Now that we know all about the Coyotes, Thrashers, and the True North Corporation... how does it all fit?
We have a solid ownership group that wants a team, and two teams that aren't exactly looking to move, but are running out of options. Then the next question becomes... even if everything else fell into place, can Winnipeg support a professional team in the big leagues?
As much as folks from Winnipeg like to believe that they're "big time", the answer is NO! The idea of a NHL team is sexy, but it's just not sustainable. At $65-80 per ticket, and such a tiny pool of corporate sponsors to pull from, they might sell out the first season or two... but within five years they'd be floundering. The excuses would sound like: we might go to the games if we thought they had a chance to win, there's not enough Canadian content on the team, they've got to make the playoffs, they need to win more than one round, etc. The fact is, right now in the NHL there are a lot of excellent teams that either won't make the playoffs, or won't make it out of the first round. If you don't have 18,000 people that are willing to watch a "loser" game after game, season after season (like they do in Toronto), you're not going to survive. There's so many teams in the league, that you can't expect to win year after year (like they do in Detroit).
I love the idea, and if I thought that I'd ever go back to the area I'd like to imagine that I'd go to the games. That being said... it's a pipe dream. I wish that the media would let private business dealings remain private, and stop trying so desperately to get the hopes up of the poor average sap Winnipegger, that as much as he wants to, could never afford to take his family to more than two games per season anyway.
Just say NO - to bad financial decisions.
Stay tuned.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
True North (Part Three of a Series)
You know, it's funny... when it's been a wind chill in the mid to high 40s for three weeks, and then it actually starts getting cold, they don't bother posting the wind chill any more. The wind is currently blowing at 80Ks, for the second time now I have a shovel propped against the door handle, because the latch alone can't keep the door shut against the wind. At this point, you just say that it's cold. Don't worry about the wind chill, it'll only make you feel bad.
The True North Corporation currently owns the Manitoba Moose, the MTS Centre, and the ground that it sits on. The "minority" shareholder is David Thomson. I put minority in quotation marks, because he chooses to be seen in that light, while he has shares under several different entities, and is clearly the vast majority shareholder. He is from, and lives in Toronto, and is currently the 20th richest man in the world. His wealth is estimated at about 13 billion dollars. He is smart enough to appoint a local guy (Mark Chipman), who also owns shares, to be the figurehead of the corporation. That way he doesn't have to appear to be an absentee owner, because he's a "minority" share holder, with a local guy in charge.
As opposed to every previous effort in Winnipeg (including the former Jets) that included some form of community ownership (which never works), there is actually a solid owner who can clearly see his way through some rough waters, while whatever team it might be, tries to get the ship righted. There has never been this kind of solid ownership group involved in Winnipeg before, and it's only because of that, that I have any confidence at all in even the remote possibility of a team coming back to "The Peg".
Stay tuned.
The True North Corporation currently owns the Manitoba Moose, the MTS Centre, and the ground that it sits on. The "minority" shareholder is David Thomson. I put minority in quotation marks, because he chooses to be seen in that light, while he has shares under several different entities, and is clearly the vast majority shareholder. He is from, and lives in Toronto, and is currently the 20th richest man in the world. His wealth is estimated at about 13 billion dollars. He is smart enough to appoint a local guy (Mark Chipman), who also owns shares, to be the figurehead of the corporation. That way he doesn't have to appear to be an absentee owner, because he's a "minority" share holder, with a local guy in charge.
As opposed to every previous effort in Winnipeg (including the former Jets) that included some form of community ownership (which never works), there is actually a solid owner who can clearly see his way through some rough waters, while whatever team it might be, tries to get the ship righted. There has never been this kind of solid ownership group involved in Winnipeg before, and it's only because of that, that I have any confidence at all in even the remote possibility of a team coming back to "The Peg".
Stay tuned.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Atlanta Thrashers (Part Two of a Series)
Well, the wind is howling, the chill is 49, and it's getting pretty hard to convince Rico that he should go outside. The final plans for the southern vacation aren't all ironed out, but we're getting pretty close.
There's plenty of news on the Coyotes today, but surprisingly, none of it is as detailed, and covers all of the bases like my blog did yesterday. I guess all of those professional sports journalists don't have access to the internet. The only thing that was added today was that the City of Glendale is threatening some lawsuits with the Goldwater Institute for interfering with their attempted transaction. Blah, blah, blah.
The Atlanta Thrashers look so much more appealing to me. The Atlanta Spirit owns the Thrashers and the Atlanta Hawks (of the NBA), and is headed up by Michael Gearon. While they aren't technically looking to sell, the hockey team is hemorrhaging money (to the tune of $20M/season), and the Spirit is looking for investors to help spread out the losses. Apparently their aren't that many multi-millionaires that are looking for write-offs right now. They are also in the last of a seven year no-relocation deal with the NHL, which means that they are free to move the club at the end of the season.
While, like I said, they aren't technically looking to sell, any businessman will tell you that everything's for sale (at the right price). With no suitors calling in regards to joining them as investors, and their lack of restrictions in regards to moving, they seem ripe for the picking, have way fewer strings attached, and less excess baggage. The Coyotes are losing $30M, and the Thrashers are only losing $20M (I didn't think that I'd ever use the word "only" when talking about losing $20M). All things included, the Thrashers look much more appealing. The saga continues.
Stay tuned.
There's plenty of news on the Coyotes today, but surprisingly, none of it is as detailed, and covers all of the bases like my blog did yesterday. I guess all of those professional sports journalists don't have access to the internet. The only thing that was added today was that the City of Glendale is threatening some lawsuits with the Goldwater Institute for interfering with their attempted transaction. Blah, blah, blah.
The Atlanta Thrashers look so much more appealing to me. The Atlanta Spirit owns the Thrashers and the Atlanta Hawks (of the NBA), and is headed up by Michael Gearon. While they aren't technically looking to sell, the hockey team is hemorrhaging money (to the tune of $20M/season), and the Spirit is looking for investors to help spread out the losses. Apparently their aren't that many multi-millionaires that are looking for write-offs right now. They are also in the last of a seven year no-relocation deal with the NHL, which means that they are free to move the club at the end of the season.
While, like I said, they aren't technically looking to sell, any businessman will tell you that everything's for sale (at the right price). With no suitors calling in regards to joining them as investors, and their lack of restrictions in regards to moving, they seem ripe for the picking, have way fewer strings attached, and less excess baggage. The Coyotes are losing $30M, and the Thrashers are only losing $20M (I didn't think that I'd ever use the word "only" when talking about losing $20M). All things included, the Thrashers look much more appealing. The saga continues.
Stay tuned.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Phoenix Coyotes (Part One of a Series)
In order to discuss the possibility of Winnipeg as a NHL city, you must first have a proper understanding of the players involved. By far the most complex of these, are the Phoenix Coyotes (formerly the Winnipeg Jets).
When the Jets first moved to Phoenix, they played in the United Airlines Arena, which was terrible, with restricted view seats that had to be discounted, and very few agreements about who gets revenues from what. The city of Glendale was then involved in building the Jobing.com Arena, which cost $500M. The team's ownership group eventually filed for bankruptcy, and the team has since been owned by the NHL itself. Gary Bettman (NHL commissioner) is adamant that the team stay in Phoenix, for the sole purpose of its positioning in the U.S. TV market.
Matthew Hulsizer (Chicago businessman) is the only person that seems interested in buying the Coyotes and keeping them in Phoenix. The problem is, the price tag is $170M, and he's only willing to put up the first $70M. That's where it gets interesting! With $500M already invested in the arena, the city of Glendale was then going to front the other $100M to make sure that there would be some return on their arena investment. This, is where the Goldwater Institute comes in. Under the guidance of Barry Goldwater, the institute is an independent government watchdog, promoting transparency, and curbing the wild spending habits of the Arizona government. The institute first blew the whistle on the deal citing that: "the deal contravenes the gift clause in Arizona's constitution that prevents the government from funding private business". Then, to revive the whole deal, the City of Glendale came up with a new plan, where they were actually going to give the $100M to Hulsizer in return for the parking rights at the arena. The Goldwater Institute quickly quashed that plan too, since technically, the City of Glendale already owned the rights for the parking.
Barry Goldwater's major beef here, is that the City of Glendale currently has triple the debt of American cities of similar size, and shouldn't be disguising $100M of good taxpayer money, that the city is trying to throw at a franchise that is currently losing $30M/season. Hence, the stand-off. And that, my friends, is the convoluted, confusing, twisted tale of the Phoenix Coyotes, that should make them ripe for the picking, if not for the strange obsession of Gary Bettman that is trying to fit a round peg into a square hole.
The rest gets easier!
Stay tuned.
When the Jets first moved to Phoenix, they played in the United Airlines Arena, which was terrible, with restricted view seats that had to be discounted, and very few agreements about who gets revenues from what. The city of Glendale was then involved in building the Jobing.com Arena, which cost $500M. The team's ownership group eventually filed for bankruptcy, and the team has since been owned by the NHL itself. Gary Bettman (NHL commissioner) is adamant that the team stay in Phoenix, for the sole purpose of its positioning in the U.S. TV market.
Matthew Hulsizer (Chicago businessman) is the only person that seems interested in buying the Coyotes and keeping them in Phoenix. The problem is, the price tag is $170M, and he's only willing to put up the first $70M. That's where it gets interesting! With $500M already invested in the arena, the city of Glendale was then going to front the other $100M to make sure that there would be some return on their arena investment. This, is where the Goldwater Institute comes in. Under the guidance of Barry Goldwater, the institute is an independent government watchdog, promoting transparency, and curbing the wild spending habits of the Arizona government. The institute first blew the whistle on the deal citing that: "the deal contravenes the gift clause in Arizona's constitution that prevents the government from funding private business". Then, to revive the whole deal, the City of Glendale came up with a new plan, where they were actually going to give the $100M to Hulsizer in return for the parking rights at the arena. The Goldwater Institute quickly quashed that plan too, since technically, the City of Glendale already owned the rights for the parking.
Barry Goldwater's major beef here, is that the City of Glendale currently has triple the debt of American cities of similar size, and shouldn't be disguising $100M of good taxpayer money, that the city is trying to throw at a franchise that is currently losing $30M/season. Hence, the stand-off. And that, my friends, is the convoluted, confusing, twisted tale of the Phoenix Coyotes, that should make them ripe for the picking, if not for the strange obsession of Gary Bettman that is trying to fit a round peg into a square hole.
The rest gets easier!
Stay tuned.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Bits And Pieces
It's only minus 42 out this morning. Seems odd to say, but with the sun shining, and compared to the last 10 days, it feels a lot better today. For some reason, when it's cold for an extended period of time like this, I have two toes that get all red, swollen, and itchy. It doesn't make any sense to me, but it happens.
Speaking of not making any sense to me, Rico was giving us a bit of a scare yesterday, with some real struggles breathing. Without a vet in town, we went to petmd to find some answers. Everything always looks like it's just free information, but then at the end they let you know that finding satisfactory information will cost you $18. With Fran in a bit of a panic, of course I have no choice. Thanks a lot petmd (dripping with sarcasm)! In any case, after spending several hours laying perfectly still and breathing hard, he seemed to start coming around. This morning he seems to be doing much better. He probably doesn't appreciate the extreme cold that much either!
In other matters, we were finally approved for our vacation. We'll be taking the whole month of April off. The details haven't been finalized yet, but we're working on going even farther south for a week, while we're "down south" for the month.
I had been planning on at least partially financing that trip south with my tax return, so I sent it in for a dry run yesterday. I knew that I was going to take a bit of a hit by moving to Quebec, but there was no way that I could have been prepared for this. The difference between what I would have got as a return in Nunavut, and what I now have to pay in Quebec, is $7,000.00! Can you believe that? Quebec sucks! In Quebec, you have to file Federal and Provincial taxes separately. Because of charitable donations and RRSP contributions, I will get a small Federal return, but we both have to pay huge for the Quebec Provincial taxes. Did I mention that Quebec sucks?
In the new age of "commercialism" on my blog, I've now made a whopping 12 cents. I'm sure that the Government of Quebec will find some way of taking that away from me too. Jerks!
With the fervor surrounding the latest Winnipeg Jets revival campaign, I've been doing some research to make a fairly comprehensive assessment of the actual possibility. There seemed to be way too much to throw together all in one blog, so I've planned a mini-series. Don't worry, I'll only give you the condensed "Readers Digest" version.
Stay tuned.
Speaking of not making any sense to me, Rico was giving us a bit of a scare yesterday, with some real struggles breathing. Without a vet in town, we went to petmd to find some answers. Everything always looks like it's just free information, but then at the end they let you know that finding satisfactory information will cost you $18. With Fran in a bit of a panic, of course I have no choice. Thanks a lot petmd (dripping with sarcasm)! In any case, after spending several hours laying perfectly still and breathing hard, he seemed to start coming around. This morning he seems to be doing much better. He probably doesn't appreciate the extreme cold that much either!
In other matters, we were finally approved for our vacation. We'll be taking the whole month of April off. The details haven't been finalized yet, but we're working on going even farther south for a week, while we're "down south" for the month.
I had been planning on at least partially financing that trip south with my tax return, so I sent it in for a dry run yesterday. I knew that I was going to take a bit of a hit by moving to Quebec, but there was no way that I could have been prepared for this. The difference between what I would have got as a return in Nunavut, and what I now have to pay in Quebec, is $7,000.00! Can you believe that? Quebec sucks! In Quebec, you have to file Federal and Provincial taxes separately. Because of charitable donations and RRSP contributions, I will get a small Federal return, but we both have to pay huge for the Quebec Provincial taxes. Did I mention that Quebec sucks?
In the new age of "commercialism" on my blog, I've now made a whopping 12 cents. I'm sure that the Government of Quebec will find some way of taking that away from me too. Jerks!
With the fervor surrounding the latest Winnipeg Jets revival campaign, I've been doing some research to make a fairly comprehensive assessment of the actual possibility. There seemed to be way too much to throw together all in one blog, so I've planned a mini-series. Don't worry, I'll only give you the condensed "Readers Digest" version.
Stay tuned.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Wild, Wild West
Are you following hockey at all? I realize that this sounds like a strange question to a Canadian, but I also know that I have a few followers that don't care about hockey. Don't bother reading further.
The west has nine teams, within six points, and only five of them make the playoffs. Every game of the week has playoff implications, even though there's still 19 games left in the season. It's awesome!
There was a time, back when the NHL merged with AHA, and the Jets first joined the league, that I regularly complained about the fact that 16 out of 21 teams made the playoffs. You only had to better than one out of five teams in your division. By comparison to the fact that MLB had bigger divisions, and only one team made the playoffs (at the time), it just really seemed like there was no real point to the regular season. Now, we're at the point where there are going to be some really good teams, well above 500, that are going to fall short of their goal of reaching the second season. The season has some relevance again. It's awesome!
Five more games tonight. I'm sure that everything will change by the time the night is done again.
Stay tuned.
The west has nine teams, within six points, and only five of them make the playoffs. Every game of the week has playoff implications, even though there's still 19 games left in the season. It's awesome!
There was a time, back when the NHL merged with AHA, and the Jets first joined the league, that I regularly complained about the fact that 16 out of 21 teams made the playoffs. You only had to better than one out of five teams in your division. By comparison to the fact that MLB had bigger divisions, and only one team made the playoffs (at the time), it just really seemed like there was no real point to the regular season. Now, we're at the point where there are going to be some really good teams, well above 500, that are going to fall short of their goal of reaching the second season. The season has some relevance again. It's awesome!
Five more games tonight. I'm sure that everything will change by the time the night is done again.
Stay tuned.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Stay Cool My Friends
I know that last week most of you had some frigid temperatures, but we've had wind chills of mid 40s for about ten days, and the seven day forecast just keeps calling for the same. While some of you will just say - well, you chose to live there, the reality is that all of you "down south" have chosen where you live as well. Not that I'm really saying anything outrageous, it's just that we all really have to consider that in some way we have all chosen our place of residence, and have to take that into consideration before complaining about the weather. That being said, it freaking cold!
My fresh beef came in today. I can't understand how the two packages that were sent here, were brought to the airport at the same time, and yet one came at noon, and the other one came on a completely separate plane several hours later. By the time that it arrived (a full day late), it was already frozen in the package, so I just put everything into the freezer. I'm sure that it'll still be the best thing that we've eaten in several months. Don't ask me why I didn't have at least one meal at The Keg when I was in Winnipeg, I guess that it would just have seemed like I was cheating on Fran by eating awesome steak, while she was up here eating the same old same old.
Anyway, I still feel like crap (I know - boo hoo you big baby), so I'm going to lie back down.
Stay tuned.
My fresh beef came in today. I can't understand how the two packages that were sent here, were brought to the airport at the same time, and yet one came at noon, and the other one came on a completely separate plane several hours later. By the time that it arrived (a full day late), it was already frozen in the package, so I just put everything into the freezer. I'm sure that it'll still be the best thing that we've eaten in several months. Don't ask me why I didn't have at least one meal at The Keg when I was in Winnipeg, I guess that it would just have seemed like I was cheating on Fran by eating awesome steak, while she was up here eating the same old same old.
Anyway, I still feel like crap (I know - boo hoo you big baby), so I'm going to lie back down.
Stay tuned.
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