Jump to content

Return of the Whale Imminent


Mac the Knife

Recommended Posts

39 minutes ago, the admiral said:

The Connecticut government's desire to chase the Patriots at the expense of the Whalers certainly didn't help, of course, and then after all that the Patriots stayed in Foxborough anyway. Man, screw the Patriots.

 

Did Connecticut chase the Patriots before 1998?  From what I remember, Kraft announced a deal with Hartford in late 1998 (pretty much announced during the Bledsoe broken finger MNF game). But the Hurricanes had already played a season by that point. I think it's clear Kraft made the right move by privately financing his own stadium in Foxboro, building the shopping plaza, and really, saved Conneticul tax payers some dough and headaches (that would eventually show up with the Yard Goats stadium).. 

Smart is believing half of what you hear. Genius is knowing which half.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 70
  • Created
  • Last Reply

From what I've been able to tell, they were playing footsie for years before the announcement, with Connecticut going after both the Patriots and, surprisingly, the Rams (who would move to St. Louis after the Patriots didn't, just to tie it all together). Connect(icut)ing the dots here without going full-on Pepe Silvia, it does seem that state officials decided to allocate their resources toward the NFL over the NHL. Choosing to broker a sale to Detroit-based investors over local investors who promised a longer commitment to Hartford than the out-of-towners did does feel like setting up a sort of benign neglect -- if you've privately decided that you're going to spend finite money on pursuing the Patriots instead of keeping the Whalers, better to make the owners look like the bad guys instead of facilitating local ownership and then leaving them in the lurch. And what bad guys they were.

 

Kraft eventually did do the right thing by self-financing his new stadium, but it wasn't without leading Connecticut politicians on into thinking they could upgrade to the NFL. I will say that in the context of the time, with St. Louis replacing Los Angeles and Nashville replacing Houston, it wasn't far-fetched for them to believe that the NFL would be fine with subbing out Boston for Hartford, especially since the challenges of building stadiums in Boston already kicked the Pats halfway to Providence and all New England-based affiliates would continue to carry the team anyway. 

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Mac the Knife said:

The "New England" moniker came from the team not really having a consistent home arena for its first few years.  They played in both Boston and Springfield in their first year, so using "New England" rather than "Boston" likely just seemed logical.

 

The New England Whalers played their home games during the WHA's inaugural 1972-73 season in Boston. They split the home schedule that year between the Boston Garden and Boston Arena (today, Northeastern University's Matthews Arena). Regular season Whalers home games during the 1973-74 season were played at the Boston Garden. The team didn't play a game at the Eastern States Coliseum in West Springfield, Massachusetts until the WHA playoffs began in April of 1974, when the Whalers hosted four games in a best-of-seven quarterfinal series versus the Chicago Cougars. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, WSU151 said:

 

Did Connecticut chase the Patriots before 1998?

 

I was doing some freelance sports journalism work in New England during the 1990s. The first talk of moving the Patriots to Connecticut that gained much traction took place in 1993. That's when Francis Murray - a former minority owner of the team during Victor Kiam's stewardship of the franchise - began to claim that he was going to submit a bid to Pats' owner James Busch Orthwein, with an eye towards moving the team to a downtown Hartford stadium in time for the 1996 NFL season. Connecticut Governor Lowell P. Weicker was supportive of the idea and I believe I recall the Connecticut legislature actually agreeing to finance construction of a stadium... if Murray could secure ownership of the team. After Murray's efforts fell through, novelist Tom Clancy stepped up in early January of 1994 as the lead investor in a group that was seeking to buy the Patriots. However, within a week or two of Clancy announcing his bid, Bob Kraft had closed the deal to purchase the Patriots from Orthwein. I want to say that I recall the Tampa Bay Buccaneers playing stadium "footsie" with Connecticut in the mid-90s. Then I know that Kraft and the Mashantucket Pequots met to discuss the possibility of building a stadium on tribal land. That didn't end up going anywhere. And about a year after the meeting with the Mashantucket Pequots was when Kraft got serious about negotiating with Connecticut Governor John Rowland. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Brian in Boston said:

 

I was doing some freelance sports journalism work in New England during the 1990s. The first talk of moving the Patriots to Connecticut that gained much traction took place in 1993. That's when Francis Murray - a former minority owner of the team during Victor Kiam's stewardship of the franchise - began to claim that he was going to submit a bid to Pats' owner James Busch Orthwein, with an eye towards moving the team to a downtown Hartford stadium in time for the 1996 NFL season. Connecticut Governor Lowell P. Weicker was supportive of the idea and I believe I recall the Connecticut legislature actually agreeing to finance construction of a stadium... if Murray could secure ownership of the team. After Murray's efforts fell through, novelist Tom Clancy stepped up in early January of 1994 as the lead investor in a group that was seeking to buy the Patriots. However, within a week or two of Clancy announcing his bid, Bob Kraft had closed the deal to purchase the Patriots from Orthwein. I want to say that I recall the Tampa Bay Buccaneers playing stadium "footsie" with Connecticut in the mid-90s. Then I know that Kraft and the Mashantucket Pequots met to discuss the possibility of building a stadium on tribal land. That didn't end up going anywhere. And about a year after the meeting with the Mashantucket Pequots was when Kraft got serious about negotiating with Connecticut Governor John Rowland. 

 

The proposed stadium, to the best of my knowledge, was to be constructed where the current Connecticut Convention Center is. The only parking that was to be really available in that area for football games was a proposed parking garage, which essentially meant no tailgating prior to Patriots games. Which might be the most Hartford thing I've ever heard of.

On 4/10/2017 at 3:05 PM, Rollins Man said:

what the hell is ccslc?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Carvel posts got moved to the Lounge, the debate over whale IQ got MOD SMASHED to obliveon. 

"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."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There was a reference to "Dickensian whaling" that I missed the first time through but then laughed my ass off at. The time period's not wrong, but if only there had been another famous author we could better associate with whaling! If only!

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do we know if the State of Connecticut still has a stake in the Whalers trademark? Reason I ask is because the state recently released Whalers license plates (more so as a way to get out of a debt; nostalgia pays, yo) and wondering how the division of funds works out when those are purchased.

On 4/10/2017 at 3:05 PM, Rollins Man said:

what the hell is ccslc?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Brass said:

Do we know if the State of Connecticut still has a stake in the Whalers trademark? Reason I ask is because the state recently released Whalers license plates (more so as a way to get out of a debt; nostalgia pays, yo) and wondering how the division of funds works out when those are purchased.

 

Probably just a licensing agreement between the state and the NHL.

Smart is believing half of what you hear. Genius is knowing which half.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.




×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.