Atlanta will now be two for two when it comes to supporting NHL franchises. Sports radio stations should examine why other sun belt markets can have profitable and successful NHL teams and Atlanta has now failed twice.
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ATLANTA THRASHERS MOVING TO WINNIPEG
- Thread starter RADIO TRUTH
- Start date
I don't agree with your basic premise, that Atlanta doesn't support hockey teams. The Flames were sold because owner Tom Cousins was in financial trouble and needed money. The Thrashers haven't been supported by the fans because the owners have put out an inferior product year after year.
Atlanta had an NHL team?
And Truth, I think you mean 0 and 2 when it comes to supporting NHL teams since both teams have failed.
And Truth, I think you mean 0 and 2 when it comes to supporting NHL teams since both teams have failed.
E
ExNuYawker
Guest
Deal has not been done. Dont post this type of stuff until you have all the facts. http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/air-electric-amid-nhl-report-122291848.html
You guys can have the Florida Panthers! ;D ;D ;D
I wouldn't think that the region around Atlanta would support a hockey team if they won the Stanley Cup three years in a row. It's not a sport that children in the South care to become involved in (primarily because of the predominance of football and baseball) or have the ability to become involved in (how many southern cities have a hockey rink?). And it's not a sport that adults in the South care about, either, because of football and baseball interest.
I say "the South" and not Atlanta specifically because, as an example, the Braves would not be the popular team that they are today if it wasn't for Ted Turner's role in building a massive regional and national TV audience for them. Every kid on my block in Anniston, Alabama owns at least one Braves shirt or piece of memorabilia, but the closest place you could buy some sort of Thrashers gear is probably Douglasville.
I say "the South" and not Atlanta specifically because, as an example, the Braves would not be the popular team that they are today if it wasn't for Ted Turner's role in building a massive regional and national TV audience for them. Every kid on my block in Anniston, Alabama owns at least one Braves shirt or piece of memorabilia, but the closest place you could buy some sort of Thrashers gear is probably Douglasville.
You could not be more wrong. Dallas has over 30 ice rinks and over 7000 amateur ice hockey games played in the Dallas area per year. It is just not the transplanted Yankees and Canadians but, native Texans who have an interest in hockey. The Dallas Stars aren't going anywhere. This problem is purely about Atlanta with two failed NHL franchises.
One statistic to confirm what I'm saying about lack of overall southern interest in hockey:
According to ESPN, five of the six NHL teams located in the southeastern United States (Atlanta, Dallas, Florida, Nashville, Carolina) finished between 20th and 28th of 30 teams in average attendance numbers this season (Atlanta was #28). The highest-ranked southern team on the list was Tampa Bay at #18.
Link goodness: http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance
According to ESPN, five of the six NHL teams located in the southeastern United States (Atlanta, Dallas, Florida, Nashville, Carolina) finished between 20th and 28th of 30 teams in average attendance numbers this season (Atlanta was #28). The highest-ranked southern team on the list was Tampa Bay at #18.
Link goodness: http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance
RADIO TRUTH said:
Dallas area has 9 ice rinks, and 7000 amateur hockey games per year, right, not even in North Dakota.
http://www.yellowpages.com/dallas-tx/ice-rinks
Atlanta has 12..
http://www.yellowpages.com/atlanta-ga/ice-rinks?g=Atlanta%2C+GA&q=ice+rinks
whitfm said:
Don't forget that the Atlanta metro has attracted a lot of non-Southern transplants over the last 30 years. Ultimately, though, I think this development has a bit more to do with local ownership AND overall NHL health than it does with Atlanta rejecting the team. It's a win-win for Winnipeg, as it now has a modern, ready-for-primetime arena to 'take back' its team lost to chase American TV dollars.
Speaking of TV--awareness of the NHL on television is already at a point where this team move to Canada (where Canadian viewers won't be counted for U.S. national telecasts) probably doesn't hurt all that much. If anything, renewed merchandising and ticket sales might make up for it.
Nice try now take your medications. The Dallas Stars own 9 Starplexes, 7 of them have 2 full sized rinks, 2 of them have 3 full sized rinks. That's 20 rinks right there. In addition there are full sized rink at a number of shopping malls plus a full sized rink that is only for hockey in Richardson. The number of full sized rinks is right around 30.
Atlanta is a major metropolitan area with lots of amenities that 99 percent of southern towns do not have. Atlanta is market number 7. Dallas is market number 5. The difference is population is about 900,000 yet Dallas has 30 ice rinks and 7000 amateur hockey games and lots of high school hockey and Atlanta doesn't. If the cities are relatively close in market size and both cities have plenty of transplanted Yankees, both pro and amateur hockey should have done just as well in Atlanta.
jabba17 said:
There was one other factor: Tom Cousins' real-estate holdings suffered a sharp decline in value in the late 1970s, which resulted in it falling apart. I think that might've been a major factor in the demise of the Atlanta Flames, more so when coupled with a lack of a local TV deal and exacerbated money losses.
whitfm said:
I can't speak for Atlanta or Dallas but in Phoenix we have a sizable hockey fan base as evidenced by the long tenure of the old RoadRunners but when the NHL came to town they made several stupid decisions.
1. Located the building on the West (read 'poor') side of town where the major Hispanic population lives - not a lot of hockey fans living close by. They had an option to locate the building at the eastside crossroads convenient to both public transportation and two intersecting freeways but noooooo. It was decided to place yet another generic shopping mall at that site and put the hockey building out in the pasture lands.
2. Scheduled the majority of their games on weekday evenings where it is almost impossible for fans to get off work then get a bite to eat then get to the stadium in time for face-off.
3. Average drive time to the stadium from anywhere east of central Phoenix is in excess of 40 minutes and possibly a lot more depending on how far out one is. In short, a terrible commute with no public transportation available.
4. Within the first two years virtually disassembled the relocated team and sold off all the stars making the team non-competitive. Over time this has been reversed but the financial troubles left over from those days almost guarantee that the salary cap will always be a huge burden for this team.
5. Hired a former star as coach then manager (Gretzky) who (a) didn't live anywhere near Phoenix, (b) did virtually no marketing for the team (c) couldn't coach.
Fans here will support sports teams but only if they feel they are getting their monies worth. They haven't. With everything else going wrong the team has to at least win and they haven't.
This is a textbook case of mismanagement by virtually everyone involved.
An interview with Pierre Lebrun on HNIC, just concluded, stated the following:
Official talks between True North (the potential purchasers of the Thrashers) and the Atlanta Thrashers management just began one week ago.
Two votes remain to approve the move. Both will be held on June 21st.
The deal is expected to complete but is not yet complete.
The move, if it happens, will transfer the Manitoba Moose, currently the AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks, to the new Winnipeg team. Vancouver will have to arrange a new AHL farm club.
Official talks between True North (the potential purchasers of the Thrashers) and the Atlanta Thrashers management just began one week ago.
Two votes remain to approve the move. Both will be held on June 21st.
The deal is expected to complete but is not yet complete.
The move, if it happens, will transfer the Manitoba Moose, currently the AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks, to the new Winnipeg team. Vancouver will have to arrange a new AHL farm club.
landtuna said:
Getting to the Glendale arena, it was originally supposed to be built in Scottsdale. IIRC, the main reason the arena in Scottsdale fell through might be attributed to the anti-publicly-funded-stadium crowd angered over a vote that didn't go their way and the election of two city councilmen who were raising questions over whether the owners at the time really had enough money in the first place to get it done.
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