Balsillie's offer for the Coyotes

wprager wrote:Why is everyone so convinced that another team in Ontario will make money?

How brutal would it be if Balsillie does eventually get the Coyotes moved to Hamilton and they get crap numbers for attendance and never sell out?

I don't think that will happen.

I do think Southern Ontario is starved for hockey and that even Leaf fans will buy season tickets if they can to a new team.

Like I said, they are guaranteed 3 sellouts per year. Obviously they have done their homework and conducted polls which tell them that they could get at least 12K season ticket holders. But the team would suck for a few years, so would they get walk-up numbers to break even? I would have to assume that their research shows they can, but did they not research, also, how to approach the NHL? Trying to bully NHL brass was not a smart move. For me, this puts their "research" into question.

I'm hoping they've done their research and math... I suspect they also did their research on "getting a new NHL team" and the time-line was too long for Balsillie, so he's taking the "by any means necessary" route, which may actually end up being longer in the end. Who knows.

davetherave wrote:As I said, there may only be losers in this Armageddon.

You don't remember how the WHA started, do you? I do.

It was a different world then...and hockey was a very different business.

I don't remember when it started. But I'm pretty sure the beginning of the end came when Steve Durbano pulled off Bobby Hulls rug in a fight.