It appears that the waiting is over for fans in Atlanta and Winnipeg, as Bob McKenzie of TSN announced that a deal had been finalized between the Atlanta Spirit Group and True North for the sale of the Atlanta Thrashers and it’s relocation to Winnipeg. An announcement is expected at about noon EDT.
McKenzie reports that Winnipeg will remain in the Southeast Division for the coming season, followed by realignment in 2012-2013 season. No official word on the name of the new franchise, but McKenzie indicates that ownership is leaning away from the old “Jets” moniker, despite significant fan support for resurrecting that name.
So, it appears that Atlanta will lose it’s second NHL franchise in just over 20 years. (The Atlanta Flames moved to Calgary in 1980), and Winnipeg will regain the franchise it lost 15 years ago to Phoenix, which also has it’s bags packed and one foot out the door.
This is not surprising news, but any news of a city losing its team is bittersweet, particularly when your home town club is struggling on and off the ice. However, as I have repeatedly stated — Columbus is a different situation, and we can avoid the fate of either Phoenix or Atlanta. The core of a hockey market is here, and I remain confident that a financial fix will get done that keeps the team here.
Atlanta needs to take a hard look at itself and determine why it has such problems with sports franchises. The Braves have been one of the most successful franchises in the league, yet struggle to sell out even playoff games. Hockey is a non-starter, and the basketball team is not a big draw either. The Falcons draw well, but the NFL only has to put butts in the seats 8 times per season (excluding pre-season and playoffs). That’s 500,000 tickets, give or take, or the equivalent of 28 hockey game sellouts in an 18,000 seat arena. Any metropolitan area of any size should be able to do that. Atlanta is an enigma in the sports world.
The postponement of realignment is also not a shocker. The long term solution in Phoenix needs to be found, and the NHL really needs to address the inequities in alignment and scheduling. These need to be addressed together, as it is fundamentally unfair to have the Northeast teams play within a long slap shot of each other for a large number of games each season, while Vancouver (and Columbus) rack up frequent flyer miles at alarming paces. Reduce the artificial emphasis on divisions, equalize the number of games played within conference, and seed the playoffs exclusively by points.
With this chapter seemingly closed, we can turn our attention to the weightier matters of the draft, free agency and the upcoming season. Which we shall. Stay tuned.
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