Potential Atlanta NHL Expansion Team Thread

[AtlantaWhaler]

When the Atlanta Untied was voting for the team name, I voted for Atlanta Terminus. Love that name.

 

[AintLifeGrand]

When the Atlanta Untied was voting for the team name, I voted for Atlanta Terminus. Love that name.

I think those dumb supporters groups would take issue with the NHL Co-opting their little group's name

 

[Yukon Joe]

Here are the state symbols of GA

The only one that i think lands is a play off the Moniker of “Empire State of the South”

maybe something like Atlanta Emperors or Georgia Empire HC , Georgia Giants or maybe even the Atlanta Titans could land

• 
  
• Amphibian: American green tree frog
• Bird: brown thrasher
• Crop: peanut
• Fish: largemouth bass
• Flower: Cherokee rose
• Fruit: peach
• Gem: quartz
• Insect: honey bee
• Mammal: white-tailed deer[184]
• Marine mammal: right whale
• Mineral: staurolite
• Nicknames:
  • "Peach State"
  • "Empire State of the South"[185]
• Reptile: gopher tortoise
• Song: "Georgia on My Mind"
• Tree: live oak
• Vegetable: Vidalia onion

I think you could have a lot of fun with the "Georgia Peanuts".

Come on - the logo is a giant peanut. The mascot is a character similar to Mr Peanut (probably w/o the monocle). So many "Deez nuts" jokes to count. Headline writers have an absolute field day...

Very much a minor league sort of sensibility, but so what?

 

[nhlfan79]

I had an idea the other day, and the more I think about it, the more I like it. The Cockroaches. Everyone else seems to hate our existence, yet we always seem to come back, no matter how many times they try to kill us.

 

[AintLifeGrand]

so this is very interesting

 

[dj4aces]

Whether Bucci's reference was a hint or not remains to be seen, but it's certainly a thought with regards to potential ownership.

Not sure this would make me eat at a Waffle House, though, but it's a cool thought all the same.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

It’s sad to have to ask this, but is a $1.7 billion net worth enough to pay for and own a new team? I honestly don’t know.

 

[Boonk]

It’s sad to have to ask this, but is a $1.7 billion net worth enough to pay for and own a new team? I honestly don’t know.

League net worth avg is about $1.3bil. Its plenty doable.

 

[BMN]

You see the odd rumour scattered about when it comes to investors, but I'd think reputable reporters would have covered them all. This rumour topped them all even it was only chunked down to a speculative tweet.

* TUMBLEWEEDS *

I'll see myself out...

 

[No Fun Shogun]

League net worth avg is about $1.3bil. It’s plenty doable.

Isn’t that the average franchise valuation rather than ownership net worth? Putting over 75% of one’s net worth into an NHL franchise seems like a pretty risky move.

Assuming he is involved, he’d assuredly have minority (or majority) partners.

Other options are the Chik-fil-a (editorial comment without context: yuck) siblings, each worth at about ten billion a pop, and several others worth over four billion apiece.

10 Georgia residents make Forbes' 400 richest people in the U.S. annual list

Forbes has released its annual list of the 400 richest people in the United States and 10 Georgia residents are on the list.

www.fox5atlanta.com

Point is that there are a load of potential investors looking at just available financials. Question is if there are enough interested investors, and only time will tell.

 

[AintLifeGrand]

Whether Bucci's reference was a hint or not remains to be seen, but it's certainly a thought with regards to potential ownership.

Not sure this would make me eat at a Waffle House, though, but it's a cool thought all the same.

waffle house is dank what r u talking about?

Isn’t that the average franchise valuation rather than ownership net worth? Putting over 75% of one’s net worth into an NHL franchise seems like a pretty risky move.

Assuming he is involved, he’d assuredly have minority (or majority) partners.

Other options are the Chik-fil-a (editorial comment without context: yuck) siblings, each worth at about ten billion a pop, and several others worth over four billion apiece.

10 Georgia residents make Forbes' 400 richest people in the U.S. annual list

Forbes has released its annual list of the 400 richest people in the United States and 10 Georgia residents are on the list.

www.fox5atlanta.com

Point is that there are a load of potential investors looking at just available financials. Question is if there are enough interested investors, and only time will tell.

Lets not start trashing Chick Fil A either

 

[Rabid Ranger]

The mind wanders for a possible a team name. I say if it happens, they resurrect the Thrashers. If not....something peach related? I also wonder if ala the Yotes they will go with the state rather than a city.

 

[BMN]

waffle house is dank what r u talking about?

If nothing else, the goaltending of such a team would be on point....

 

[DaveG]

Bobby Dodd would be cool, simply from a "playing hockey in the shadow of the city" standpoint. I'm not sure such a view could be beat, even if travel times leave much to be desired..

Given the fact that Atlanta is a fairly rainy city in the winter months, as well as a city with unpredictable weather (will it be 20F with snow? 30F with an ice storm? 70F with thunderstorms? Will it start at 70F/thunder, only to drop to 20F/snow in only a few hours? I've experienced it all here), perhaps Mercedes Benz might not be a bad idea -- at least from a "worst case scenario" point of view. The optics of holding an outdoor game under a dome isn't great, but would the league prefer to delay until the following day when it rains all day? Probably not, but stranger things have happened.

If you want to embrace more of the state, rather than simply metro Atlanta, hosting the game at Sanford Stadium in Athens would be a good choice too. The only questionmark here (besides the weather) would be whether such a Winter Classic would attract enough fans to fill the 96k seats at the venue.

Truist would only really be an option if one is still uncertain about the market, as it has the fewest number of seats out of the other venues listed, as well as it being located where fans already are. However, I do think Truist might be a better venue if it's a Stadium Series event, as one expects ballparks to host games like that.

Just my thoughts.

Would likely depend on the opponent IMO. Atlanta 3.0 vs Carolina or Nashville instead of one of the usual suspects (Boston, Pittsburgh, Chicago) might be the best option there in terms of attracting fans of the other team to head down and help fill the place out.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Point is that there are a load of potential investors looking at just available financials. Question is if there are enough interested investors, and only time will tell.

Agreed. Until I see the $$ and NHL interest, I'm taming my excitement.

 

[dj4aces]

It’s sad to have to ask this, but is a $1.7 billion net worth enough to pay for and own a new team? I honestly don’t know.

If I were worth $1.7bn, I don't know that I'd want to drop more than half of that on expansion fees. I'd say there's almost certainly investors involved, assuming he's actually the guy (or one of them, because who really knows for sure?) the league has been talking to. Like you, I too wanna see the money... but we're not going to see anything until the league makes expansion plans official. After all, the first rule of NHL Ownership Club is you don't talk about NHL Ownership Club.

waffle house is dank what r u talking about?

Just not my cup of tea. Never really has been.

 

[sh724]

You see the odd rumour scattered about when it comes to investors, but I'd think reputable reporters would have covered them all. This rumour topped them all even it was only chunked down to a speculative tweet.

* TUMBLEWEEDS *

I'll see myself out...

I havent seen any credible information on potential owners, the only name that is for sure known to be involved is the car deal that is definitely not wealthy enough to do it on his own.

Its been pretty obvious since the beginning that he is the public face of the project and there is a person or persons bringing most of the money who are choosing to stay in the shadows for the time being.

The NHL and the city will know where the money is coming from but everyone is being very tight lipped as again not a single credible report on who.

 

[GreenHornet]

I havent seen any credible information on potential owners, the only name that is for sure known to be involved is the car deal that is definitely not wealthy enough to do it on his own.

Its been pretty obvious since the beginning that he is the public face of the project and there is a person or persons bringing most of the money who are choosing to stay in the shadows for the time being.

The NHL and the city will know where the money is coming from but everyone is being very tight lipped as again not a single credible report on who.

EXACTAMUNDO!!! For those old enough to remember, this reminds me a lot of when hockey first returned to Atlanta after the Flames left. Around 1990 or 91, a bunch of different entities had been very vocal about their plans to try to bring it back, including a couple of start-up leagues that were hoping to become the next WHA (neither of which ever got off the ground) who were very public about negotiating with The Omni for a lease.

Meanwhile, Richard Adler and David Berkman operated very much under the radar and it wasn't until they held the press conference introducing them as the owners of the IHL's Atlanta Knights that anybody outside of a very small, very quiet group of folks found out who they were or what they were up to.

My guess, and it's only a guess, is that it'll be at least until the Arizona situation gets resolved one way or another and shovels actually go into the ground for the arena at The Gathering that we even remotely get a sniff as to who's behind the money.

 

[TheLegend]

EXACTAMUNDO!!! For those old enough to remember, this reminds me a lot of when hockey first returned to Atlanta after the Flames left. Around 1990 or 91, a bunch of different entities had been very vocal about their plans to try to bring it back, including a couple of start-up leagues that were hoping to become the next WHA (neither of which ever got off the ground) who were very public about negotiating with The Omni for a lease.

Meanwhile, Richard Adler and David Berkman operated very much under the radar and it wasn't until they held the press conference introducing them as the owners of the IHL's Atlanta Knights that anybody outside of a very small, very quiet group of folks found out who they were or what they were up to.

My guess, and it's only a guess, is that it'll be at least until the Arizona situation gets resolved one way or another and shovels actually go into the ground for the arena at The Gathering that we even remotely get a sniff as to who's behind the money.

You probably remember the situation in Seattle when there were three groups openly looking for a way to get an expansion franchise and ultimately the group to actually get it wasn't even on the radar.

Nobody had even heard of Oak View Group until just before they finalized and announced their deal to rebuild Key Arena.

 

[aqib]

You probably remember the situation in Seattle when there were three groups openly looking for a way to get an expansion franchise and ultimately the group to actually get it wasn't even on the radar.

Nobody had even heard of Oak View Group until just before they finalized and announced their deal to rebuild Key Arena.

I think everyone who follows the business of sports knew who Tim Leiweke was. He ran AEG and then MLSE. Sure Oak View was a start up but its not like it wasn't a credible outfit

 

[Yukon Joe]

I think everyone who follows the business of sports knew who Tim Leiweke was. He ran AEG and then MLSE. Sure Oak View was a start up but its not like it wasn't a credible outfit

I think that misses the point.

David Bonderman (private equity), Tim Leiweke (above), Andy Jassy (CEO of Amazon) and Jerry Bruckheimer (movies) were all well known people - it's just it wasn't really public they were putting in a bid for an expansion team.

 

[Yukon Joe]

It’s sad to have to ask this, but is a $1.7 billion net worth enough to pay for and own a new team? I honestly don’t know.

A few different thoughts/comments here:

-I don't think any potential NHL owner is going to pay 100% of the purchase price outright in cash. Any purchase is going to be a combination of debt (either assuming debt from the franchise, or new debt), or bringing on minority partners (as long as you maintain majority control, there are lots of people out there who will gladly chip is some big $$$ to be a part-owner of a pro sports team).

-not all net worths are created equal. It's one thing to have a net worth in cash or fairly liquid investments - it's another to have all of your wealth tied up in a majority share in your own business. In that case if you wanted to invest in something like a pro sports franchise you'd have to sell a big chunk of that business first - which many probably don't want to do.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

A few different thoughts/comments here:

-I don't think any potential NHL owner is going to pay 100% of the purchase price outright in cash. Any purchase is going to be a combination of debt (either assuming debt from the franchise, or new debt), or bringing on minority partners (as long as you maintain majority control, there are lots of people out there who will gladly chip is some big $$$ to be a part-owner of a pro sports team).

-not all net worths are created equal. It's one thing to have a net worth in cash or fairly liquid investments - it's another to have all of your wealth tied up in a majority share in your own business. In that case if you wanted to invest in something like a pro sports franchise you'd have to sell a big chunk of that business first - which many probably don't want to do.

Yeah, these are good points. There's also the initial cost. Is it really $2 billion? Can it be paid out over time? How much is the arena? And so on.

 

[aqib]

I think that misses the point.

David Bonderman (private equity), Tim Leiweke (above), Andy Jassy (CEO of Amazon) and Jerry Bruckheimer (movies) were all well known people - it's just it wasn't really public they were putting in a bid for an expansion team.

Yeah all the talk was Hansen building a new arena in SoDo for basketball that would accommodate hockey. Then seemingly out of nowhere the Key Arena renovation RFP came out and it was off to the races.

Hansen misplayed it. He had an MOU with the city contingent on getting an NBA team if he had done it NBA or NHL then Seattle would have applied the same time as Vegas.

 

[nhlfan79]

-not all net worths are created equal. It's one thing to have a net worth in cash or fairly liquid investments - it's another to have all of your wealth tied up in a majority share in your own business. In that case if you wanted to invest in something like a pro sports franchise you'd have to sell a big chunk of that business first - which many probably don't want to do.

Good point. If this wasn't true, we probably would still have the Atlanta Flames.