Winnipeg Jets

[Marc B.]

Even though GB's stated publicly that leaving QC and Winnipeg was a mistake and that the NHL would look to both markets for future expansion or relocation?

We've gone over and over this in this thread, but it seems clear to everyone that the goal of southern US expansion: the large national lucrative tv and marketing contracts, isn't going to happen. And that's despite a great deal of on-ice success in places like Dallas, Tampa Bay and Carolina. (Or Phoenix this year). They don't like hockey. I don't like NASCAR. It's ok.

Team owners in troubled markets are faced with two options:

1. draft the best player in a generation (like Washington, or Pittsburgh and Chicago to a lesser extent) to develop some local interest and keep the team afloat. This doesn't happen very often and isn't guaranteed to work (see Kovalchuk in Atlanta for exhibit A).

2. sell/move the team to better suited markets in the US or here. (Though, if there actually were viable underserved US hockey markets, you'd think you'd see potential owners lining up to move the Coyotes somewhere with more a little cache than Winnipeg).

I think we'll see four teams move up here in the next five to ten years.

[Dalreg]

Originally Posted by Marc B.

Even though GB's stated publicly that leaving QC and Winnipeg was a mistake and that the NHL would look to both markets for future expansion or relocation?

We've gone over and over this in this thread, but it seems clear to everyone that the goal of southern US expansion: the large national lucrative tv and marketing contracts, isn't going to happen. And that's despite a great deal of on-ice success in places like Dallas, Tampa Bay and Carolina. (Or Phoenix this year). They don't like hockey. I don't like NASCAR. It's ok.

Team owners in troubled markets are faced with two options:

1. draft the best player in a generation (like Washington, or Pittsburgh and Chicago to a lesser extent) to develop some local interest and keep the team afloat. This doesn't happen very often and isn't guaranteed to work (see Kovalchuk in Atlanta for exhibit A).

2. sell/move the team to better suited markets in the US or here. (Though, if there actually were viable underserved US hockey markets, you'd think you'd see potential owners lining up to move the Coyotes somewhere with more a little cache than Winnipeg).

I think we'll see four teams move up here in the next five to ten years.

4 teams moving to Canada in the next 5-10 years? Man can I have some of what you're smoking please.

So let's see, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Quebec City, and what, Eureka?

[Marc B.]

The GTA, or maybe K/W/London?

[yopaul]

Honestly this whole Quebec deal just reminds me of Glendale-though at least that building came in at only $180M, not $400M as what's being proposed in Quebec-will no clear ownership picture, aside from maybe Quebecor, and no clear corporate base to buy all those boxes and club seats etc.

It would be great for the Nordiques to return, but it doesn't add up to me.

[DLLB]

Originally Posted by Marc B.

Even though GB's stated publicly that leaving QC and Winnipeg was a mistake and that the NHL would look to both markets for future expansion or relocation?
We've gone over and over this in this thread, but it seems clear to everyone that the goal of southern US expansion: the large national lucrative tv and marketing contracts, isn't going to happen. And that's despite a great deal of on-ice success in places like Dallas, Tampa Bay and Carolina. (Or Phoenix this year). They don't like hockey. I don't like NASCAR. It's ok.

Team owners in troubled markets are faced with two options:

1. draft the best player in a generation (like Washington, or Pittsburgh and Chicago to a lesser extent) to develop some local interest and keep the team afloat. This doesn't happen very often and isn't guaranteed to work (see Kovalchuk in Atlanta for exhibit A).

2. sell/move the team to better suited markets in the US or here. (Though, if there actually were viable underserved US hockey markets, you'd think you'd see potential owners lining up to move the Coyotes somewhere with more a little cache than Winnipeg).

I think we'll see four teams move up here in the next five to ten years.

I would love to see a team back in the old Peg but the proof will be, as they say, in the pudding. I for one will not hold my breath as long as that scum bag Betman is in charge.

[RTD]

http://www.chrisd.ca/blog/28476/1290...format-change/


Awsome to see Winnipeg joining other major cities in Canada with this type of radio station. And coincidentally this station is affiliated with none other than Mr. Thomson himself. Another step towards preparing Winnipeg for an NHL team? I think so!

[Reed Solomon]

Originally Posted by RTD

http://www.chrisd.ca/blog/28476/1290...format-change/


Awsome to see Winnipeg joining other major cities in Canada with this type of radio station. And coincidentally this station is affiliated with none other than Mr. Thomson himself. Another step towards preparing Winnipeg for an NHL team? I think so!

AM Radio.

It's all adult diapers and farming stuff.

[RTD]

Originally Posted by Reed Solomon

AM Radio.

It's all adult diapers and farming stuff.

It will be the same format as those sports radio stations found in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, all of which are am radio. I'd say we are par for the course.

[yopaul]

Originally Posted by RTD

http://www.chrisd.ca/blog/28476/1290...format-change/


Awsome to see Winnipeg joining other major cities in Canada with this type of radio station. And coincidentally this station is affiliated with none other than Mr. Thomson himself. Another step towards preparing Winnipeg for an NHL team? I think so!

Déjà vu. I assume this will be once again under The Team Radio network banner as it was at 1290 back in the early 2000s?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tea...dio_network%29

[RTD]

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/...297/story.html

[JayM]

I can't believe that after all the efforts to relocate a team because of financial issues, there a trying to keep a team where they've never made a profit. Such bureaucracy seriously who in their right mind would support a losing cause and not just a small loss big a big loss.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by RTD

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/...297/story.html

This is worth pointing out; supposedly it is a paraphrased quote from Bettman himself:

If the city of Glendale, Arizona — the Coyotes' home — can’t work out a lease agreement with a buyer willing to keep the franchise in Phoenix by Dec. 31, the NHL will accept an existing offer from a purchaser aiming to move the franchise. The Winnipeg Free Press has reported that group as being Winnipeg-based True North Sports and Entertainment.

So there we have it, kids. Dec 31st is now essentially a hard deadline. If no deal is done in 3.5 months, the Jets are coming home!

[RTD]

Game on: Winnipeg vs. Quebec

How two spurned cities stack up in race to woo NHL back
It's shaping up to be the biggest-ever hockey battle between Winnipeg and Quebec City -- which will be the first to see the return of the NHL?

It has long been assumed by hockey watchers in the Manitoba capital that Winnipeg was at the top of the list to receive a relocated franchise. After all, the 15,003-seat MTS Centre is just six years old, has been deemed suitable by NHL brass for the world's biggest hockey league and a potential ownership group is already in place.



If you are scoring the matchup, Winnipeg has two crucial elements in its favour -- it has the blessing of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, and the backing of the richest man in Canada, David Thomson.

Quebec City, meanwhile, which lost les Nordiques to Denver in 1995, a year before the Jets took flight for Phoenix, does not have a new building. But it has grandiose plans to build a new $400-million arena -- complete with some degree of federal funding. Everything else, including a potential owner and the holding of serious discussions with the NHL, appears to be a couple of years behind the Winnipeg effort.

Bettman told a news conference earlier this week the NHL would be happy to return to Quebec City, just as he has said it would like to come back to Winnipeg on earlier occasions.

"I've followed very closely the articles, I've seen the cartoons and, as we've said, if the right circumstances presented themselves, we would like to find a way to go back to Quebec City," Bettman said.

"The issue obviously is the need for a new arena, because in the absence of a new arena it is not possible for us to go back. How a new arena gets built, who pays for it, is not something we're getting involved in."

Federal Tories had been openly musing about contributing up to $180 million for this facility, going so far as to have some of its MPs don Nordiques jerseys at a press conference. While the talk had others across the country crying foul, there is already evidence that it's paying dividends for Prime Minister Stephen Harper in La Belle Province.

An EKOS poll released Thursday shows support for the governing Tories in Quebec has risen to 21.1 per cent for the week ended Sept. 14, up from 15.8 per cent just one week earlier.

What all this means is anybody's guess. Franchises, after all, haven't always been awarded to the most deserving cities. Hello, Tampa, Phoenix and Nashville.

So, let's get ready to rumble.


http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/bre...103127579.html

[RTD]

Winnipeg way ahead in NHL courtship; Quebec City missing the owner, the arena

By: Gary Lawless

Posted: 17/09/2010

Error To suggest Winnipeg and Quebec City are competing for an NHL franchise is both presumptuous and ridiculous.

First of all, in the words of commissioner Gary Bettman, the NHL views relocation as undesirable.

Secondly, should the league be forced to make such a move, Winnipeg is years ahead of Quebec City in the relocation queue.

Setting aside the fact Winnipeg has an NHL-ready building and Quebec City does not, the relationship between True North Sports and Entertainment and the NHL has been carefully cultivated and slowly matured. It's ready to bear fruit.

In dating terms, Winnipeg has asked for the league's hand in marriage and nicely been told to wait on the porch while dad mulls it over.

Quebec? They haven't even been on a date, let alone done some of the back-seat wrestling True North and the NHL have engaged in over the last couple of years.

No disrespect to Quebec City mayor Regis Labeaume, who we are sure is a fine gentleman, but to suggest his relationship is anywhere close to the one developed between the NHL and True North Partners Mark Chipman and David Thomson is, as we've already said, ridiculous.

Chipman and Thomson own an AHL franchise and are established as legitimate operators in the hockey world.

They've been on the block for a while and will remain for some time to come. Money is not an object where they are concerned and the NHL has shown they'd be happy to welcome them to the club.

A local politician? Any politician? Give me a break. Gary Bettman can't afford to tie his fortunes to someone who may or may not be around the next time a civic election is held.

But don't take our word for any of this. Mr. Bettman has already said as much.

This past spring he addressed the subject of relocation prior to the Stanley Cup final.

"You know our view on franchise relocation: We try to avoid it," Bettman said in Chicago. "And frankly, if we're going to move a franchise, there are a couple of places in Canada that I'd like to give my attention first, because when Winnipeg and Quebec lost their franchises -- remember, I always talk about three things for franchises: market, owner and building -- both of those teams were moved because two of the criteria went away. There was no building and there was no owner. Nobody wanted to own a team there anymore.

"To the extent that those markets are in a position to deal with those issues, I'd like to try and fix something that I wish might not have happened in the first place, not unlike what we did in Minnesota (the league replaced the departed North Stars with the Wild)."

Building and owner. Winnipeg has both. Quebec City? Nope on both accounts.

"Winnipeg, I believe, has an NHL building, and in Quebec they're talking about building one," said Bettman.

Where has the talk of an arena in Quebec City gone to this point? Nowhere.


Prime Minister Stephen Harper floated a trial balloon a week ago about helping to fund a new arena in Quebec and has been backpedalling like a defensive back ever since.

Bettman also went so far as to place his personal blessing on True North by telling the hockey world he'd been dancing in the dark with them for some time.

"There has been a lot of speculation about Winnipeg," Bettman said. "Winnipeg did make a bona fide offer (on the Phoenix Coyotes). We never concluded a deal. That offer was made by Mark Chipman and David Thomson as partners in True North and they're very comfortable with the process. They understood that the likelihood was that the team was going to be remaining in Phoenix. They wanted us to know of their interest and they have told us that they are prepared to be patient."

So there you have it. Sure, the NHL is happy to talk to the folks in Quebec City. But don't mistake polite hellos with the kind of heavy breathing that's gone on between Bettman's office and True North.

Winnipeg may never get another NHL franchise, but as of today and the foreseeable future, this city is first in any lineups for such movement.

[email protected]


http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opi...103119779.html

[viperred88]

Just quoting someone on another forum, "On a side note. Spoke with one of the owners of 4play, he told me he is very certain we will have a team here next season and how we were supposed to have a team this season but was too late. He says the majority owner of the 4play building is well connected (without being connected) with True North which is where he gets his intel from.

He told me plans of a skywalk to be added connecting 4play to the MTS Centre as well as the demolishion of old buildings behind 4play and the surrounding area for development. "

not really big news but I am very happy to have of this Entertainment District seems sooner or latter this is gonna happen. I often complained of why the MTS Centre did not build more than just the Arena and the renovated Powerhouse building (the CKY/Tavern United building). I hope a plan of building a hotel/condo will still be in the works.

It would hope it push the fairmont and delta in building brand new hotels. Therefore renovate the old hotels into apartment and condos. Cause we sure need more people living downtown. I do hope they move the town 8 movie theatre or put the biggest silvercity in the city theatre and put the cinema 8 (cheap theatre) there. With a host of fast food restaurants on the ground floor, just ideas.

[hexrae]

Originally Posted by viperred88

He told me plans of a skywalk to be added connecting 4play to the MTS Centre

I like the idea of creating a connection, but I don't see how this can be aesthetically pleasing: Google Maps (Turn the map around and see the horrible Portage Place connections)

[CorbeauNoir]

Originally Posted by Reed Solomon

AM Radio.

It's all adult diapers and farming stuff.

All-Sports radio is usually found on AM stations. Vancouver and Calgary have virtually identical stations.

[CorbeauNoir]

The City of Glendale says a prospective buyer of the Phoenix Coyotes, "in a show of good faith," has deposited $25 million US in an escrow account.

The figure is equal to the amount of city funds Glendale had deposited, at the NHL's insistence, to cover potential losses for the coming season while a local buyr was sought.

Glendale, in a news release Friday, said the buyer has asked for confidentiality because negotiations are ongoing, but there have been multiple reports the city has been in talks with Chicago investor Matthew Hulsizer.


Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/stor...#ixzz0zqEYmAjz

[MNightShamalan]What a tweest![/MNightShamalan]

[viperred88]

Originally Posted by hexrae

I like the idea of creating a connection, but I don't see how this can be aesthetically pleasing: Google Maps (Turn the map around and see the horrible Portage Place connections)

yeah my sentiments exactly but also I was never a fan of sky-walks as it takes away from the street life and potential foot traffic to be had for business.

But as a friend of friend said to me she uses the skywalk to avoid the panhandlers. I don't think winnipegers this infatuation with these skywalks is gonna ruin downtown streetscape or already has but eventually winnipegers will realize it when its too late. Sadly.

Vancouverites don't use skywalks because it rain or ' that the force is strong with them' (pun intended), rather they wield an umbrella everyday. I think us winnipegers can toughen up a bit more. Or perhaps glass corridors on the sidewalks rather than in the air.

[freeweed]

A bit of rain is very different than -30. And I have to agree with the panhandling comment - some years it's been way out of control. Deal with that before you expect the average person to feel comfortable downtown again. Not sure if it's gotten any better since I moved but I still hear the same stories.