NEW YORK — Don Waddell was one of the first Thrashers employees. He will be one of the last.
However, there will be a day when the team president’s tenure will end.
“It’s not going to hit me until that day that I don’t get into my car and drive to the office, said Waddell, his voice cracking. “That’s when it will hit me.”
Waddell was the Thrashers’ representative at Tuesday’s NHL Board of Governors meeting in New York when the league unanimously voted to approve the sale and relocation of the team to Winnipeg, Manitoba. It won’t be his last duty.
Waddell said he will stay employed by the Atlanta Spirit on an “open ended” agreement with co-owner Bruce Levenson. He will help with the closing of the sale agreement with True North Sports and Entertainment, shut down the team’s practice facility in Duluth (the lease expires at the end of August) and assist with the Hawks and Philips Arena.
Those are his duties going forward. His main focus the past five months was trying to find a buyer willing to keep the Thrashers in Atlanta. According to Waddell, he worked with 22 people or groups that expressed an interest in buying the Thrashers. Some had promise. Others did not. One by one, each failed to move into more serious negotiations. No group or individual ever signed an exclusive negotiating agreement. “That has been the last four or five months of my life,” Waddell said.
Waddell thought he was close at least once. A wealthy family “from the Midwest” was one of the groups he worked with. He introduced that family to Braves pitching great Tom Glavine, who had expressed an interest in helping keep the Thrashers in Atlanta. Glavine, who confirmed the account, would be an investor and local face of the organization. However, a member of the family developed a serious illness, and they withdrew their interest.
The final interested party was a family from North Carolina, but when they decided not to move forward, during the Atlanta Spirit’s negotiations with True North, the end was at hand.
Even during the search, Waddell had reason to believe the Thrashers would remain in the city. True North first was interested in the NHL-owned Phoenix Coyotes. At one point during lengthy and complicated negotiations with a potential buyer, which included opposition from a local watchdog group, it appeared the deal was dead. It would have cleared the way for the Manitoba-based group to open talks to relocate the Coyotes.
Waddell addressed a company meeting held to kick off the start of the Hawks’ playoff run.
“We are here to stay,” Waddell said he told the gathering.
The elation was short-lived. The City of Glendale soon voted to pay the NHL $25 million to cover next season’s operating expenses, guaranteeing the team would play in Arizona at least one more season. True North turned its attention to the Thrashers. The unofficial end came less than a month later with a sale agreement. The $170 million deal, with the NHL receiving a $60 million relocation fee, became official Tuesday.
Fallout for the team and its employees came quickly. On Monday, nearly 20 employees were let go from the downtown headquarters. Hours after the league approval, the team’s website was closed, directing viewers to either the NHL or the Winnipeg franchise sites.
More employees are expected to be let go next week as the process of shutting down the practice facility in Duluth begins. Winnipeg officials will be in Duluth in the coming days to take possession of the physical assets at the practice facility.
One of the last offices to be vacated will be Waddell’s. It’s the space he has occupied for the past 13 years, first as general manager, some as coach and lastly as president. He has tried to start the cleaning-out process, but hasn’t gotten very far.
“We have to find the positives and move forward, but it’s very difficult,” Waddell said.
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