the ASG will be stuck with it.

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The Gladiators bring more excitement than the Thrashers. Good Riddance to bad rubbish.

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As a Winnipegger, all I can say (in the voice of Nelson from the Simpsons) HA HA

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Didn’t Bettman see the support the Atlanta Knights received from Atlanta? Didn’t he see that we would support a winning team? run the owners and Bettman out of town. Thanks for the memories (oh wait, there weren’t any)! Unless you consider a death of a great player, star after star leaving because the owners were inept in all areas. Waddell staying on 5 years too long. Only 1 playoff run to show for 11 years and never really even getting a close scent at another. but we wouldn’t support them (a losing organization from the start that could have cared less about this city from the start).

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From a Canadian, I hope the NHL goes back to Atlanta someday. And I hope for everyone’s sake that they get a decent owner this time. It’s hard for a franchise to do well when you make the playoffs once in eleven years and fail to win a single playoff game. That’s just not fair to the fans.

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I learned to skate on a frozen pond when I was 4 years old, in 1969. Not only am I done with the NHL, I’m done with the game.

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Screw Winnipeg. Garbage town that it is. Perhaps Bettmen can go there an be a hero. Maybe ASG will be invited to a game up there as well. They’ll all be frozen in by September anyway. And, I’ll NEVER attend a Hawks game with these idiots running the show. Screw them as well.

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First of all, the city should have the balls to file a defamation suit against the Atlanta Spirit Group over their name. They sure as hell don’t represent Atlanta, nor do they resemble any kind of “Spirit” of this city. It won’t happen because the people of this city aren’t smart enough to do it, but they ought to be boycotting the Hawks over this move. In case people forget, ASG still retains ownership of the Hawks, so when you don’t show up to watch them play, you hit the ASG where it hurts them most: in the pocketbook. Bruce Levinson and Michael Gearon must be proud this morning; they have managed to descend to the depths of the one and only Art Modell. By the way they ran this franchise into the ground, one can only believe it was all part of their master plan. It’s a shame anyone who ever bought a ticket to an Atlanta Thrashers game under their reign can’t sue them for false advertising; they were NOT providing the people of this city a professional franchise.

As for you Gary Bettman, you are a disgrace to the very sport you claim to represent. Time after time, you bailed out other franchises. Pittsburgh, Phoenix…where the hell were you when this franchise needed you to step in and get us on the right track? That’s right- you were in your office, counting relocation fee money and TV revenue. My biggest regret right now is that I can’t convince DirecTV to take the NHL Network off my package and give me back ESPNClassic. You and your network can go to hell.

To the players and coaches that went out there and tried to provide this city with a quality product in spite of the smoke and mirrors joke of an ownership group we had…thank you. Your efforts were not lost on the fanbase that actually care about this city and this franchise. Hopefully your time in the hellhole that was Bruce Levinson’s playtoy will be rewarded with a more competitive team and an ownership group that genuinely cares in Winnipeg, or another market should you get traded.

In closing…just like it seemingly always is, the Atlanta fans are left holding the empty bag. Burn in hell ASG!

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@GatorFan

You haven’t been paying attention to the AJC and every other sports forum if you don’t understand where this is coming from… as Billsen (11:23am) pointed out, this has been coming at Thrashers fans from all sides for a month now and I empathize with them.

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just tuning in online to the Atlanta Sports Radio 790 the Zone , and what are they talking about ? College athletics . YOU JUST LOST A PRO TEAM ! I can guarantee you that EVERY sports radio station in Canada , coast to coast , is talking about one thing , and one thing only …

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ENOUGH with this ‘Atlanta is not a good sports town’ crap.. . .tell that to the 90,000 at sanford stadium or the 50,000 at Bobby Dodd every saturday in the fall. . .

in every market where there is a big college presence, the pro teams’ attendance suffers. No NFL team in LA? there’s USC. Losing teams in the midwest suffer as well due to the Big 10.. . or 11. whatever

Yes, teams in Boston, NY and Philly draw better. . because the fans have nowhere else to go. Use your brains before throwing out blanket insults

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A town of 650k? Brilliant.

Let’s get MLS in here and make it a 4-sport city again.

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@Bill, I am glad the Gladiators are in town (Gwinnett), but that does not even come close to NHL hockey. At best that is double-A hockey, and even then its too far away for most in Atlanta. Not even close…

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Jeff: Wish you had not bashed Winnipeg. We Atlantans are better than that.

Apart from that, superb article. I will not buy Hawks tickets as long as ASG are in charge. Those bozos (ASG) need to leave town.

Thanks to all in the Thrashers family (players, coaches, commentators, etc.) for all the memories.

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Ryan – ” Hockey belongs in Canada and it doesn’t belong in Atlanta, there’s no ice there.”
____

Because there is soooo much ice in Tampa, and Raleigh, and Miami, and Nashville, and Dallas, and LA, and Anaheim, and San Jose, right?

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Link press conference here
(Since I can’t seem to find one on the AJC’s website. Go figure that one, huh?)

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/True-North-calls-press-conference-for-this-morning-122858484.html

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Tommy,

Send your opinions to David Thomson and Mark Chipman. I am sure they would take your opinions into consideration. I am sure there is a lot you could teach these guys about business, one of which has a net worth of $23 Billion. Better hurry though – the announcement is minutes away.

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Just want to let you all know that I’m doing the duck walk in the halls of my condo this morning. F you all if you don’t like it!

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How where they not given a chance? The team was there for 11 or 12 seasons in a market that clearly doesn’t support professional sports. Look at the Atlanta Braves and their attendance at times. They were the best team in baseball for a number of years and they had some of the worst attendance records. Fans didn’t support the team, plain and simple. I doubt the team would be moving if they had consistent sellouts.

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Happiest day in Geron’s life: When he bought the thrashers.

Second happiest day: When he sold the Thrashers.

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Thanks for telling the truth for us, Jeff. I was an occasional reader in the past, but you’ve gained one loyal reader for life through all this mess.

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Sacramento did a lot better with their rally to keep the Kings…

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Gearon crying. At least he’ll have a pile of cash to dry his eyes with.

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Just keep the free Hawks tickets coming Gearon! Otherwise, I might open my mouth.

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No angst toward Winnipeg from me. Congrats guys…I remember how great it was when the Thrash came to ATL, so I know the feeling.

Plenty of angst for Spirit and Bettman. Not one cent of mine or my children’s will go to anything involving the Hawks or Philips Arena until the ASG no longer owns them. No concerts…nothing. A complete boycott. Time for some payback..small though it is.

And hello to my new team, the Glads. I won’t follow the Winnipeg team…no offense to players or the city…by I’m a home town guy, and the Glads are now my home town team. My kids were set to grow up watching god knows how many Thrashers games, and now all that will go to the Glads….and absolutely ZERO will go to anything reated to the ASG.

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Bobby Walden: If you have kids, and if one of them gets stricken with Cancer. Who Cares? Move on right?

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Breaking News: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will not be attending today’s NHL’s return to Winnipeg announcement in Manitoba because no bush pilot was available to take the Prime Minister by float plane west to Winnipeg. The Prime Minister’s office is sorry but he will be in Winnipeg sometime in July as soon as the new Greyhound bus schedule is created that includes a trip from Ottawa to Winnipeg and the Prime Minister can make other travel arrangements for the trip back to Ottawa.

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just an observation. This article seems to have the same tone as the ones written in Winnipeg in 1995 when that team left for Winnipeg. I think the pathetic showing of the so called save the thrashers rally (~200 participants) was the last straw. As a Canadian, I’m happy to see the league rectify it’s mistake. Winnipeg should have never lost a hockey team in the first place. The problem is the NHL has expanded too much and there’s not enough talent for all 30 teams to be competitive year in and year out. Fans want to see teams that win and Atlanta I think made the playoffs once maybe twice and not past round 1. I expect Winnipeg to make the playoffs within 5 years

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You Winnipeggers that come to our ajc.com sports blogs are really something. The only reason any of you are here is to gloat over someone else’s misfortune. Condolences notwithstanding, you are only here to rub our noses in it. Very classy, indeed. If there is any such thing as karma then things do not bode well for your relocated franchise. Were the situation reversed, you would never see me or any real sports fan from Atlanta on your Winnipeg blogs gloating over you losing your franchise to us. That is just totally classless, IMHO.

Feel free to dance on Atlanta’s NHL grave now because I will be laughing while you bring up the rear in the NHL standings for the next 7 years until you too lose your 2nd NHL franchise. With a town of under 750,000 it’s inevitable.

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This is all about money for them so I will hit them the only way I can. I will no longer attend Hawks games are even go to any concerts in Phillips arena as long as the spirit group has anything to do with them. I will also no longer watch NHL hockey…Good bye Thrashers. I for one will miss hockey in ATL

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I’m not a big hockey fan but I’m an Atlanta native and if the ownership had put a winner out there I would have paid more attention but from the beginning they never really put the money into it and like with most of our Atlanta sports the money they spent was always on the wrong players / coaches and the GM should have been gone after 5 years and probably before that. They will win in Canada because I’m sure whoever this is that is buying them will care about winning and put the right people in place who will make the right decisions to make them winners.

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Tina-please leave and go back to Canada. The posts by Canadians on the AJC blogs show us all what “ay” holes Canadians are. sucks being the 51st state.

I have drank my last Molsons

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Agree, no reason to take shots at Winnipeg. They certainly deserve a team, and most of the trolls are not from Manitoba, I’m sure.

But enough of the crap about Atlanta not deserving a hockey team. We were about the worst team in the NHL over the last 10 years, and still drew almost 14k a game. No offense to Phoenix, but I’m baffled at how Bettman saw fit to save them, when they had a playoff caliber team most of the last decade and drew less than us. Leave the stupidity about the “rally” alone – it was a frickin’ tailgate party for fan club members, mainly to say goodbye. We’d been hearing for a week before that the team was 100% gone, so hardly surprising not many folks there.

A hearty screw you to the following:

- to the transplant hockey fans who cheered their own team when they came twice a year, and otherwise didn’t show. Have fun flying back to Pittsburgh or Detroit to watch hockey.

- to my fellow Atlantans, some of the least passionate sports fans I’ve ever seen. Most of the jabs other cities take at us are true. Aside from college FB, there’s no passionate fanbase in this city.

- to Bettman, for not lifting a finger to save us. Nice covenant with your fans. I’ll be a hockey fan for life (started being one 4 years ago with Thrashers) but I’ll never spend a dime on the NHL.

- to our “mayor”, Kasim Reed – even if you weren’t willing to spend a dime, thanks for announcing to all who would listen that Atlanta wouldn’t spend a dime to keep the team. I have no doubt that you’d marshall the support of the city to keep the Hawks.

- the ASG – you guys are vile beyond comprehension. In case anyone hasn’t been following this story, these jackwagons started trying to sell the Thrashers the day they bought them. Hope you’re happy with your basketball team while my kids cry their eyes out over the Thrashers leaving.

Schultz, thanks for caring enough to write about the Thrashers. You’re right on the money about this one.

Piss on this city. I’ve lived here more than 20 years and consider it home. But I’m done considering myself an Atlantan. I will stay OTP, and when my kids move off to college, I’ll move somewhere else.

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how can the same lousy gm be kept through three ownership groups? the owners and waddell are fully to blame for this. if they keep dudley, look for winnipeg to be contenders in a couple of years.

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FU ASG and Bettman. You are such a bunch of incompetent losers

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Jeff – thank you for the Bob Hartley quote. We haven’t heard from him in a while, but he was a great chapter in the Atlanta hockey story.

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This is a sad commentary of why this current ownership needs to break up. The Tharshers are a viable sport team (they need to get rid of Don Waddell, their current GM). They just have a bunch of clowns owning the ship. I hope Steve Belkin tries to take over the Hawks for these bozos. You can forget about hockey ever coming back to Atlanta. The NHL will not let another hockey team come to Atlanta ever again. I don’t blame them. This city has proven twice that they can’t hold down a hockey team.

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This is a sad commentary of why this current ownership needs to break up. The Tharshers are a viable sport team (they need to get rid of Don Waddell, their current GM). They just have a bunch of clowns owning the ship. I hope Steve Belkin tries to take over the Hawks for these bozos. You can forget about hockey ever coming back to Atlanta. The NHL will not let another hockey team come to Atlanta ever again. I don’t blame them. This city has proven twice that they can’t hold down a hockey team.

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@Bryce-Please….leave Georgia. Now. *ss.

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Time to Get a Rail for the Atlanta Spirit. Would love to help get all of those losers out of this Town.
You are a Complete Joke. Worst Owners in Atlanta history and all Sports. That is really saying something too! You make me wish for the days of the Smith Family!

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What a fantastic article. I hope they all rot in hell.

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Mr. Schultz,

You say the Thrashers were never given a chance and it’s always someone else’s fault. But on the right of the screen here, there is a link to your archives. I just went and looked at the 3 oldest months, Feb, Mar & Apr of 2009. That’s right in the prime of hockey season. You wrote articles about the Braves, Richt the college coach, Boise State, Ken Griffey Jr., Falcons, an overwhelming # of Hawks articles, but NOT ONE ARTICLE ON THE THRASHERS! Keep blaming everyone else.

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Well stated, Jeff. The bottom line is that Bettman needed the team to move to collect the $60m fee in order to shore up the losses that ALL of the league owners are paying to inexplicably keep Phoenix afloat. The Thrashers moving north just helped him save a ton of face with all the owners and everyone NOT in Atlanta. ASG never wanted the Thrashers, never cared about the Thrashers, and never put a penny into trying to make them a winning product. They had to keep them until December 2010 as they didn’t hav eclear title to sell. So, thety let it tank and tank and tank, until they are legally allowed ot sell it and there is no real fight to keep them as they are not a winning franchise and the “fans don’t support them”, when in reality, the fans weren’t supporting an absentee owner group. I have been fed up with the NHL wince the lockout, and this is the final nail in the coffin. Hopefully, the Gwinett Gladiators will not get re-loed. Better yet, resurrect the Knights! Farewell, Thrashers. I will never forget the wonderful memories I have of my late father and I attending every game of the first 4 seasons. I am just glad he didn’t live to see this injustice served on the residents of Blueland.

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WHO CARES? This is the South and we don’t care about hockey. If you liked the thrashers move back north or go to Russia. Hockey what a stupid stupid sport. 11 seasons for the thrashers that was 10 seasons to many. 90 percent of the time I saw someone in thrashers shirts, jersey’s, or hats they were the fat unathletic type or a know it all Yankee living down here. What a GREAT day. Suck one thrashers.

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Here’s the truth about hockey in Atlanta: most of the fans are in the suburbs, and all the schools that have hockey teams are in the suburbs. All the ice arenas and inline hockey arenas are in the suburbs. Build an NHL arena in Roswell or Alpharetta and attendance will skyrocket. No one wants to ride the Marta train from the ‘burbs and get accosted by bums and weirdos all along the route. Simple economics, folks.

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This ‘journalist’ sounds butthurt.

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Sorry day indeed mainly because there is no chance another team comes here, no local ownership that is willing to invest in the product. It was all a marketing experiement gone bad. Go Gladiators!!! Bring back the Atlanta Knights!!!!

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To Bryce, who I quote:

“A hearty screw you to the following:

- to the transplant hockey fans who cheered their own team when they came twice a year, and otherwise didn’t show. Have fun flying back to Pittsburgh or Detroit to watch hockey.”

I know you’re upset, but this is totally uncalled for. Transplant hockey fans (of which I am one) should be commended for retaining their loyalty to the teams they grew up supporting. I am not one who will become an “instant Atlanta sports fan” just because I happen to currently reside here.

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I just called Gearon and it went straight to voicemail. I’m going to pull a Belkin if I don’t get my $20 back from baby Rutherford. The liquor store has stopped taking my credit cards. Cash only.

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Take the “c” out of hockey… and what do you get? Just sayin’.

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I am a lifelong Caps fan and Thashers hater. I have been living in Atlanta for the past 6 years.

I want to say to the Atlanta fans that I am truly sorry that this happened. I am crushed more than a division rival should be. You did not deserve this. You are good and passionate fans, and I hope you and the city will be rewarded with another franchise soon — one with functional ownership who might actually care. You deserve better than ASG and DW.

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Sad, sad day for Atlanta area hockey fans. But GOOD RIDDANCE already. Just more incentive to plan a trip to Nashville, or St. Louis, or over to NC, places far more appealing than downtown ATL.

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@Thoroughbred – WHO CARES? This is the South and we don’t care about hockey. If you liked the thrashers move back north or go to Russia. Hockey what a stupid stupid sport. 11 seasons for the thrashers that was 10 seasons to many. 90 percent of the time I saw someone in thrashers shirts, jersey’s, or hats they were the fat unathletic type or a know it all Yankee living down here. What a GREAT day. Suck one thrashers.
________________________________________________________________________Really dumb A$$? A lot of us that are Thrashers fans were born and raised in Georgia. i’ve played every sport and usually be competetive in just about any sport in no time at all. Well that is not the case for ice hockey. It truly is one of the hardest sports to play. And the players are the absolutely the greatest off the ice. What other sport are the players willing to give autographs or their equipment to the kids after every practice. Try that with the Falcons or Hawks players.

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Now that the weasel (Bettman) has chirped, we need to get an AHL team (perhaps the Moose franchise) in here fast. Sitting with an empty building for one or more years would be the worst thing that could possbily happen beyond the losing the Thrash.

Don’t even think about recycling the ECHL Gwinnett Gladiators, unless they move up to the AHL and play at Philips. ECHL is inferior hockey and will not do anything to re-establish Atlanta as a viable hockey market (which it is – when the team is not owned by carpetbaggers who don’t invest in a winning club).

This is how minor league demotion and major league promotion and work in Europe. If your owners don’t pony up an field a competitive team, your club is relegated to the next level down (AHL for us), until it proves that it can compete at a higher level by earning promotion. Solid owners who understand how to tap the large, dormant hockey demographic that exists here in Atlanta can once again fill the building. If we never make it back the NHL (remember, LA still doesn’t have an NFL team), then so be it. We at least deserve a competitve team that competes in a high-level league.

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Agreed-we just lost a professional sports team to a Canadian “town”.

The country is looking down at Atlanta today-the negative significance will last a long, long time.

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If I were Don Waddell I would look for my name to be on a short list of major sports GMs who completely failed at their job.

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When Bill Campbell and the likes twisted arms to make sure Phillips Arena was built downtown, where none of the hockey fans live, this team was DOA.

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Phillips arena now has 41 more open dates to book hip hop acts. Win-win for the City of Atlanta.

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Atlanta = the most fair weather fans in the U.S.

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RELIEF IN BLUELAND – Attention Atlanta Hockey Fans – You have gained your lives back – REJOICE. Strap-on your in-line skates and play a game of “pick-up” with your neighbors and friends. Park for free in your garage, drink and eat to your hearts content as you settle in your recliner, crank-up a QUALITY hockey game on the big-screen HD, and use the restroom without waiting. Forget about the obnoxious j-bird, thrash, parachuting cows, bobbleheads, thundersticks, and 3rd and fourth jersey’s. Hockey is not dead in Atlanta, but rather the city has been cleansed of a grossly marketed “novelty” which brings new hope that many of us can rediscover “hockey” as we would like to know it and not as a side-show to a pornography.

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The city just lost 30 million dollars a year in revenue.

Phillips Arena can now hold concerts on those 41 newly available dates and that will gross way more money for Atlanta than a NHL team.

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The Rock says the Atlanta Spirit Group is a bunch of Jabronis! Get ready Gladiators your season tickets are going to pick up fast!

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I know how you feel.

Back in 2004, my poor Montreal Expos were slugged away by that jerk Bud Selig and that lying, conniving thief Jeffrey Loria. Greedy, lying, backstabbing owners and commissioners are everything that is killing the fan these days. It’s unfortunate.

God bless you guys!

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The hawks weren’t given a chance by the ASG. 42 seasons without one NBA Final appearance and they purchased a hockey team? First fix the hawks then think about purchasing a hockey team.

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“There is no better live sporting event than an NHL hockey game.”

Uh, have you ever been to a college football game.

Who cares about the Thrashers. This is a warm weather city. We (Atlantans) do not play hockey. Further, there is just so much other stuff to do here. I would hardly even consider the NHL a “major” sport – their games are on Versus. On the other hand, Major League Soccer is on the four letter network in prime time.

Atlanta has lost nothing. Let Atlanta get an MLS franchise, that is something that this town will support.

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re: Manatee Comments
Manatee, you need to check your stats. You are wrong.
Raleigh/Cary Metro Area is 1.1 million
Buffalo/Niagra Metro Area is 1.1 million
Winnipeg Metro Area 690,000
MANATEE – DO NOT QUOTE STATISTICS UNLESS YOU CAN BACK IT UP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_United_States_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metropolitan_areas_in_Canada
ScottKG

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Hockey is a great sport to watch live but not so great on TV….its hard to get a following at the Stadium w/o first getting folks excited on a consitent basis (meaning a good product you can watch on a regular basis). The NBA has seen a resurgence the last couple of years due to generous TV contracts, great marketing, terrific young talent (that we get a preview of at March Madness every year) and story lines like Lebron and Dirk. Not to mention small market (underdog/Cinderella) excitement from places like OKC and Memphis. The NHL needs an overhaul…3D-HD might improve the experience on TV, but the marketing of the league must improve and locally you must have committed ownership (think Arthur Blank type)…If you want successful Hockey in ATL….here’s the recipe…Local ownership with deep pockets who want the team here no matter what (Think Wayne Weaver – Jax Jags, or again Blank), commit to a great product and great players, have a stadium in the Subburbs (that’s where the fans are – Gwinnett or Cobb) and in the absence of great marketing from the NHL, have an outstanding regional marketing plan. Of course even with all of that, you still have to WIN the games..

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I see all 8,000 hockey fans in Atlanta are upset with this decision.
Probably the same group that thinks soccer is an exciting sport… Hockey?? really??
must be a slow news day when this leads.. like having on the front page that Billy’s Pub closed

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I will protest by continuing to not go to Hawks games. They suck anyway.

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WHO FREAKING CARES!!!!!

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Larry

Hell Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup a few years back!

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As far as Bettman, I’m reminded of Mike Milbury’s classic line when commenting on former Islander Ziggy Palffy’s agent during contract talks .. “He’s depriving some small village of an idiot.”…

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From Cleveland, where we’ve never really had a hockey team, but as a diehard Browns fan, I remember when they left. I’ll tell you Cleveland feels your pain. And if you’ve been a fan for awhile, it’s not like you can just adopt another team. I basically lost football from 1996-1999. I’m sorry someone stole your team.

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What a crock of $hit. 28th in attendance and you deserve every piece of misery you get. Including a poor turnout to the game vs. Boston late in the season in 2010(a 4-0 blowout on home ice) with a playoff spot on the line. Y’all can cry me a river.

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Someday a nice arena will be built on the north side of Atlanta, a competent ownership group will move a team to Atlanta and by then Gary Bettman will be gone. Then, the NHL will be a success in Atlanta. In the mean time…….be happy for Winnipeg. They now get to pay way more than we ever paid for tickets to watch an AHL caliber team.

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“Atlanta= 40-50 degree winters and awesome women. Winnipeg= -40-50 degree winters and eskimos…SERIOUSLY, NO OFFENSE!!!!!!”

Atlanta = 75% of population with an IQ lower than 70, Winnipeg = 75% of population with an IQ over 70.

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Puck like a porn star: considering the Titanic sunk in APRIL, 1912, on its maiden voyage, methinks your math is as bad as your decorum.

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Rip: sorry, dude. The Thrashers are welcome, but you can keep Waddell.

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“I would have loved to have went to a game for the novelty of it, but it shows how much I cared that I never went. Hockey sucks. It is only a tad bit better then watching soccer. If we lose the Braves or Falcons, or even the Hawks, I’ll care. Can’t muster up a single bad feeling about them leaving. Canada deserves them more than we do since they seem to be in love with this ridiculous sport. -Wes”

This is why Atlanta is losing a second NHL franchise. All the blame being thrown around is silly. Bettman, ASG, Winnipeg, TN, or whomever else you want to blame, I ask why? It doesn’t matter what they did or did not do, a meaningful majority of Atlanta citizens are indifferent at best towards the NHL. No matter how you market it, you can’t make people like hockey that don’t care about hockey. There’s definitely fans, but unfortunately they’re merely a drop in the bucket.

I’m truly sorry this has happened again, ATL.

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This is happpiest day of my sport life. im so glad hockey is out in atlanta. i hate hockey with a passion and i hate the fact that it take up SC time and bottom scores!!!

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I tend to have a pretty impartial view of this, with the exception that Buffalo is a true-blue hockey town, which Atlanta has never been. I can’t possibly agree that the NHL didn’t give Atlanta a chance. You folks had an 11-year second chance to support a team and you didn’t do it. Gripe all you want about the quality of the ownership or the fact that the team wasn’t very good – the fact remains that when a market is given a major-league franchise, real fans should turn out to see that product. If they don’t turn out, they don’t deserve the franchise. Football towns like Denver and Kansas City sell out even when their teams go 2-14; that’s real commitment and it’s something that’s a foreign concept in Atlanta. Heck, even the Braves didn’t sell out playoff games after post-season baseball became an annual occurrence. Criticize Winnipeg all you want, but those folks will probably scarf up 13,000 season tickets in the next three days; it’s something Atlanta couldn’t dream of doing. Hang your hats on the “smart consumer” peg if you want, but sometimes all it does is prove that people can be “so smart that they’re stupid.” Not enough of Atlanta’s citizens decided to embrace the Thrashers; instead of laying blame on ownership, your “sports fans” need to look in the mirror.

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My three friends and I each spend $1000 on Thrashers and $800 on Hawks tickets last year. No more. Boycott the Spirit.

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Enjoy your hockey team, Winnipeg.

So long, Thrashers.

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Sounding a little bitter Mr. Schultz; relating the move to Winnipeg with Enron and Ponzi. Well, you southern yokels can go back to watching hillbilly NASCAR on the B&W TV in your trailers. Canadians have not forgotten 1992 with the disrespect Atlanta showed to Toronto and all of Canada with the Canadian flag being upside down. BTW, need I remind you which team won the 92 WS.

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The atlanta spirit group( such an improper name by the way) has done this town a huge disservice by even existing. The NHL and Beehead with his …it could not be helped. Yeah right $60 million in your damn pocket could not be helped. Again NHL and Beehead another disservice to this town.

I am done with the Hawks and Phillips Arena until some other organization owns and has the right to both. There is my disservice to the Atlanta Spirit Group.

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Mike-In-Buffalo obviously cannot read. The Flames made money. The only reason the Thrashers did not was really, really bad management. Buffalo survives by being just about the only game in town.

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No different than a Planet Hollywood closing down – if the product and management stink……
Certainly the folks in Winnipeg won’t pay $$$$ to go watch mediocrity either. Their good luck is new ownership.

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Please, somebody smarter than me help me with this…. can ANYBODY find out and post on here some ways to contact the ASG guys and some people in the NHL office (not just Bettman, I am sure his email filters out 95 percent of what he gets). Somebody get me some phone numbers and email addresses for some NHL staff and some ASG people so that we Thrashers fans can raise hell with them and let them know JUST what we feel and where they can go.

R.I.P., Thrashers… you guys played your hearts out for the last few years for uncommitted owners and an effing idiot for a general manager. Thanks for your efforts on the ice. And thank you to the hard-core Thrashers fans that made the few and far between meaningful games a LOT of fun to attend.

I will miss the Thrashers and NHL hockey terribly… we can only pray that in the next 6 to 8 years, the NHL and its NEW commissioner awards another team to Atlanta… one whose owners are not a bunch of mentally deficient baboons.

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OK Atlanta fans you didn’t get a good product on the ice and the owners of the team didn’t know what they were doing BUT no one stepped up to buy the team after looking for a new owner for 6 years. Not only that, this was your second try with an NHL team. How chances do you guys want until you stop and realize maybe hockey in Atlanta just isn’t the greatest idea.

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I love these Canuckleheads who believe that no place where ice can’t form naturally should have a team. I guess the Vancouver Canucks should have been moved years ago because all it does there is rain, not to mention for many years you could shoot a cannon off in the old Vancouver Pacific Coliseum and not hit anyone for Canuck home games.

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good now the ASG can focus more attention to the Hawks instead of these losers, buh bye

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What a fantastic decision!!! Finally hockey is returning to where the sport belongs!!! This Canadian “outpost” will be sold out every game and the team will be embraced by Winnipeg and the rest of Manitoba where the love for the game lives. Hopefully the NHL has figured out that having a team in Atlanta is a waste and not bother to return there.

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Bye.

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Someone should arrange a trip to the zoo for Gary Bettman and all of the ASG owners and have them all accidentally get locked in the lion cages at feeding time. Then again, I hope that doesn’t happen. It would be a shame for all of those poor lions to be required to have their stomachs pumped for eating something so putrid and vile.

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FIRE WADDELL

This will finally happen, eleven years too late.

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Note for Jeff Schultz: yes, one-third of NHL teams are always in trouble, and that’s largely because the League has overexpanded in order to go into US markets where no one cares (see my previous post about Bettman’s “Project Sun Belt”).

Most pro sports leagues are actually a bit too big, in my opinion (remember when MLB had its contraction plans on the drawing board a few years ago? those plans will resurface again soon, I guarantee it). But the NHL for some reason pretends that it has a national profile in the US, and it just doesn’t.

Face it, hockey, you are not football. You do not have any kind of cultural imprint, outside of a few very specific areas. You are a niche regional sport, and most Americans treat you accordingly.

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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.)

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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.

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That letter really pissed me off.

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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.

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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

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thank you for writing exactly what needs to be said. I just hope the pathetic ASG reads this article.

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@ 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.

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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.

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This article sucks!
You basically trash the City of Winnipeg as second rate

lol – Please, Hutch, don’t flatter yourselves.

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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.

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These goobers are a complete joke.

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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.

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[...] 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 [...]

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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…

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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F@#% em. I just nixed my Hawks season tickets in protest. Not another dime to those clowns.

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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.

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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.

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allen, you do realize that the “yankee” you’re (justifiably) upset with is probably not a yankee, but a Canadian, right?

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Thank GOD and Greyhound they are gone!!!

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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?

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Saturday Sep 3rd Georgia vs Boise State, followed by South Carolina the next week.

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Habs fan in the Peg-
More than half the people that ive in the south are trans[plated Yankees.
Nashville, TB and Carolina are all successes.
It can be done with the right owners, not these clowns.

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It’s real simple. Never spend another penny in Philips Arena. Don’t go to a Hawks game, a concert, circus, or any other event in that building. Run the ASG out of business and out of town.

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I hope you FREEZE up there in HELL Waddell…. but hopefully you were given your walking papers too today.

Hey Big Buff, how do you feel about signing that contract now??? If I were guys like Ladd whose contract is up shortly and Boulton’s who is an unrestricted FA, I’d sign elsewhere!!!!

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Now this is personal – ASG made my nine year old son cry today …

As a season ticket holder, I took him to his first Thrasher game when he was two – he loved the sights, sounds and senations of the game and the venue, but asked why everyone shouted “Knights” during the Star Spangled Banner …

He got his first personalize sweater at age three, the same year he memorized all of the player names on the team, as well as the names of colors (home and away) of all the teams in the NHL – he got to sit in the penalty box during a season ticket selection event, always referring to being in “time out” at home as being “in the penalty box” – even asked his mom a few times if he was being charged with a minor or a major – he also really liked the “Guinness guy” who sat a few rows ahead of us and chugged a beer at critical moments …

At age four, he poured over the NHL standings, and followed every moment of the Standley Cup playoffs – he also convinced the organizers of a local roller hockey leagure to allow him to try out even though he was 12 months too young and had no skills – was skating backwards by season end …

At age five, we went to the first (and only) Thrasher playoff games – he was even featured in a Thrasher screen saver photo, a picture which frames the fire breathing Thrasher head with a young boy in the crowd, holding an inflatable Stanley Cup – the same inflatable cup he insisted on skating around the roller hockey rink when his team won their championship …

At age six, he insisted that we travel to Washington, DC, as his team’s alma mater was in the NCAA Froen Four, and hung out with coaches and players in the hotel lobby bar / restaurant for hours after the semi-final game, impressing them on his passion for the sport

At age seven, he didn’t understand why the Thrashers fired their coach after an 0-6 start, only two weeks after he met Bob Hartley at another season ticket event – “Dad, he took them to the playoffs just ten games ago!” – but began to understand when once of his heroes, Marion Hossa, left the team …

At age eight, Dad decided to go to a part-time package instead of season tickets, just because the tickets were expensive and the team wasn’t winning – “it’s still fun Dad, because it’s hockey, even if they aren’t winning as much” – but began to understand when Ilya Kovalchuk left the team …

For the past seven years, my son has hung a Thasher flag from his window balcony when they have won – he has dressed as a Thrasher during Halloween – he ran the Peachtree Jr. in Thrasher shirt and shorts – he bough Thrasher car flags using money he earned watching a neighbor’s pets – he glued himself to the NHL channels on DIRECTV – he had a birthday party in a suite at Phillips arena – he cheered the Blackhawks when they won the Stanley Cup last year because he respected the game and the traditions, even though the Thrashers weren’t even in the playoffs …

In others words, he was a fan – he was what the Thrashers or any other franchise in any other sport covets in any given market – a dyed in the wool fan, someone who cheers and follows his team because that is where he is from, that is who represents his town, that is who he respects, that is who he aspires to be …

He doesn’t understand the legal skirmish, doesn’t understand why the NHL team bailed out a team in the desert (channelling Sam Kinison here for a moment – this is Phoenix, this is sand, ice doesn’t form here, why didn’t you move move where the ice is!), and why they abandoned one of the top markets in the country – he questions why people in Florida, Texas and the Carolinas support hockey, but why Atlanta doesn’t – he doesn’t understand why NY / NJ has three hockey teams, and now we have none – he doesn’t understand why Atlanta has dropped to a secondary city because it now only has teams in three of the top four major sports …

So, thanks a lot ASG, thanks a lot Gary Bettman – you made my son cry today – he was one of a few kids in Atlanta who knew every line to “The Hockey Song” – he has a Goal Horn app on his iPhone – he played hockey against his sister (three years younger) in the basement ever since she could walk – this is who you hurt, this is who you disappointed, this is who you have now lost not as a lifelong Thrasher fan, but a lifelong hockey fan …

And for Atlanta, shame on you, too – yes, I am just as guilty, as I throttled my own support by lessening my investment in the team and tickets – but still, we were there – where were you? – shame on the AJC, who relegated the Thrashers to the back pages – shame on local sports radio, who relegated Thrasher hockey to a rung below pro wrestling on status ladder – and shame on all of us, for losing a precious piece of our community …

The Braves are no longer locally owned, and the Hawks remain in control of the ASG – the Falsons are the only major franchise which is locally owned – take heed, if we do not support teams with our hearts, minds and wallets, we can become a one franchise town in the blink of an eye – if nothing else, the Thrasher move to Winnipeg serves to illustrate that others often covet that which you take for granted …

And all of this the day after I had to explain to my son why Jim Tressell, coach of his beloved Buckeyes, resigned on Memorial Day – not sa good sports week in my household …

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@HandOvThrawn: Really appreciate you sharing your keen insight and brilliant observations about
Atlanta’s only remaining pro hockey team … can’t imagine why you decided to add disparaging and demeaning potshots aimed at the Gladiators in this forum.

I must admit that you are absolutely right about one thing – the ECHL ain’t the NHL. But then – I didn’t interpret any other comments in this blog as indicating or even hinting that the talent level of the two leagues was comparable.

Let’s see … they’ve only been playing “double-A at best” professional hockey at an 11,000+ capacity arena up in the NE suburbs for 8 seasons now … all they’ve done is to establish and maintain a winning tradition, developed a ton of talent, entertain a ton of fans, while also generating a ton of charitable contributions back to the community (I’ve heard to the tune of over a $1 million dollars) … not bad for “not even close”.

And heck, 15 minutes north of Spaghetti Junction is clearly “too far for most in Atlanta”, particularly when you consider that parking is free and ticket prices are under $20 bucks.

Any idea whatsoever how many Thrashers prospects have been assigned to Gwinnett? Any idea how many former Gladiators and/or ECHL players have advanced to the NHL?

Seems that neither the Atlanta Spirit ownership/management (excuse me, make that FORMER ownership/management) – nor the Atlanta sports media – has ever had any interest in promoting that a first-class, hard-working, and entertaining pro hockey affiliate of the Thrashers was located in the suburbs. Guess it’s only fitting that a disgruntled Thrashers fan would continue the appalling Atlanta tradition of demeaning and dismissing minor-league hockey.

Thanks for nothing, HandOvThrawn – your indignation is only exceeded by your ignorance.

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@BartenderBart I am not bashing the Gladiators by any means. To me it would be like replacing the falcons with lower division college football. Sure their heart is in the game and they are all trying to make ‘it’, but the talent level not even remotely comparable. On top of that, the arena (and its a very nice one) is in a terrible location for people who live near Marietta or Kennesaw. And i agree about moving anything to Philips, what a terrible location and no one wants to be there. Went to a preds and and when we left it was basically one huge party in the streets and no one wanted to leave. You felt safe and secure. Not in ATL, as soon as the game is over you bolt for your car and high tail it out of the city or you get barraged with bums and idiots surrounding you.

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No Big Loss – Now maybe all this hoopla will stop!!!!!!

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Who needs Philips Arena anyway? The Thrashers should have been located in Gwinnett. Nobody wants to go to downtown Atlanta. To have a winning franchise you have to have owners with deep pockets and monied people attending the games. Monied people do not go to downtown Atlanta. Cheap taxes for downtown Atlanta does not equate to a winning franchise.

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please atlanta does not deserve the nhl!!..hahaha…you are a bunch of little cry babies!…please dont go to any hawks games…because then the hawks can move to tampa bay (where i live)….so all of you are just hurting yourselves for not going to hawks games…SO MORE TIME PLEASE DON’T SHOW UP TO HAWKS GAMES SO THEN THE HAWKS CAN LEAVE TOWN SINCE THERE IS NO FAN SUPPORT AND THEN THEY CAN BECOME THE TAMPA BAY HAWKS….HAHAHAHA

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For the guy that says you will get the Coyotes next year……your a fool. The NHL will not if ever come back to Atlanta. The bottom line is pretty clear……..NOT ONE person or group stepped forward to even eyeball the team. The “Balkin” was a complete joke. So was Rollins. No one wanted a team in Atlanta.

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Top 10 Hockey team names for next Atlanta team:

1. The Atlanta Leaf burners
2. The Atlanta Rebels
3. The Atlanta Listings
4. The Atlanta Ryderstrucks
5. The Atlanta Movers
6. The Atlanta Shortsales
7. The Atlanta Budget
8. The Atlanta Sold
9. The Atlanta Foreclosures
10. The Atlanta Carpetbaggers

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What a bunch of cry babies on this site. You’re taking out your frustration on Winnipeg instead of the people of Atlanta who didnt care enough to buy tickets. This isn’t a beach volleyball team we’re talking about – they play hockey — a sport that is played in the cold. The guys on the team won’t give a rats behind about Atlanta as soon as they hit the ice in an arena full of real fans. You whine about the team going to an “outpost”? From where real hockey fans sit, your city is the “outpost” in this sport. Winnipeg is far bigger than Green Bay WI, but somehow fans in other NFL cities come out to see the Packers play. As for the two new donut shops in Winnipeg, there are probably more real hockey fans in them than the entire city of Atlanta.

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Hockey Comes Home: Enjoy it pal. I am sorry for those putting down your city, but don’t put down our’s either two wrongs don’t make a right. I hope it works for you guys this time, but remember there is a bulls-eye on your back too. You guys failed in your first attempt. Don’t mess it up this time. Also, don’t bitch and moan if you don’t win and ticket sales start to drop in your city too.

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I dare Gearon, Seydel and Turner to show their faces in public in this town again. They are pariahs now. Make sure you tell all the non-hockey fans what they’ve done, this guys are done in this town. Spend no money on the Hawks or Philips or their businesses.

These guys have given up their dignity, integrity, and their word. Pity them for that. They brought shame upon themselves and their families, I feel the worst for their children who now know what type of men they have as fathers.

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“…Atlanta didn’t fail….”

Yeah, you did. Again. Deal with it.

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YOU GUYS DON’T CARE….YOU GUYS ARE A BUNCH OR CRY-BABIES

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I guess no one wants to address the fact that Georgia will always and forever be a college football state first and a professional team state dead last. If I was a pro athlete or wealthy billionaire, I would never get involved with a pro team in Atlanta. Fan support of the Braves, Falcons, Hawks, and Thrashers is/was pathetic compared to other professional sports cities around the country. You can’t always blame the lack of pro team success on management given that the Thrashers aren’t the only pro team in Atlanta to not win a championship. Go to a flippin’ weekday game and buy a shirt or hat of your hometown team for goodness sake instead of wearing your UGA shirt from 1980.

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So similar to what happened with the Grizz in Vancouver. Well said: “Atlanta didn’t fail, the league did.” All of the other owners share the responsibility in this failure.

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Favorite Son: You are entitled to your opinion, but you are in correct. There are more than a FEW hockey fans. If Atlanta is guilty of anything, it’s is demanding a winner. When the Braves were not winning, attendance was low. When the Falcons weren’t winning, attendance was low. When the Hawks struggled attendance was low. When don’t know what it would have been like to have a winner, because the ownership didn’t care enough to put the team in position to win.

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You whine about the team going to an “outpost”? From where real hockey fans sit, your city is the “outpost” in this sport.

Well, Hockey Comes Home,better to be an “outpost” than an “outhouse” like the small-time hamlet of Winnipeg. By the way, you seem to be doing more than your share of whining and crying for everyone on this blog. “We are too a big boy city! We are too! Mommy!”

OK, it appears that the trolls are descending so I’m out. Peace to all Thrashers fans and all of the Winnipeg fans who aren’t trolls which I do know is most of you.

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how many championship banners do all of your one ever Winnipeg pro sports team have at this current date? I’ll help you here too – zero, zilch, none, nada.
Sorry, but your minor league WHA teams don’t count. We’re talking about big boy teams in this discussion.

Well if you look back at the winners of the Stanley Cup Winnipeg won it in the 1901 & 1902 seasons, yeah you can say what have they done since then but Atlanta has never won one and unfortunately they lost a team who may have been a contender eventually.

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Zzzzzz…
Wha? Something happened?
Oh.
ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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I paid $32.67 for a XBOX 360 and my mom got a 17 inch Toshiba laptop for $94.83 being delivered to our house tomorrow by FedEX. I will never again pay expensive retail prices at stores. I even sold a 46 inch HDTV to my boss for $650 and it only cost me $52.78 to get. Here is the website we using to get all this stuff, http://GoGetBids.com

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Well everyone deserves a second chance, Atlanta definatley got a fair chance there in the state of georgia that right there says it all, people just dont care about hockey, the other sunset strip teams are barley cutting it, aside from tampa(they win), La&San Jose(win) and Dallas(want it all), there all in trouble Betman the prick he is didn’t want to admit he was wrong that moving winnipeg to phenoix, so Atlana gets the boot instead. Jets will fly forever a true hockey cit that always deserved to have a team(also has a fan base outselling mechandise of other teams since 97)

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Pretty mediocre piece of journalism. Now you know what Winnipeg and Quebec city, went through…. Oh wait you do, it’s the second time your city couldn’t support and NHL team. I am sure the one Thrasher fan will be disappointed the team has left….

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Billsen: i understand what you’re saying, and you make sense… But you have to understand demographics @ sporting events. Falcons games draw minorities in much larger numbers, and whites from the south Atlanta suburbs. Hockey is a white sport, and the Thrashers PROBABLY would have benefited from being in the northern suburbs.

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nothing I say here hasn’t already been said by one person or another…..except….
everyone posting here KNOWS that the Germans did not bomb Pearl Harbour right….you all just chose to ignore that stupidity…either that or the Education system in both countries is seriously flawed…hey look something we have in common!!!

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The name is called “Jets”…you must be as dumb as the former owners of the team…can you not read? On yeah…you are from the South…

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Thank you for expressing the anger and sadness so many of us feel over this royal screwing over. The fans were shut out and powerless to save their team. The NHL should be ashamed for letting this happen to the same city twice. I hope Bettman and the Atlanta Spirit ownership get all the bad karma they deserve, and then some – their souls iced over a long time ago.

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can someone list all businesses of ASG so I could make sure I’ll never use it again?

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“C from the WPG” clearly you’ve never watched “Animal House”.

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I hereby want nothing to do w/Atlanta Spirit and will not renew my Hawks season tickets. Boycott the Hawks!

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The franchise, badly owned as it was, died the day Dany Heatley crashed.

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LOL oops! you got me thank you matt

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@AJC: can you block all manitoba jerks (by IP) from expressing their fun on us?

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One would hope that Bettman and Levenson would take their checks and just leave town. I sincerely hope they had no plans of remaining with ASG. Wait – I know – they’re going to take all the money they make from today’s sale and put it BACK into the Hawks right??

LOL

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Once these same thrashers stink up winnipeg, let’s see how many of you eskimos become “true” fans. Good luck winning with dump n chase Rammer as head coach lol.

Winnipeg Jets= new york islanders of canada.

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Billsen
Uh, you’re talking about the NFL when if everything goes right, the Falcons have what? 12 or 13 home games a year (counting play offs). NHL teams need us there not just at 1 PM on Sunday afternoon but on weeknights for at least 41 games a year. Apples and Oranges.

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Not sure why you’re taking cheap shots at Winnipeg here. Bettman screwed you guys, as they did to Winnipeg 15 years ago. Anyway, we’re used to the cold and have enough money to buy winter jackets. You guys can enjoy your racism, murder rates and poverty. I’ll be at the donut shop if y’all wanna a hand-out one day.

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“in a league that even Joe Montana recently said he would have liked – maybe even preferred – to have played in”

LOL, now I have nothing against Winnipeg or the fact that they have the Thrashers now…. but… Come.On.Man…. do not start trying to compare the CFL to the NFL.

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Big Bear,

I am from Wisconsin.. I love going home to see my family… that doesn’t mean that I ENJOY the cold weather. NO ONE ENJOYS the cold weather! That’s why people tend to retire in warmer climates… that is why Lebron went from Cleveland to South Beach… all things being equal people prefer warmer weather 90% of the time.

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Maybe hockey is returning to a place that truly supports it? The only “outpost” is Atlanta, which has now failed twice (yes, TWICE) is keeping a team.
Enjoy an empty Philips Arena next season… oh wait, it was empty even when the Thrashers played there. Perhaps you would have had better owners if the team was a better NHL market thus was more inviting to competent business people?
It is correct that Bettman is a stooge. That is why I wouldn’t be surprised to see the NHL try Atlanta again for a third time in the future. That is, if an ownership group can be found to try that market again.
In the meantime, keep making your little backhanded remarks about Winnipeg as the fans their actually support the franchise.

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To Richard Alpert:

The Gwinnett Gladiators will not be going anywhere. They are a farm team however under completely different ownership. They are a solid franchise and have been for over 10 years so you have nothing to worry about. Hopefully more fans will catch on with them. Their average attendance last season was over 5,400.

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Northerner you should have just stopped at” Winter jackets”

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Excellent article on the whole mess: http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=burnside_scott&id=6611534

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I feel for you Thrasher fans. I was 11 years old when the Jets left Winnipeg. My dream of a team returning is coming true. Here’s hoping your NHL dreams one day come true again for you.

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Couple comments…First, sorry to Atlanta hockey fans.. You are losing the best sport in the world. Despite a few idiots that post here Canadians in Winnipeg sympathize. Understand the misplaced venom and the pointless and untrue anti-Winnipeg comments but that kind of nonsense does nothing but make the poster look like a goof.
–Schmeckdawg- Your comments show that you really need to get out of your basement and read a book or something …Summers are gorgeous here….fall is even better. Babes are gorgeous and Eskimos live 1000 miles North of us. Winters are cold which is what happens when you live in the North…(Go figure ). You make yourself and other Americans look bad with your uneducated comments.
—Billsen; The hate comments are from idiots (on both sides) and we have em up here just like you do. Heard a lot of good comments too. If you read all the comments you will see a lot from locals that could care less about the team and were “part” of the reason for the empty seats. I’ve watched highlights on many occasions and seen miles of empty seats and that is not a criticism….just what it is.
Last thought to Atlanta fans…..We lost our team 16 years ago and have been pissed off and ever wanting the team back since then. Do you really think in 16 years you will be longing for the return of hockey to Atlanta?

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A hockey team moved out of Atlanta today. The City of Atlanta did not “LOSE” the Thrashers. If the term lose is being used in the context of the fact “they won’t play here anymore”, then this would be accurate. What I am sick and tired of as an Atlanta resident is the idea that ATLANTA is the reason this team was lost. You can bend and twist the English language in several ways. The “loss” of this franchise falls squarely on the shoulders of the ASG, the NHL, and Bettman the coward. LET’S BE CLEAR! This is not about Atlanta as a sports town, but the inadequacies of another franchise that took up residence here.

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@Chipperslovechild, my point is that these guys aren’t going to find living in Winnipeg a particular hardship. That’s especially true of the guys who played junior hockey in the Western Hockey League, all of whom come from Alberta and Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and who spent their teens bumping around on buses playing in places like Red Deer, Moose Jaw, Medicine Hat, and Saskatoon in the middle of January and February. Any of them who have been through the minor pros will have also paid their dues in glamour holes like Rockford, Glens Falls, Grand Rapids, and, oh yes, a little frozen place called Milwaukee.

If they’re making NHL bucks and living in Winnipeg, they’ll look past the black flies and nut-freezing cold. Trust me. Winnipeg will seem like paradise compared to the places that some of these guys come from and where some of them have played.

Atlanta? No longer relevant. Already a dot in the rear-view mirror by now.

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Enter your comments here

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It’s done, time to move on. But I would like to point out that the same people calling Atlanta’s pro sports teams ‘losers’ are the same people still wearing hats and shirts from a title won in 1980.

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I bet Mayor Kasim Reed would have supported the black majority suppored NBA team of the Hawks and city of Atlanta!!!! But no way would he support the white sport of hockey!!!!

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I went to several Thrashers games early on, hoping to like hockey. It didnlt work. Not only that, but the management at Phillips seems intent on breaking uour ear drums. Whatever happened to conversation during a game? You can do it at outside football, baseball, soccer (futbol, excuse me) and most other pro events. At an Atlanta hockey match you spend most of you time with your hands over your ears. And don’t even get me started about those nimbos with Canadian flags draped all over them. Geez.

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The sad thing is that “Lost Hope” is probably right, but the media doesn’t dare mention it.

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Enter your comments here

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Great article Jeff; excellently written.

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Go Jets !!!!

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another canadian from Vancouver here curious to see what the locals in Atlanta have to say about this. I’ve been to Winnipeg a couple of times unfortunately and yes it is an outpost, but it’s a hockey mad outpost that will fill the rink, show up for rallies, and wear their colors on their sleeves.

When Bettman does pass away one day, I’ll be surprised if you count on both hands the number of true friends there. He has to be one of the most hated men on the planet. NOBODY in hockey likes the guy. As with franchise owners, the league commissioner should have a pretty good idea of what the sport is about. Hockey hasn’t that for a long time in Bettman, and Atlanta unfortunately has never had that where hockey is concerned. It’s tough to support a company like ASG with no local interest in the community much less the sport.

Having said this, I’ve lived 40 years in a town that has never won a professional sports title (OK North American Soccer League aside in 1979). I’ve lived with a Canucks team that let’s face, were an embarrassment for MANY years, and a basketball franchise that was also managed into the ground with no chance of success here (even though we were averaging 12K-14K fans per night for basketball) so I feel your pain there. At the end of the day though, there is a watershed difference between a discerning fan (which it appears the folks of Atlanta would be) and a heart and soul fan. We may not always make the smartest choices with our money, but it isn’t about that. It’s about believing in the guys on the ice (or the court or field or whatever) and believing in the sport enough to say “I’m supporting this, good or bad”. Let’s face it, it’s kind of like a marriage in lots of ways. If you’re getting into it simply for what you are going to get out of it, chances are you won’t get much out of it.

There’s a reason baseball hasn’t expanded north of the border either, other than Toronto. The cities here probably won’t bother supporting it enough to make it financially viable. That’s our loss. Hockey is your loss. I hope you guys do get another chance, because I think you are a great market, but you’re going to probably have to prove it first.

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Just want to thank Jeff for a well written piece and second those who vow not to support the Hawks or any event at Philips. Put me on that list.

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1. Who cares?
2. Do they need help packing?
3. Can they take the Hawks and Dream with them?

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@ChippersLoveChild:

Sure, OK, a move like this does affect the players’ personal lives, but moving around is just part of being a proffesional athlete. A move like this is far, far less destabilizing than being traded, demoted to the minors, or being put on waivers–all of which can happen very suddenly, with players typically knowing nothing about it until the decision has been made.

And when a franchise folds and players are subject to a dispersal draft…well, that’s no fun, either…

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All the sob stories … from fans that never went to games & writers who could care less about hockey. If the writer of this story was not a season ticket holder than he was part of the problem, stop blaming others.

Ownership may have lied & Bettman may have lied but Atlanta will not support its own NHL team. It’s not about corporate sponsorships, it’s about fans paying to watch hockey in Atlanta. I’ve been to the games many times but only because MY team was playing the Thrashers. And the same goes for many other true hockey fans that relocated South … they went to a game to root against the Thrashers. You think I’m going to stop rooting for my home team after being a fan for 40 years, an original six team, just because I moved to Atlanta … hardly.

Atlanta sports fans follow & spend their money on the Falcons, NASCAR, UGA, the Braves, & the Hawks. Sure there’s a small base of true Atlanta Thrashers fans but not nearly enough to support this team. Add to that the city of Atlanta itself … not exactly a pedestrian-friendly city, in fact, it’s down right dangerous! Walk 3 blocks from Philips at 10pm & you can get killed … real nice city.

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Gwinnett Gladiator fever! Catch it!

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Until you get black people interested in hockey you’ll always have a problem with hockey downtown. If another chance comes along for a team put it in the suburbs where the support is.

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Now if they can just move the Hawks out of the city, all the dead weight will be gone. I can live with the Bulldogs, Falcons and Braves just fine. Move the Hawks to East St. Louis where they along with the other basketball thuggery will be fiine. They can rap all night and not get in trouble.

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This hopefully will permanently end Atlanta’s 39 year, off and on relationship with NHL hockey. It obviously doesn’t work, so let’s move on and forget it as a failed experiment twice-over.

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Wait for about 4 or 5 years and see if Arthur Blank doesn’t get the Falcons out of downtown Atlanta. They will still be the Atlanta Falcons but playing in Gwinnett. Downtown is a dump, and people get tired of being panhandled with the turn of every corner. And forget that hope of getting that 1% transportation vote passed, it will not happen, so forget Marta coming to the Northern Suburbs.

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“Atlanta has lost an NHL expansion team to a Canadian outpost for the second time. ”
and
“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.”

Well done Mr. Schultz. Your lack of professionalism is duly noted. Well, at least your utter dross won’t be confused for journalism. Please continue to enjoy your perpetual obscurity.

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Very well written. I never knew much about Beltman, but if all this is true he never gave a rip about this organization and his attempts to market the Thrashers were feeble at best. For comparison purposes look at Arthur Blank, an owner who is 100% vested in Atlanta and 100% committed to the Falcons. The organization was on life support with a custodian of an owner in the Smith family, but look what has happend since then! Almost all home games have been sold out since 2002, DESPITE the disasters of 2003 and 2007 – weathering the Vick storm and ensuring the organization landed on its feet. The difference is….he cares. He is a businessman and he applied the Home Depot model successfully to an NFL team. The Falcons were truly brought back from the brink and you can credit it to their top down management approach. An owner of this magnitude could have turned even the Thrashers around. The Falcons are living proof that a little creative marketing and promotions along with decent player development can turn the moribound into something very special. Thrashers ownership did NONE of this. While the Braves and Falcons somehow make me intrigued and engaged and wanting to enjoy their respective “products”, the Hawks and Thrashers just don’t give me reasons to be excited. I just don’t feel drawn to Philips the same way I feel drawn to Turner Field and the Georgia Dome -and its not entirely related to lack of winning on the ice or the court. If there is ever the glimmer of hope for another NHL franchise, which I believe there can be, I think it would be a very wise for the team to be based in Gwinnett or North Fulton.

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J-E-T-S, JETS! JETS! JETS! Thanks a million Atlanta!!!

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Hillbilly D –

If you don’t follow the Giants, please don’t pretend to know what you’re talking about just because you watched the Braves play the Giants in Candlestick ON TV over a decade ago. The reason why it was “empty” was because Candlestick was awful, not the fan base or team. Candlestick is an old ugly stadium, not easily accessible from SF, and riddled with swirling and gusty winds. They move to SOMA in SF and they pack the park every single game day or night weekend or weeknight. SF Giants had NEVER won a championship until last year (and barely made the playoffs, too). So please don’t give me this crap about the reason why SF supports the Giants is because they are “contenders”. After Posey went down that ended the dream this year but we still pack the house wearing giant’s shirts, black beards and panda hats. It’s pathetic that even after 14 straight division titles by the Braves the fans in Atlanta only sometimes sell out the stadium only when the Cubs, Red Sox, Phillies, and Yankees visit and outnumber braves fans 3 to 1.

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