Brian in Boston

Well, the NHL is the league that saw the Quebec Nordiques relocate to Denver in time for the 1995-96 season after winning the Northeast Division title in 1994-95.

On May 16th, reports surfaced that True North Sports and Entertainment was negotiating to purchase the Thrashers from Atlanta Spirit Group. The NHL and True North held a joint press conference in Winnipeg on May 31st to announce that a deal to buy the Thrashers had been reached. Finally, on June 21st, the NHL Board of Governors formally approved both the sale of the Atlanta Thrashers to True North Sports and Entertainment and the relocation of the franchise to Winnipeg.

The National Hockey League announced on June 12, 1974 that a Seattle, Washington-based expansion franchise was being awarded to Vince Abbey and Dr. Eldred Barnes, who were part-owners of the Western Hockey League's Seattle Totems - along with the Vancouver Canucks - at the time. The NHL revealed that the team would take the ice for the first time during the 1976-77 NHL season. Abbey and Barnes were required to come up with a $180,000 deposit by the close of 1975, line-up the remainder of the $6 million franchise fee, and purchase the Canucks' shares in the Totems so as to free up the Seattle marketplace. Abbey began to experience problems securing financing for the bid almost immediately, which resulted in his missing several league-set deadlines for payments towards both the deposit and total franchise fee. The NHL responded by threatening to pull the promised franchise. During this period, Abbey passed on a chance to purchase a World Hockey Association franchise for $2 million, as well as the opportunity to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins in a bankruptcy auction for $4.4 million in June of 1975. When the Totems folded following the 1974-75 WHL season, the NHL came to the conclusion that Abbey didn't possess the financial wherewithal necessary to secure the promised NHL expansion and rescinded the franchise rights. In the fall of 1975, Abbey filed suit against the NHL and Vancouver Canucks for allegedly engaging in anti-trust violations that prevented him from securing an NHL expansion franchise for Seattle. The suit dragged on until 1976, when a verdict was returned in favor of the NHL and Canucks. Stranger still is the story behind Seattle's bid for a franchise to take the ice as part of the NHL's 1992-93 expansion. Shortly after the NHL announced its expansion plans in December of 1989, two groups stepped-up to announce their interest in making bids on Seattle's behalf. One was led by Bill Ackerley, son of Seattle Supersonics owner Barry Ackerley. The other was to be financed by Microsoft millionaire Chris Larson and headed-up by former Seattle Totem Bill MacFarland. Ackerley was the first - indeed, only - party to actually submit a formal application to the league. Shortly after he did so, the two groups decided to combine their efforts into a single bid. The pooled resources of Ackerley and Larson were thought to be more than enough to meet the NHL's $50 million price-tag for an expansion franchise, as well as the ability to cover operating expenses for the first five seasons. Larson and McFarland represented the group in a meeting with the NHL's Board of Governors in October of 1990 and reportedly gave a great presentation. The presence of a Microsoft millionaire amongst the ownership group bankrolling the bid, as well as news that the group was in discussions with the City of Seattle about construction of a state-of-the-art arena, truly impressed the BOG. In fact, then-Vancouver Canucks President and GM Pat Quinn - who had played for Bill MacFarland on the 1966-67 WHL Championship Seattle Totems team - told his former coach that the Seattle bid was "a lock" to land one of the NHL's planned expansion teams. On December 5th, 1990, Larson, MacFarland, Ackerley, and Bill Lear - a financial advisor to Ackerley - were scheduled to make their formal presentation to the NHL Board of Governors. When NHL Vice President and General Counsel Gil Stein came to escort the group the board room in which the presentation was to be made, Ackerley made an unusual request: he asked if he and Lear could address the BOG first - in private - before Larson and MacFarland delivered their portion of the presentation. The request came as a complete surprise, as it had not been a topic of conversation during the strategy meeting Larson, MacFarland, Ackerley, and Lear had engaged in over breakfast that morning. Nevertheless, Larson and MacFarland reluctantly agreed, as the group's expansion application was in Ackerley's name - a result of his having been the only party to actually submit a formal expansion application before the groups merged their efforts. Ten minutes later, Gil Stein returned to Larson and MacFarland with strange - indeed, downright disturbing - news: Ackerley had introduced himself to the BOG, then informed them that the Seattle group was withdrawing its bid for an NHL expansion franchise. Ackerley gave no reason for the about-face. Ackerley and Lear then left the boardroom through another exit, so as not to cross paths with Larson MacFarland. MacFarland and Larson were afforded the opportunity to make their presentation, despite having no formal bid expansion application before the BOG with their names on it. NHL expansion franchises were ultimately awarded to Ottawa and Tampa Bay, though neither group ever came up with the $50 million fee that the Seattle group had said they were prepared to pay in full.

Not in the past five years... no. That said, according to Rockets owner Leslie Alexander, he was still kicking the tires on acquiring an NHL franchise for Houston as recently as 2005. Following the implementation of a new NHL CBA, Alexander made it known that he was bullish on bringing a major-pro ice hockey team to Houston. In fact, he told the Houston Chronicle: "I am trying to get a team. I am trying. I went to see the commissioner. I told him about my interest. I can't disclose teams, but I've been talking to people (in the NHL) and to investment bankers. I had conversations a month ago with an investment banking firm. I'm looking to buy a team. So people know my interest. You hear from time to time that teams might be for sale, then it changes or something else happens. But my interest is out there." "I'm trying to do it. I would like it, obviously. Now there's an opportunity to probably break even and hope in the future that you could make money on it. I sort of know (the economics with a new CBA). There's no revelations that would change them." There was also Alexander's 1997 deal with Peter Pocklington to purchase the Edmonton Oilers for $85 million (USD) and relocate the team to Houston. The Alberta Treasury Branches stepped-in and placed the franchise in receivership. Alexander made the same $85 million (USD) to the ATB, going so far as submitting a $5 million (USD) deposit. Only the 11th-hour deal put together by the Cal Nichols-led Edmonton Investors Group kept the team in Edmonton. Bingo.

To be precise, Connecticut has a single person "sniffing around" regarding the prospects of an NHL return to Hartford: Howard Baldwin. That's problematic, as Baldwin doesn't possess the financial wherewithal to purchase and own an NHL franchise, let alone build a "new arena". Baldwin was, is, and always will be capable of nothing more than securing a minority share in a major-pro sports franchise ownership group. He was partnered with W. Godfrey Wood, William Barnes and John Coburn in launching the original WHA New England Whalers, with Baldwin serving more as the glad-handing, backslapping frontman for the ownership group, rather than a deep-pocketed equal partner. Baldwin continued to fill such a role once the team relocated from Boston to Hartford, eventually cobbling together an ownership group that included himself (1%), Aetna (40.45%), Hartford Insurance Group (13.7%), CIGNA (11.4%), The Travellers (8.6%), United Technologies (6.1%), Connecticut Mutual (4.9%), Bank of Boston - Connecticut (3.3%), Connecticut Bank & Trust Company (3.3%), Hartford National (3.3%), Heublein, Inc. (1.6%), Hartford Attractions (1%), The Hartford Courant (0.6%), Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company (0.6%), Connecticut Light & Power (0.1%), and the Greater Hartford Chamber of Commerce (0.05%). Coordinating the interests of the many and varied partners eventually proved difficult, particularly with so many of them being corporate entities with shareholders wondering why the companies were pumping money into a small-market hockey team. Ultimately, the one thing the numerous partners could agree on was a willingness to sell majority interest in the team, and businessmen Donald G. Conrad and Richard Gordon purchased 74.5 % of the team. Aetna (13%), CIGNA (2%), The Travelers (2%), Baldwin (.82%) and eleven other partners (each holding less than 2%) held the remaining 25.5%. Conrad eventually sold the bulk of his share to Colonial Realty Company. Ultimately, Colonial Realty would default on paying Conrad for his share, which would lead to Colonial declaring bankruptcy. Nearly three-and-a-half years of court battles would eventually see Richard Gordon gain control of the Whalers and, ultimately, sell them to Peter Karmanos. The rest is history. Then there was Baldwin's ownership of the Pittsburgh Penguins (where co-owner Morris Belzberg fronted Baldwin the latter's share of the purchase price): he inherited a Stanley Cup-winning organization and managed to steer it into a bankruptcy filing. As for Baldwin "planning for new arenas" in Hartford, he's currently promoting nothing of the sort. Rather, he's pushing for a $105 million renovation of the 36-year-old XL Center. I also question Hartford's place as "a proven hockey market". Average attendance for the Hartford Whalers over 17 NHL seasons from 1980-81 to 1996-97 (I threw out the 9,854 average in 1979-80, as the team played the first half of the season at the Springfield Center while the Hartford Civic Center was being repaired) was 12,235. If, using that figure, we ranked the Whalers for average attendance as a hypothetical 31st NHL franchise amongst the league's teams over the past 12 seasons, the team would never rank higher than 28th out of 31 teams. Using the Whalers' all-time average attendance single-season high - 14,574 during the 1987-88 NHL campaign - as a benchmark, the team's best average attendance finish as a hypothetical 31st team over the past 12 seasons would be 25th out of 31 teams in 2005-06. The Whalers' all-time average attendance single-season low - 10,144 during the 1992-93 NHL campaign - would rank dead last in each of the past 12 seasons. On top of all of this, factor-in that the Greater Hartford market is located adjacent to - and, squeezed in-between - the larger Boston and New York City markets. Further, the Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford Metro Area (1,212,381) is the 45th-largest in the United States, making it smaller than all but the Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY and Raleigh-Cary, NC MSAs amongst those metro areas playing host to US NHL franchises. According to the latest (2010) Canadian metro area population figures, only the Edmonton and Winnipeg metro areas are less populous than Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford. As for television, the Hartford & New Haven Nielsen Designated Market Area (1,006,280 television homes) is the 30th-largest in the United States, making it smaller than all but Columbus and Buffalo amongst those TV markets playing host to US NHL franchises. Finally, the greatest concentration of personal wealth and corporate presence in the State of Connecticut is located in Fairfield County. Said region is much more culturally aligned - including in the area of sports fandom - with New York City. As a result, the Hartford Whalers were never able to draw significant corporate sponsorship dollars, or attract significant numbers of ticket-purchasers, from Fairfield County. There's no reason to believe that anything has changed with regard to this over the past 15 years. Bottom line? The Whalers sported a great logo that manages to move souvenir products to this very day, but that isn't enough to make Hartford a legitimate candidate to play host to an NHL franchise... and I say that as someone with family members who owned season-tickets to the Whalers in both Boston and Hartford.

Big America Conference it is then.

Should this continent-spanning realignment/expansion come to pass, the Big East should rebrand itself as either the Big America Conference, the Great America Conference, or the Great American Conference.

"Ownership" of the Hartford Whalers' brand identity has never been as cut-and-dried as several parties have wished to make it out to be. When Peter Karmanos relocated the former Hartford Whalers to North Carolina in 2007, he paid $20-million to break his Hartford Civic Center lease and ceded rights to the Whalers' name, logo and trademarks to the Connecticut Redevelopment Authority as part of a written agreement entered into with the NHL. In the wake of the NHL beginning to sell vintage Whalers goods in 2009, the CDA's president, Marie O'Brien, told the Hartford Courant that the State of Connecticut retained rights to the Hartford Whalers' name and logo in order to prevent other franchises and/or markets from using the brand and to keep the name available in the event that an NHL team should ever return to Connecticut. She told the Waterbury Republican-American that those rights were "exclusive" and "irrevocable". However, she went on to say that merchandising of the Whalers' name and logo represented another matter entirely, with the NHL maintaining control of merchandising for all league clubs, including defunct franchises. According to records in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's on-line registry, the trademark for the Hartford Whalers name is currently listed as "DEAD". Meanwhile, on November 25, 2009, an amendment was registered with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office asking that the name of the owner of the Canadian trademark for the Hartford Whalers name be changed to: HARTFORD WHALERS HOCKEY CLUB, A LIMITED PARTNERSHIP THE GENERAL PARTNERS OF WHICH ARE HOWARD L. BALDWIN AND HARTFORD ATTRACTIONS, INC. Further, this Canadian trademark was renewed with the CIPO on May 12, 2010 and the address that was listed for the aforementioned registrant was listed as: One Civic Center Plaza Hartford, Connecticut 06103 United States of America Subsequently, after renaming the Hartford-based AHL franchise that he handles marketing and ticketing operations for the Connecticut Whale, Howard Baldwin told the Hartford Courant, "Somebody telling us we can't use Whalers? That's not true." He went on to say, "Nobody has busted me. The NHL has been great to work with. They made it clear they prefer not using the (old Hartford Whalers) logo, but I went to the Whale because I thought it was the right thing to do. Save the Whaler for whatever happens in the future. Everything with the NHL is cool." Finally, the most recent amendment to the CIPO trademark listing deleted individual partner names (i.e. HOWARD L. BALDWIN AND HARTFORD ATTRACTIONS) under the ownership heading, leaving just HARTFORD WHALERS HOCKEY CLUB, A LIMITED PARTNERSHIP listed as the owner. Make of all this what you will.

If I had to list ten films set and shot in Chicago that - in my opinion - best capture the atmosphere, look, feeling and/or spirit of the city and/or its residents, I'd go with (in alphabetical order): About Last Night Call Northside 777 Ferris Bueller's Day Off High Fidelity Hoop Dreams Medium Cool My Bodyguard Return To Me The Blues Brothers The Untouchables As a bonus, I'd add a little-seen film starring Warren Beatty entitled Mickey One. The action opens in Detroit, but soon shifts to Chicago... and it has to be seen to be believed. Ahead of its time? Riskily experimental? Hollywood's best attempt at rebuking classic film narrative? You be the judge.

UMass-Amherst's own press release reads: "UMass will be playing all of its 2012 and 2013 games at Gillette Stadium, a world class facility with seating for 68,756. Playing near Boston will enable UMass to to engage its large alumni and fan base in Eastern Massachusetts." While they only mention the 2012 and 2013 seasons, I wouldn't bet on UMass football returning to an on-campus stadium any time soon. * The MAC is primarily bringing UMass into the conference in order to establish a foothold in the Boston marketplace; Hartford/Springfield - which is the market Amherst is in - is a minor consideration. So, frankly, the MAC would rather see the Minutemen playing at Gillette as much as possible for as long as possible. * UMass is better able to "engage its large alumni" population by playing in close proximity to Boston. * The Krafts - who reportedly initially lobbied on behalf of UMass with Big East officials - are enamored with landing a new tenant for Gillette Stadium for as many games as possible for as long as possible. * UMass-Amherst has bigger fish to fry when it comes to construction on campus. Reportedly, the current priority project is construction of housing dedicated to students in the university's Commonwealth Honors College. Whether there will be money, or space, remaining for an upgraded, on-campus football stadium after that project is completed is open to question.

The University of Massachusetts at Amherst will announce at a press conference at Gillette Stadium tomorrow that the school's football team will be moving to the NCCA Football Bowl Subdivision's Mid-American Conference in time for the 2012 season. With the move, UMass will shift all of its home football games from the on-campus Warren P. McGuirk Alumni Stadium to Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. UMass football press conference will announce upgrade to FBS

If Colorado Athletic Director Mike Bohn is to be believed, such an alignment is unlikely. On Wednesday, the Denver Post reported that Bohn claims to have been promised placement in a division with UCLA, USC, Arizona and Arizona State. In part, the story reads: Playing in a south division instead of a north with the Bay Area, Oregon and Washington was a must for Colorado to accept an invitation. Its largest out-of-state alumni base is in Southern California. "That is a huge boost for us," Bohn said. "The southern division for the University of Colorado provides many opportunities that are keys to reaching our alumni, to our recruiting and to enhance media exposure that connects best to the Denver market." Now that Utah has accepted an invitation to join the conference, it is expected that they would join Colorado as part of a Mountain Time Zone-based "travel pair".

The Pac-10 will become the Pac-12 as soon as the University of Utah accepts the invitation that was extended to it today. The Big Ten will likely remain the Big Ten no matter how many member institutions it adds. The Big XII Conference should be renamed the Big Tenuous Conference, as its long-term viability is anything but assured.

The schools that the Pac-10 would most like to get are BYU and Colorado. Colorado would bring the Denver Metro Area population with it, as well as Denver's #16 primary television market. BYU and Utah are a wash as far as population base and television market go, as both would be playing to the Salt Lake City Metro Area and the #31 television market. That said, BYU is considered to be a significantly better school than Utah academically. U.S. News & World Report pegged BYU #77 in its annual ranking of universities, with Utah checking-in at #126. Incidentally, USN&WR has Colorado ranked #77 on its list.

There are 120 Division FBS schools. Eliminate independent programs and organize these schools into 10 conferences of 12 teams each. Divide each conference into a pair of 6-team divisions. Within its conference, a team plays all 5 divisional foes each year and 3 of the 6 schools in the other division on a rotational basis, making for an 8-game conference schedule. Additionally, each school can schedule 3 non-conference games, bringing regular-season play to 11 games. (In the event that a school wishes to play a non-divisional traditional rival from within its conference, said game can be scheduled as one of the non-conference games, but won't be counted in conference standings.) Division winners in each conference face-off in a conference championship game. After the conference championship games, a 16-team playoff field is put together, comprised of the 10 conference champions and 6 at-large schools. Selection of the at-large schools and playoff seeding is determined by a committee using a combination of a coach's poll, a media poll, the Harris Interactive poll and computer rankings. Playoffs are single-elimination, with teams seeded 1 vs 16, 9 vs 8, 5 vs 12, 13 vs 4 in one half of the bracket, and 3 v 14, 11 v 6, 7 v 10 and 15 v 2 in the other half of the bracket. First-round and quarter-final games are played at the home stadium of the higher-ranked team. The semi-final and championship game sites are put out to competitive bid. The most games a championship team would have to play would be 16 - one more than the FCS champion currently has to play. Bowls could still exist and those teams not qualifying/selected for the 16-team playoff would be free to accept bowl bids. The title of "National Champion" would be determined on the field of play and awarded to the winner of the 16-team playoff tournament. Finis