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More prospects than Coyotes

Bankruptcy case isn't city's only NHL hope, cautious politicians say

By: Bartley Kives and Bruce Owen

20/05/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 26

BORIS.MINKEVICH@FREEPRESS.MB.CA River City Sports staffers Greg Lebans (left) and Trevor Williams show gear from the city�s NHL glory days.

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BORIS.MINKEVICH@FREEPRESS.MB.CA River City Sports staffers Greg Lebans (left) and Trevor Williams show gear from the city�s NHL glory days. (BORIS MINKEVICH)

WINNIPEG – Manitoba's top political leaders are considering the prospect of an NHL team moving to Winnipeg regardless of who wins the battle to control the Phoenix Coyotes.

On Tuesday, as a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge declined to decide whether Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes or the National Hockey League has the right to run the struggling Sonoran Desert franchise, both Premier Gary Doer and Mayor Sam Katz suggested current pro-hockey economics make Winnipeg a contender for an NHL team -- even as they warned fans not to get their hopes up yet again.

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At the Manitoba legislature, Doer told reporters he's met with True North Sports and Entertainment chairman Mark Chipman during the past month about the possibility of an NHL team relocating to Winnipeg.

Doer said the success of the five-year-old MTS Centre, its luxury box seats and the city's hockey fans make the city a better candidate for an NHL team than Hamilton, which does not have luxury box seating in Copps Coliseum -- but does enjoy support from RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie, who has offered Moyes $212.5 million to buy the Coyotes and would move the club to southern Ontario if a U.S. judge allows the sale to proceed.

"Mr. Chipman and his leadership team with the MTS Centre has had in my view the right approach," Doer said. "The bottom line is some of the things we know in this community are becoming more evident around the hockey universe, and that's good, but that doesn't mean the puck is in the net."

Doer would not discuss the nature of his meeting with Chipman and cautioned much of what's being said about an NHL team relocating to the city is speculative at best. He also said "the last thing hockey fans need in this town" is to have their expectations raised and dashed again, especially since many remain bitter about the way the Winnipeg Jets left town for Phoenix in 1996.

"We have worked to build the MTS Centre and we have worked together on other ideas in hockey and yes, we have ongoing discussions about the situations that are out there," Doer said of his meetings with Chipman. "There are a lot of the right elements in Winnipeg right now. The issue of how much an NHL team costs and who else we're competing with... this is a competitive situation."

Katz echoed Doer's sentiments, stating he believes Winnipeg has the right building, enough corporate support and a rabid enough fan base to support an NHL team, albeit not at any ticket price.

But the mayor suggested the Phoenix Coyotes are likely not the team destined to come to Winnipeg, as several other NHL clubs are struggling -- and no Winnipeg businessperson or group of businesses has put a $212.5-million offer on the table.

"I believe there are more coming down the road. This is the beginning, not the end," Katz said outside his office at city hall.

Katz said he may speak to Balsillie on June 2, when the BlackBerry magnate will visit Winnipeg to address the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce. But the mayor doesn't expect to convince Balsillie to forget about Hamilton and place Winnipeg on top of his relocation wish list, as the RIM executive has been very clear about his preference to move the Coyotes to Ontario.

"Hamilton's very lucky to have him. I wish his headquarters were here in Winnipeg, but they're not," quipped Katz, adding he believes both Winnipeg and Hamilton -- Canada's eighth- and ninth-largest metropolitan areas -- should have NHL teams.

Katz said the key obstacle to moving a club to Winnipeg is the fact True North owns and operates the MTS Centre, which means any new ownership group or existing owner must either form a joint venture with the Winnipeg company or strike some other form of deal.

"If you owned an NHL franchise, let's say in Atlanta, and you wanted to move to Winnipeg, you can't because someone else gets all the revenue in the existing venue. So you have to work out some kind of arrangement," said the mayor, who moved a pro sports franchise to Winnipeg in 1994, when the Northern League's Rochester Aces became the Katz-owned Winnipeg Goldeyes.

The NHL's Atlanta Thrashers have been the subject of relocation speculation. Along with Hamilton and Winnipeg, prospective destinations have included Kansas City and Las Vegas.

But earlier this week, True North's Chipman wanted no part of the latest round of relocation hype, suggesting "it opens a can of worms that leads to nowhere right now."

Even Manitoba Opposition leader Hugh McFadyen, who incorporated a pledge to bring the NHL back to Winnipeg into the Tories' provincial election platform in 2007, said it's too early in the debate to consider the NHL's return to Winnipeg.

For the league to be viable here, more work has to be done to reduce player salaries and thus reduce ticket prices, he suggested.

"You need to find 15,000 people 80 times a year to fork out significant sums of money. That's a big ask," McFadyen said. "You've got to look at whether with current salary levels that's reasonable or not. Can you make it break even or do better?"

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca

 

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 20, 2009 A3

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26 Commentscomment icon

Redskin is apparently the voice of fact....NOT! Every major player in the game that counts in regards to the possibility of NHL hockey moving back to Winnipeg all agree that 15,015 general seats is fine because the 50 luxury boxes and revenues from the facility overall are what make the economics make sense.

Redskin, compare this to a 20,000 seat arena half full with 2/3 of the boxes unsold and weak advertising in a Grand Canyon of uncaring (when it comes to hockey) golf lovers in Phoenix.

This may not be the team that makes arrangements to move, but one of these southern belt teams will....then what with Redskin be negative about next.....let me guess, the roads and the unemployed needy, lol.

TRUE NORTH is an Idea that Winnipeggers and Manitobans imagined and BUILT to not only show peeple in this region butt also to entertian friends/familles/guests from other areas on this Planet !
Eye can not believe how certain individuals have such a mindset of negativity towards a challenge and a GOAL FOR KIDS to succeed in life ! (much more how these individuals influence others to follow them into a state of doom and gloom )
Mr.Chipman and his team of Vision is what makes me feel strongly about how Winterpeg and Manitoba is supposed to be .
Just ask that naked guy up on top of that roof ...the only cold thing we like is ICE with a JETS logo on it !
Game On ...ur local internet hand held device and teleVISION station !
go JETS allez-y !
Moose are cool butt JETS are fast and furious like hawkee !
luv from CORNWALL,ontario Canada 2OX09 ! home of #10
M.O.O.S.E.J.E.T.S.-- Move Over One ,Someone Else Just Entered The Site ;)
(only a matter of time ,before Winterpeg gets there NHL team back ...mr.balsillie does not know when to quit and that is how i feel as well !
Winterpeg...is just one season in Manitoba ...a FESTIVE season !!
Yesssssssss wii Can !!

It is a fact,the MTS centre does not have enough seats to sustain a viable NHL team. NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN!

Don't forget. With McFadgen running the team, we will have revenue from an extra 41 home games - no other team will be able to compete with that.

Kind of funny that McFadyen promised to bring a team here during the election, when the US economy was still decent and therefore less likely southern teams would be in a position to move north. Now, having lost the election and the "credit" likely going to the NDP--fair or not--should we get a team, he hedges. And this may just be an honest mistake by people, but I keep hearing naysayers say "try getting 15,000 people to spend $50 on a ticket 80 times a year". Generally you don't sell tickets to away games. Only need to sell 42 regular season games. Playoff games and games against other Canadian teams and top-tier American teams would always sell out easily. How many tickets do the Bombers sell in a season? Granted they play fewer games, but a lot more tickets per game. And trust me, Winnipeg is a hockey town more than it is a football town.

Great post Dale1176. I agree 100%. I wish people would do some research before spouting off about what you and I can or cannot do. This city is nothing like the city the Jets left in 1996. There is plenty of money in this city and the MTS Centre is good to go. All of these Eaton's huggers will be eating crow soon enough. There will be a NHL teamin Winnipeg within 3 years.

Mark Chipman is no dumby. He has quietly built a business that gross's $460,000,000 per year - not his father. There is a reason why Mark is the CEO of the holding company and not one of his other siblings. When the time is right he will make a play for a NHL team - and get it.

15,015 in Winnipeg. 17,000+ in Atlanta, Phoenix, Nashville, Florida, where ever else. Blah blah. I know. Now simple math here, try to keep up. Any of the above existing NHL cities are getting anywhere from 7,000 - 12,000. a game. So if an arena can hold 17,000+ , but only gets 12,000 (and that's the generous side of the numbers) and the MTS Centre only holds 15,015, that means there are still 3015 more people at the MTS Centre. And that means... WOW! sorry your right, I guess the MTS Centre IS too small. I don't know what I was thinking, having 3000 extra people wouldn't be more attractive to a franchise. hmmm, maybe I should go over these numbers again.. Or maybe you should start checking some facts before you write stuff that really, as the math shows,... doesn't add up.

Just a thought here... If you do not plan on going to a NHL game in Winnipeg. Do not comment. If you don't support the return of an NHL team, do not comment. You do not speak for me, or my family or friends. Or my employer who is willing to purchase a private box. Nor do you speak for the thousands of other fans surrounding Winnipeg. And I'm am only guessing here of course, but unless the above comments were written by ANYBODY that has a better grasp on business and the workings of professional sports than Mr. Chipman, Mr. Katz, or anybody who has the millions of dollars to invest (be it one or a group of people), then I'm kinda thinking your comments may be not all that accurate. Just a hunch, but if your complaining about a $50 ticket (which is probably low, maybe $65), I'm thinking your not in the same position as the above mentioned. Don't get all mad at me, I'm just pointing out that the people who run things do it better than the people who don't. I have great ideas too, but I'm in no position to get them done. And as for cost, or no expendable cash. If the ammount of people in the mall, at the liquor store, and driving down each cottage country highway is any indication of our recession, your right it's all just too expensive!! Now does it make sense, because YOU want to go to the lake, and I refuse to pay those high gas prices, is it fair to say nobody will go to the cottage? Same just different I guess. Oh yeah, there has not been ANY talk of taxpayer cash being used for anything, just incase that was going in your response.

Wow !! BigDeal, Why aren't you running this city ,or better yet- the country.
After all you apparently know MORE about everything than everyone else.
What a wonderful world you must live in where all you have to do is pull opinions and "facts" out of your butt and be 100% sure that it's ALL correct- because after all, YOU thought of them !
And just think, then YOU could control what and when the media and the rest of us poor uninformed public are allowed to speak or think.
Sorry NoBigDeal, but I'll listen to those who actually have sway and first-hand knowledge over the pessimist rantings of your ilk.

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