Let me clarify some misconceptions:
Let me quash a couple of oft-repeated lines:
1) Atlanta has 5.5 million and growing by whatever a year. Yeah so? Follow that logic and we should have 3 teams in Mexico City. As much as we love hockey its not mainstream
2) Atlanta had horrible ownership if they had good ownership it would be fine. Viable markets attract owners. When Time Warner put the Hawks/Thrashers/Arena Rights up for sale they got $270 million. If you look at other NBA deals around that time they basically got $0 for the team. ASG's legal issues were well documented. Their need for capital was also well known. No one came with the interest to buy both teams. Given that they almost sold 80% of the Hawks a few months later shows they weren't adamant about keeping the Hawks so someone could have bought both teams. If the market was good for hockey someone would have bought it.
Time Warner decided to off-load their sports properties in 2003. There was a tentative deal for Time Warner to sell to David McDavid, but for some reason it fell through. David McDavid sued Time Warner and in 2010 was awarded $281 million from Time Warner for the latter breaking the exclusive negotiation agreement.
There was interest from numerous parties that wanted to buy the Hawks, Thrashers and the operating lease to Philips. However, in May 2011, during the whole Thrashers relocation scenario and negotiations with True North, it was found that ASG entered into the same type of exclusive negotiation agreement for the Hawks and the lease to Philips Arena with San Diego Padres owner John Moores. By entering into that agreement, there was no one other than John Moores that could have bought all three properties. Suddenly, after a tentative deal was reached to sell the Thrashers to TNSE, the exclusive negotiation period with John Moores was expired, allowing ASG to sell the Hawks and Thrashers to anyone.
It looks almost like one of those planned tricks. Almost like a couple of years earlier, when the naming rights to Philips Arena was changed to allow Philips a discount if the Thrashers no longer played there.
Maybe the league should have waited on Phoenix until they had an actual building.
How? Truthfully, based on the precedents set in courts for the Al Davis' NFL Raiders, it was practically impossible for the NHL to stop Burke and Gluckstern from moving the team. As Killion points out, the original deal was for the two to move to Target Center in Minneapolis, but when asking for handouts, the city and state balked.
They always say they want a building...but who has really had one?
Ottawa didn't.
San Jose didn't.
Tampa didn't.
Carolina didn't.
Phoenix didn't.
Miami didn't.
Colorado didn't.
Can't blame Carolina, Colorado & Phoenix....they weren't expansion teams and therefore supposedly "required" to have a suitable arena to be awarded a team. But the relocation was still permitted even though no suitable arena was available.
Ottawa was going to get one, but had to play in the Civic Center while the "Palladium" was built.
San Jose was getting one as well, but had to play in San Francisco's Cow Palace until the Shark Tank was built.
Tampa was also getting one, but had played in both the Florida State Fairgrounds and the St. Petersburg Stadium until the current Tampa Bay Times Forum was built.
Miami had the Arena, and knew that a state-of-the-art arena had to be built for both the Heat and the Panthers.
Denver was already in the process of building a replacement for McNichols Arena when Comsat purchased the Nordiques from Aubut.
The Hurricanes were moved to Greensboro while the Raleigh Sports and Entertainment complex was being built.
It is funny how the four teams granted by the Bettman-led NHL had their state-of-the-art arenas before playing their first game.
And once again, the NHL cannot stop relocation, unless it violates a contract signed between the League and the owner.