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NHL Anti-Thread: Bad Business Decision Aggregator


The_Admiral

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I wonder what this thread title will be changed to someday... "Quebec City appreciation station," perhaps. Maybe "Blues bought by Hulziser." Or "Hulsizer." Either one.

EDIT: "Adventures in Babysitting 3." Of course.

At least Mings' Tawny stamp will let those who venture in know that this was once a "Here We Go Again" Coyotes thread. I welcome it's return, and the unavoidable Whitesnake soundtrack that comes with it.

On topic: Reinsdorf again? Really? Glendale does realize he's not going to take anything but an absolute gift. And then here we g--you get the point.

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Milwaukee . . . came close to getting a team in the '80s when the Blackhawks nearly moved there.

What? This never happened. You're confusing the Blackhawks with the Blues, and Milwaukee with Saskatoon, and I'd rather prefer that you did neither.

What happened was Lloyd Pettit, who used to do Blackhawks pbp, married into the Allen-Bradley fortune and wanted to bring an NHL team to Milwaukee. However, he was stymied by celebrated bastard Bill Wirtz, who claimed that Milwaukee was part of the Blackhawks' territory, even though the only presence they had in the market was that their radio coverage was on an AM station that reaches southern Wisconsin clearly. It was a really crappy move that salted the NHL earth in what by rights would've been a better piece of the puzzle than most of the mickey mouse operations that joined the league in the '90s.

I think the Hawks played a few games at the Bradley Center, but there was never any plan for Chicago's liquor/real estate baron to move the team to another, much smaller city.

♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫

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Isn't the Milwaukee market even smaller than Pittsburgh, and losing jobs rapidly? Is Milwaukee even really a good 3-sport town anymore let alone 4-sports?

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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Milwaukee . . . came close to getting a team in the '80s when the Blackhawks nearly moved there.

What? This never happened. You're confusing the Blackhawks with the Blues, and Milwaukee with Saskatoon, and I'd rather prefer that you did neither.

What happened was Lloyd Pettit, who used to do Blackhawks pbp, married into the Allen-Bradley fortune and wanted to bring an NHL team to Milwaukee. However, he was stymied by celebrated bastard Bill Wirtz, who claimed that Milwaukee was part of the Blackhawks' territory, even though the only presence they had in the market was that their radio coverage was on an AM station that reaches southern Wisconsin clearly. It was a really crappy move that salted the NHL earth in what by rights would've been a better piece of the puzzle than most of the mickey mouse operations that joined the league in the '90s.

I think the Hawks played a few games at the Bradley Center, but there was never any plan for Chicago's liquor/real estate baron to move the team to another, much smaller city.

I remember that too. Milwaukee was all set to get an expansion team and that dick Wirtz went a :censored:ed it all up.

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Isn't the Milwaukee market even smaller than Pittsburgh, and losing jobs rapidly? Is Milwaukee even really a good 3-sport town anymore let alone 4-sports?

The Brewers have been getting really good support lately. I know that much.

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Isn't the Milwaukee market even smaller than Pittsburgh, and losing jobs rapidly? Is Milwaukee even really a good 3-sport town anymore let alone 4-sports?

Packers/Brewers seems to be about the right balance for Milwaukee, just like Cardinals/Blues is for St. Louis. I wish there was an NHL team in Milwaukee, though. Wish there was one in St. Louis, too!

♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫

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Hey, admiral: how would you feel about putting a subtitle on the thread? I almost ignored the thread completely until I saw how much action it was getting in a relatively short time.

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Isn't the Milwaukee market even smaller than Pittsburgh, and losing jobs rapidly? Is Milwaukee even really a good 3-sport town anymore let alone 4-sports?

Well... it's a good 2-sport town, but somebody had to Buck it up.

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I suspect Hulsizer is walking away not because he's impatient, but because he wants the Blues. Ever since the Blues went up for sale (as well as the arena), Hulsizer's interest in the Coyotes began to dwindle. With St.Louis being much closer to his hometown of Chicago than Phoenix, and with the sweetheart deal of owning the team and the building, don't be surprised if Hulsizer is announced as the new Blues owner before September.

The Catch of the Day!

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Quebecor, from what I can glean, is basically ponying up naming rights money. They're expecting the three levels of government to pay for the arena itself, and if the Feds aren't going to cough up any dough (since the precedent for that came from the MTS Centre), and the province and citry can't exactly afford a quarter-million Canbucks each, then it's awfully dicey.

Someone from there might be able to give a better viewpoint (Pollux? GeorgesL?) but that's my full understanding of the situation.

Here's a breakdown of the current situation.

The city and the provincial government have agreed to each put in $200M for a new arena, regardless whether there will be an NHL team in the building. So that's $400M of public funding right there. For a building that still doesn't have any plans. In Quebec, the costs are usually never right, so we end up paying way more than what it usually costs. And seriously, $400M for a :censored:ing arena? Montreal built the Bell Centre cost $270M ($352M in 2011 money), but the Quebec City arena would hold 3000 seats less.

The city has then negotiated the naming rights of the building along with the exploitation fees directly with Quebecor. The deal in itself is actually good for the naming convention, but really bad for the other fees. Basically, the city and the government are taking all the risks while Quebecor is making money with all the concession stands and whatnot. This negotiation is actually illegal by law in Quebec.

There was a law voted several years ago that forced cities and municipalities to undergo calls for bids for any money spent. Therefore, while the deal is OK from a cash perspective, it's against the law. The mayor of Quebec City then asked the government for a bill to bypass this law so that no one would be able to contest the deal between Quebecor and QC. Since the current session was coming to an end, the bill would've had to be included in the omnibus bill, which would've passed if members of the parliament voted unanimously. This didn't pass, but was reviewed by the Prime Minister. So there was a parliamentary committee.

During the committee, both the mayor and PKP pleaded that the deal would be off if the bill wasn't passed. Ultimately, the bill did not pass during the June session. They will have to wait until the normal session starts in September. Then the Liberals would be able to vote in favor and the bill would pass. By September, however, both Labeaume (mayor) and PKP say that it might be too late for the deal - which is not signed yet.

This is clearly a stupid thing to say by PKP. He's just launched a new sports channel, and bringing an NHL team will be the only way to ensure success of the new channel. He would make plenty of money using the different medias to promote the new Quebec team. So he's in to get a team back for sure. He doesn't want to invest in the arena itself since he believes he would be paying more than enough for the team and the relocation fees. The real cash cow is the NHL team. The arena would be losing money if there's no team.

So while there is indeed a potential to get a team back in Quebec City, there is political ramifications to all this. Bypassing a law to get a team is, in my opinion, the dumbest thing to do. The city has lawyers... Use them to draft calls for bids that only Quebecor would answer. It wouldn't be the first time it is done.

tl;dr Political :censored: up over public funds for the arena and an illegal deal between QC and Quebecor for naming rights and arena management contract.

Four times IHL Nielson Cup Champions - Montréal Shamrocks (2008-2009 // 2009-2010 // 2012-2013 // 2014-2015)

Five times TNFF Confederation Cup Champions - Yellowknife Eagles (2009 CC VI // 2010 CC VII // 2015 CC XII // 2017 CC XIV // 2018 CC XV)

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How well are the Aeros supported? Always thought Houston should had been one of the first southern franchises of the southern migration.

At this point I think the ship has sailed for Houston. Going along with my "the NHL should avoid markets with established NBA teams" theory a NHL organization in Houston would have to compete with the Rockets for fans, ratings, merchandise sales, and corporate dollars.

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Isn't the Milwaukee market even smaller than Pittsburgh, and losing jobs rapidly? Is Milwaukee even really a good 3-sport town anymore let alone 4-sports?

Well... it's a good 2-sport town, but somebody had to Buck it up.

To be honest, the NBA should just give in and contract the Timberwolves and Bucks. Not only would it help that league, it also gives the NHL an opportunity to get into the Milwaukee market. All they have to do is keep the Admirals name and be a relatively decent franchise and they'll draw far bigger crowds than the Bucks have in recent memory.

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How well are the Aeros supported? Always thought Houston should had been one of the first southern franchises of the southern migration.

At this point I think the ship has sailed for Houston. Going along with my "the NHL should avoid markets with established NBA teams" theory a NHL organization in Houston would have to compete with the Rockets for fans, ratings, merchandise sales, and corporate dollars.

EDIT: For accuracy and completeness purposes, please refer to the following post about the Houston Aeros.

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