So according to sportnets Stephen Brunt the Atlanta Thrashers have been sold to the True North group who owns both the Arena in Winnipeg and Vancouver Canucks farm team the Manitoba Moose and the deal will be announced on Tuesday after the Victoria Day holiday which happens on Monday. The Atlanta Thrashers have been having legal problems over the last 6 years between the Atlanta Spirit group and co-owner Steve Belkin and reportedly lost 130 Million on the bottomless pit organization and also have lost 50 million on the franchise sale value of the team because because of the bitter dispute at the hearty of this franchise's ownership group. Which sadly be carried over to the Manitoba something or others as the True North group just recently had been asking for provincial funds to help bring the Thrashers to Manitoba and the city of Winnipeg which is sad because if there is not stable ownership in Manitoba the team could already be on shaky ground. This is because no matter how great the fans will be in Winnipeg and they will be great and no matter how much putting the province instead of the City on the team will generate interest and sells of merchandise just like the Saskatchewan being the name of the Green Riders instead of a city like Regina or Saskatoon has down for that organization.
The Fans in Winnipeg, Manitoba will flock to the arena and by there jersey and hats and noise makers and it will be way more exciting than any Carolina or Florida or Tampa Bay or any of the other non hockey market arenas and it will diffidently bring smiles to the province of Manitoba and it is great for Canada and the Canadian dollar is much better than in '96. The Tailgating before games will be awesome and lets hope that the Atlanta Thrasher players do not have as much problem leaving Atlanta as the players in Phoenix did when it was looking like the Phoenix Coyotes were coming back to Winnipeg as the players like the warm weather along with not being known which they will not be in Winnipeg, Manitoba as they will be celebrities and fans hunt them down to get an autograph.
In the end it all comes down to corporate support that was not there in '96 to keep the team in Winnipeg and in the last 15 years the players salaries even in the hard cap world of the NHL has almost tripled from $892,000 to $ 2.4 million this season we have just ended and the very expensive boxes that brings in a lot of the revenue elsewhere is not an option. This is because it does not have luxury boxes and at this time the 50 year old current area holds only 14,000-16,000 fans and most other arena in the NHL have like 18,000-22,000 and for a league that is completely dependent on the gate receipts it is going to be interesting how much profit the team will make if any. So it might come down to building a new arena in the long run and sadly the people of Manitoba will be on the hook for the majority of the cost of a new arena if not all of it which will at least cost 200 million to build. For example the Phillips arena that has held the Atlanta Thrashers since 1999 cost 213.5 million dollars and yes the Phillips razor blade did spend 168 million dollars for 20 years to have their name on the building but it is hard to believe that a corporation is coming up with 8.4 million a season to name a now arena in Winnipeg, Manitoba
The fans will be the best but I do not know about the rest of it
Tom Mehegan
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