Minnesota Wild have been Sold

[illwauk]

FSN Wisconsin (formerly a sub-feed of Twin Cities based FSN North) already broadcasts 10-15 Wild games every year. Methinks the plan is to expand the Wild's fanbase into Wisconsin using that and the Admirals' affiliation. I wouldn't be surprised to see a series of exhibition games at the Bradley Center either.

This suprises me though. The rumour here in Milwaukee was that Leopold sold the Preds so he could buy the Bucks.

[rams80]

Huh? The Wild are wildly successful in terms of franchise viability. Any columnist suggesting otherwise doesn't know jack, quite frankly.

This was OBVIOUSLY Bettman's bone to Leipold for not accepting Balsillie's better bid on the Preds. "Hey, don't sell to the Canadian, go for the lower offer, i'll make it worth your while with a more stable, more financially sound franchise later on. Heh heh."

Bettman = evil bastard.

Bettman = great for the NHL

NHL = great for the game of hockey

Bettman = great for the game of hockey

That can be debated ad nauseum - and already has on this board.

The point is that bettman engaged in some back-room chicanery to get leipold to back off the balsillie bid. Whether or not that's fine with you depends on what you consider to be good for the NHL at large.

Now what did Bettman promise Del Biaggio in exchange for strengthening the local Nashville bid?

I would assume something along the lines of Nashville will be allowed to move to Kansas City (assuming there is a conspiracy).

[illwauk]

Anybody have any issues with Leipold buying a team so soon after he sold Nashville?

I've got no qualms with it.

But I've heard some people suggest you shouldn't be able to do it so soon, and I've heard some Nashville fans that feel shafted by the man.

Wasn't one of the conspiracy theories back when the Balsillie deal with Nashville fell through that Bettman covertly nixed the deal, telling Leipold that if he took less money from the local group he (Bettman) would somehow help Leipold buy the Wild? At the time, the Wild weren't even known to be for sale. And after a long sale process for the Preds, Leipold now says he regretted selling them? He had plenty of time to back out. Seems convenient to me.

Conspiracies aside... How long before this shuffles things up in the AHL? Gotta assume that Leipold would want Minnesota to be affiliated with Milwaukee but this purchase includes the AHL's Houston Aeros, which complicates things.

Given that Leopold already has a working relationship with the Ads ownership and now (apparently)owns the Aeros, it shouldn't ne too hard to arrange a switch regardless of the current affiliation status.

[oz615]

Given that Leopold already has a working relationship with the Ads ownership and now (apparently)owns the Aeros, it shouldn't ne too hard to arrange a switch regardless of the current affiliation status.

And break up one of the most unique working relationship in sports the Nashwaukee connection(I made it up myself )

in which you have the Milwaukee Admirals an affiliate of the Nashville Predators,and the Nashville Sounds affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers.

[rams80]

Given that Leopold already has a working relationship with the Ads ownership and now (apparently)owns the Aeros, it shouldn't ne too hard to arrange a switch regardless of the current affiliation status.

And break up one of the most unique working relationship in sports the Nashwaukee connection(I made it up myself )

in which you have the Milwaukee Admirals an affiliate of the Nashville Predators,and the Nashville Sounds affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers.

I always wondered....Is there direct air service between these two cities or something?

[illwauk]

Given that Leopold already has a working relationship with the Ads ownership and now (apparently)owns the Aeros, it shouldn't ne too hard to arrange a switch regardless of the current affiliation status.

And break up one of the most unique working relationship in sports the Nashwaukee connection(I made it up myself )

in which you have the Milwaukee Admirals an affiliate of the Nashville Predators,and the Nashville Sounds affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers.

I always wondered....Is there direct air service between these two cities or something?

There is... but Milwaukee is the hub of a semi-major airline (Midwest Airlines), so that's just a coincidence.

I'm not sure if that was actually planned out, but (IIRC) the Ads ownership did get a Brewers flavor to it right around the time they switched their AAA afiliation to Nashville. Either way, I thought it was an odd pairing for two cities that have next to nothing in common (save for Oprah's childhood).

[spyboy1]

Another intriguing move, though (since we have musical affiliate chairs) would be Minnesota and Dallas swapping affiliates (Houston and Iowa).

That makes so much sense, it's scary...

[-kj]

If I'm remembering correctly, before Dallas created the Iowa Stars, they shared the Houston affiliation with Minnesota.

[Joshawaggie]

If I'm remembering correctly, before Dallas created the Iowa Stars, they shared the Houston affiliation with Minnesota.

I think you are right.

[spyboy1]

If I'm remembering correctly, before Dallas created the Iowa Stars, they shared the Houston affiliation with Minnesota.

I think you are right.

That is correct. I always wondered how the two franchises worked out playing time for each club's goalie prospects when they share like that.

In 04-05 the Wild's Harding played 42 and Dallas' Smith played 45, so it seems like they had an agreement, but each team probably would have preferred their guy play 65.

[MadmanLA]

FSN Wisconsin (formerly a sub-feed of Twin Cities based FSN North) already broadcasts 10-15 Wild games every year. Methinks the plan is to expand the Wild's fanbase into Wisconsin using that and the Admirals' affiliation. I wouldn't be surprised to see a series of exhibition games at the Bradley Center either.

This suprises me though. The rumour here in Milwaukee was that Leopold sold the Preds so he could buy the Bucks.

I was thinking along those lines when the Twins were up for contraction years ago, in that Bud Selig (back when his family owned the Brewers) could have expanded the Brew Crew's TV coverage right into Minnesota with no problems.

[illwauk]

FSN Wisconsin (formerly a sub-feed of Twin Cities based FSN North) already broadcasts 10-15 Wild games every year. Methinks the plan is to expand the Wild's fanbase into Wisconsin using that and the Admirals' affiliation. I wouldn't be surprised to see a series of exhibition games at the Bradley Center either.

This suprises me though. The rumour here in Milwaukee was that Leopold sold the Preds so he could buy the Bucks.

I was thinking along those lines when the Twins were up for contraction years ago, in that Bud Selig (back when his family owned the Brewers) could have expanded the Brew Crew's TV coverage right into Minnesota with no problems.

Knowing Selig, he was probably salivating at the idea of multiplying his fanbase without having to actually put a decent team on the field.

Since then, the Twins returned the favor by affiliating with the Beloit Snappers (they play an hour from Milwaukee and had been Brewers affiliates for over 20 years).