National Hockey League officials are denying that a deal is in place to move the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg, Manitoba. News reports indicate that the team will be sold to businessmen who own an arena in downtown Winnipeg that opened in 2004.
If the sale occurs, the Thrashers will be the first hockey team to relocate since Tim Leiweke, the president and CEO of AEG, made the promise seven years ago that the Sprint Center would have an anchor tenant. AEG operates the arena on the city's behalf.
The Thrashers' potential move again illustrates why Leiweke was foolish to speak so confidently about Kansas City's ability to lure an NBA or NHL team. The Sprint Center is a nice building, all right. But a team is unlikely to take residence unless a potential owner with ties to this region emerges.
The NBA's Seattle SuperSonics, for instance, were sold in 2006 to a group of investors headed by Clay Bennett, a former University of Oklahoma football player who married the daughter of Oklahoma City-based media mogul Edward Gaylord. After the sale, Bennett talked about keeping the Sonics in Seattle. But no one was surprised when he ultimately decided the best place to operate the team was in his hometown. The team, now known as the Oklahoma City Thunder, is playing in the Western Conference Finals.
The Thrashers' deal is similar in that the team's current owners can't find a buyer who is committed to keeping the club in its current location. Thus Winnipeg, which had an NHL team from 1979 to 1996, beckons. The buyers own an AHL team, the Manitoba Moose.
Kansas City may lack the wealth and population to support another major sports franchise. In any case, the viability of the NHL or NBA here is unlikely to be tested unless a modern-day Ewing Kauffman surfaces.
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