IceCap

Oh come on. Either you know why people disapprove of the Jamison deal or you just haven't been paying attention. It's because his offer requires continued subsidies from the City of Glendale, to the tune of $40 million. From a city that can't afforded $25 million even with cuts to civic services. If Jamison wants to buy the team with his own money straight up, like what Vinik did with the Lightning, that would be fine. It would be his loss, but it would be fine. He's not offering to buy the team with his own money though. His purchase still requires subsidies from Glendale for a failing private business. Therefore continuing the "the Coyotes' continued existence is financially ruining their city" theme that's been going on for a while now.

You'd need to get all the power brokers united against him. The Molsons, MLSE, Wirtz, Comcast, Ilitch, and Dolan at the very least. With them it's a two way street. On one hand they're apparently losing A LOT of money keeping the Great Arizona Hockey Experiment alive, and you have to think they're getting tired of it. On the other hand they are the few NHL owners who can afford to piss away that kind of cash to maintain the status quo. It is an excellent question. It really is. The Coyotes had no real ownership prospects last year (I still doubt they have any this year), and Atlanta had an ownership group, granted one that wanted out. It seems like the logical thing to do would have been to get the Coyotes off the league's hands by selling to TNSE and sending them back to Winnipeg while convincing ASG to stick around for a few more years until a buyer could be lined up, either in Atlanta or elsewhere. Yet it was the team with an owner that was sent packing so the team without one could remain without one. What kind of sense does that make?

Hehe, apparently so. "Hey, the Coyotes going on a run to save the team is just like a sports movie! Yay!" Only that once the credits roll Glendale's still facing financial ruin because Gary can't bare to let them leave.

Isn't the strip mall still half foreclosed?

Books? Who needs books?

Sidestepping the morality of the issue, many of the members here who admit to buying counterfeits have said you should only buy them in person, where you can see the quality for yourself. Never buy online. $20 for a customized jersey? Sounds WAY to good to be true, so it probably is. You'll get what you pay for.

Holy crap, this is gonna go on another year, isn't it?! Preferably much longer Financially destroying a city's totally worth it for a sports team....that people don't show up for.

I'm throwing a PotD nomination your way for this

Haha, oh no need for that. It's nothing the Bruins fanbase did. All in all you guys are all right.

Hehe, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't part of it Mostly though, I can't put my finger on it. It's odd, I've never had the problem with Boston fans so many people claim to have, and I've never disliked the Bruins before (any team that pisses off the Habs is alright in my book), but there's just something about this group of players on this particular Bruins team that rubs me the wrong way. Also, the shellacking you guys gave us this past season was hard to watch

Indeed. For the record, honest to G-d, I'm rooting for the Capitals. I really don't like this Bruins team.

Wow, you must be bored. Either that or you've got NO faith in your Caps to pull it out against the Bruins. Who jumps on a bandwagon when their team is still in it? Alright, I know we had our little back and forth in the other thread or whatever, but now I gotta admit ima little spooked by how well you seem to know me! I mean, the fact that you knew what I said HAD to be a result of those two options, one or the other. You should consider creating your own Jump to Conclusions Mat there Freud. Well lets break it down, shall we? You're pissed at me for whatever reason (is it because I don't like Chief Wahoo or the Redskins name?) so I explain why I don't like the Coyotes in a very thorough manner. You follow that up with a "Go Coyotes go! Aaaaooooooooo!!!" that ignores every legitimate concern about the team that I posted. So either you're extremely bored and this little act of pettiness was the only thing you could think of to fill the time or you weren't responding to me and and really have jumped on the Coyotes bandwagon. Now usually people only jump on bandwagons when their team has been eliminated. Given that your team, the Capitals, is still very much alive (and one game away from knocking out the defending champs, no less) I can only conclude that you have no faith in their prospects. How's that?

Wow, you must be bored. Either that or you've got NO faith in your Caps to pull it out against the Bruins. Who jumps on a bandwagon when their team is still in it?

I get a good laugh out of trolling the sports world, heck I was pulling for the 2010 Seahawks. The whole "lets hope on the Coyotes bandwagon because LOL TROLL" thing would roughly the same as that, if they weren't dependent on government bailouts and the stubbornness of Gary Bettman to survive. It seems like a lot of people are jumping on the Coyotes bandwagon because "lol all these fans are butthurt about them," jumping to the moronic conclusion that we're "butthurt" over them because they're succeeding as a southern team. Not the case. At all. I don't mind southern teams. What I don't like are teams that are financially draining the league as a whole, who's existence is an embarrassment to the sport, and most importantly who's existence is threatening basic civil services in the community they are based out of. Others and myself are "butthurt" about the Coyotes because when you look at their attendance, the fact that they have no owner and no real prospects of one, and are a financial black hole that's forcing their city to close libraries to keep them around you realize that this team should not be. As for the Predators? They really did turn it around, on and off the ice, and for that I give them all the credit in the world. I hope they keep it up, because hey, a healthy league presence in Nashville wouldn't be a bad thing. Thing is though, they're not the Greatest Team in Hockey that a lot of their bandwagon hoppers are making them out to be (I'm not attacking the act of bandwagonning by the way, simply the notion that Preds bandwagoners seem to have picked up on). They didn't even win their division, and all they've managed to do so far is beat a tired Red Wings teams (which has, admittedly, endeared them to me somewhat). It's also not being "butthurt" to point out that while they do get people in the arena in Nashville they don't have the road/travelling presences that the Wings and 'Hawks do, road presences that the Coyotes have benefited from, attendance wise. That's not admiral, myself, or anyone else being cynical. It's simply stating facts.

I have to think this is finally it. If the city won't pay to cover the team's losses, and there's no ownership group in sight to buy the team and commit them to Glendale, then what choice does the league have? To keep the team there and take the losses themselves? I can see that as being the last straw for the league's power broker owners. When the NHL and TNSE held the press conference to announce TNSE's purchase of the Thrashers the question of "why Atlanta and not Phoenix?" came up and Bettman said, basically, "the difference was that the city of Glendale was willing to cover the losses." So if that really was the reason then the NHL ought to get out if Glendale can't make with the money. That's assuming that it was the reason, and not the league/Bettman wanting to hang onto the Great Arizona Hockey Experiment as long as he/they can to salvage his/their ego(s). This whole thing has taught me to never expect the NHL won't do something extremely shortsighted and stupid, that the bar is never to low, but I have to think this is finally it. No owner and no government bailout? They CAN'T keep this team around now? Right? Right?

Still happy you worked so hard to keep this team in place with these people, Gary?

Tickets for the Islanders-Devils exhibition game went on sale today - here's the seating map on the ticket page: Oh Jesus H. That's not a long-term solution for the Islanders, that's KeyArena lite. Who builds a basketball arena in 2012? Idiots who think the fricken New Jersey Nets need an "intament basketball experience."

The Blackhawks blocked a Milwaukee expansion team in the 80s, but I think things have changed enough since then that the 'Hawks wouldn't be an issue. The problem seems to be that Milwaukee's just not big enough for both the NBA and NHL.

The NHL says not so fast. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/opinion/2012/03/nhl-is-unmoved-about-quebec-citys-arena-plans.html Well why start now Gary?

Who knows though? Maybe this isn't over. For all we know the press conference will come and Bettman will announce that the Blues have been sold to Quebecor. In unrelated news he'll also announce that the Coyotes will remain in Glendale for at least one more season, as Elaine Scruggs closed the hospital and sold a kidney from each patient to come up with the $25 million.

Isn't Abbotsford still thrashing around and twitching? The Heat are still a thing? Wow. I stand corrected then. Someone dig that topic back up. Nothing quite tops "closing libraries to pay for a sports team no one in the immediate area cares about."

So if this is indeed the end of the Coyotes, then wow. Finally eh? What's it been? Three years? The board will seem somewhat empty without the tales of self-destructive league and civic actions.

The Isles still need to get a new arena and there appears to be none on the horizon... It would be interesting to see if playing at the Barclays Centre would be viable long-term....