The Atlanta Spirit ownership group has gotten tired of losing money on the NHL franchise that they ran into the ground due to poor management and neglect, and are now trying to
extort some sucker out of the cash necessary to keep the team in Atlanta. Let 'em go. Atlanta is not an NHL town and as long as there's a
minor league franchise here, we'll be fine. Don't give me that b-b-b-but then we won't have four major professional sports franchises crap. The NHL hasn't been a major professional sport since they locked out the players and canceled a season over some minor details in a salary cap deal. Atlanta has NASCAR, two major college programs and the Georgia Dome hosting bowl games and tournaments on a regular basis. Don't tell me Atlanta isn't a true sports city because we don't have a pathetic NHL franchise that no one watches. Honestly, I'd much rather have an MLS team at this point.
Yeah, I'm still traumatized by the Flames running off to Calgary in 1980, but the Flames actually won playoff games. This team doesn't. Maybe if the owners had been paying attention and didn't let Don Waddell trainwreck the franchise while they were off squabbling with Steve Belkin over the Hawks people in this town might care a little bit. Time to let 'em go. People in Canada would actually appreciate the team, move 'em to Winnipeg. Take the Lightning and Coyotes and Hurricanes and all the other misplaced NHL teams with ya.
8 comments:
I've never been comfortable with NHL teams being located in the South or in warm climates.
I'm with you on this one, bring 'em North! Winnipeg, Quebec City, Hamilton...there's a bunch of Canadian cities that would be happy to give them a home I'm sure.
Send the Thrashers to Kansas City!! Then rename them.
What it takes in the warm climates (like Dallas) is good teams that entertain and stay competitive. It's working in Tampa. It's finally getting legs in Carolina.
But it has to be worked. Florida and Atlanta aren't working the franchises like they should - so off they should go.
I'd love to see the NHL back in Winnipeg and Quebec, but the financial realities won't work there unless there's some corporate magic.
I'd say Seattle and Portland could be places to plant them.
You know, I used to watch hockey regularly. I used to follow the standings every day.
I haven't really paid much attention to the sport since they cancelled that whole season. I've only watched the Stanley Cups with the Penguins in them since the strike.
I would have thought that would have applied to the Hawks too, from what I've seen in person.
I was in the vicinity of Philips Arena on November 11, 2007, before and during a game the Hawks had with the Wizards and you could never tell that there was a major sporting event going on. Taking the Marta right after the game had ended, I could only spot one person that might have been at the game and detected no one even talking about basketball.
Maybe it's different on a day other than Sunday. I did, however, hear several people talk about the Thrashers game from the previous night.
Amen dayf! Bring back the Jets!!!
A-friggin-men. Thrashers sounds like a pee-wee soccer team. Stupid, uninspiring name.
I am reasonably happy with Equator-friendly NHL teams, as long as the community supports their presence. The league has to admit that the healthiest thing for their sport at this point is to move back to Arctic Circle friendly locations that want them. It's better to have half of a city of 500,000 want you there, rather than 50,000 people in a city of 1.5 million.
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