Post by WHA on Apr 25, 2009 14:52:53 GMT -5
This guy writes how I feel about the decision to build the MTSC.
bleacherreport.com/articles/112441-the-history-of-nhl-expansion-to-canada-no-4-what-winnipeg-told-the-nhl/poll_results#poll
In 1988, the movie Eight Men Out, the story of the Chicago "Black Sox" of 1919 was released. In a minor scene at the start of the movie, two young boys are seen rushing towards the stadium because one of them, merely by selling a few newspapers is able to raise enough money for him and his friend to afford two bleacher seats.
This scene pops into my mind when I think of the current situation in Winnipeg. And when pondered on, this minor scene has vast meaning not only for the NHL but also for all professional sports.
On Nov. 16, 2004, Winnipeg opened a new arena. If the goal was to get back into the NHL, it was a stupid thing to do, comparable to Toronto's building of the Skydome in 1989. In the latter case, before the Skydome was built, there was talk of building a stadium to stage the Olympics and to lure an NFL franchise.
For the Olympics, a grand stadium seating at least 70,000 was required and the NFL's policy openly stated that a 60,000 seat stadium was the minimum capacity for a new franchise. Thus it was strange to discover that the city had accepted a design that seated only 54,000, including restaurant seating.
Ever since Quebec and Winnipeg lost their franchises in the mid-1990s, there has been hope that the NHL would return or expand to another Canadian city. By then, John Ziegler had been replaced by Gary Bettman, and the NHL commenced on shifting franchises and expanding to the American south, ignoring Canada and even the Northern United States.
In today's sports world, there is one acid test to determine if a city is serious about having a major-league franchise for the long term that can compete for a championship and that is to have a proper professional-size facility to play in.
In 1980, when Winnipeg joined the NHL, the median for an arena was 16,000. Today, it is 18,000. If Winnipeg wanted to impress the NHL by building a new arena in order to compete with future American applicants, it shot its arrow backwards into itself.
If anything, a smaller market needs a bigger arena to compensate for a smaller base population. It will take lots of money to renovate the new arena to bring it up to NHL competitive capacity. For all I know it may be impossible to do and another arena would have to built.
So Winnipeg's action was utter folly. That is if the goal was to get back into the NHL.
But Winnipeg's choice is commendable if the goal is something else. What Winnipeg told the NHL was that we don't want you and all you symbolize and stand for.
We don't want to try and apply for a franchise in a league where American applicants are more likely to get a more favourable hearing. Even if we built the arena with the proper size, you are more likely to favour an American city with a larger market. Witness the fate of Hamilton.
So we're building an arena that suits are own needs. We're not even going to bother to compete with the Americans.
We don't want to take the chance on fickle owners who may jump ship and move the team elsewhere if we don't give into their blackmail. We've seen what happened to the Montreal Expos and the NFL teams in Oakland, Baltimore, Houston, St. Louis, and Cleveland.
We don't want an arena and a level of hockey where ticket prices are so expensive that only rich people and corporations can afford them. We'll settle for the finest arena in minor hockey, but one where more people can afford it.
We don't relate to owners and players whose salaries are beyond the beyond. We don't care for slick marketing with products that cost more simply because they have a team logo on it.
We don't care for leagues where more and more games are shown on pay or cable/ satellite tv that a lot of people cannot afford. See what happened to the Grey Cup last year.
I guess you'll have to regard us as being old-fashioned and out of touch. But we're content to stew in our innocence for a little while longer. Something like those two boys in Eight Men Out.
bleacherreport.com/articles/112441-the-history-of-nhl-expansion-to-canada-no-4-what-winnipeg-told-the-nhl/poll_results#poll
In 1988, the movie Eight Men Out, the story of the Chicago "Black Sox" of 1919 was released. In a minor scene at the start of the movie, two young boys are seen rushing towards the stadium because one of them, merely by selling a few newspapers is able to raise enough money for him and his friend to afford two bleacher seats.
This scene pops into my mind when I think of the current situation in Winnipeg. And when pondered on, this minor scene has vast meaning not only for the NHL but also for all professional sports.
On Nov. 16, 2004, Winnipeg opened a new arena. If the goal was to get back into the NHL, it was a stupid thing to do, comparable to Toronto's building of the Skydome in 1989. In the latter case, before the Skydome was built, there was talk of building a stadium to stage the Olympics and to lure an NFL franchise.
For the Olympics, a grand stadium seating at least 70,000 was required and the NFL's policy openly stated that a 60,000 seat stadium was the minimum capacity for a new franchise. Thus it was strange to discover that the city had accepted a design that seated only 54,000, including restaurant seating.
Ever since Quebec and Winnipeg lost their franchises in the mid-1990s, there has been hope that the NHL would return or expand to another Canadian city. By then, John Ziegler had been replaced by Gary Bettman, and the NHL commenced on shifting franchises and expanding to the American south, ignoring Canada and even the Northern United States.
In today's sports world, there is one acid test to determine if a city is serious about having a major-league franchise for the long term that can compete for a championship and that is to have a proper professional-size facility to play in.
In 1980, when Winnipeg joined the NHL, the median for an arena was 16,000. Today, it is 18,000. If Winnipeg wanted to impress the NHL by building a new arena in order to compete with future American applicants, it shot its arrow backwards into itself.
If anything, a smaller market needs a bigger arena to compensate for a smaller base population. It will take lots of money to renovate the new arena to bring it up to NHL competitive capacity. For all I know it may be impossible to do and another arena would have to built.
So Winnipeg's action was utter folly. That is if the goal was to get back into the NHL.
But Winnipeg's choice is commendable if the goal is something else. What Winnipeg told the NHL was that we don't want you and all you symbolize and stand for.
We don't want to try and apply for a franchise in a league where American applicants are more likely to get a more favourable hearing. Even if we built the arena with the proper size, you are more likely to favour an American city with a larger market. Witness the fate of Hamilton.
So we're building an arena that suits are own needs. We're not even going to bother to compete with the Americans.
We don't want to take the chance on fickle owners who may jump ship and move the team elsewhere if we don't give into their blackmail. We've seen what happened to the Montreal Expos and the NFL teams in Oakland, Baltimore, Houston, St. Louis, and Cleveland.
We don't want an arena and a level of hockey where ticket prices are so expensive that only rich people and corporations can afford them. We'll settle for the finest arena in minor hockey, but one where more people can afford it.
We don't relate to owners and players whose salaries are beyond the beyond. We don't care for slick marketing with products that cost more simply because they have a team logo on it.
We don't care for leagues where more and more games are shown on pay or cable/ satellite tv that a lot of people cannot afford. See what happened to the Grey Cup last year.
I guess you'll have to regard us as being old-fashioned and out of touch. But we're content to stew in our innocence for a little while longer. Something like those two boys in Eight Men Out.