The Decline of the Atlanta Thrashers/What Happened?
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
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Piss poor ownership killed hockey in Atlanta.
Clayton Calder you’re half right. Bettman is the other half of that equation.
Great Whitenorte sorry but that’s just not true. Attendance wasn’t the problem. Revenue wasn’t the problem. You’re just wrong. Sorry.
@Great Whitenorte Not true. I lived in Atlanta for 20 years and went to many games. That town is filled with hockey fans who migrated from the northern US. The attendance was good - even though half the arena was always cheering for the other team because so many were from somewhere else - but that's the way it is in most southern and western sports towns. They're packed with people that fled the bad economies and weather of the northern part of the country. The Thrashers failed because of an ownership group that had too many chefs in the kitchen and a GM who thought he didn't have to put a decent goalie or defensive scheme onto the ice.
@@JM_Solo Don't forget bonehead Don "I don't need defense" Waddell.
Aaron Allenson As a native Atlantan, I can sadly do nothing but agree with every ting you’ve said. It was weird having the arena filled with other teams fans but I was used to that with Falcons games haha. It still translates to ticket sales. And the season tix holders were a dedicated group.
Fun fact: Bryan Little is the only remaining active player who has been drafted and played for only the Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets franchise.....
John Alicandri Well Ben Chiarot was drafted by the Thrashers but never played a game for them.
Kovalchuk still plays in the nhl....
Kovalchuk and evander kane both drafted by the Thrashers still playing
Lynx Clan no, Kane traded to Buffalo, and kovalchuk to NJ.....
Lynx Clan not for the franchise though
To say Heatley was never the same player after the Ottawa trade is laughable. Back to back 50 goal seasons and a trip to the Finals in 07.
If Hossa was still in Ottawa with him, they’d win.
Matthew Madden if the Thrashers had drafted Dany Heatley a year earlier than they did, they would’ve attracted more fans and then losing Marian Hossa, Ilya Kovalchuk, Karri Lehtonen and Johan Hedberg wouldn’t have cost them a lot of fans and then they would’ve stayed in Atlanta.
@@jasonarokiaraj9817 I sure wish Heatley and Hossa were in Ottawa together. They would've won the Finals. Or at least force the decisive seven.
I cringed when the footage showed them stepping on the logo... No one should ever step on the sacred logo 😒♀🤦
Haha fail 😆
Can I have a reply jens
Ps: I am a goalie too 🥅
@@johnfitzgeraldkennedy2015 Hi Jackson! 😁
@@Jens95 omg😱
@@johnfitzgeraldkennedy2015 😱😱 What is going on?!
To be honest, I truly believe that Atlanta should have a NHL team. I loved everything about the Thrashers. Their name, colors, logo, arena, fans, jersey, and more. But, I have to be blunt, Atlanta will probably never get an NHL team again. It failed twice already and both the Flames and the Thrashers were not successful enough to win over the locals, more or less, the owners. It’s the unfortunate reality of an NHL franchise in Atlanta
Benny Bolin yeah I live in atl myself and I’m kinda mad abt that
yes two teams both gone .quit trying
And north Carolina has a team
@nikesback Fear not, Seattle finally will get an NHL team. Now they need the Sonics back and will have teams in the Big 5 (this includes the MLS)
It's crazy because Atlanta is the biggest market in America without an NHL team at the moment.
They never gave the Thrashers a chance...I was a season ticket holder and the fans were great and the games were exciting....they didn’t win a lot of games but look at the Jets now - one of the best teams in hockey. Great video and on point.
John Alex as a Jets fan I was so thrilled we returned but looking back I do think Atlanta got screwed over (we wanted Phoenix)
Ownership did fuck over the Thrashers. And now look at the following for Atlanta United. I think Arthur Blank could bring in Atlanta hockey a third time and actually develop a great fan base and sold out every night
@@ErikZarins That's all they needed was the right owner but Bettman didn't give it a chance. I miss hockey in Atlanta. For me between football season and baseball season it's pretty boring sports wise. I don't like basketball so I don't care about the Hawks but I loved the Thrashers
@@gamma21285 Atlanta Spirit honestly didn't give a damn about either the Hawks or Thrashers. Well, the Hawks a little more than the Thrashers.
The current Winnipeg team has only one player that was drafted by Atlanta. There really is next to no relation to the franchises. So saying the Jets are great nowdoesn't mean Atlanta was good or ever would have been good.
Jets are good now, but they continued to suck for a few years after the move. Took a few years of new GM Cheveldaoff and the new ownership to rebuild the team.
From the early-mid 2000's, you couldn't give away tickets with a steak dinner and 5 star hotel suite to Blackhawks, Penguins or Capitals games. So yes, proper management and ownership that gave a damn could have kept the Thrashers alive and well for years to come.
I remember when the Penguins were truly and deeply in financial trouble. As a resident of a neighboring Rust Belt city (Buffalo), I was happy that Mario Lemieux and others rescued the franchise.
As an Atlanta resident, this was great! Thank you for this :)
I really hope the NHL gives us another chance and finds a more worthy owner to either award an expansion franchise or send an existing franchise back here.
I think it’ll be a while though, because Seattle just had an expansion draft. But they could definitely send a franchise over here.
@@jessicab.9880 I hope so. But idk who should own it. Liberty has the Braves. Arthur Blank already has his hands full with the Falcons and Atlanta United. And the last time they were owned by the people who owned the Hawks we got this situation.
The NHL’s biggest failure over the past two to three decades so far has been expanding all over the South and Southwest but never finding a way to truly make professional hockey popular in two of North America’s largest markets in those areas: Atlanta and Houston.
Ownership completely screwed up the Thrashers. I loved them when they were around and still have an Ilya Kovalchuk Thrashers Jersey to this day. If the Atlanta Spirit has cared even a little bit more about the team, the team could have survived and still be around today. Arizona (then called Phoenix) should have been the ones to move. It makes me inexplicably angry how Bettman and the NHL didn’t even try to save the Thrashers, but will go to the ends of the earth to protect and save Arizona, Carolina, and Florida. Thrashers should still be around today, but the NHL will never give Atlanta a third chance.
Arizona and Carolina do work for hockey. Just look at the fan attendance for Arizona during their 2012 Conference Final run. The reason Arizona is a dumpster fire rn is because their arena is too far away from their fanbase on top of their constant losing. The fact that they're emerging can hopefully save them. Carolina honestly speaks for itself as they're the kind of state that'll only show up when they're good and they're wild when they're good.
PensFan 29 they should give them third chance
@@gabetalks9275 But what pensfan is saying is if Bettman kept the Thrashers from moving and let an owner or a group of owners buy the team that would've kept them in Atlanta and build a winning team, then the Thrashers would've gotten much more support. People here love hockey, more then people think and the Thrashers were loved
@@gabetalks9275 The Coyotes have set up a really good youth hockey program in Arizona. Auston Matthews along with others all came out of Arizona.
@@gamma21285 They're like the Hurricanes. They only show up when they're good. People think that those fans are bad and that those are bad hockey markets, but I don't blame them. Why am I going to spend hundreds of dollars and several hours of precious free time and spending more money and time traveling to back and back to watch a team that's unwatchable. That's not bandwagoning. That's having higher standards lol.
6:11 - I couldn't disagree more. GB will do anything to save a franchise. The ONLY reason the coyotes are still in Phoenix is they always had potential owners showing interest. The NHL even ran the the team for a while because they had prospective ownership. The same could not be said about Atlanta. Even the last owners of the team wanted nothing to do with hockey, in fact, the purchase that included the hockey team, the resale value of that said hockey team was considered and factored in before making the deal. There were no other prospective owners in Atlanta. Only one, that was in Winnipeg. The NHL had already committed to running the Phoenix franchise before the Atlanta franchise was considered to be "in trouble". The NHL, from it's own by-laws, could not run a second team as they would be like a single owner of two different teams.
If the city of Glendale had it's act together and not scared off more than half the potential ownership groups in Phoenix, rest-assurured, the NHL would've taken over the Thrashers until a viable owner or ownership group was found to keep the team in Atlanta. It was just horrible timing. If the events involving the Thrashers happened a season or two sooner, or later, and the Atlanta Thrashers would still exist.
As a former resident of the Valley of the Sun, I have to comment. The first mistake was building an arena on the west side of town. The team should have played its games either in downtown Phoenix or in the East Valley (Scottsdale). The City of Glendale finally realized that it was in over its head, having sacrificed tax revenue to keep the team in town. They weren't scaring off potential ownership teams. Residents of Glendale will be paying for this team long after it is gone.
Chicago’s turn around began when their notoriously frugal owner died and his son took over and changed things for the better.
Great point!
Also, the Blackhawks are a bad example because the afore mentioned "frugal" owner had pissed off a BUNCH of fans who had followed the team for decades, and Atlanta didn't have that element.
That owners philosophy was that of, if you want to watch the Blackhawks play then you have to show up to the games. He made sure that the Blackhawks were not televised as he thought that would cut into his arena revenues.
Alex Jaeger Another brilliant component of the Gary Bettman legacy. The failure to secure any kind of major television deal with a major network. ESPN used to carry NHL games and I am guessing the contract ran out. Instead of renewing it, Bettman decided to go with a basically unknown Versus network, which a lot of people couldn’t find or didn’t even get. Thus even LESS exposure.
@@perryegolson833 that's only PARTIALLY on Bettman. He had done so much to erode the footing of the game withbthe traditionl fanbase, that ESPN put in a bid for only 40 games TOTAL before the 04-05 lockout. When the season was scrapped, ESPN backed out
My heart :(
Do u still watch hockey or naw after they left?
@@YooperHatesOhioState I do I loved the thrasher's until they keft
@Letsgoblues 90 blues are a solid team I don’t mind them as a wings fan
@JESSE DENEKA you have greatly disappointed me
@JESSE DENEKA No
Well, we do have a hockey team in Atlanta. It's called the Gladiators and they play in the ECHL.
Yeah, but they're Minor League hockey!!
Don't the Gladiators play in Gwinnett though?
@@RaidingJaguarX They said that calling themselves an Atlanta team would get the more media attention because people recognize the name Atlanta. It didn't. But people in metro Atlanta usually say they live in Atlanta even if they live outside the i285 loop.
@@codygordon3413 People outside the perimeter say they live OTP unless they're talking to a non-local. Hell, there were women who would explicitly state they don't date guys who lived OTP. I was on the East side for 3 years - been there, seen that. I've had an arugment over Georgia Tech being downtown vs Midtown (granted, that was a butthurt GA State fan).
Well they dont count. Nhl buddy
In 1995, Winnipeg held a rally to save the Jets. It drew 35,000 people. In 2011, Atlanta had a similar rally to drive season ticket sales and save the Thrashers. It drew 200 people.
Winnipeg has averaged 15,005 (100% capacity at the MTS center) or better every season they have been back in the NHL, regardless of Standings. The Best season for attendance in Atlanta was just under 93% attendance (Inaugural Season) and averaged around 80% for the remaining ten years (Less than the MTS center holds at capacity). Also, average ticket prices for the Thrashers peaked at about 48-49 dollars per seat, where as the Jets average ticket prices have topped 100 dollars and are usually double that of the Thrashers. As for TV deals, while Atlanta can be a great TV market, for hockey it just wasn't. Rogers deal for Winnipeg's (and all other Canadian teams) far outweighs the deals people were offering for Atlanta. However, the real kicker is, Winnipeg has made money, every season they have existed, and their immediate revenue went up 35% in the year of the relocation.
Add in bad ownership and the Thrashers were always doomed and Winnipeg is just a better hockey market.
Charles McLearn wait there’s was a rally to save the thrashers??? When??
@@LeelssDelta It was dissolved when the newspaper owned by True North leaked the agreement with the NHL to move the team.
Don’t think anyone would argue Atlanta over Winnipeg the better comparison would be other southern cities. Atlanta has four pro teams and is the biggest city in the southeast and is filled with transplants from the north. There is no reason for a hockey team to fail here and hockey teams to flourish in Nashville and Charlotte.
The failure of the Thrashers was 100% on the awful ownership of the ASG. Also fuck the NHL for not bailing us out our problems were not attendance it was having owners who rather sue each other than put money into the franchise
As a Jets fan I would super happy we came back but I also felt bad on the Thrashers that looked like they could’ve had potential.
The only way Atlanta would even come close to getting a hockey team back was if Thrashers 2.0 was owned by either Arthur Blank or the fans.
I doubt the NHL gives Arthur Blank a franchise. He already has his hands full with the Falcons and Atlanta United (who already have a championship). Maybe Ressler and company or the fans (well I guess it'd be a public corporation like the Packers?) might be able to handle it.
@@ja1lbreakr0cks I doubt the NHL wants to return to Atlanta. Ressler may not want to take a chance on hockey franchise, in a city that already failed with that 2 times. He may just prefer Basketball. And you mentioned Blank. Even if there was another viable buyer (which there isn’t, but it’s a hypothetical) that was willing to bring hockey back to Atlanta, where would they play?
The Hawks are doing renovations with the Phillips Arena, and even with that, I think Hawks and the 3rd Atlanta Hockey Franchise would both want to have the whatever the Atlanta NHL team is called to have their own place. So then where the hell would they play? Mercedes Benz Stadium is the only other option. It could work out, but Blank may not want to have to deal with 3 teams in one stadium.
Like seriously, it’d be Olympic Stadium to the Thrashers, the stadium is in no way, shape, or form for Hockey, like it is for basketball...
What else is there? The fucking thrillerdome? (Alexander Memorial Coliseum). They’d have to massively renovate that to try to add in 6-7K seats.
Nope, not getting a hockey team again. Unless the buyer is very rich and can build a new stadium.
Maybe if the NHL decided to move the Yotes, yes, Ressler would eventually buy the Thrashers. But that’s because they wouldn’t of failed a second time if Bettman tried to save them. But they have failed a second time, so Ressler would probably not take risks.
or Flames 3.0.......trying NHL hockey a 3rd time in a city is unlikely, as it should be.
In the words of Don Cherry, it's a graveyard for hockey
Don Cherry is also a racist piece of shit, so anything the comes out of his mouth should not be quoted as wise words.
Lonestarr033 Plus, he’s sartorially challenged.
@@Lonestarr022 I would say hes more sexist and not racist at all but he still knows more about hockey than you throwing around insults behind a keyboard.
@@Lonestarr022 "Don Cherry knows a lot more about the game than he lets on." - Bobby Orr.
@@Lonestarr022 Oh the race card. How original.
Well done, Alyssa Hope! Hockey "flamed" out for a second time in Atlanta.
It took me a while to figure out that the Philips Arena poles spell “Atlanta”
It's a shame that Atlanta doesn't have a NHL team...I saw the Flames in my youth...never was a fan cause I live in Montreal but still...you should never lose a franchise...I know believe me...we've lost the Expos in MLB
Having lived in Atlanta when it happened. The Atlanta Spirit ownership group was unbelievably terrible. They were cheap and didn't invest in really either the Hawks or Thrashers. Yes, they paid attention to the Hawks more but they didn't build anything. When Ilya was traded the city knew the ownership was not serious about contending.
As a fan of the Hawks and Thrashers I can agree with this. The fact that the Hawks haven't been to the NBA Finals proves this point.
I planned to be happy today...
F
Maybe go watch the idiot box for a while ??? A certain shade of green comes on latter followed by new skin I'm sick of painting in black and white my pen is dry and im all uptight
Being a long time Thrashers fan. I always hated Atlanta Spirit mainly because they really didn't do anything good with the team, they left it to die and instead looked towards the Hawks instead. I personally still think 11 years later the franchise would still be around if TW didn't sell it.
As a former resident of Blueland, I hope that the Hawks NEVER win a championship. Plus the Atlanta market currently has FIVE major league franchises, as you forget about the NLL’s Georgia Swarm, which moved to Atlanta’s Northern Suburbs in 2016, and ended the 22 year championship drought in 2017, the year before the Atlanta United got their championship in 2018.
Bring back the Thrashers
No
@@shawnwhite1972 yeah
@@SPACE-g9u no
Atlanta was and never will be a hockey town. It’s a black city that loves football basketball and baseball in that order.
Atlanta United?
Ottawa senators is also poorly managed I really hope they don't have the same fate as the Thrashers.
Kovalchuk leaving was the final nail in the coffin
"Pulling a Kovy" was the act of scoring a goal 3 on 1
From a fan standpoint in the history of the roster, I would agree - but as the author pointed out, Kovy had nothing to do with what the owners did or did not want. The owners were the nail in the coffin. Atlanta Spirit can rot in hell.
Arturs Filipovs No, it wasn’t. They had Evander Kane. The commissioner did this.
Rip thrashers😭 at least we still have the gladiators, junior, and youth teams for kids like me to go to:)
ben weisheyer The Glads are pushing through. Only 6 points behind that playoff spot
Enjoy being on the wrong end of an absolute asswhooping of a rivialry from the "rookies" from the 912.
As a Georgia native I’ll tell you what happened. The only thing people in Georgia care about is college football.
I don’t about that I’m from Atlanta and is more just college football shit to be honest with you I didn’t think soccer would do as good as it’s doing in Georgia
Oduya: Oh-Do-ya
Nice Sioux avatar! She mispronounced Zhitnik too.
@@area.man.lol
@@B.sacamano Sadly it is isn't what you would think, it is pronounced jz-it-nik
Multiple bad owners,with the last group focusing on the Hawks, horrible General Manager that the ownership wouldn’t fire, a city government who could care less, players who blamed the fans for their poor performance, and a league commissioner looking for an excuse to appease Canada, without losing his pet project the Coyotes.
They could have 2% of a market of 6 million potential fans, or 99+% of a market of 800,000 potential fans. That was what doomed them: a city where hockey is a distraction vs one where it's the major religion.
I would’ve given Arizona coyotes to Winnipeg in a heartbeat
I agree. There were a done of politics behind the scene. Coyotes were last and they got to live
I don't know about that. Sure, they were bad for a while, but not a single person wanted the Blue Jackets or Wild to move after a porous start yet the Coyotes in comparison to those teams have been pretty successful yet everyone wants them gone. Just because they're in the desert. But Vegas is just fine where they are. Same with Anaheim. Or LA, or Dallas, the Panthers, the Lightning, the Predators, etc. Neither place should have lost their team, Winnipeg should have been an expansion team. Shit ownership.
That would've been weird for them to move from Winnipeg to Arizona to eventually return in relative short fashion.
They should of never left Winnipeg to begin with. There’s always been a hockey market there! The coyotes should of left to come back. It would be cool to see Saskatchewan get a team.
I would’ve given the Columbus Blue Jackets to Winnipeg or Quebec in a heartbeat. Then, John Tortorella would’ve been the Thrashers coach.
Sad when a team leaves a city... however despite its smaller population Winnipeg is a much stronger hockey market.
definitely a strong hockey market for sure!
Winnipeg should never not have a hockey team. Remember the Manitoba Moose? I think they were IHL or something.
@@marjoriemorris5849 Winnipeg still has the moose. It's the jets minor league team. The city is lucky and grateful to have them both. And despite having the smallest arena in the league it is sold out every game .
@@marjoriemorris5849 Salt
Any Canadian city is a strong hockey market. Quebec City, Hamilton or even a 2nd Toronto team would sell out games every single night. Canada invented ice hockey after all and it's their national sport and obsession and 50% of players in the NHL are Canadian after all.
Up until the hawks made it into the playoffs the thrashers consistently had better attendance. Just another reason management can be blamed for the failure of the thrashers
Instead of comparing the ownership to Chicago, should have compared to the success of Nashville
Atlanta needs a 3rd chance for sure
#WeBelieveInTheBlueLand bring back the Thrashers
No
Ted Nugent-Hopkis why
@@whatupdude4576 you had the flames you lost them the Thrashers were a disaster and you lost them why would the nhl give you a 3rd team?
Ted Nugent-Hopkis did you not hear what she said the owners didn't put any effort into have the team in Atlanta and just focused on the NBA team which fucked the Thrashers
Quebec City also deserves to have their team back.
Lebowskifan-2002: Cult Classic and hartford
One main reason of attendance isn't too PC to point out, but another reason is Atlanta fans are pretty fair weather which didn't help I had season tix and saw this 1st hand. GREAT video btw!
I also gotta say I saw them get BOO'ed on home ice when The Pens came to town...yes, BOO'ed on home ice. As a Pens fan though I did NOT BOO.
You put it mildly. They are extremely fair weather. Second worst fans in the country, only Miami is worse.
@@dollarstorereject3998 The vast majority of any fan base are fair-weather fans though...
The Thrashers never captured the market. Atlanta is a city with a lot of transplants from hockey rich areas in more northern states, you have to win those people as well as the locals.
@Dollar Store Reject yeah that’s true but I think they would survive in Atlanta now but back then there was no hope
Been deep dived by THG. It was ownership. Other teams go through worse attendance. Attendance had started to go up as the team started winning more games. Ownership just weren't interested.
Oh, and the arena deal was absolutely dreadful.
Bad Ownership = Bad Team of the owners don't care we don't care.
Great vid Alyssa!! Enjoyed it very much.... When i did my vid on them i coudlnt find any clips of the team so this was awesome.....
Alyssa, I thank you for your efforts in assembling this video. It's really a shame the Thrashers didn't survive.
I grew up in Atlanta. Atlanta is not a hockey city. I watched three teams leave, the Flames, the Knights, and the Thrashers.
Thrashers and Flames left on account of ownership not a lack of support in the team. The knights left because after Atlanta was awarded an NHL team, they needed a newer, bigger arena, so they imploded the Omni to make way for Philips Arena. With having nowhere to play, the team left for Quebec City.
Bettman refused to let the Coyotes go because he will never admit when he’s wrong.
So true, I can guarantee if Bettman let the yotes move back to Winnipeg it would give the Thrashers a better chance for better ownership and it could be more successful in the south like Dallas, Tampa Bay, and (I know I'm throwing a bone here) Florida.
Bullshit. GB made that decision because unlike the Thrashers, the Coyotes had somewhat of a future. What were you gonna do, remove the hockey team that is one of the only NHL teams in that area is states so that he could keep a team that the owners don’t care about? Hell yes they picked Arizona and once Arizona gets good, you will see why he made the right choices.
No, it's because the NHL owned Coyotes by purchasing the team out of bankruptcy, so as to keep it out of the hands of Jim Balsillie.
The Thrashers were not in bankruptcy and team owners simply wanted to unload the team. This left the NHL with two fires to put out and contraction is a non-option where Bettman is concerned. That's why selling the team to Winnipeg, whose diplomatic ownership group earned the respect of the NHL, was the lesser of two evils.
🤔🏒🥅
- Atlanta Flames
- Atlanta Thrashers
- Atlanta Gladiators
There's only 1 sport in Atlanta
& Georgia...COLLEGE FOOTBALL!
A metro area with 6 million, fast growing, diverse, young. Vs a metro of 1 million, slow growing, mostly white, aging. No wonder NHL is a distant 4th place in North American sports
What happened? They keep putting NHL teams in Atlanta, that’s what happened .. horrible sports town.
Adam Davis Super Bowl host, Final Four host, Olympics host, CFP National title game host, World Cup venue in 2026, former NBA ASG host, MLB ASG in 2021, NHL ASG in 2008, MLS ASG host in 2018, home to 4 of the major 5 sports leagues.
Your conclusion: terrible sports city.
Fuck logic.
Teams overall yes, but far as city by the events Atlanta hosted, no.
Great piece. Only issue is the end when comparing a traditional, Original 6 market in Chicago, to a 2nd attempt market in Atlanta.
The loss of the team was 100% on the dipshit owners. The Capitals, Blackhawks and Penguins struggled for years on the ice and in the stands, but their eventual rise above it all shows competent ownership and management very likely would have kept the Thrashers alive for years to come.
anyone remember that time Dany Heatley killed his teammate and his only punishment was getting taken off the cover of the video game?
Dan Snyder's family told the judge and prosecutors that nothing would be gained by imprisoning him. Want to go blame them for asking the judge not to sentence him to jail time? Wanna be that asshole?
I live just out side of Atlanta, the people are not NHL people. They are just NFL and a college football city, anything after that is maybe ok if the tickets are cheap.
I watch the Preds now, but I always dream that the Thrashers will come back to the ATL somehow. It’s a pipe dream, I know.
never say never, if wpg can get a team back, so can Atlanta - plus its a great place to spawn future cdn nhl teams !!!!!
We should get a team in Augusta. Georgia and South Carolina fans would both love it
Before you blame Betman, pleas note that the owners wanted out at any price, and a buyer in Atlanta could not be found.
They hardly looked for an Atlanta-based owner. Everyone had focused on the Winnipeg group. There was interest but not enough time to assemble an ownership group. The NHL wanted the team in Winnipeg (Jets fans should be thanking Bettman, but they never will.)
Atlanta, Georgia. The only southeastern United States city to lose its hockey franchise to two western Canadian cities.
Carlos Martinez And the only one to lose 2 two teams not because of lack of support from the fans but because a group of billionaires never gave a fuck.
@@ErrisOfficial No wonder the National Hockey League won't even look their way. They're still wiping the egg from the faces of their second failure.
@@ErrisOfficial Ah, in a city with a population of six million people, the fair-weather hockey fans of Atlanta have to shoulder some of the blame.
Yes, it could’ve definitely been possible to keep the franchise in Atlanta. Then, the Columbus Blue Jackets would’ve remained in the Western Conference, while the Thrashers would’ve stayed East.
They day the Thrashers announced they were moving to Winnipeg, the 24-hour sports talk radio station in Atlanta did dot have a single caller phone in to talk about it. That is very telling.
Yeah because why talk about it. We all knew it was going to happen. The Atlanta Spirit Ownership group should have never been allowed to buy the team. I was living in Atlanta when it happened. They were cheap ass owners. They just cared about the Hawks just slightly more than they did for the Thrashers. People went to games but bone headed trades and apathetic owners don't make for a good experience.
No surprise there at all.
Dany Heatley was never the same after? His BEST seasons were after that in Ottawa loll
It sucks because they won’t give them a 3rd chance. They just won’t get it.
This is a fair assessment. Too often, people ignorant of the situation lay the blame on the fans and the city. Truth is that Atlanta Spirit Group wanted to sell the team right off the bat, but they got so wrapped in suing each other over basketball operations that they couldn't until the lawsuits were completed. Once they did, the team went to the highest bidder, regardless of it was local in Atlanta or (obviously) not. Atlanta CAN support a hockey team, but the town has been very unlucky with owners twice. I doubt there will be a third chance any time soon.
Was barely aware that this team existed as I paid no attention to hockey during this time period. Given the size of Atlanta, there should be a NHL team there.
I really hate the argument that if the team sucks people won't show up. Your market needs to be strong enough in the worst of times. If you can't support a team while your losing then you don't deserve it. You can't ride band wagon jumpers all the time. Not every team is going to be successful.
Getting the NHL back in Winnipeg was the right choice however moving Atlanta was wrong. Should have been Florida or Arizona
sorry but i'm a big fan of the florida panthers,just wait when they starts winning,i'm sure they will have a full house,hahaha
Should have been the Coyotes moving back to Winnipeg. Wish the Hurricanes would go back to Hartford.
They shouldn't move any team, they are all markets that can succeed but the ownership and management has been bad. NHL should be able to keep owners on a tighter leash when need be
Arizona should’ve moved to Seattle, not Winnipeg, IMO.
@@sawyertuide7636 Why would any team relocate to Seattle without a viable NHL arena in place?
They should move the Detroit Red Wings to Hawaii 😂🤣
u joking
I heard that the Atlanta Spirit Group wanted the Thrashers out of Philips Arena. Which pretty much killed the idea of any local group in Atlanta buying the team(Tom Glavine was rumored to be putting a group together to keep them in Atlanta).
I went to one of their games towards the end of their last year in town. It was basically a Red Wings home game.
Kingfish Stevens The Red Wings now wouldn’t win in the AHL.
@@SydneyGreenstreet1227 They're in bad shape for sure.
Gary Bettman is strange in moving teams in 1996 Winnipeg had 50,000 fans to stop the move at a rally he said not enough fan base to stay they moved to Phoenix. when Phoenix wanted to move only 100 fans showed up to the rally to stop the move and he said to much fan base in Phoenix to move the team
Winnipeg is really small. It is about the size of Columbia, South Carolina.
Winnipeg is bigger area wise Winnipeg . 464 km Population 705,200 Columbia. 349.5 km Population 133,500
@@JohnDoe-dh4fi I'm talking about metro sreas. Both are in the 800,000 range. Columbia is also more spread out, making it s geographically larger urban area.
Move the panthers so they can have more than 3 fans show up to their games.
Yeah, the fact that this franchise exists in this city is insane. Move the team.
Nah
Well same kinda situation with the Thrashers, the Panthers have sucked. They haven't won a playoff series since 1996. The Lightning are Florida's team and have 3 Stanley Cups and are a household name in the Tampa area now.
I've commented on this in a few places but one thing I'll add here since I don't see it in most comments on this video: 1) If the *general* value of a generic NHL franchise matched that of a NBA franchise, the Flames would still be in Atlanta, let alone the Thrashers. The proof of that is the Hawks in the 70s had attendance that often as bad (or worse) than the Flames but were never in danger of moving. Fast forward to now: Forbes put the lowest value of a NBA franchise as $1.3B. You can have terrible attendance but your cut of the TV contract soothes things, 2) the Thrashers were never bonded to the arena. If they have a bond, they're not too much different than the Florida Panthers, because the arena has always been a money-making asset.
How the hell did Heatley avoid prison time by getting off with reckless driving, DUI.... oh and VEHICULAR MANSLAUGHTER!? Who was his lawyer, Johnny Cochran?
Hey Bettman, put another team in Atlanta, then they can finally have strike three! 😂😂😂
I wish the Thrashers stayed in Atlanta and the Coyotes moved to Winnipeg.
Loved the Thrashers and I know hockey can work in the southeast, but bad luck really struck Atlanta and It was a shame because the franchise was finally turning a corner and had a solid prospect pool. Winnipeg deserves their team, but It shouldn't have been at the cost of the Thrashers
I got choked up watching this. They did us so dirty.
I think it was completely possible for the NHL to keep the Thrashers where they are. They had potential, as they had a fan base. I think of this as the NHLs version of the SuperSonics, despite the Whalers maybe wanting that. With that said, Winnipeg still deserved the return of the Jets, Atlanta deserves the return of the Thrashers, and Quebec deserves the return of the Nordiques.
Quebecers must hate the Avalanche. Their team sucked for the longest time then moved to Colorado and they win a cup right away. Avalanche are my team. Joe Sakic was from Burnaby BC and of course they had the goat of goalies Patrick Roy! Brodeur has more records but Roy won 2 cups with 2 different teams and he had that competitive fire u cannot teach. Besides, Brodeur had the trap system to thank for his cups.
What a great name for a NHL hockey team. "Atlanta Thrashers"
New Orleans Pelicans
@@BigHomieGav that’s an NBA team
@@donniefleuryy.29 thanks I had no idea
@@BigHomieGav i cant tell if you’re joking or not tbh
@@donniefleuryy.29 ur dumb
I miss the Thrashers!! So sad they are no longer in the ATL. Can’t BELIEVE the ATL has been through TWO NHL teams!! Just UNBELIEVABLE!! I’m glad I got to see them play in person!! 😭👍🏻 🏒
“Major Soccer League” 🧐
it is a major north american league, their games get more attendees than than the nhl, if i’m remembering correctly
"The United FC of the Major Soccer League."
The slapping sound you heard from a thousand miles away was my palm meeting my face.
I disagree with when you said that after the accident Danny Heatley was never the same player. His best two seasons came after he left the Thrashers and joined the Senators where he had 50 goals and over 100 points in back to back seasons. He did fall off towards the end of his career but still played his best hockey after he left the Thrashers.
As an ex Thrashers fan this is all too familiar... and maybe everybody else didn’t see it coming but everyone here in Atlanta saw the writing on the wall. By the way, as far as Kovalchuk goes we traded him because he was a diva, a horrible teammate, cancer to the locker room, stayed on the ice as long as he wanted and basically demanded a trade or else he would just leave and sign with another team and we’d get nothing in return. Plus Johnny Oduya wasn’t the worst certainly not as good as Kovalchuk but better than nothing.
P.S it’s oh-doo-yuh not oh-doy-uh 😜
as an islanders fan... it was def a smart move to trade him. i know what it feels like to be a fan of a team that decides to not trade a star and get nothing in return :/
Every level of that organization stunk. Bad players, bad coaches, bad scouts, bad GMs, bad presidents, bad owners, bad marketing. Unless you just liked hockey with no likelihood of seeing a winning team, why would you become interested in the Thrashers? I also thought it was interesting on a surface level that they seemed to be trying to bring in black players: Byufglien, Oduya, and Kane. It appeared they were trying to cater to their black population, but I really don’t think any black people give 2 shits about that, especially if the team stinks.
Atlanta is not a hockey town for some reason it's more like a baseball town.
This hurt to watch as a once diehard thrashers fan. They really got screwed by owners they really did have fan support lowkey
When I got the news of the move to WPG I was pissed
Hockey belongs where the fans live. Sports are too commercialized and everything is based on TV markets and advertising. We live and breathe hockey in Canada. There should be as many Canadian teams as US.
As is currently seen in NC, It was NOT Don Waddel , but the owners .......
same with Nashville, Miami, Carolina, San Jose, Phoenix etc
Atlanta is not a hockey town. Neither is Raleigh or Nashville or Miami or Tampa. Locals have zero interest. During the hurricanes cup season they didn't even have local TV. ( At least where I was living near Wilmington NC) Hockey is a game played on ice. Putting it in cities that have little or none of it is about money not fans.
The demise of the Atlanta thrashers was a true tragedy and one that certainly did not need to happen. Management is solely to blame for the collapse of this once great club.
Gladiators are Atlanta’s team now
The Thrashers came to Winnipeg with guys who should have never been given contracts with money or term. Took a few years to trade/release some contracts.
I wanna see an Atlanta team again
As a Guildford flames fan I see where we got our “jersey inspriation”
I would like to see Atlanta in the NHL. Well, they have failed twice, but I think if the Trashers management would have even tried, Trashers could be still in the NHL. I'm a Golden Knights fan and we all know how successfull the first 2 years have been for Vegas so Trashers would have had a chance too.
Dany Heatley blossomed in Ottawa, Kovalchuk had demanded a trade.Winnipeg is a better hockey city than Atlanta.
Mike Arsenault Ya’ think ?
Appreciate the video.
Don Waddell was far from a perfect GM but he also made the best of some bad situations. When Danny Heatley wanted out of Atlanta, Waddell managed to get Marian Hossa and Greg DeVries out of it. Kovalchuk wasn't gong to re-sign in Atlanta, so Don's hand was forced to get what he could for a player that everybody knew was going to leave The Thrashers.
Well done Alyssa - very informative.
the hawks are shit so that lets you know how bad the decision was.
Hawks been shit for a while. Management just refuse to get their shit together.
I sure do Miss Atlanta. They used to be the Chicago Wolves affiliate and I really loved the Thrashers as a Wolves fan.