This might also explain what at the time seemed like a puzzling response by AC when one of the initial Buccigross Twitter Bomb (or maybe it was Kevin Weekes) dropped almost a year ago. Can't seem to find the exact tweet (may have been deleted), but he decried the news (which, IIRC, may be the first time Vernon Krause's name was mentioned) breaking on the first night of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
However, I did find THIS tweet from a few months later that this news may also explain.
Hmmmm. Not sure why the second tweet isn't showing up, since it's still on AC's account. Anyway, it includes a
My head is totally spinning by today's news, right on the heels of last week's very public statements by Krause that strongly suggested that The Gathering was all but signed, sealed, and delivered, and that they had had longstanding positive discussions with the NHL in general and Bettman specifically.
Why is Anson putting this out there now?!? Are they the dark horse that will come in at the relative last moment and get the concept across the finish line? He's obviously deeply connected to the league and its main American broadcasting partner already, unlike Krause. It's a no-brainer that the North Point Mall footprint is a more ideal location for a million reasons, even though Forsyth is still pretty good.
I feel I have cultivated some pretty decent connections within the Atlanta hockey scene. I've heard scuttlebutt about NPM redevelopment for a while now, such as back in January bidding out concrete contracts, allegedly for arena construction, but it didn't seem credible without a name or group attached to it. So, maybe this North Point Mall thing is much further along than any of us realized, and it's a huge credit that they kept it under wraps for this long.
A few thoughts about this.
1. Like you, I've always preferred the idea of the arena being at the NPM location or somewhere else in Alpharetta proper to The Gatherings location in South Forsyth, albeit for selfish reasons. It's a little closer to where I live, though the TGASF isn't that much further.
2. I do like the idea of Anson Carter being involved, even though I have gradually warmed to the Krause group the more that's been revealed about them. Maybe a meeting of the minds between the two groups, as
@tucker3434 suggested could work, but I tend to doubt it. At this point, I'm not pulling for either of the two. I'm just hoping one of them can convince the NHL to give the green light, and that whichever group gets the go ahead can do things right to make Atlanta NHL v3.0 a successful, long-lasting venture this time.
3. I've probably mentioned this (in relation to when we knew very little about the Kraus group), but if so, it bears repeating. The latest AC/Alpharetta bombshell and its sudden reveal now are giving me a lot of the same vibes as when hockey first returned to Atlanta after the Flames left. To review, back then a pair of two potential start-up leagues (basically, two wanna-be WHAs) were making all sorts of noise about including Atlanta (among other markets like Cleveland, Hamilton, Cincinnati, South Florida, Saskatoon, etc.). One of them had former NHL exec (including a former Flames asst. GM "Wild Bill" Hunter) as its president. The other had already announced Roy Boe (one of the co-owners of the then-expansion New York Islanders, as well as the then New York Nets) as the Atlanta franchise owner, and that Dan Bouchard would be involved in a player-personnel/coaching capacity. While all that noise was being made, Richard Adler and Dave Berkman were quietly working behind the scenes on an IHL franchise that would become the Atlanta Knights. In fact, nobody even knew who they were or what they were up to until they were introduced at the press conference announcing the deal with the IHL and that they'd obtained a lease at the Omni.
4. Given what
@The Hobgoblin has posted here, I'm curious what his sources are saying and what they think about all this.
