Saturday, January 17, 2004
A Hope for Winnipeg?
According to Winnipeg's deputy mayor, an American team is curious about Winnipeg. I find it kind of odd that he won't reveal which team, except to say that it isn't the Penguins. Makes me wonder if it is just a PR stunt by the NHL to mislead the fans into believing that an NHL lockout would in some way benefit the fans.
But if the story is valid who would be calling?
One guess would be the Devils, since their basketball counterpart in New Jersey, the Nets, might be moving to Brooklyn. The Devils might be forced to move because of the huge Meadowlands Xanadu complex.
If the Devils indeed did make the call, they've got a couple of reasons to do it. They're getting desparate for an arena. They want some leverage if the Nets move to Brooklyn and the Devils want to join them in their new building. They're biding their time until the US economy picks up and cities want to start building arenas again. They might also think that since Winnipeg was stupid enough to be a rink too small they might also be stupid enough to overpay for an NHL team. In their worst case scenario, they'd move to Winnipeg for a few years and then wait for someone to build them an NHL size rink.
Another might be the Islanders since they've got a brutal building. But I believe they are locked into a long term lease.
Since all the southern NHL teams except Atlanta (Tampa, Florida, Nashville, Carolina) are sole tenants in their buildings I wonder if they would have long term leases that they could get out of to leave town. I don't know about Atlanta but their attendance appears to be on the upswing since they've become competitive.
Phoenix isn't a possibility at all since they just moved into their new building which is the centerpiece of a huge development.
Anaheim is also a sole tenant and was well supported in the Cup run last year.
I can't picture moving a team out of Washington. It's too big a market and it could be a decent market with new ownership.
Regardless of whether a team goes into Winnipeg or not, I don't think Winnipeg has a long term future in the NHL. I've already blogged about Winnipeg's new arena and the idiocy of local government that made it smaller then all the new NHL rinks. Although I think the market is to small, the real drawback is the rink. It IS too small. I also wonder if Winnipeg fans are going to want to shell out current NHL prices for tickets once the honeymoon with a new team is over. Remember, Winnipeg is significantly smaller and poorer then all the other "small" Canadian NHL markets (Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton).
But if the story is valid who would be calling?
One guess would be the Devils, since their basketball counterpart in New Jersey, the Nets, might be moving to Brooklyn. The Devils might be forced to move because of the huge Meadowlands Xanadu complex.
If the Devils indeed did make the call, they've got a couple of reasons to do it. They're getting desparate for an arena. They want some leverage if the Nets move to Brooklyn and the Devils want to join them in their new building. They're biding their time until the US economy picks up and cities want to start building arenas again. They might also think that since Winnipeg was stupid enough to be a rink too small they might also be stupid enough to overpay for an NHL team. In their worst case scenario, they'd move to Winnipeg for a few years and then wait for someone to build them an NHL size rink.
Another might be the Islanders since they've got a brutal building. But I believe they are locked into a long term lease.
Since all the southern NHL teams except Atlanta (Tampa, Florida, Nashville, Carolina) are sole tenants in their buildings I wonder if they would have long term leases that they could get out of to leave town. I don't know about Atlanta but their attendance appears to be on the upswing since they've become competitive.
Phoenix isn't a possibility at all since they just moved into their new building which is the centerpiece of a huge development.
Anaheim is also a sole tenant and was well supported in the Cup run last year.
I can't picture moving a team out of Washington. It's too big a market and it could be a decent market with new ownership.
Regardless of whether a team goes into Winnipeg or not, I don't think Winnipeg has a long term future in the NHL. I've already blogged about Winnipeg's new arena and the idiocy of local government that made it smaller then all the new NHL rinks. Although I think the market is to small, the real drawback is the rink. It IS too small. I also wonder if Winnipeg fans are going to want to shell out current NHL prices for tickets once the honeymoon with a new team is over. Remember, Winnipeg is significantly smaller and poorer then all the other "small" Canadian NHL markets (Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton).
