Comments on: Breaking News: NHL Prefers the Coyotes in Winnipeg over Hamilton

By: goon

goon — Mon, 18 May 2009 05:31:00 +0000

Hey I am cool with a team in Winnepeg again. Then the NHL is only 150 miles away again.

By: Calihockey

Calihockey — Sun, 17 May 2009 20:11:23 +0000

It would be interesting if Balsillie wins but can’t move to Hamilton. Does he want a team so badly that he would move them to Winnipeg? I doubt it.

By: Mikos

Mikos — Sun, 17 May 2009 18:15:18 +0000

I’m with Silver on this one. Seems like the media (not you guys) likes to influence the news rather than report it. They want the appearance of a loser so they under report the crowd.

Although I do agree that regardless of fan sentiment the decision on what happens in Phoenix is out of their hands.

By: Missourimike

Missourimike — Sun, 17 May 2009 17:17:35 +0000

Trust anything Gary B has to say., c’mon Drew you should know better than that.

By: david

david — Sun, 17 May 2009 14:20:46 +0000

Silver, I suggest you read my column (Pain and Loss of Losing a Franchise) as I don't remember ever saying that I was pro Hamilton. I just saw a news report and added it to the discussion. If you guys managed to get 1000+ fans to the rally I think that's great, although as I've suggested before (and as we saw in Winnipeg in 1995) it matters little what fans want.

By: SilverWlf

SilverWlf — Sun, 17 May 2009 06:40:27 +0000

That’s really nice. The one channel that couldn’t bother to show up is the only one CBCSports asks about the rally.
Our Fox affiliate showed up and spent a few hours, NBC was there with bells on, before I even showed up and *I* was a half hour early. ABC peeked in for about 45 minutes but I never saw hide nor hair of a CBS affiliate at the rally.
CTV was there early….There are conflicting stories on the reason behind that, but I don’t know either way. Some said he was there to get empty parking lot pictures in case no one showed. But he got a few long interviews out of it.
We had between 700-1200 people throughout the day. I know we filled the restaurant, which has just over 500 as its max capacity, if memory serves. We had 2 newspapers and a radio station there almost all day. It was NOT a bad effort for a group of people, a community, and a fan base that was given very little time to get things going based on balsillie and moyes’ working under the table to sneak around the rules. Six days to plan something like this, and it worked out pretty good all things considered. Sorry to burst your little pro-Hamilton Blackberries sentiment, david.
–Silver

PS Don’t lose hope O Canada, there are already rumors that your buddy Jimmie is drooling over the Atlanta Thrashers, and as 2 comments above said, Islanders, if he gets that desperate. How many more times will he try? Pittsburgh first, he got turned down, look where Pittsburgh is now. Conference finals.

By: david

david — Sat, 16 May 2009 22:16:42 +0000

A rally to help keep the Coyotes in Phoenix was held by local fans Saturday morning at a sports bar near Glendale called Native New Yorker. It drew about 100 people, according to a Phoenix CBS television station contacted by CBCSports.ca.

That’s not good for business.

By: saucerpass

saucerpass — Sat, 16 May 2009 21:54:55 +0000

this is certainly an interesting turn of events. i’m curious to see what jim balsillie’s response to this would be.

balsillie’s is adamant about putting another team in canada. his “make it seven” (www.makeitseven.com) campaign is widely publicized and he has that backing of a nation for sure. however, i wonder how flexible he could be to putting a team in canada, but in a different location than southern ontario.

i think this might put the handcuffs on balsillie a bit. if the push is now back to putting a team in winnipeg, there isn’t any doubt in my mind that the city of winnipeg would be looking for some serious sponsorship from balsille. his campaign has stated that he wants to put a 7th nhl team in canada. the preference is hamilton, however, i’m curious to see if balsillie would support a team in another canadian city. how would it look if the ‘yotes move to winnipeg and balsillie fails to support a the team since it’s not in hamilton?

winnipeg has the fan base. they have the facility. they need the financial support to get the team up and running.

as for the comment above, as stated in forbes (http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/23/nhl-hockey-islanders-biz-sports-cx_tvr_0123islanders.html) earlier this year, the new york islanders is one of the most dilapidated franchises in sports. if anything, this team will head to kansas city/seattle.

and no, there is no way that balsillie is dumb enough to make a play at the islanders if the ‘yotes acquisition falls through. it’s too much of a risk.

-schrembs
saucerpass.com
@saucerpass

By: ladders11

ladders11 — Sat, 16 May 2009 16:50:55 +0000

Watch him move the Coyotes to Winnipeg as the Jets, and then the Islanders to Phoenix, where they’ll become the Coyotes.