js2 Posted May 9, 2009 Report Share Posted May 9, 2009 http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=278109 Hamilton is suddenly an NHL property hotbed. As Research In Motion CEO Jim Balsillie battles Gary Bettman for control of the Phoenix Coyotes, there is reportedly a group interested in relocating the Atlanta Thrashers to Steeltown. According to The Hamilton Spectator, city mayor Fred Eisenberger will meet with a Vancouver-based group on Monday to discuss a proposed lease for Copps Coliseum. Eisenberger would not disclose any details of the second group, but a source confirmed to The Spectator that Vancouver developer Tom Gaglardi is leading the charge. ''By next Tuesday we will have a clearer picture of where we are'' Eisenberger told The Spectator. ''We're in the middle of discussions with Mr. Balsillie and his group and I will be meeting with the second group. We need to understand their intentions. It's fair to say I will be talking to that second group," Eisenberger said. Gaglardi's group is Hamilton's second NHL suitor. City staff is currently working on a proposed lease with Balsillie, who hopes to buy and relocate the Coyotes to Hamilton for the 2009 season. Gaglardi is reportedly interested in having the Thrashers in Hamilton in time for the 2010 season. I guess we'll soon find out if Bettman is really against a team moving to Canada or just against Balsillie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roy_133 Posted May 9, 2009 Report Share Posted May 9, 2009 I guess we'll soon find out if Bettman is really against a team moving to Canada or just against Balsillie. It's not up to Bettman, at all, it's up to the board of governors. I would guess that the odds of this are basically close to nil. If Canada does get another team it won't be in a city that infringes on 2 team's market's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
js2 Posted May 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2009 It's not up to Bettman, at all, it's up to the board of governors. I would guess that the odds of this are basically close to nil. If Canada does get another team it won't be in a city that infringes on 2 team's market's. I meant about the comments from Bettman/Daly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habs1119 Posted May 9, 2009 Report Share Posted May 9, 2009 I truly feel that butthead has a problem with anything Balsille tries. As for this group from Vancouver, it doesn't involve cross conference re-alignment and it solves a financial problem. They may be "re-directed" to another city instead, but Atlanta's days have been #ed since their ownership group started squabaling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DA_Champion Posted May 9, 2009 Report Share Posted May 9, 2009 I truly feel that butthead has a problem with anything Balsille tries. As for this group from Vancouver, it doesn't involve cross conference re-alignment and it solves a financial problem. They may be "re-directed" to another city instead, but Atlanta's days have been #ed since their ownership group started squabaling. Atlanta, possibly the worst managed team in the NHL. If you look at who Atlanta has drafted since they entered the league they should be the greatest team. Dany Heatley (traded for peanuts), Ilya Kovalchuk, Kari Leightonen, patrik stefan (epic fail of a 1st overall), Braydon Coburn (who was traded to the Flyers for Alexei Zhitnik which doesn't make any sense), they traded the devin setoguchi selection to the san jose sharks (lol???), Bryan Little (woohoo logic), they didn't have a 1st rounder in 2007, zach bogosian last year and probably evander kane this year. I wonder if they'll trade Evander Kane at the deadline this year to pick up a 36 year old veteran to help in their playoff run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruuvimeisseli Posted May 9, 2009 Report Share Posted May 9, 2009 This is never going to happen, bettman hates canada more then hitler hates jews. But im going to hope atleast to have 1 more team in canada next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kubby31 Posted May 9, 2009 Report Share Posted May 9, 2009 This is never going to happen, bettman hates canada more then hitler hates jews. But im going to hope atleast to have 1 more team in canada next season. [/quote I hope it does also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DA_Champion Posted May 9, 2009 Report Share Posted May 9, 2009 bettman hates canada more then hitler hates jews. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dintrox12 Posted May 10, 2009 Report Share Posted May 10, 2009 The Vancouver group is headed Tom Gaglardi (some will remember he was negotiating to buy the canucks and claims to have been backstabbed by the Aquilini). Gaglardi is head of Sandman hotels and Moxie restaurants and is also a co-owner of the Kamloops Blazers. He is also the grandson of the legendary and colorful BC politician "Flying Phil" Gaglardi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marathon.Man Posted May 10, 2009 Report Share Posted May 10, 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law That's quite the statement.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dintrox12 Posted May 12, 2009 Report Share Posted May 12, 2009 Sounds like the thrashers/hawks owners are looking to find investors to buy out Steve Belkin and keep the teams in Atlanta. Steve Belkin and the other owners are in litigation so there won't be a move anytime soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmash Posted May 13, 2009 Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 It's not up to Bettman, at all, it's up to the board of governors. I would guess that the odds of this are basically close to nil. If Canada does get another team it won't be in a city that infringes on 2 team's market's. Yet it's the only market with the population to support a franchise long-term. Winnipeg and Quebec City could support teams in a good economy with high Canadian dollar, but they still would be relatively small market teams and could find themselves in trouble at some point. And unlike the cities in the USA, the 'potential' of these franchises is limited. If you're going to move a team to a questionable market, you want to at least have the potential for it to grow. (note: I'm not saying 'questionable market' as in Winnipeg wouldn't be crazy about a new team, but the population just isn't there to ensure it would be a long-term stable franchise, Ottawa almost lost their team a few years back, even Montreal was losing money at one point). Logically speaking, Southern Ontario is greatly under-served and should have another team from that standpoint, although I can kind of see why Bettman and the owners would be against it. While it would be a profitable team for the prospective owner, it wouldn't really grow the game at all. Although, in today's economy, maybe short term profits become more important (some owners are probably sick of having to prop up teams that suck money from them (revenue sharing) and would prefer a stable franchise). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmash Posted May 13, 2009 Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 And it's kind of paradoxical when you think about it. Were it the case that the Leafs were doing well but outside of Toronto's city limits, no one cared about hockey, we'd be more likely to get a team in Southern Ontario. In that case, Bettman would say "We've got this market of 6 million people, but we're only reaching 1 million of them, maybe we need another team" and Toronto wouldn't really care since they didn't have fans in those areas anyways. So as a hockey market you do feel kind of taken advantage of as this cash cow that makes the league a lot of money, but because you are such crazy fans there is little it can 'grow' so you get screwed out of a team that a similar market in the USA would get no problem. Unfortunately, we're victims of our own success in a sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leafs_rock_go_mccabe Posted May 13, 2009 Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law Completely off topic, but brilliant response. Brilliant law really. Very sarcastic. Very funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHaul Posted May 14, 2009 Report Share Posted May 14, 2009 Yet it's the only market with the population to support a franchise long-term. Winnipeg and Quebec City could support teams in a good economy with high Canadian dollar, but they still would be relatively small market teams and could find themselves in trouble at some point. And unlike the cities in the USA, the 'potential' of these franchises is limited. If you're going to move a team to a questionable market, you want to at least have the potential for it to grow. (note: I'm not saying 'questionable market' as in Winnipeg wouldn't be crazy about a new team, but the population just isn't there to ensure it would be a long-term stable franchise, Ottawa almost lost their team a few years back, even Montreal was losing money at one point). Logically speaking, Southern Ontario is greatly under-served and should have another team from that standpoint, although I can kind of see why Bettman and the owners would be against it. While it would be a profitable team for the prospective owner, it wouldn't really grow the game at all. Although, in today's economy, maybe short term profits become more important (some owners are probably sick of having to prop up teams that suck money from them (revenue sharing) and would prefer a stable franchise). I'm pretty sure Quebec City and Hamilton have very comparable populations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franck5890 Posted May 14, 2009 Report Share Posted May 14, 2009 I'm pretty sure Quebec City and Hamilton have very comparable populations. Actually, all three cities technically have similar populations (I'm pretty sure this is the order: Quebec City, Winnipeg, Hamilton). But, I believe Hamilton has the biggest population when you take into consideration the area surrounding the city (I forget what this is called, Graeme will probably remember, but I know it's been discussed before) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmash Posted May 14, 2009 Report Share Posted May 14, 2009 I'm pretty sure Quebec City and Hamilton have very comparable populations. The city's themselves are similar. But the populations within a 2 or so hour radius (perfectly reasonable for many hockey fans in Canada) is much, much larger. That's why I maintain throw another team in Southern Ontario: Hamilton, KW, Missisauga, right in the Air Canada Center, some town with 1000 people, it will be successful just because people who don't want to pay double the already league high ticket prices to get Leafs tickets from a scalper will be willing to travel a little bit. For example, I'm in K-W, but I'd definitely get to Hamilton to see a Habs vs Hamilton game. But if it were in Quebec City or Winnipeg? Unlikely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whalerfan Posted May 14, 2009 Report Share Posted May 14, 2009 Here are some facts from cities that Bettman let the teams go and some cities that were awarded teams and some that Bettman would want teams to go to................ Population of cities that lost teams Winnipeg.....................................694,668 Quebec.......................................715,515 Hartford......................................877,312 ( Including the county, Hartford has many suburbs( small city in square miles) -Largest media market in the US without a pro team) Population of teams that got teams Phoenix.......................................1,552,259 (size doesn't matter) Columbus................................... 747,755 ( the same as the above moved teams) Raleigh, NC................................. 374,320 ( including durham county 1,047,629-( 45-60 minutes apart) Nashville...................................... 619,626 Atlanta.......................................... 519,000 (metro area incl.- over 5 million- size doesn't matter) Cities that Bettman wants Seattle....................................... 504,559 Vegas........................................ 558,880 Kansas city................................ 447,300 City that Bettman doesn't want at the moment Hamilton..........................................692,911 WHERES THE LOGIC IN ANY OF THIS?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bailey1 Posted May 15, 2009 Report Share Posted May 15, 2009 I'm pretty sure Quebec City and Hamilton have very comparable populations. Agree. And think about it. If a team goes to Québec, all the banwagoners and fans who feel "obliged" to cheer for the Habs, will spend their $ on the Nords, even if they aren't in QC. RDS will most surely strike a broadcast deal with the new team in Québec for a solid amount of years(money in the bank). And then if a team goes to Hamilton/Southern Ontario region, you have all those hockey fans who don't cheer for Toronto. <--- That's a pretty big demographic! AND, where better to start a team temporarly or perminently than in Hamilton, where that population hates Toronto. You'd have to hate money to not put a team in any or both of these markets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KovalevMTL Posted May 15, 2009 Report Share Posted May 15, 2009 I would be afraid if Quebec got their team back, and then the difficulties in watching the Habs games on RDS. But, I miss the QUE/MTL Rivalry. It was the best. And 2nd of all, Bettman wants a team in Las Vegas, and that should make any NHL fan completely angry cause it has nothing to do with the game there, its all about betting and money. If I hated Bettman now, I surely will hate him later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlHabsFan Posted May 15, 2009 Report Share Posted May 15, 2009 I think Orlando needs a team. It can be disney themed like the Ducks once were. Just imagine it...."The Orlando Goofys!" or, "The Orlando Mouskateers!' Or something similar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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