Courtesy MTScentre.ca

Whenever the NHL has expanded in the past few expansion phases, there was a requirement for the new team to reach 12,000 season ticket equivalents, a certain threshold of advertizing dollars sold and a certain threshold of luxury boxes committed to, by a given deadline.

For Winnipeg, that deadline may be much shorter than preferred for both the NHL and the club in question, since there may be a rush to move a team between seasons. And if the deadline is going to be a shorter window of opportunity, hopefully the requirements are also reduced somewhat to remain realistic.

Manitoban NHL fans would be OFFside if they believe that the NHL will announce it's return without any sort of "catches".

In fact if your listen to Mark Chipman back in September 24, 2008, he made this point very clear before the ownership group would jump in headfirst into an NHL team purchase:

http://www.manitobamythbusters.com/php/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=138

His reference to multiple season committments may only pertain to luxury box rentals, advertizing and club seats but there is an outside chance that they may want to extend that to regular season tickets and minipacks.

So the wisest of fans are clearing debt off credit cards in order to be ready for the unquestioned stampede to the box office when that announcement of the century is made. Those left without sufficient room, may be kicking themselves for years while they stay on the waiting list long after the team is carving the ice at 300 Portage Avenue.

Not only will owning your first season seats be an invigorating experience that you can bore your grandkids with over and over again, you'll also know that your personal committment was a piece of the puzzle that helped bring the NHL back.

And that knowledge, coupled with the very first playing of Van Halen's "Jump" ushering our team onto home ice, will be a Priceless moment that credit card companies cannot fathom.

If you take exception, lay it on the line over at the Forum. www.mbmbforum.com

Chris
President, myNHLincludesWinnipeg.com
30,000+ Unique Visitors Monthly
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