Quote:
Originally Posted by J.OT13
It's funny how Winnipeg gets the threat of a move after a few seasons of a couple thousand (if that) empty seats, but a city six times larger in the sun belt is perfectly fine being incapable of not only filling an NHL arena, but even finding an NHL arena to play in.
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I don't think that the recent comments about Winnipeg to be indicative of the threat of a move. The way I see it is TNSE/Mark Chipman identifying the early signs of a potential problem and looking to come up with a solution before it gets out of control. Any media that puts it on the same level as the Arizona relocation threat is also being disingenuous. Winnipeg is having a bad season compared to the long-standing string of failures in Arizona. I am hoping Arizona can get their arena situation sorted out and we can put all of their problems in the past.
It is, however, worth acknowledging that Winnipeg, at this time, is far and away one of the most vulnerable franchises in Canada and the NHL. Being in a recessionary environment combined with a weak CAD has historically wrecked our teams. All of the other Canadian franchises are pretty much past that point and have become pretty stable/established, but Winnipeg is the obvious outlier here - the city is still at a population of less than 1M people and has limited corporate presence, which is definitely stinging hard in the post-COVID area of reducing spending. I'm sure things will recover eventually since the demand was there for a decade until the pandemic hit.
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