Guest Blog about the Thrashers moving to Winnipeg
Blogger note: One of my earlier blogs this week titled “The Winnipeg Myth” a good friend of mine wanted more information on the Thrashers to Winnipeg
By Marty Hyder
Well firstly, it's become obvious that the owners of the Thrashers NEVER gave a damn about the team, and in fact never even WANTED it. They were only interested in the Atlanta Hawks NBA team, and the ONLY reason they even bought the Thrashers at all is because it was a package deal for the Hawks, Thrashers, and the arena -- all 3. The previous owner wouldn't sell them separately. So once they got done suing each other and all of the lawsuits were settled, they absolutely couldn't wait to unload the team -- and plus, they're in desperate money trouble, so they need money NOW.
The main guy in the group buying the team is the 17th richest man in the world, and the richest man in Canada, so he's got money to burn -- and badly wants a team back in Winnipeg. They in fact wanted it SO badly, that in total, they overpaid for it by $40 million dollars more than Forbes said that the team was actually even worth. Because of the "myth" that southern US cities (and especially Atlanta) won't support hockey and that Canadian cities ALWAYS will -- combined with the current CBA agreement that is much more agreeable to smaller markets than what they had back when Winnipeg, Quebec and Hartford moved, people just assume that a team in Winnipeg will be much more profitable than in Atlanta. Maybe it will -- who knows? It surely will in the short term. But in the long term, I doubt it. It's a LOT smaller city and media market, with a LOT less corporate money (for advertising, sponsorships, corporate boxes, etc -- people never take that stuff into account, and just think that the number of "true fans" are all that matter...). I'll bet about anything that if the team doesn't do a LOT better on the ice than they have been, you'll start seeing a quite a few people not renewing their season tickets in three years' time after the "newness" has worn off (did you know that all their season ticket packages are for 3 to 5 years?), and they'll start getting into trouble. And if the Canadian dollar ever starts falling relative to the US dollar? Watch out. Never mind the fact that they will have to overspend to get any quality free agent players -- unless they're from there or somewhere like it and used to it, who's going to want to live in a coldass city in the middle of bumfuck nowhere? Look how hard it is for Edmonton and Calgary to lure quality players.
Then also, you have the situation in Phoenix. The league basically owns the Coyotes now, after the owners went bankrupt. The Winnipeg guys were trying to buy them, but the city of Glendale has kicked in $25 million two years in a row to subsidize the losses, and the City of Atlanta wouldn't even consider doing so for the Thrashers. Because (not to sound racist, but...) most of the city government is black, and they couldn't care less about a hockey team. My point is, if this was happening to the Hawks, you can bet your ass that they would be falling all over themselves to help fund them to keep them from moving. Then on top of this, you have the $60 million dollar "relocation bribe", as I call it. When have you ever heard of anyone EVER having to pay a "relocation fee" to the league before? NEVER -- because it's never happened before. This is just a cash grab by the league to subsidize more future losses in Phoenix. And on top of that, as we saw when Jim Balsillie tried to buy the Nashville Predators and came in and waved his dick around in everybody's faces and pissed off the league and more importantly, Bettman -- if you piss off the league, you're dead to them. Balsillie would have bought the Coyotes in a heartbeat, and has tried to -- but they don't want him in the league. So they also don't like these Atlanta Spirit guys (and who can blame them?) and want them out of the league ASAP, and it sure looks like this "relocation fee" is one final "fuck you" to them as they get shoved out the door: "Yeah, you can sell your team for $170 million -- but only if WE get $60 million of it".
Then you have to look at why I think the league is now holding off on selling Phoenix. Since all of the losses are being subsidized by Glendale and the Atlanta relocation bribe -- I believe that they're waiting until the guys in Quebec City have their arena finished, and then THEY'LL be dying to overspend on a team to get hockey back, and the league will make a HUUUUUUUGE profit selling them the Coyotes. If they had just sold Phoenix back to the Winnipeg guys, none of this happens. So that's why the move.
You have to look at everything by "following the money". No matter what area of life you're looking at, the decisions you're trying to analyze ALWAYS come down to money. ALWAYS. And this is the only scenario that makes ANY damn sense at all from a monetary viewpoint: rich, motivated buyers in Winnipeg + horrible owners and disinterested city government in Atlanta + subsidized losses in Phoenix + new arena being built in Quebec City (+ the league claiming they "don't have time" to realign the league to get Winnipeg in the Western Conference next year, and forcing them to continue playing in the Southeastern Division -- even though they earlier claimed that they were working on contingency schedules in case a team was in Winnipeg next year) = the Thrashers move to Winnipeg, then the Coyotes move to Quebec City (making the league an assload of money in the process), and voila: swap the two teams to the other conference -- simple realignment.
But you never hear about ANY of this in the media -- only the myths of how southern US markets won't support and don't "deserve" hockey teams, and ANY Canadian market will be a panacea where the fans will always come out in droves and support a team, no matter how shitty it is, simply because it's Canada's sport and they "deserve" teams. If it was up to the Canadian media and fans, there wouldn't be ANY teams south of the border -- maybe a few in the northern-most border states, if they're feeling generous...
***And might I add to that last paragraph that I've always claimed that the average American citizen is the most xenophobic in the world. Well, after reading all of the comments to news stories, blog articles and links on facebook by Canadian hockey fans, I've changed my mind. The single MOST xenophobic people on the planet are Canadian hockey fans. Period. It's "THEIR" game, and they don't think that anyone else deserves to enjoy it. If you don't live somewhere that your lakes and rivers freeze over every year, you don't have a right to be a hockey fan. They're worse than any soccer fan in England has ever THOUGHT about being. I used to love Canada and always had an awesome time whenever I visited Toronto, Kitchener, Ottawa, and yes, Winnipeg, just to name a few places I've been to up there -- and even thought how much I would LOVE to live in Toronto, and always told anyone who would listen that it was my favorite city on earth that I'd been to. Well, now I'm starting to re-think all of that after being sickened reading all of these gloating, smarmy comments from Canadians (not just Winnipegers, either) for whom it's not enough to be happy that they're getting a team back in Winnipeg -- but they just HAVE to smirk about how there should have never even been a team in Atlanta to begin with, anyway, and also giving their helpful suggestions that Carolina, Dallas, Florida, etc should all also move up to where people "truly care" about the sport. I guess my friend Glen who plays hockey in Australia should stop immediately, because he's making a mockery of the sport by playing in such a "non-traditional" area... I'm not begrudging the fans in Winnipeg their happiness at getting a team -- but you would think that the people there OF ALL PLACES would have at least a bit of sympathy for the fans in Atlanta, because they KNOW what it's like to have your team ripped away from you. As they're celebrating the return of the NHL to their town, they should bow their heads a bit thinking about how the Atlanta fans got totally screwed over. It's not just limited to the fans, either -- I heard Colby Armstrong (who used to play for the Thrashers) say something to the effect of how happy he was for Winnipeg to get their team back. "THEIR" TEAM??? No, Colby -- "their" team is in Phoenix right now. They took "our" team from us. That's why I now say that "Winnipeg is the Phoenix of Canada".***
By Marty Hyder
Well firstly, it's become obvious that the owners of the Thrashers NEVER gave a damn about the team, and in fact never even WANTED it. They were only interested in the Atlanta Hawks NBA team, and the ONLY reason they even bought the Thrashers at all is because it was a package deal for the Hawks, Thrashers, and the arena -- all 3. The previous owner wouldn't sell them separately. So once they got done suing each other and all of the lawsuits were settled, they absolutely couldn't wait to unload the team -- and plus, they're in desperate money trouble, so they need money NOW.
The main guy in the group buying the team is the 17th richest man in the world, and the richest man in Canada, so he's got money to burn -- and badly wants a team back in Winnipeg. They in fact wanted it SO badly, that in total, they overpaid for it by $40 million dollars more than Forbes said that the team was actually even worth. Because of the "myth" that southern US cities (and especially Atlanta) won't support hockey and that Canadian cities ALWAYS will -- combined with the current CBA agreement that is much more agreeable to smaller markets than what they had back when Winnipeg, Quebec and Hartford moved, people just assume that a team in Winnipeg will be much more profitable than in Atlanta. Maybe it will -- who knows? It surely will in the short term. But in the long term, I doubt it. It's a LOT smaller city and media market, with a LOT less corporate money (for advertising, sponsorships, corporate boxes, etc -- people never take that stuff into account, and just think that the number of "true fans" are all that matter...). I'll bet about anything that if the team doesn't do a LOT better on the ice than they have been, you'll start seeing a quite a few people not renewing their season tickets in three years' time after the "newness" has worn off (did you know that all their season ticket packages are for 3 to 5 years?), and they'll start getting into trouble. And if the Canadian dollar ever starts falling relative to the US dollar? Watch out. Never mind the fact that they will have to overspend to get any quality free agent players -- unless they're from there or somewhere like it and used to it, who's going to want to live in a coldass city in the middle of bumfuck nowhere? Look how hard it is for Edmonton and Calgary to lure quality players.
Then also, you have the situation in Phoenix. The league basically owns the Coyotes now, after the owners went bankrupt. The Winnipeg guys were trying to buy them, but the city of Glendale has kicked in $25 million two years in a row to subsidize the losses, and the City of Atlanta wouldn't even consider doing so for the Thrashers. Because (not to sound racist, but...) most of the city government is black, and they couldn't care less about a hockey team. My point is, if this was happening to the Hawks, you can bet your ass that they would be falling all over themselves to help fund them to keep them from moving. Then on top of this, you have the $60 million dollar "relocation bribe", as I call it. When have you ever heard of anyone EVER having to pay a "relocation fee" to the league before? NEVER -- because it's never happened before. This is just a cash grab by the league to subsidize more future losses in Phoenix. And on top of that, as we saw when Jim Balsillie tried to buy the Nashville Predators and came in and waved his dick around in everybody's faces and pissed off the league and more importantly, Bettman -- if you piss off the league, you're dead to them. Balsillie would have bought the Coyotes in a heartbeat, and has tried to -- but they don't want him in the league. So they also don't like these Atlanta Spirit guys (and who can blame them?) and want them out of the league ASAP, and it sure looks like this "relocation fee" is one final "fuck you" to them as they get shoved out the door: "Yeah, you can sell your team for $170 million -- but only if WE get $60 million of it".
Then you have to look at why I think the league is now holding off on selling Phoenix. Since all of the losses are being subsidized by Glendale and the Atlanta relocation bribe -- I believe that they're waiting until the guys in Quebec City have their arena finished, and then THEY'LL be dying to overspend on a team to get hockey back, and the league will make a HUUUUUUUGE profit selling them the Coyotes. If they had just sold Phoenix back to the Winnipeg guys, none of this happens. So that's why the move.
You have to look at everything by "following the money". No matter what area of life you're looking at, the decisions you're trying to analyze ALWAYS come down to money. ALWAYS. And this is the only scenario that makes ANY damn sense at all from a monetary viewpoint: rich, motivated buyers in Winnipeg + horrible owners and disinterested city government in Atlanta + subsidized losses in Phoenix + new arena being built in Quebec City (+ the league claiming they "don't have time" to realign the league to get Winnipeg in the Western Conference next year, and forcing them to continue playing in the Southeastern Division -- even though they earlier claimed that they were working on contingency schedules in case a team was in Winnipeg next year) = the Thrashers move to Winnipeg, then the Coyotes move to Quebec City (making the league an assload of money in the process), and voila: swap the two teams to the other conference -- simple realignment.
But you never hear about ANY of this in the media -- only the myths of how southern US markets won't support and don't "deserve" hockey teams, and ANY Canadian market will be a panacea where the fans will always come out in droves and support a team, no matter how shitty it is, simply because it's Canada's sport and they "deserve" teams. If it was up to the Canadian media and fans, there wouldn't be ANY teams south of the border -- maybe a few in the northern-most border states, if they're feeling generous...
***And might I add to that last paragraph that I've always claimed that the average American citizen is the most xenophobic in the world. Well, after reading all of the comments to news stories, blog articles and links on facebook by Canadian hockey fans, I've changed my mind. The single MOST xenophobic people on the planet are Canadian hockey fans. Period. It's "THEIR" game, and they don't think that anyone else deserves to enjoy it. If you don't live somewhere that your lakes and rivers freeze over every year, you don't have a right to be a hockey fan. They're worse than any soccer fan in England has ever THOUGHT about being. I used to love Canada and always had an awesome time whenever I visited Toronto, Kitchener, Ottawa, and yes, Winnipeg, just to name a few places I've been to up there -- and even thought how much I would LOVE to live in Toronto, and always told anyone who would listen that it was my favorite city on earth that I'd been to. Well, now I'm starting to re-think all of that after being sickened reading all of these gloating, smarmy comments from Canadians (not just Winnipegers, either) for whom it's not enough to be happy that they're getting a team back in Winnipeg -- but they just HAVE to smirk about how there should have never even been a team in Atlanta to begin with, anyway, and also giving their helpful suggestions that Carolina, Dallas, Florida, etc should all also move up to where people "truly care" about the sport. I guess my friend Glen who plays hockey in Australia should stop immediately, because he's making a mockery of the sport by playing in such a "non-traditional" area... I'm not begrudging the fans in Winnipeg their happiness at getting a team -- but you would think that the people there OF ALL PLACES would have at least a bit of sympathy for the fans in Atlanta, because they KNOW what it's like to have your team ripped away from you. As they're celebrating the return of the NHL to their town, they should bow their heads a bit thinking about how the Atlanta fans got totally screwed over. It's not just limited to the fans, either -- I heard Colby Armstrong (who used to play for the Thrashers) say something to the effect of how happy he was for Winnipeg to get their team back. "THEIR" TEAM??? No, Colby -- "their" team is in Phoenix right now. They took "our" team from us. That's why I now say that "Winnipeg is the Phoenix of Canada".***
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