Post by canuck5 on Apr 11, 2011 10:19:54 GMT -5
Waddell: Thrashers ownership not talking to anyone about relocating team
By Phil Foley, Atlanta Thrashers Examiner
April 10th, 2011 9:08 pm ET
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It looks like the Atlanta Thrashers sale process is going to take a while.
Thrashers President Don Waddell talked to the press after Atlanta’s season-ending 5-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday afternoon and according to one of the team’s longest tenured employees, the process for the sale of Atlanta’s hockey team is still ongoing.
“It’s been a work in progress,” Waddell said. “We’re certainly going to continue to move forward and do everything possible to keep this team in Atlanta.”
According to court documents, the seven-man entity that owns Atlanta’s money-losing hockey team has been trying to unload the franchise since shortly after buying the team in 2004.
Negotiations to sell the team didn’t start in earnest until a lawsuit between the owners and rogue partner Steve Belkin was settled in December.
According to Chris Vivlamore of the AJC, as many as five parties are interested in either purchasing all or part of the Spirit’s assets. The Spirit owns the Thrashers, the Atlanta Hawks and the operating rights to Philips Arena.
Numerous published reports have the Thrashers with one foot out the door. Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on Sunday that ownership has told workers that if the Phoenix Coyotes do not move to Winnipeg, Atlanta’s hockey team could “almost certainly” land in Manitoba’s largest city instead.
At least publically - for now - the Thrashers organization is denying that any sort of negotiations are in place to relocate the franchise.
When asked if anyone in ownership was talking to folks looking to relocate the team, Waddell responded: “No. Not at all.”
Any sale of the team to local investors that will keep the team here is in the early stages, at best according to the Thrashers’ President.
“We’ve had lots of people interested,” Waddell said. “We’ve had a couple of people move to the next step. Nothing is close at all. It’s a work in progress.”
The window of opportunity to move the team for next season has theoretically closed. Under NHL Bylaws, a team must file a petition to relocate prior to Jan. 1 of the year before it seeks to leave.
However, the NHL’s Board of Governors could theoretically waive this requirement under exigent circumstances. Thrashers ownership claims that the team has lost $150 million over the past seven years and that they do not want to stomach another season of eight-digit losses.
Relocation is also not easy as a practical matter as the clock ticks closer to start of the 2011-12 season.
If the Thrashers move to Manitoba’s largest city, they’d likely move from the Eastern Conference to the West, which means another team – perhaps the Detroit Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets or the Nashville Predators – would have to jump to the East. That throws a kink into the scheduling process, which generally is finalized by June.
Waddell hopes that at the end of the day, hockey remains in Atlanta.
“I think it’s going to turn out well for all of us,” he said. “There’s a lot of reasons why hockey can be successful here.”
If a deal to keep the team in Atlanta falls through and the team bolts for Canada, it will be the second time that the city of Atlanta has lost a hockey team. The Calgary Flames left town for Alberta following the 1979-80 season.
That would make a return of pro hockey to the United States' ninth largest metropolitan area unlikely in the future, something that is not lost on Waddell and the Atlanta Spirit.
“I think if you lose a team for a second time, you’re not going to get a team again,” Waddell said.
Whether Atlanta loses the hockey team named after the Georgia state bird may depend on what happens with the Coyotes. The NHL brokered a deal to sell the league-owned team to Chicago investor Mathew Hulsizer.
As part of the deal, the city of Glendale, Ariz. agreed to forward $100 million to Hulsizer from the sale of municipal bonds for the amortization of future parking revenues around the city-owned Jobbing.com Arena. However, the deal has hit a snag as a local watchdog group – the Goldwater Institute – has held up the sale of the bonds by threatening suit.
If the bonds don’t issue shortly, Phoenix could head back to its old home of Winnipeg. The Winnipeg Jets left town for Arizona after the 1995-96 season.
Other possible cities where the Thrashers could land include Quebec City, Kansas City and Las Vegas.
For updates whenever a new article is posted, please follow me either on Twitter @pjfoleyexaminer or Google Buzz.
By Phil Foley, Atlanta Thrashers Examiner
April 10th, 2011 9:08 pm ET
----------------
It looks like the Atlanta Thrashers sale process is going to take a while.
Thrashers President Don Waddell talked to the press after Atlanta’s season-ending 5-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday afternoon and according to one of the team’s longest tenured employees, the process for the sale of Atlanta’s hockey team is still ongoing.
“It’s been a work in progress,” Waddell said. “We’re certainly going to continue to move forward and do everything possible to keep this team in Atlanta.”
According to court documents, the seven-man entity that owns Atlanta’s money-losing hockey team has been trying to unload the franchise since shortly after buying the team in 2004.
Negotiations to sell the team didn’t start in earnest until a lawsuit between the owners and rogue partner Steve Belkin was settled in December.
According to Chris Vivlamore of the AJC, as many as five parties are interested in either purchasing all or part of the Spirit’s assets. The Spirit owns the Thrashers, the Atlanta Hawks and the operating rights to Philips Arena.
Numerous published reports have the Thrashers with one foot out the door. Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on Sunday that ownership has told workers that if the Phoenix Coyotes do not move to Winnipeg, Atlanta’s hockey team could “almost certainly” land in Manitoba’s largest city instead.
At least publically - for now - the Thrashers organization is denying that any sort of negotiations are in place to relocate the franchise.
When asked if anyone in ownership was talking to folks looking to relocate the team, Waddell responded: “No. Not at all.”
Any sale of the team to local investors that will keep the team here is in the early stages, at best according to the Thrashers’ President.
“We’ve had lots of people interested,” Waddell said. “We’ve had a couple of people move to the next step. Nothing is close at all. It’s a work in progress.”
The window of opportunity to move the team for next season has theoretically closed. Under NHL Bylaws, a team must file a petition to relocate prior to Jan. 1 of the year before it seeks to leave.
However, the NHL’s Board of Governors could theoretically waive this requirement under exigent circumstances. Thrashers ownership claims that the team has lost $150 million over the past seven years and that they do not want to stomach another season of eight-digit losses.
Relocation is also not easy as a practical matter as the clock ticks closer to start of the 2011-12 season.
If the Thrashers move to Manitoba’s largest city, they’d likely move from the Eastern Conference to the West, which means another team – perhaps the Detroit Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets or the Nashville Predators – would have to jump to the East. That throws a kink into the scheduling process, which generally is finalized by June.
Waddell hopes that at the end of the day, hockey remains in Atlanta.
“I think it’s going to turn out well for all of us,” he said. “There’s a lot of reasons why hockey can be successful here.”
If a deal to keep the team in Atlanta falls through and the team bolts for Canada, it will be the second time that the city of Atlanta has lost a hockey team. The Calgary Flames left town for Alberta following the 1979-80 season.
That would make a return of pro hockey to the United States' ninth largest metropolitan area unlikely in the future, something that is not lost on Waddell and the Atlanta Spirit.
“I think if you lose a team for a second time, you’re not going to get a team again,” Waddell said.
Whether Atlanta loses the hockey team named after the Georgia state bird may depend on what happens with the Coyotes. The NHL brokered a deal to sell the league-owned team to Chicago investor Mathew Hulsizer.
As part of the deal, the city of Glendale, Ariz. agreed to forward $100 million to Hulsizer from the sale of municipal bonds for the amortization of future parking revenues around the city-owned Jobbing.com Arena. However, the deal has hit a snag as a local watchdog group – the Goldwater Institute – has held up the sale of the bonds by threatening suit.
If the bonds don’t issue shortly, Phoenix could head back to its old home of Winnipeg. The Winnipeg Jets left town for Arizona after the 1995-96 season.
Other possible cities where the Thrashers could land include Quebec City, Kansas City and Las Vegas.
For updates whenever a new article is posted, please follow me either on Twitter @pjfoleyexaminer or Google Buzz.