It was suggested by Astrosnut, a local NHL fan, that "if the minutes from (Glendale City Council's) tuesdays meeting get published today or tomorrow, and Goldwater does step in and take action, would it be resonable for the NHL to throw their hands up and say 'we just cant risk it. We cant risk this getting drawn out in court, and be on the hook for next years losses...we have no choice but to relocate?'"

The implication has the NHL risking another year of losses given that those losses may be bigger than the current season as it could easily become a lame duck season. Needless to say in this situation the courts and not the NHL would be in control of the process just like last summer's tour through the bankruptcy halls of justice.

One would be OFFside to suggest that Gary Bettman is willing to roll the dice or give control from his hand to any other.

Under Astrosnut's scenario, Goldwater becomes the very-willing scapegoat and the NHL, two ownership groups and the City of Glendale all save face and breathe a sigh of relief once the NHL sends the Ex-Jets back in flight to Winnipeg.

This would go exactly according to plan! See here: "Glendale, Goldwater and Gift Law" http://manitobamythbusters.com/blog//blog4.php/2010/03/19/glendale-goldwater-and-gift-law

Outside of the local fans, all parties embrace this result except for Jerry Reinsdorf who wanted his cake, an escape clause, an annual bailout of up to $25 million and Glendale to pay for one-third of that cake too! Talk about a free ride in the desert!

So NHL fans, stay tuned until around June 30th! Because should the NHL declare this impasse up to that date, as Astrosnut illustrates, then surely the NHL turns to TNSE in a hurry. That rush to relocate by the NHL is based on the NHL left holding the bag of annual losses. To be crystal clear, Mark Chipman will only have but one opportunity to take a team off NHL hands. Why? Should Mark Chipman say "No Thanks, Mr. Bettman, too late to take them this season!" Gary Bettman, most likely a vengeful man, will then have to find another owner and city to help bailout the NHL from the predicament it finds itself. Needless to say a Chipman refusal quite likely would be the very last time that under Bettman's watch the NHL will ever think or mention anything about Winnipeg.

As for when the real drop dead date would be, see "Has Time Run Out For The 2010-2011 Winnipeg NHL Season?" here: http://manitobamythbusters.com/blog//blog4.php/2010/01/27/has-time-run-out-for-the-2010-2011-winni

June 30th or July 7th is the week that we reach the point of no return where the second season of league-owned losses are legitimized. A trick of negotiation is to set up artificial dates along the way as a pressure point to get the other party to budge. Any date before this last week of June, seems to fall into this sort of brinkmanship. This is a classic tactic and the City of Glendale is "falling for it". Cue the Goldwater Institute to call "TimeOUT" this weekend or next, which is long after NHL fans like Astrosnut have already called the bluff in the desert!

Chris
President, www.myNHLincludesWinnipeg.com
~ The Reality May Surprise You! Excite You! ~

30,000 Unique Visitors Monthly and Growing

While we sit anticipating the next surprise in the Phoenix Coyotes off-ice saga, there has been some thought that the Atlanta Thrashers may be the next club looking to jet out of town.

Some media and fans have suggested that if Gary Bettman went to such lengths to fasten the Coyotes to the Arizona desert, we can be assured that he will do likewise to keep the Thrashers in Georgia especially given the size of the city’s television footprint nationally.

Those same NHL stakeholders may be OFFside upon further review. And the potentially nasty lessons found in Atlanta should be well understood by NHL fans in Manitoba who dearly want another home team to support.

Given the size of the Atlanta market, there are many reasons for the NHL to pull out of the stops to ensure the Thrashers never move. Many past news articles and blogs have detailed these so now on to deeper analysis.

The Thrashers are owned by Atlanta Spirit, a group of eight investors from Boston, Washington and a lone one from the local area. Spirit also owns the Philips Arena in which the team plays as well as the NBA Hawks. The WNBA Dream plays out of the arena also, but they are owned by Ron Terwilliger who is not part of the Spirit group.

On the face of it, the situation looks positive in that all revenues made by the rink outside of these sporting events goes back into the same pockets that own the hockey team. While it is true that luxury suite revenues are shared nearly 50/50 with the Hawks, those same suites go for much more since fans get to see NHL, NBA and WNBA games. This singular owner model essentially is the best model for an NHL team to survive and be successful.

Winnipeg’s situation compares nicely. The company known as True North Sports & Entertainment (TNSE), essentially owned by Mark Chipman and David Thomson, own the MTS Centre, the concert promotion business, the AHL Manitoba Moose and hopefully an NHL team soon. This parallels the positive Atlanta model as it does most successful NHL teams.

Past blogs have spoken about the fractured Spirit group trying to buy out one member of the group, Steve Belkin. However, to ensure context is evident, a short background is included. While the remaining members are hockey fans to a certain extent, the truth is that most are NBA first, and potentially second, leaving the Thrashers essentially to Bruce Levenson, the most quoted ownership member on Thrasher matters. It is clear that these owners will have to cut a substantial cheque to rid themselves of the Belkin distraction and his roughly 30% stake overall. Levenson may be the only opposed member of Spirit, should the group decide to pay Belkin with Thrasher sale proceeds. Thus, in one quick alley-oop, the Spirit group rids themselves of Belkin (and potentially Levenson) without having to draw any or as much cash out of their pockets to do so.

There are other benefits through the sale for Spirit to consider. This Thrasher sale also safeguards their beloved Hawks and conveniently opens up another 41 nights for events that actually make money, as opposed to burn it as demonstrated in Thrasher annual losses. Another very important fact is that the Hawks would keep nearly 100% of the luxury suite revenues for themselves where the NBA is clearly the drawing card for local fans and businesses. In effect, the Hawks will make more money with the NHL’s departure and concert promotions has more nights to make even more money for the Spirit conglomerate as a whole. It should be pointed out that the remaining 6 or 7 partners would keep not just 70% of the profits but all 100% with Belkin gone.

With the Thrashers consuming capital each season, the only question for Spirit is why wait any longer? So for an offer of $100 million (as the Lightning alone just sold for) or $140 million (as the NHL paid for the Coyotes), the team could be punted by Spirit as soon as their 7 year non-relocation agreement expires conveniently on September 21, 2010. (Mark your calendars!) So clearly the motive is ripe for the Spirit group to sell the Thrashers for some time now as the Belkin distraction has been in the courts for years already.

It is very conceivable that the Spirit has been quietly shopping the NHL team in that same timeframe. There is evidence to support this theory. In case you may not know, ESPN has linked Winnipeg interests to the Thrashers long before Al Strachan reported virtually the same story in October 2009.

So the Thrasher owners probably want to sell the team.

What about Gary Bettman finding another group wanting to keep the team in Atlanta, if not right in Philips Arena? It has been reported that efforts to find “new investors” are ongoing in Atlanta for over a year. As we have learned with several troubled teams already, this has become NHL-speak for “we’re wanting out”. So with nary an owner to be found, it is possible that what Gary Bettman has done twice for Tampa Bay, he may not be able to do for Atlanta. Surely, if a Jeffrey Vinik-in-waiting was to be had, Spirit may have already pulled the plug on their tenure.

Is it possible that Atlanta is unworkable with any new owner at Philips Arena? Given a cursory look at Thrasher books (or past media reports alone), it is fairly clear that a potential owner would become jaded quickly. Consider the current ownership has access to all these extra revenue streams and yet the Thrashers still turn in losses. If a team were bought to play as a tenant in Philips Arena then an additional rental cost needs to be included into any business plan and several current revenue streams would be deleted from the ledger. If the team is to remain at Phillips Area and unless the Thrashers’ new owner also becomes a new member of Spirit to gain access to rink-related revenues outside of hockey, then the Thrashers are essentially done. That is as clear as the red ink that has flowed almost since day one when Ted Turner and his media empire brought the NHL back to Georgia over a decade ago.

It is entirely possible that the Atlanta Spirit has effectively tied Gary Bettman’s hands in this situation. If Spirit says that the team has to be sold and that they will not really welcome the new owner as their tenant, then there remains little recourse for the NHL, regardless how much Gary Bettman wishes to retain Atlanta in the NHL. If the situation becomes vindictive then Gary Bettman may work things so that any sale of the Thrashers becomes a non-starter with the NHL Board of Governors. On the other side of the puck, the NHL may also welcome a sale if it is to a prospective owner or a market that the NHL covets. Clearly being the richest NHL owner by far, David Thomson and his media empire just might have the NHL and Spirit seeing eye to eye on a potential sale. Thomson as Forbes magazine’s Top 20 richest people in the world brings the NHL potentially much more in media terms than the footprint and number of TV screens lost when the Thrashers leave town. This tradeoff may have already been discussed and informally approved at the NHL Board level. Unconfirmed reports suggest that this was ongoing before the Coyotes when bankrupt.

What becomes an even longer shot to keep the team in Atlanta is for the Thrashers to move to another rink within the city. Philips is by far the best venue for large scale concert promotions. By moving to another rink, the lack of access to all revenues through a tenant-owner scenario still remains. As but one example for the lack of rink options, Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Georgia seats only 13,000 in total, 11,500 for hockey and is presently home of the ECHL Gwinnett Gladiators. Is it reasonable that someone with huge deep pockets and that loves NHL hockey enough would buy or build an arena and buy the Thrashers to keep the team in Georgia? Considering the NHL team becomes essentially a “loss-leader” for a concert promotion business, it is very unlikely due to the team’s financial history. Given the clout of Atlanta Spirit it seems unreasonable to think that they would have trouble finding a new owner by now if the team showed value in the current city. Spirit would have already found that owner to essentially replace Belkin if that value would be clear and large enough.

So with few suitors for the Thrashers and only one decent arena in which to house an NHL team, time patience and money may be in short supply for the NHL’s second attempt in bringing the City of CNN and Coca-Cola onside. Thus, Gary Bettman may choose to live and fight another battle instead.

“Here Come Your Winnipeg” hard lessons for NHL supporters in Manitoba.

By way of the agreement with governments in the building of the MTS Centre, no new rink that seats more than a few thousand can be built within the Greater Winnipeg Area that would receive any sort of government help. Should the TNSE ownership wish to sell their “new” NHL team in the distant future, the new owner would likewise have to buy, not only the team but a large stake in TNSE itself in order to receive access to those non-NHL revenues which have become the lifeblood of the entire league. Given David Asper’s commitments to the CFL Blue Bombers, a “Spirit of Manitoba”-like group of business people potentially without the Asper family may have to assemble to become that new ownership group.

Only this time that group would most likely have to buy both the team and a good portion of the rink via TNSE. To put that challenge into perspective, in 1995, the local business community couldn’t close a deal to buy the team for $67 million. In fairness to them, the team then had no where to play with any reasonable expectation of break-even much less profitability, so to say the will to do so would be an understatement of the century and rightly so without an arena.

With MTS Centre turning into a cash cow for TNSE that excuse won’t hold water unless the group can’t afford both the team and rink as well which is entirely possible. In which case, the Spirit of Manitoba II may disband quickly if access to those non-NHL revenues are deemed critical to success and profitability, which seems most likely.

Since the governments would be legally bound not to build a second rink within Winnipeg, few options remain for a savior or group of saviors in which to operate. Of course, a second rink would be played against the MTS Centre for every musical act coming through town, so both rinks may become financially less stable in that situation, leading to a potential collapse of both arena business models. And after the 1990s, we all know how badly the public will receive any effort on behalf of governments to cover potential team losses. This is a non-starter even given the large tax infusion that a team brings to all three levels of government every year it calls Manitoba home.

As the faces of TNSE, Mark Chipman and David Thomson, are our only practical savior to bring NHL hockey back to Manitoba and they are possibly the only savior to keep the team here once it arrives.

The lesson is simple if the NHL returns to Manitoba. Those memories of 35,000 Save Our Jets supporters at The Forks and our children breaking open their piggybanks to help buy the team, better remain vivid while we support the next NHL team through thick and thin. This NHL support also needs to be generationally galvanized almost akin to a level like national pride, while the rest of the nation watches us in our “second chance”. Otherwise, we may find ourselves like Atlanta, with roughly the same setup, who will lose the NHL twice and there’s nothing any Spirit can do to save the team from leaving. Heaven forbid, but that is a day where our community pride will be the last thing we will be thinking about.

Based on what is already public knowledge, a wise fan programs ticketmaster's number into their cell and a credit card is kept handy. When the big announcement arrives, it will be a fan stampede to grab season tickets bigger and faster than any of the hundreds of concerts that has ever sold out the MTS Centre. Word to the Wise!

If you would like to sound off, blast your comments at our forum!

Chris
President, www.myNHLincludesWinnipeg.com
30,000 Unique Visitors Monthly And Growing

~ The Reality May Surprise You! Excite You! ~

Recently NHL stakeholders have been trying to digest what the MOU between Jerry Reinsdorf and the City of Glendale mean in cold hard terms beyond the political intrigue of a future Goldwater Institute or Arizona State potential showdown.

One would be very OFFside for believing that this MOU and new lease agreement between the team and Glendale offers any real hope of franchise salvation within Arizona.

Let's assume that given developer voluntary approval to the CFD also implies that their tenants are also legally bound to these new terms. Remember these tenants also have leases with the developer and after they expire there may be no way to force a tenant into similar terms. Unilateral lease term changes are unlikely to stand a challenge in court. And if such a challenge fails how many tenants would simply walk away or go bankrupt trying to make a go of things?

As it stands, $25 million is needed each year up to $100 million to offset team losses. Additionally, the first three years also requires an additional $21.5 million to help buy the team from NHL BOG hands. Therefore these roughly 50 businesses need to raise about $46.5 million in years one, two and three and $25 million basically every year thereafter until $100 million is collected and the team essentially bolts to another market.

(Aside: Good luck City of Glendale in getting anyone to shell out $103 million to buy the team then after 5 more years of losses without porting them outside of Arizona!)

Ok now on to $164 million question: How much, on average, would each tenant need to collect in ADDITIONAL taxes/revenues/CFDs?

Let's say that 41 hockey games are included and we add another 10 home playoff games every season for a total of 51 home dates (preseason may or may not draw more than flies).

Since all non-hockey events can still take place with or without NHL hockey as a main tenant, these events will still occur. Therefore they can't be included in any CFD "revenue" development for these 50 Westgate tenants, although they may have too once you see the final numbers at the end of this blog.

Therefore this $25 to $46.5 million annual CFD revenue must be generated by the businesses essentially off of the NET economic activity on JUST those 51 NHL home dates.

So each of the 50 tenant businesses need to rake in a whole lot of cash to pay for this CFD.

Each tenant collects additional CFD NHL fan tax/revenue, annually
= $46.5 million /(50 tenants)
= $930,000 per hockey season
= $18,235 per hockey game, based on 51 home NHL dates per year

Keep in mind this is additional revenues above and beyond any taxes and such on the NHL fan currently outlays.

So can the NHL fanbase of Phoenix swallow this extra cost to support their team? Let's run the numbers two different ways to see this answer more clearly.

So if this CFD fee is collected on nothing but parking and 2 people per car drive to each game with 13,000 fans per game used as an average, then in order to match the $46.5 million demand, each car would be charged slightly over $140 USD to park per game.

Or looking at this from the fan perspective, each NHL fan would have additional charges to attend each and every NHL game in Glendale. Using 13,000 fans as an average attendance and 41 home dates (playoffs should never be assumed in order to safeguard team viability), then each fan must cough up on average $87.24 USD on all potential revenues streams, where parking has been free in Glendale and where ticket prices are routinely $25 not including any discounts and 2-for-1 that have been this market history. (See the graphic header as but one of many historical examples.)

So clearly the NHL fanbase can't sustain this additional cash call, even with decent attendance which clearly has not been the norm but is a reasonable number to work from. This concludes the sustainibility test for the Coyotes under this proposed lease agreement.

So in order to continue NHL hockey in Glendale, it is now clearly a tax of all people who visit the Westgate area for almost any reason: concerts, rodeos, wrestling and the like. NFL Cardinal football fans would have been included but the team essentially told Glendale "over our cold dead hands" so the neighbouring stadium will not be coerced into contributing to NHL hockey. Thus the CFD burden will be that much more onerous on the remaining and relatively smaller businesses in the area. Potential future expansion of development space may offset this but an ever widening catchment to prop up an NHL team is clearly a shaky proposal at best. Of course, the required development expansion in the heart of a badly recession-stricken area must occur quickly in order to bring new tenants online before the 5 years of losses triggers the team to potentially jump ship. Developments have went on hold or bankrupt over the last few years in Arizona so this would certainly buck the trend and economic conditions.

At the end of the deal brokering, it appears that the Reinsdorf-Glendale plan offers nothing more than 5 more years of NHL hockey before departing while the entire area is asked to make cash calls to prop up the main tenant which helps drive business through their doors.

This proposal only makes sense if each CFD dollar collected to a total of $164 million would have went back to Glendale to cover the $180 million build cost that Glendale coughed up initially to build the rink. Because in 5 years, those dollars will have been collected and spent on Reinsdorf team losses, the team will depart and the rink mortgage will be only roughly $20 million lighter due to five years of Coyote rental fees. Either way, the numbers do not bridge that gap.

Glendale's Westgate tenants clearly comes to mind whenever the Rolling Stones' "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" is heard. There are some times when the Devil you know is clearly worse than the Devil you don't: but it might be a lesson postponed by five more long years in Arizona.

If you have a differing opinion, share it at our forum!

Chris
President, www.myNHLincludesWinnipeg.com

~ The Reality May Surprise You! Excite You! ~

An interesting two-step dance is emerging in Glendale, Arizona between team sale price and lease subsidies.

One would be OFFside to use regular business valuation techniques in trying to solve for the Coyote purchase price. After all, how much value other than salvage, would you pay for an asset that has lost $300 million over 14 years, never showing any season in the black? A series of owners, two arenas, several managers and many coaches have meant little to the bottom line even with a 100-point team almost top of its' conference. A banking source revealed that the value of the team may be as low as $50 million. However both of these approaches fail to take into account this salvage value. The team when ported to a new locale becomes effectively an expansion team, fully stocked with a team, prospects and an administration. With recent reported past sales (Tampa $170 million with lease and land, Edmonton $200 million, Minnesota $250 million, Nashville $193, Tampa $206 million with the same lease and adjacent land), the franchise may sell from between $140 million and $200 million. Trouble is the NHL has truth-stretched "announced" attendances for years and now appears to be doing likewise with the most recent sale of Tampa Bay to say nothing of the debt assumptions in both Nashville and Edmonton. Rumours suggest Jeff Vinik, an investment banker, drove his usual hard bargain and dropped $80 million cash for 100% of the Lighting. So that is the background for negotiations heading into the Phoenix firestorm to come.

One would think that the NHL and the various 3 parties (IEH, Reinsdorf and TNSE)chasing the Coyotes would have had at least "feel out" discussions with the NHL to determine the purchase price, if not attempt real negotiations. The sticking point for the 2 buyers is based on how much of a concession they can get annually from Glendale. With the "subsidy" not known yet, the buyer business plan is incomplete. Thus the return on investment can't be calculated nor will banks pre-qualify the buyer to engage in a binding purchase price and contract with the NHL. And as the potential Glendale subsidy gets smaller, the purchase price that the buyers are willing pay almost certainly lessens, unless relocation is their desire as it is within the Thomson-Chipman camp. So in short, the purchase price may be only determined after the best lease is minted, unless relocation is the true motive in buying.

The IEH LOI, wrote in mid-December, probably expires shortly, unless it was "non-exclusively" binding on the NHL. Otherwise why would the NHL put all their eggs in the IEH basket leading right up to the relocation deadline? (Would you believe that was the fix to move the team to Winnipeg as Plan B before Reinsdorf leaped back into the picture? Nothing will I put past the NHL anymore.) So whether or not IEH had agreed in writing to a binding price purchase, it may matter little now.

Since Reinsdorf is in the picture it tells us that the IEH LOI was exclusive and has expired or their LOI wasn't exclusive after a certain date (rendering it practically as useless as being expired).

However, it is hard to imagine the NHL will sell the team at a loss (below $140 miilion) on top of 2 or more seasons of covering the team's losses on behalf of Jerry Moyes, the past owner the NHL is now suing. $140 million or bust may be Gary Bettman's motto. Now just imagine how bad Gary Bettman will look at the BOG table when he admits he took a "Leipold-style cut" on a potential deal. It's like going to the casino and losing the governors' own money. And the NHL hasn't even tried Las Vegas as a market yet! Of course, the public will never know how little the NHL got (unless the team comes to Winnipeg which will be almost certainly the first question from the local media).

As has been suggested by a few diehard Manitoban NHL fans (special kudos to RazorEdge), it is entirely possible that both buyers want Glendale to effectively cut the other out of a future negotiation with the NHL. Each side has contacts to swing favour their way. I believe that Glendale will sway towards either the NHL or Reinsdorf as both have considerable weight within city council. IEH however is on the outside track of course with Reinsdorf having John Kaites to grease the wheels. It is hard to believe that Glendale city council would cut out potential buyer without NHL first "consent". By doing so, Glendale would essentailly be taking control away from the NHL in choosing an owner for its' team. That may be enough to rile the NHL to pull the franchise and blame city council "for shutting the door on the NHL", especially with Winnipeg waiting in the wings.

Also, consider Thomson-Chipman involvement if only behind the scenes. Some of the local Winnipeg media recently chose to only look at the negative spin here but there is a suitable positive spin to consider. Of course, these 2 gentlemen effectively put pressure on Glendale to come through with a favourable lease. This is "the NHL used Winnipeg" sentiment. However "Plan C" also puts alot of pressure on the 2 buyers since any ridiculously low offer by them will just be ignored by the NHL and in turn may cause the NHL to irrevocably favour Winnipeg as Plan C.

Gary Bettman will not take kindly to that sort of gamesmanship from most people. Reinsdorf appears to be bargain hunting potentially at the NHL's expense. (Remember on May 5, 2009 the NHL was delivering to Moyes a binding LOI selling the Coyotes via Moyes' proxy to Reinsdorf. Moyes of course plunged the team into bankruptcy just in time wiping out the arrangement. The purchase price therein was never publicly released but most certainly would have been north of $140 million given the previous past NHL team sales. This will not be lost on Bettman.) Further, Gary Bettman's negotiation history shows that playing a game of brinkmanship can be expected. He flushed an entire season down the drain to break the NHLPA senior brass. Look what he did to both Balsillie and Moyes for working behind his back. Plan C, better known as Thomson-Chipman, effectively raises the bar on purchase price to a more reasonable level, in the NHL's eyes, long before the 2 buyers even know how favourable or unfavourable the new lease may become. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place if you are in Ice Edge Holdings or in the Reinsdorf camp.

In order for the team to remain in Arizona, one of two things must occur. The first scenario has either one of two buyers dance the Arizona-two-step and get help from Glendale that survives a court challenge by Goldwater in meeting the NHL's expectations. Most certainly this is a long shot given the number of weeks that remain on the relocation clock. The second scenario is much more straightforward: somehow a buyer convinces the NHL to take a pride-swallowingly large haircut so that funds for the purchase can be diverted to cover future losses until triggers allow the team to finally take flight in 3 to 5 years. In effect, the NHL would cover further years of losses at the governors' expense. Both scenarios seem as unlikely.

Plan C: Having the first two options fall away, we may look upon the sewn captain's "C" in a whole new way very shortly as Mr. Chipman steps up to a podium near you!

If you want to blown off steam, head down to the forum and tell us how you feel having watched this soap opera going on 3 years this fall! www.mbmbforum.com

Chris
President, www.myNHLincludesWinnipeg.com
~ The Reality May Surprise You! Excite You! ~

White Knight Confirmed!
Manitoba NHL Ownership Publicly Declared by Daly

The reaction has been swift to Bill Daly’s statement categorically denying that Winnipeg is the NHL’s exit strategy should the Coyotes run out of ownership options to remain in Arizona.

The NHL is trying to position themselves to be able to say two things later. The first NHL position will be that all the media naysayers were wrong, that this young and exciting team will be just fine in Glendale and that they knew this all along, given the ownership receiving final league approval. The second position for the NHL is the scapegoat route. The NHL can say that Glendale council or even Goldwater Institute killed any reasonable hope that the team could remain in such a beautiful city, playing in such a great arena. It is highly unlikely that the NHL turns on either Ice Edge Holdings or Reinsdorf since the league has so many troubled teams and too few ownerships willing to take them off beleaguered hands. Either way, the NHL has put on its’ Teflon-coated suits as neither outcome to the Coyotes story will have any bad press sticking to them.

So for the media to expect that the NHL will admit that it does have a backup plan could be easily twisted by some into thinking that the NHL will “run out of one of its’ cities”. This is the last thing the NHL wants to be perceived as, even as relocation may in fact occur and occur outside the US.

The media is OFFside if it truly expected anything else but the guarded yet categorically negative response Daly offered to any and all proposed exit strategies. Thus hope remains in Manitoba even in the face of Daly’s more than expected denials.

However, NHL fans in Manitoba received a tidbit of news that might be lost given the hoopla over Winnipeg as a potential NHL-preferred escape route. Andrew Willis’ Globe and Mail article titled “Coyotes eyeing a Winnipeg den?” posted late last night on the newspaper’s website quoted among others, this portion of Bill Daly’s official statement:

“With respect to Winnipeg and Messrs. Chipman and Thomson, we have had ongoing discussions over time regarding their potential interest in owning an NHL franchise [as we have had with a number of other individuals and cities around North America] and potentially bringing an NHL franchise back to Winnipeg. It remains an intriguing possibility and one we would consider given appropriate circumstances, but there is nothing new to report on that front at this time.”

See the full story here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/coyotes-eyeing-a-winnipeg-den/article1516385/

For the casual observer you may have missed the breaking news in that statement. For the rabid NHL fan base, you may have picked up on the fact that this is the first official voice to link David Thomson and Mark Chipman as an ownership group for Winnipeg. Further, by coming from Bill Daly, the NHL acknowledges that the league has “over time” had discussions with the two leaders of True North Sports and Entertainment.

This is the first public declaration that Manitoba’s and Winnipeg’s White Knight has arrived. Further, he and Chipman have had discussions with the NHL regarding relocation and presumably expansion possibilities.

While many reporters took Thomson’s involvement as granted after Al Strachan spilled the beans last October on Hockey Night in Canada’s Satellite Hotstove segment, both Chipman and Thomson stayed mum. The very private Thomson may not be well known to most Canadians but the companies owned by him are the face of the nation including CTV, TSN and the aforementioned Globe and Mail. According to Forbes magazine less than three weeks ago, Canada’s richest person with a net worth of roughly $19.0 Billion is Top 20 in the entire world. ( http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/10/billionaires-2010_The-Worlds-Billionaires_Rank.html )

Many comparisons have been made to James Balsillie including Willis' story in the Globe. Balsillie’s net worth according to Forbes is number 421 in the world at $2.3 Billion. In a financial sense Thomson can skate 8 circles around Balsillie’s single lap. But as the saying goes, money can’t buy you everything in life. The reality is that the biggest difference between ownerships has been where Balsillie has been a bull in the NHL gift shop as Chipman is towing the NHL line for the past five or more years running.

Thomson, as the richest potential owner not only in the NHL but possibly in all of North American major league sports, partnered with the follow-the-rules, patient and personable hockey operator in Chipman. The two together redefines the NHL gameplan to put Manitoba and Winnipeg back on the major league sports map.

So while the very real prospect of the Ex-Jets coming back home remains an exciting topic for hockey fans to ponder, it is clear that this ownership group does have the ability to port any of a number of troubled teams to the center of the continent. In a nutshell, Chipman and Thomson provide hockey's version of Winnipeg's "CentrePort" concept. Their involvement by its’ very nature changes the question from if the NHL will return to when and which team.

So, when a team arrives, where would one donate cash to install a bronze statue of Thomson and Chipman sitting stately beside Winnipeg's iconic Timothy Eaton statue in the MTS Centre?

Chris
President, www.myNHLincludesWinnipeg.com
~ The Reality May Surprise You! Excite You! ~