Four Reasons Why Atlanta Thrashers Are Better Off in Winnipeg

Has this happened before. Has a city lost 2 major sports teams to relocation in the modern era before?

Atlanta just can’t catch a break. The Atlanta Thrashers have all but said it’s officially official that the team will be moving north to the snowy plains of Winnipeg. That’s up there in Canada and it’s cold. How cold? In winter the single-most time consuming activity for a person is undressing after coming in from outside.

Despite the fight from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, who wants to keep his expansion team in Atlanta, the team looks to be moving. And those poor Thrashers can’t catch a break. The team never really took off in the Southern city and despite being courted by other cities to move the Thrashers weren’t even Winnipeg’s main team of interest. The Thrashers were their fallback team.

The Phoenix Coyotes were originally in the cross-hairs of the True North Sports and Entertainment group based in Winnipeg. This group wanted to bring the Coyotes back to Winnipeg (more here and here) but the NHL fought back hard and, for now, has kept the team in Arizona.

The Thrashers began play in 1999 as the NHL spread its sport into new, warm-weather cities. Soon the franchise fell into trouble as new owners were sought and then found in 2004 to help the team. Unfortunately the group of new owners had no interest in hockey, only basketball, and it showed.

Just a few years later the team is struggling to fill seats and win and now is poised to move. Even though technically there has not been an announcement about the move but it seems like the deal is all but done. Gary Bettman may think moving the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg is a step back but I would argue that it is not. Here are four reasons why the Thrashers are better off in Winnipeg.

4) Arena

The Thrashers would be moving to the NHL’s smallest arena and that’s not a great thing for the NHL. Teams still make a good chunk of their income from ticket sales. The MTS Centre was built in 2004 and holds just over 15,000 people. The Thrashers Philips Arena held over 18,000 but averaged 13,469 (2010-11 numbers) so looking on the bright side they’re just 1,500 people shy of a sell out.

Only the Islanders and Coyotes averaged less fans. Even the small-market Edmonton Oilers have an arena that seats almost 17,000. The NHL will see the small arena as less desirable and the team may have the factor of higher ticket prices to offset the difference.

Yeah, this is much better than selling out a small Canadian arena

But the NHL needs to fill seats. There are a lot of teams in the league right now, namely in warm areas, that are just not filling the seats. Canadians feel they will do better since they appreciate the game more and I agree.

Why it’s a good thing: Give Winnipeg a chance. We all know Canada will support their teams and if they’re successful enough they can easily get a new arena in the near future and that’s a good thing. I think it’s better to have a small arena sell out constantly than have a half-empty huge arena.

3) Loss of expansion

The NHL expanded into the South in the 90s’ and one of their gems was the big southern city of Atlanta. The Atlanta Flames played there in the 70s’ before moving to another smaller Canadian city so not only are we seeing the NHL look bad for expanding into a market that doesn’t support them but we see history repeat itself and the team gets plucked away by our neighbors to the north.

Why it’s a good thing: History repeats itself. In the end the move to Calgary for the Flames has been a good thing. The city of Calgary supports their team and the team has won there. The Flames last year ranked #6 overall in attendance with over 19,000. Even the Oilers, who had one of their worst seasons on record, ranked #19 out of 30 teams with over 16,000. As we mentioned earlier, that Oilers arena is just shy of 17,000 which means the Canadian fans would still support a losing team because they know it won’t stay that way long.

Four of the top 10 teams in attendance are Canadian and there are only 6 teams total there. On the flip side, the bottom 10 teams feature 8 teams that have either moved or expanded into warm-weather climates.

Mowing the lawn in Winnipeg in July

2) Realignment

The Thrashers currently live in the Southeast Division along with Washington, Tampa Bay, Florida, and Carolina. By moving north the team would likely need to be moved to another division. If not the travel costs and toll on traveling on the players is going to be high.

J-E-T-S....Jets, Jets, Jets!

Why it’s a good thing: Many people want to see a realignment anyway. Detroit, one of the Original 6, is alone in the Western Conference and would no doubt love a move to Eastern Conference with it’s natural rivals. Giving a shakeup and moving a few teams around is a good thing since the league hasn’t really shaken things up in almost 20 years and several teams have moved or expanded since then.

1) The NHL hates Canada

The NHL (namely Gary Bettman) believes the future is in the States. Even though many consider the sport Canadian by nature, the NHL (namely Gary Bettman) believes it is not legitimate unless it follows the mold of leagues like the NFL and NBA and takes a presence in big U.S. cities. Somehow, the NHL (namely Gary Bettman) believes expanding into Canada is a lesser deal. I don’t!

The original markets of the NHL (pre-90′s expansions and moves) and Canada are what supports the NHL. The league needs to go where the fans are, not try to create fans in bulk. I’m all for expanding the sport into new markets but take your time. The NHL (namely Gary Bettman) failed in that aspect because they did it all at once and now the the economy and fan support are just not there to wait for a few generations to support a team.

Bettman seen here in front of a typical crowd at a Thrashers game

The moderate success of Major League Soccer (MLS) is a model that the NHL needs to look at heavily. Why? Well, the MLS is more like the NHL than the NHL is like the NFL. Low TV ratings and a rather lack of interest by the casual sports fan in the U.S. have not hurt the soccer league that usually doesn’t even get mentioned on SportsCenter.

In fact in 2010 the MLS average attendance was 16,675 spectators per game. The NHL drew an average of 17,072 fans. The MLS has also focused on placing teams in areas to build rivalries. Not just by saying that a city is big and has an NFL team.

For example, the Seattle team has been extremely popular but fans get a big boost by two new expansion teams in nearby Portland and Vancouver. Rivalry and competition are a great thing. Every fan in every sport has two teams they will watch: theirs and their rivals (just to see them lose).

How has the worked for the MLS? Well, they’re poised to overtake the NHL in attendance levels and take over the 4th sport on the list behind the NFL, NBA and MLB. So yeah, it’s working. It’s very likely that the MLS will actually move into #3 behind the NFL and MLB and also bumping the NBA down a notch.

How cool would it be, as a sports fan, to see NHL teams in Seattle and Portland. Yeah, I said “and” and I mean it. The NHL should focus on building the sport in areas in a similar fashion. Everyone loves a rivalry and I personally think they NHL should develop that nature to make a rapid fanbase. Plus, I know I’m in the minority here, but I think there should be a second team in Chicago for this reason. I’m weird like that. Probably because I played a lot as a kid without a helmet.

Why it’s a good thing: The NHL is now being forced to rethink their business model. The league can try to support bloated teams in cities struggling for owners and fans but that’s a losing battle. By refocusing their talents on keeping alive the franchises that will flourish in the future and letting the dead weight go, the league can create a stronger fanbase and better competition.

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