Hello, Winnipeg

(The Little Bird Has Flown The Coop)

Anytime a sports franchise leaves one market for another, it’s a time of sadness for some and a time of joy for another. Sad to say but there were probably few tears shed in Atlanta at the news that the hockey team was sold and will now be playing in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Thrashers’ owners claimed that the team was “bleeding” money but only a cursory inspection of the Atlanta Spirit Group (“ASG”) would reveal that they were bad owners who wanted no part of the hockey operation. They were primarily concerned with the venue and the basketball team and left the hockey product to rot on the vine. There were various proposals entertained by ASG that would have sold all of the units and kept hockey in Atlanta, but no one would step forward to purchase the hockey team as a stand-alone product. So, for the second time in 30 years, the NHL has been tried and found wanting in Atlanta. Despite the fact that the young team possesses a core of fine young players, the losses were too great to sustain a team in Atlanta.

Just like the Flames became an institution in Calgary one they left Atlanta in 1980, the Thrashers (or Jets, or whatever the team will be named) ought to thrive in Winnipeg. The purchase of the team by True North represents Winnipeg’s second chance at the big leagues and they’re not bound to mess things up this time. In 1996, the Jets moved to Phoenix (which has become the NHL’s Money Pit) due in large part to a poor product, weak Canadian dollar, decaying venue and an impossible tenancy deal. Despite being a lame duck team in ’95-96, the Jets still averaged over 11,000 per game in attendance. Things are markedly different 15 years later as the Canadian dollar is strong, the team owners also own the brand new MTS Centre in downtown Winnipeg and one of True North’s principals is a billionaire (with a B).

The move to Winnipeg hurts the NHL’s aspirations of being accepted in non-traditional hockey markets. But let’s face facts: Atlanta is a sprawling city in which the interest in hockey lagged far behind the major pro sports, college sports and NASCAR. Perhaps if ownership had more foresight, the Thrashers may have succeeded. But they were a poorly managed enterprise. The handwriting was on the wall when it became clear that they wouldn’t resign high-end talent Ilya Kovalchuk in ’09. The venue is poorly located (similar to Phoenix) and it’s in a neighborhood where a lot of people don’t want to go at night (taken from comments posted on ajc.com) and the prices were too high for a team that failed to make playoffs 10 out of 11 years.

Sooner or later the NHL has to face the fact that hockey doesn’t play well in every market. The franchises in South Florida and Phoenix are not sustainable and will eventually have to be contracted or relocated to other markets (GTA, for example) where they will thrive financially. The NHL and its franchises are in the business of making money, not to sell the game in places where the majority of people don’t passionately care about the sport. Unlike Phoenix, where the NHL and City of Glendale have fought tooth and nail to keep a financially bankrupt entity afloat, the NHL didn’t lift a finger to keep the Thrashers in Atlanta. Why fight to keep one market and let another leave without a whimper of protest? It may have something to do with the fact that the NHL will receive a $60MM “Relocation Fee” from the billionaire at True North.

In the end, it’s always all about the money, isn’t it?