NHL Rumours... The NHL is returning to Winnipeg

Outsider wrote:

Jondo wrote:Also the salaries will begin to tumble. Players will be accepting concessions to current contracts by this time next year. Their choice will be play for less or don't play at all. There will be no stupid walkout this time - reality will take over where Bettman left off.

I hope you are right.
But when it comes to professional sports, people do strange things.
And I think they have revenue sharing now so the "rich" are propping up the "poor".
The salaries should never have got that high in the first place.

Would it surprise you that the Canadian teams are writing cheques for subsidies to many of those "big market" US teams?

Don't be.

Jondo wrote:I'll bet that Canada sees the return of two franchises within 2 years. I'll also bet that Bettman is gone within one year.

wishful thinking

I'd prefer people defaulted to wishful thinking over cynical thinking...

I'm a boy ahead of his time. I also have rainbows shooting out of my head. 3 years ago I told my bank manager that the USA market would soon collapse and he laughed. I also told him gold would follow to $1,200 and that the shift away from USA dominance including it's currency would begin (following a near-bankruptcy). Well as you know it all happened. The writing on the wall about the NHL is as clear as those other bigger issues were. This one is kids stuff. Reality has a way of keeping true orbits in alignment. Bettman will be dispatched out the hatch as soon as the next comet strikes and that will be when attendance drops another 10% due to the USA economy. Look for talks of even another start-up league based out of Canada similar to the Global Hockey League attempted out of Saskatchewan in the 80's.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=winnipeg,+missouri&sll=49.927577,-97.113304&sspn=0.049729,0.109692&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Winnipeg,+Laclede,+Missouri&ll=37.605358,-92.302108&spn=0.00765,0.013711&t=h&z=16&iwloc=A
Looks like a great place to build an arena.
Gary would love it.

Electrician wrote:http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=winnipeg,+missouri&sll=49.927577,-97.113304&sspn=0.049729,0.109692&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Winnipeg,+Laclede,+Missouri&ll=37.605358,-92.302108&spn=0.00765,0.013711&t=h&z=16&iwloc=A
Looks like a great place to build an arena.
Gary would love it.

I could actually imagine that happening before Winnipeg MB go another chance.

Taken from Alva360 on SSP:

"These rumors are starting to get leaked out to the press and radio stations...

February 12th, 2010 by Scott

Friday, Feb. 12, 2010

Scott Taylor’s CITI Sports Reports

92 CITI FM IS AN OFFICIAL STATION OF THE VANCOUVER 2010 OLYMPIC RADIO NETWORK.

OK, here’s the rumor: Wealthy David Thomson of Toronto, the man who
most of the shares of the MTS Centre and True North Sports and
Entertainment in Winnipeg, has purchased the Atlanta Thrashers of the
National Hockey League and will move them to Winnipeg for the 2010-11
season. The Moose will move to Saskatoon. The announcement will be made
right after the Olympics. Believe whatever it is you want to believe.


Two weeks to go until we find truth to this juicy rumor!!!!!"

EdWin! That is from Snott Taylor. Don't tell me you can accept anything coming from him as NEWS?

Anywho, that precise rumour is VERY old. Snott simply stole it from another source and presents it as news...

I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but it sure would re kindle my hockey interest if we got a team again.

grumpy old man wrote:EdWin! That is from Snott Taylor. Don't tell me you can accept anything coming from him as NEWS?

Anywho, that precise rumour is VERY old. Snott simply stole it from another source and presents it as news...

Well, since this is a rumor thread, I thought it would be appropriate to post, no matter who the source.

Besides, this is one area where I let my emotions get the best of me. I was literally crush when the Jets left, and was indeed one of (there were many more as well) the reasons why I left Winnipeg permanently. To see a REAL PRO sports team back in Winnipeg would really help boost moral in the citizens of the city, as corny as some of you may think that sounds.

Here is hoping!!!!

Hopefully if the NHL returns to Winnipeg, the city will get another arena and the MTS Centre can be used for concerts and perhaps a WHL team.

Do the Olympics end on April 1st this year or something?

Uhg...should this rumor turn out to be true, (and I would assume pigs start flying after the olympics) can we fire the GM now for dumping Kovalchuk and Lehtonen for essentially nothing?

Seems we've had a team like this before....

Hey, maybe we can swing a deal to get Selanne and TKachunk back, then we can trade them away again for a couple of usless players!

Bring back Mike Smith!

JT Estoban wrote:Uhg...should this rumor turn out to be true, (and I would assume pigs start flying after the olympics) can we fire the GM now for dumping Kovalchuk and Lehtonen for essentially nothing?

IF true...

Chances are good that unloading those to contracts were a condition of the transaction.

sputnik wrote:Hopefully if the NHL returns to Winnipeg, the city will get another arena and the MTS Centre can be used for concerts and perhaps a WHL team.

Gah? How many more 15,000 seat arenas do we need?

It's been a long winter I guess.....SAD is starting to settle in it seems! lol

There is no way another Arena is in the cards. The whole point is that the MTS centre generates some substanial revenue and therefore does not NEED an NHL team to pay for the operating costs of the venue. So the money from the team would actually go to the team instead of to proping up a building.

Bingo.

I understand there are some renovations in the works that will add to the seating. Not sure exactly what that entails.

Now, to take this to another delusional level...

The arena was expected to be a huge panacea for our downtown. Despite its' complete success that has not transferred life into the area.

The NHL will do, IMO, what no number of concerts and AHL games and tractor pulls could. In my day, there was ENORMOUS traffic around the arena every game night. And just try to get into any restaurant within walking distance of the arena. Transfer that dynamic downtown.

Ahhh, to dream.

something about somehow expanding the lounge area I had heard.

Expansion of the upper decks....wouldn't that require the building 'over flow' it's top to cover Hargrave and Donald on either side?

Kinda like the big square shaped mushroom building beside the MTS HQ?

expanding the upper decks wont work well.

It will end up with the same result of the very scary nosebleed seats at the winnipeg arena...

man those things were nuts.

No, I don't think they are expanding the arena. Just gut feel though.

Something to do with more private boxes. And adding a few hundred more seats. Maybe 400-500. Not sure where. That is what I've heard anyway.

Okay, so if expanding the upper deck in unfeasable due to the extreme angles required....without reducing the playing surface/rink size....where else are you going to find room for a signifigant amount of new seats?

Lets face it, a few hundred new seats isn't going to make that big of a difference compared to the 5000 or so we're short compared to your average NHL arena. So, how do you do it?

Removing luxury boxes isn't an option....the lower bowl, for obvious reasons cannot be expanded outwards...I'm guessing nobody wants to hang from the rafters on a trapeze ....for very long anyway...to watch a game. And I don't think you could build a gondola either inside, outside or on top of the score clock for folks to watch from.....

You are assuming that a team needs 20,000 seats. If the average NHL arena team sat 20,000 for every game you'd have a point.

I think in a perfect world 20k seats would be nice. That is not a reality in Winnipeg. Creative pricing and superb management will have to do the trick me thinks. For now...

JT Estoban wrote:Okay, so if expanding the upper deck in unfeasable due to the extreme angles required....without reducing the playing surface/rink size....where else are you going to find room for a signifigant amount of new seats?

Lets face it, a few hundred new seats isn't going to make that big of a difference compared to the 5000 or so we're short compared to your average NHL arena. So, how do you do it?

Removing luxury boxes isn't an option....the lower bowl, for obvious reasons cannot be expanded outwards...I'm guessing nobody wants to hang from the rafters on a trapeze ....for very long anyway...to watch a game. And I don't think you could build a gondola either inside, outside or on top of the score clock for folks to watch from.....

replace all the seats with benches?? there ya go.. triple the seating capacity almost instantly....

Good 'ol metal benches...

Same goes with the bathroom.....bring back the trough!