From Atlanta to Winnipeg, hockey fans are debating the future of the Thrashers. We sort through the issues:
Q: Why are the Thrashers vulnerable to relocation?
A: The Thrashers’ owners have made it clear that they don’t want to continue funding the team’s operating losses, which they have pegged at around $20 million per year in court documents. Although the owners have said their preference is to find a buyer who would keep the team in Atlanta, they have said that talks with such prospects have not advanced significantly and that relocation of the team is a possibility.
Q: Are the Thrashers legally free to leave Atlanta?
A: They appear to be. The contract on the bonds that funded the construction of Philips Arena stipulates that the Hawks “have agreed to play all of [their] regular season and playoff NBA home games” in the arena “for as long as the [bonds] are outstanding,” but there is not a similar stipulation regarding the Thrashers. Although the Thrashers are hardly the only NHL franchise with financial difficulties, most teams have arena lease arrangements that would complicate or preclude relocation. In the Thrashers’ case, their ownership group, Atlanta Spirit, also owns the arena operating rights.
Q: What are the steps necessary for moving an NHL franchise?
A: A complicated, three-way deal would have to be struck among the seller, the buyer and the NHL. The league would get a significant portion of the purchase price as a relocation fee. A sale and relocation would require the approval of the NHL Board of Governors, which includes one representative from the ownership of each team.
Q: What is the NHL’s position on relocating the Thrashers?
A: The league has not responded this week to requests from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for comment on the Thrashers. In the past, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has said the league has a “covenant with fans” to do everything possible to preserve franchises in their current markets. According to the league’s bylaws, relocation votes should be guided by a long list of factors, including “whether the club in question is financially viable in its present location,” “the extent to which the fans have historically supported the club in its present location,” “whether the present owner of the club has made a good faith effort to find prospective purchasers who are prepared to continue operating the club in its present location” and “the extent to which the ownership and management of the club has contributed to any circumstances which might otherwise demonstrate a need to transfer.”
Q: Why so much talk linking the Thrashers to Winnipeg?
A: Although other cities are interested in adding an NHL team, Winnipeg is believed to be the only one with a potential ownership group in place and an arena ready for a franchise as soon as next season. The potential ownership group, True North Sports and Entertainment, is led by Winnipeg businessman Mark Chipman and billionaire David Thomson. True North owns Winnipeg’s arena, the MTS Centre, and the American Hockey League team that currently plays there, the Manitoba Moose.
Q: Why didn’t the Phoenix Coyotes, long rumored for relocation, move to Winnipeg?
A: The city council of Glendale, Ariz., voted late Tuesday night to pay the NHL up to $25 million for a second consecutive year in order to keep the Coyotes for at least another season. That move is designed to give the NHL, which bought the Coyotes out of bankruptcy in 2009, more time to try to complete a deal to sell the team to a buyer who would keep it in Glendale long-term.
Q: If the Thrashers were to move, when would it happen?
A: NHL bylaws require that an owner seeking to relocate a team submit a written application to the commissioner by Jan. 1 of the year preceding the proposed move — “unless a majority of the [clubs] consents to a later filing date.” That clause and caveat leave open the question of whether a move, if one occurs, would be for the 2011-12 or 2012-13 season. If it’s the former, things would have to happen quickly.
Q: Will Atlanta Spirit also sell the Hawks?
A: Possibly, but the basketball team is certain to remain in Atlanta. A combined sale of the Hawks, Thrashers and arena rights to a single buyer would be a potential solution, but the owners have said no such transaction has reached the stage of serious negotiations.
