|
Post by garydare on Jan 22, 2006 4:31:39 GMT -5
I have seen Las Vegas mentioned a couple of times but is there any real interest as opposed to, say, Kansas City or Houston (Les Alexander)? I was transferred to Portland, Oregon a couple of years ago and it drives me CRAZY to hear it come up in NHL rumours because it's so outdated! While Paul Allen did try to get the Penguins (1999) and the Coyotes (2001) for his Rose Garden Arena, something called "life" happened along the way. Allen lost half his net worth on paper in the dot.com bust, dropping from #2 ($41 Billion) to #3 ($23 Billion) on the Forbes list. A year ago, he gave up the Rose Garden by letting his Oregon Arena Corporation (OAC) slide into bankruptcy. Allen's NBA team, the Trail Blazers, are now unhappy tenants with a bad lease (or that's what the lawsuits flying in court say) after the creditors took over. Any time that you hear Portland mentioned, ask "Who?" and if someone remembers the name Paul Allen, well, remember ... General Francisco Franco is still dead!
|
|
|
Post by vivianmb on Jan 22, 2006 10:36:07 GMT -5
odds on which cityt will get a team. winnipeg sure bet 1-1 houston another sure thing 1-1 kc nhl apparantly wants this so another good bet.4-3 hamilton unsure 5-1. hartford iffy 10-1. quebec "non" 20-1. portland see hartford 50-1. milwaukee.good fit but not for the blackhawks 75-1. las vegas NOT gonna happen. 1000-1. halifax see vegas 10000- 1.
thanks to johnny "three fingers" fannelli of west 48th st. for the odds
|
|
|
Post by vivianmb on Jan 22, 2006 10:45:01 GMT -5
now for the odds of teams relocating and/or folding new jersey devils...after newark 150-1. phoenix coyotes....getting desperate/cheesy...75-1. anaheim whatevers...5 more years 40-1. new york islanders.. pack up the truck...25-1. atlanta thrashers...see anaheim..10-1. nashville predators...bye bye... 5-1. carolina candycanes....unless they win the cup...5-2. florida panthers...going, going...2-1 pittsburgh penguins...will take no odds.sorry again thanks to hell's kitchen's Johnny fannelli for supplying the odds.
|
|
|
Post by garydare on Jan 22, 2006 11:19:32 GMT -5
The Devils situation is becoming a farce because too many politicians committed public money for a Newark building that was supposed to feature the Nets as headliner. Nobody committed the Nets to the deal and a buyer swooped them up for Brooklyn. Now they're stuck with the Devils, who get around 10,000 paid tickets per game at Meadowlands.
The New York Islanders have the 2nd-oldest building and no prospects for a new one since Nassau County has teetered on bankruptcy for nearly a decade and will tip over, sooner or later. Most US teams depend on public subsidies and that era has come to an end. Also, Isles owner Charles Wang may face civil suits from Computer Associates, a firm that he founded and once headed, for ill-gotten bonuses from shifting income between quarters to hit financial milestones. Junior partner in the Isles, Sanjay Kumar, has already been indicted and lower execs have gone to jail. Funny, no talk from NHL HQ on Sixth Avenue that the NYI have to get rid of/buy out Kumar ...
Portland, Oregon CAN host a team but the reality is without Paul Allen. Some outside owner will have to bring in a team and cut a deal with the Rose Garden (Allen is no longer its owner). One scenario could be that somebody cuts a deal with KC before the Penguins become available (remember, the casino possibility makes their relocation unclear) and Mario has to tender offers from elsewhere. Compound that with the possibility that Paul Allen sells the Trailblazers (rumors are that he would prefer to own the Sonics since he has few ties to Portland now) to new St. Louis owners, who only wanted the Savvis Center lease and flip out the Blues at a bargain price. Lemieux's minor partner, Boots Del Biaggio, could buy the team under that scenario and move it west when the casino slots license doesn't appear.
|
|
|
Post by Ducky on Jan 22, 2006 12:59:53 GMT -5
st louis will not leave its a good hockey market
|
|
|
Post by garydare on Jan 22, 2006 16:53:36 GMT -5
I would agree that St. Louis has some great fans but their team has turned a loss every season for twenty years, through three sets of owners (Onorato, Kiel Partners and now the Walmart Lauries). At some point, somebody's going to decide to stop subsidizing the hockey fans in the Loo.
|
|
|
Post by hawker14 on Jan 22, 2006 17:00:31 GMT -5
i just for the life of me can't figure out how the nhl will work in kansas city if it doesn't in st.louis.
will any owner of a kc franchise receive more favourable lease conditions from their arena owners (owners of the la kings) than a team in st.louis (which does in fact control it's arena). i just can't see it.
as well as kc's lack of support for the royals. not too mention hockey has never worked in kc. just makes my head spin.
las vegas is a great city, but who wants to watch hockey for three hours there ? i know i wouldn't.
do you bet $ 100 on your team instead of buying a ticket to gain admission ?
|
|
|
Post by garydare on Jan 23, 2006 0:44:49 GMT -5
Actually, the Savvis Center in St. Louis is a public facility but the Lauries' lease gives them control of the facility and all of the revenues. The city just expects to see cheques in the mail at expected intervals and that's that. In KC, Anschutz has the management contract for Sprint Center so they will be landlords (just like PAMCO at the Rose Garden to the Trail Blazers in Portland, Oregon after Paul Allen bowed out) to whoever owns a team playing there. The Anschutz people are apparently trying to assemble a third party owners group for the Penguins, there was an uproar in the Pittsburgh papers when Howard Baldwin showed up as one of the partners. Baldwin was the guy who gave Mario the huge contract (which lead to the repo action over bankruptcy in 1999) and took short term upgrades at the Igloo/Mellon Arena instead of a new building. He was in the movie production business since leaving the Pens and is even richer now than before! The KC situation is a bit different and stranger, because the city and county spent their money up front instead of over time. Once the bonds were floated and funds in place, the arena went up and construction wasn't affected by the downturn (and reduced revenue flow that is making it hard to service the bond issues). Funding was not tied to general revenues, they floated a big bond issue to get a huge wad of cash all at once. Anschutz was engaged and since they have an arena, they have to figure out how to make a go of it.
|
|