Will Atlanta Get Another Team?

[FMichael]

The NHL has to be proactive.
Quebec City and Houston. League will be at 34 at some point.

Personally I'd rather see the Yotes re-locate to Houston, and a team in the east re-locate to QC.

32 teams seem enough - especially when some are in the red.

 

[Melrose Munch]

Personally I'd rather see the Yotes re-locate to Houston, and a team in the east re-locate to QC.

32 teams seem enough - especially when some are in the red.

Teams are only in the red because of a weak TV contract. That will change too.

 

[Ingvar]

Personally I'd rather see the Yotes re-locate to Houston, and a team in the east re-locate to QC.

32 teams seem enough - especially when some are in the red.

NHL has a unique advantage of being more popular in Canada than normal. It can and should easily expand to 36 teams while aiming at 40 if popularity of hockey in the US grows.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

what some do not realize there are three NA Hockey leagues, just as Vegas and Seattle are struggling to place affiliates in... some cities are so fractured they are having franchises cease operations or leave one league, as Vegas found out with Quad City

 

[DowntownBooster]

Teams are only in the red because of a weak TV contract. That will change too.

Some teams are in the red due to high player costs and low gate revenue. Even if TV revenue improves with the next contract, player salaries will increase as well. I think some teams will always operate in the red. The last time all teams made a profit was during the O6 era.

 

[Drytoast]

NHL has a unique advantage of being more popular in Canada than normal. It can and should easily expand to 36 teams while aiming at 40 if popularity of hockey in the US grows.

f*** no. Nobody has personality as it is.

You think i get excited playing teams like vegas carolina anahiem or florida?

Add in seattle and some other random american market i could care less about and youve filled up the majority of the season with nothing games.

Give me more boston detroit chicago montreal new york ottawa please.

 

[Melrose Munch]

Some teams are in the red due to high player costs and low gate revenue. Even if TV revenue improves with the next contract, player salaries will increase as well. I think some teams will always operate in the red. The last time all teams made a profit was during the O6 era.

IMO a subsidy should change that. I mean there are MLB teams "in the red" but the MLB can cover that.

 

[GordonGecko]

no chance

 

[powerstuck]

Teams are only in the red because of a weak TV contract. That will change too.

TV contract is ''weak'' compared to other leagues. Honestly, my opinion is that it won't be much better for the next one.

Rogers had issues making cash with their Canadian contract from day 1. And I am sure US networks know that and will be careful when bidding.

NBA has a 2.6 billion /annum contract, while NHL is at 630 ish millions (430ish from Canadian and 200 from US). I honestly don't see NHL going anywhere close to that. Could they go up to combined 1B per year ? They should be happy if they do.

 

[aqib]

Yep I am familiar with the Thrash to Smash campaign that they did, I thought it was pretty clever on their part. They also had a nice video in arena the first time Winnipeg visited that I think many in attendance appreciated.

As clever as that is someone should have caught the "actress" laughing into her pillow between the 25-30 second mark.

 

[aqib]

There really is no "next in line" for relocation as it all depends on who is buying. Even for expansion, does anyone really see the NHL going past 32 teams with the 32nd being Seattle?

Prior to Winnipeg getting the Thrashers, Bettman had said Winnipeg was on the top of the list. After the move Daly said several over cities had inquired but the league basically said no it was Winnipeg's turn. I won't claim to know who the NHL has as its top choice markets but I am sure there is a priority list.

 

[mouser]

Prior to Winnipeg getting the Thrashers, Bettman had said Winnipeg was on the top of the list. After the move Daly said several over cities had inquired but the league basically said no it was Winnipeg's turn. I won't claim to know who the NHL has as its top choice markets but I am sure there is a priority list.

Links if you don’t mind?

Strikes me as a rosy glasses view of the history I recall reading.

 

[gstommylee]

Links if you don’t mind?

Strikes me as a rosy glasses view of the history I recall reading.

I seem to recall winnipeg being the only option for Thrashers for example had Seattle had built a brand new building a while lot sooner or if Portland was interesting in getting that team, I think the NHL would have gone elsewhere with the thrashers imo.

 

[Headshot77]

**** no. Nobody has personality as it is.

You think i get excited playing teams like vegas carolina anahiem or florida?

Add in seattle and some other random american market i could care less about and youve filled up the majority of the season with nothing games.

Give me more boston detroit chicago montreal new york ottawa please.

Nobody cares about how excited you are about seeing your team play Anaheim. What actually matters is the revenue the league generates. More teams in strategic locations, raises league revenues via gate revenue, merchandising, ad revenue, the national cable TV deal, etc.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

It would take at least fifty years for it to be reconsidered.

 

[eddygee]

TV contract is ''weak'' compared to other leagues. Honestly, my opinion is that it won't be much better for the next one.

Rogers had issues making cash with their Canadian contract from day 1. And I am sure US networks know that and will be careful when bidding.

NBA has a 2.6 billion /annum contract, while NHL is at 630 ish millions (430ish from Canadian and 200 from US). I honestly don't see NHL going anywhere close to that. Could they go up to combined 1B per year ? They should be happy if they do.

I can see $400-500 from the US deal. So that would take NHL to 1B per yr. I guess the only question is will the Canadian deal be as much once it's renewed since Rogers is having issues?

 

[Peiskos]

Why should Atlanta be given another NHL team? I mean does track record mean nothing anymore? they've lost not one, but TWO NHL franchises. They should never be considered an NHL market ever again.

 

[sexydonut]

Why should Atlanta be given another NHL team? I mean does track record mean nothing anymore? they've lost not one, but TWO NHL franchises. They should never be considered an NHL market ever again.

^Maybe you should look more closely at the activities of both Flames and Thrashes ownership? Just like private equity/LBOs, the Flames and Thrashers both were run by white collar criminals who took all the cash flow to.... pay themselves.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

Lets not forget Washington had 2 Major League Baseball teams before Nationals, so they had this amount of chances is not a good argument.

 

[Llama19]

Lets not forget Washington had 2 Major League Baseball teams before Nationals, so they had this amount of chances is not a good argument.

How DC Got Baseball Back

Source: www.washingtonian.com/2005/04/01/how-dc-got-baseball-back/

 

[BJNT]

Lets not forget Washington had 2 Major League Baseball teams before Nationals, so they had this amount of chances is not a good argument.

Chicago also had two chances with the NBA before the Bulls came.

 

[BattleBorn]

For what this board is supposed to be, which is a group of people that want to discuss the business aspects of the sport of hockey, I've always gotten a little annoyed at the "Atlanta's had two shots" crowd. I don't know if Atlanta should get another team, but I don't think anyone should really have a strong opinion until there's some detail behind a potential effort. However, dismissing it out of hand due to the Flames and Thrashers just seems lazy, and if we wanted lazy arguments, we could all go hang out on the NHL Talk Board.

It's the 11th largest metro area on the continent, and it's a lot different than it was in the Flames era. The Thrashers was its own issue.

Again, I'm not taking any side here, I'm not sure. Dismissing out of hand just seems pointless, though.

 

[Fantomas]

Nobody cares about hockey there.

 

[Vamos Rafa]

The Thrashers' attempts to fill the roster with black players were so blatant.

 

[nhlfan79]

Nobody cares about hockey there.

Great insight. You're entirely wrong, however.

Eight Seven bigoted, litigious people didn't care about hockey here. Unfortunately, they were the only seven people that mattered. The fans here did far more than should have been expected, given the circumstance of an ownership group that, from day one, intentionally sabotaged the franchise to force its sale, which not coincidentally happened on the very first day they could legally do so.