[Regul8er]

Great decision for the league. Winnipeg deserves an NHL franchise!

[Swinging Johnson]

And in other news, how about those crazy new haircuts?

[ByeShea]

While I think the league could lose 6 teams or so outright, it's great for Winnipeg. Tiny market that will live and breathe a hockey franchise is better than a giant metropolis ignoring it.

[firedawg]

atlanta is a shit sports town... no support for any of their teams.

[Ian]

I'm surprised to see Atlanta move before Phoenix. The Coyotes lost 20 million last year according to Forbes, the Thrashers lost "only" 8 mil.

The NHL is in pretty bad shape. Over half the teams in the league lost money last season. Personally I think they should move franchises to Winnipeg, Quebec City, Seattle and contract one or two more.

Here's a link to the Forbes financial chart: http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/31/...s-10_rank.html

[LT Profits]

Columbus would make more sense

No Nashville does because it is the furthest south. Fits in naturally in Atlanta's old division.

[DennisGreen]

So awesome. GG Canucks farm team name I guess

[SpreadSniper]

FUKKING YES BOYSSS!!!

Yes, the Manitoba Moose are the Canucks farm team....

Yes, strip clubs are pretty good here, but much better ones in T.O - last time I was there, which hasnt been in forever now, you could get up on the stage, in the middle of a chicks act, put a rolled up 5er in your mouth, lay down on the stage and chick rubs up on you and takes the bill or whatever.... kinda ***** up the show if you ask me, but meh, fun if you are with a bunch of buddies.... not sure if they put the hammer down on that shit yet or not?

Yes, Bettman is a retard and a joke for trying to bring hockey to U.S markets such as Atlanta and Phoenix....

Not yet official, True North and NHL denying deal is in place.... Announcement supposedly to be made on Tuesday....

FUCKKIN YESSSS BOYSSS!!!

[SpreadSniper]

....

[bruceBRUCEbruce]

atlanta is a shit sports town... no support for any of their teams.

the worst, they are.

[gregm]

atlanta is a shit sports town... no support for any of their teams.

Totally agree Firedawg. I am confused by that , my friend in Atlanta says its just such a spread out city most people really don't feel like they are part of a real city. I don't know.

The ownership of the thrashers certainly didn't help matters, I wonder when the Hawks may be looking to leave.

[darren125]

I bet that name still belongs to Phoenix. I think when the Browns became the Ravens the NFL had to step in and secure the name for the city.

[Wiggums5]

MAYOR: JUST A 'MATTER OF TIME' BEFORE WINNIPEG DEAL DONE

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=366351

[Ralphie Halves]

People from Winnipeg make it sound like their team was stolen from them.

Winnipeg couldn't sell out a 15,000 person stadium when tickets were $40 and lost their team in the first place because they didn't support it. I wonder how big the base is that will pay $80 for cheap seats and $200 for lower bowl if the franchise sucks for 4-5 years straight again.

This.

How soon people forget.

[SpreadSniper]

This.

How soon people forget.

"The cost of operations and the huge increase in salaries were the main demise of the team, especially with the difference in the American and Canadian Dollar."

How easily you guys seem to overlook....

"The Winnipeg Jets were owned by a group of businessmen who would have rather sold their team for $67 million to Phoenix then break-even in Winnipeg each year. Winnipegers were victims of greed. The Jets had the fan support, but just no owner support"

So don't give me bullshit about us actual fans of the game not supporting our team.... We footed the fukkin bill to keep them around an extra year, then had the rug pulled out from underneath us before we could pony up again....

Good job Gary! You can kiss my cold pale ass now buddy

[muldoon]

"The cost of operations and the huge increase in salaries were the main demise of the team, especially with the difference in the American and Canadian Dollar."

How easily you guys seem to overlook....

"The Winnipeg Jets were owned by a group of businessmen who would have rather sold their team for $67 million to Phoenix then break-even in Winnipeg each year. Winnipegers were victims of greed. The Jets had the fan support, but just no owner support"

So don't give me bullshit about us actual fans of the game not supporting our team.... We footed the fukkin bill to keep them around an extra year, then had the rug pulled out from underneath us before we could pony up again....

Good job Gary! You can kiss my cold pale ass now buddy

Yes, blame Bettman. The guy who put in place the unpopular (with many US clubs) the deal that offset the exchange rate when $1 CDN was worth around 60 cents (so Canadian teams could pay their players in U.S. dollars to remain competitive) The guy who changed the rules regarding lotteries so that teams like Edmonton & Calgary could work out scratch lotto ticket deals and share in the revenues. The guy who called the players bluff, got a cap in place that guarantees every team a profit if they can reach a threshold for season tickets (without worrying if ESPN likes the league or not)

FYI - without the $50,000,000 franchise fee paid by teams like Atlanta, Nashville, Anaheim and others, you would have seen at least one more Canadian team pack it up and head south. Maybe it was like borrowing against a CC, but smaller teams stayed afloat because of those fat expansion checks.

If you had a business asset you could support and break even, or sell for $67,000,000 - you'd just sit and continue to tread water?

But yeah, blame Bettman...he should have bought up all those empty seats and forced the ownership to stay and lose money.

[Checkerboard]

i hope they call them the jets

[Philphan]

The Winnipeg Jets are back!!

[SprayBoy]

winnepeg actually kinda blows, but anywhere in canada hockey is gonna sell so cant wrong

[gregm]

Hopefully the ownership group of the the atlanta thrashers will all find a warm place in hell when they die. This is horrible for the growing hockey culture in the south, there is a great article in the united states of hockey about the burgeoning youth hockey culture in the south .

http://unitedstatesofhockey.com/2011...-on-the-south/

They had a rally today in Atlanta it seems and letters from the childrens health care hospital in atlanta trying to get the team to stay. No way kids. These owners and all these lawyers have too much to gain, sorry kids, the ownership group, the Atlanta Spirit Group has bills to pay, now its probably time to look at the hawks . What a miserable story for Atlanta and what a miserable job of running this team..

[mcaulay777]

Phoenix blew it when they decieded to build there new arena way out in the middle of nowhere in the far extreme west valley.I lived in Phoenix for 9 years and went to a few games at the Old America West arena a Basketball Bulding but had poor sightlines for Hockey.A Majority of Hockey fans live in the East Valley,Mesa Chandler Scottsdale ect,They completlyshut them out with the location a lot of disposable income and fans went by the wayside.I think they wanted to bulid the place on a old plot of land where a the Los Arcos Mall was but fell thru.There is no way east valley fans can get to a night game Mon - Friday with all that traffic.They simply blew it by not building the arena Downtown or in the east valley somewhere.

[Vinnybagadonuts]

Won't be called the Winnipeg Jets, that's for sure.

Team name wasn't owned by the city. Also, it was the Coyotes franchise that absorbed Winnipeg, so they would have to give the rights (or sell them) back to Winnipeg. Not likely.

[Skidcom]

A good move. Hockey should be in Canada

[clonecat]

Manitoba Moose sounds like a minor league team, not an NHL team. Who will want to tool around in a Moose jersey?

[kiln]

Wouldn't mind seeing hockey in Seattle too, I think they'd draw well.

It's always baffled me that there's not a team there already. They clearly have the fan base.

[raggman]

attendance has been terrible for atlanta.
wish they would stay but won't lose sleep over it.

[JW Cash]

U imagine what it would be like living in Winnipeg................my God...horrible....

[steve18]

Hope the Panthers never move out of Florida. I actually appreciate the affordable hockey down here.

[EastStirling]

This was my question, too. Doesn't make any sense to keep Winnipeg in that division; the travel would be murder.

I agree. Travel will be a problem for the teams... But I'm still not sure if that deal is happening for real.

[Cuse0323]

Pavy where you at to defend your shit city.

[memo99]

People from Winnipeg make it sound like their team was stolen from them.

Winnipeg couldn't sell out a 15,000 person stadium when tickets were $40 and lost their team in the first place because they didn't support it. I wonder how big the base is that will pay $80 for cheap seats and $200 for lower bowl if the franchise sucks for 4-5 years straight again.

buddy U have no idea why the Jets left in the first place.
#1 Canadian dollar was .67 to the american dollar, it is now 1.02
#2 They didn't have an owner in the end and couldn't find one that wanted to spend money on a new arena for them, they will now have one of the richest people in the world owning them
#3 Their arena was outdated and nobody wanted to pay for a new one, they now have a new state of the art arena that is nicer than most nhl arenas

the nhl overall attendance was much lower in the '90's than it is now so was the economy Winnipeg's fans did a pretty good job with attendance averaging more people than 2 other canadian cities in Ottawa and Edmonton it's a very different situation this time, Thomson and Chipman didn't get rich by being stupid, they know it can and will work now

[DwightShrute]

U imagine what it would be like living in Winnipeg................my God...horrible....

Beautiful in the spring and summer, tons of lakes and more golf courses than almost any other area in North America.

In the winter, it would be as bad a living in Cleveland I suspect

[memo99]

jesus man you're an idiot the 6 Canadian nhl teams make up for 28% (4.7%) each of the entire NHL's revenue the other 24 American teams make up for 72% (3% each)don't tell me the American teams are saving the Canadian teams, infact the Winnipeg ownership are probably gonna pay 70 million for a relocation fee so we are doing just fine thanks anyways ass

[phxcoyotes]

At least I got one more year of the yotes in phoenix......

[milwaukee mike]

now let's get the milwaukee admirals into the nhl.
new stadium would help...