What team is coming to Vegas: Atlanta

This will be the first of a series of articles on troubled NHL teams that might be good target to relocate to my beloved oasis in the desert.


I do not see any league expansion in the next few years. Anything before 2015 seems unlikely. Any expansion would have to be 2 teams to bring it to a nice 32 and good old Bettman seems completely opposed to another Canadian team... and I can't imagine the clamor that would rise from Canada if two new American cities got teams.

It will have to come through relocation of one of the weak teams currently in the league... and there are no shortage of those in this economic climate!

The first team worth considering is the Atlanta Thrashers who, according to Jim Kelley,

"there are a steady stream of rumours that the franchise may be in danger of not making payroll down the road. Payroll issues are not uncommon for the U.S.-based teams at certain points of the season (football has an impact in terms of gate attendance early in the season and money is often tight late in the year), but it’s doubly difficult to arrange for letters of credit during a banking crisis and it’s especially difficult in Atlanta where lenders are concerned as to who is responsible (read liable) for paying back any loans that might be granted. There is fractured infighting in the ownership group there and the banks and others have taken note."

Atlanta is a weird sports market. The Falcons & Hawks are not very good nor creating any hype. The Braves were awesome for almost 15 years, a team built the right way with pitching, young exciting talent surrounded by good veterans yet it never generated the type of following that should come with 14 consecutive division titles!

The corporation owning both the Thrashers and NBA's Hawks on top of the Philips Arena is called Atlanta Spirit, LLC which is jointly owned by nine partners (yes 9, as in way too many) among whom the only names I recognized are majority partner Steve Belkin and Beau Turner (kid of Ted).

A blurb from Wikipedia illustrate nicely the joy of joint ownership:
In the summer of 2005, the Atlanta Hawks finalized a trade with the Phoenix Suns to obtain shooting guard Joe Johnson for Boris Diaw and two protected future first-round picks. While this trade met with the approval of the majority of the ownership group, it was rejected by Steve Belkin, who held a controlling vote as the Hawks Governor within the group. This triggered legal proceedings to force Belkin out of the group, which persist to this day.

I think nothing like that will happen on the hockey side simply because none of those 9 guys give a fuck about hockey and just saw the Thrashers as a nice asset to have to fill out their arena on basketball's off days... but this is definitely not the type of strong ownership that will create a winning culture.

Atlanta Spirit is actually in court right now on a lawsuit filled by David McDavid (yes, that is his real name), a Texan who was negotiating with TBS to buy the teams before it was sold to the Atlanta Spirit Group (thereafter known as ASG).

Some interesting info that came out of the proceedings so far: While the sale price was 96 million to both groups, McDavid needed to pay Turner $17 million in cash when the deal closed with $23 million more paid back over four years at 4 percent interest. The ASG group which include not only Ted Turner's son but also one of his son-in-law somehow managed to pay TBS $8 million when the deal closed while an additional $35 million is to be paid back over 10 years at 4 percent interest agreement.

What does this all mean? It means 8 million is all that was needed to buy the Hawks & Thrashers from daddy.... and then the kids couldn't even find that on their own! they had to gather up 7 other rich dudes to help out. This ownership group has been underfunded from the start and that sale should probably never have been approved by Bettman and David Stern.

As you can read from above, the ownership situation is messy without clear leadership and the product on the ice isn't much more encouraging. They got some nice pieces for Hossa last year but this team needs more than some average 2nd liners to compete.

When Todd White centers your first line, it definitely is not a good sign. Is Kovalchuk gonna stay with this team? Looking at that roster, I see 4 maybe 5 pieces worth having: Lehtonen, Bogosian, Exelby, Little... nothing too exciting!


Overall, Atlanta is in an area that will keep growing as one of the major economic centers of the SouthEast but the sports landscape is very crowded and the public difficult to satisfy. The team can probably survive there in the long run but it seems doubtful it will ever thrive and a combination of shaky or changing ownership and a rosier outlook in a new location might entice the Thrashers to fly away and make their nest somewhere else.