Hartford Whalers & Brass Bonanza get some love in NHL Franchise Movement

[Doggie Style]

Scott Burnside and Pierre LeBrun talk NHL Franchise movement, specifically the Coyotes. No mention of the Whale coming back to Hartford in the near future, but I LOVE the LeBrun always drops his subtle hints by playing Brass Bonanza in his segments. This time around he is in full Whale attire for the segment. Love it!! BRING BACK THE WHALE!!!!!!

http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/8...le-complete-purchase-phoenix-coyotes-deadline

 

[Deepster]

God, I really wish the "Bring back the Whale" rally would go away.

I went to a CT Whale game last weekend and it was pathetic. The city is dead. The Civic Center is it's mausoleum. There are a hundred cities that would be better homes for a professional sports franchise.

 

[Bill Sussman]

I wish people like you would go away.

 

[Deepster]

"Still Karmanos would not have bought the Whalers if he hadn’t been confident he could move them. The badly sagging attendance is likely what gave Karmanos that confidence. During the 1989-90 season, Whaler attendance was 13,705, the following season it dropped to 12,404. During the 91-92 season average attendance dropped to 10,896. The average attendance wouldn’t reach 12,000 per game again until the Whalers final season, after the Whalers leaving Hartford had already been announced. During this period the average NHL attendance was never below 14,000 and had reached 16,548 by 96-97; with low attendance numbers, the Hartford franchise was a prime takeover target for someone looking to relocate."

Last yr, the Whale AHL franchise was 23rd out of 30 teams and this season they are currently again 23rd.

Explain to me why CT deserves a pro hockey team? What am I missing?

 

[methodology]

God, I really wish the "Bring back the Whale" rally would go away.

I went to a CT Whale game last weekend and it was pathetic. The city is dead. The Civic Center is it's mausoleum. There are a hundred cities that would be better homes for a professional sports franchise.

If you can name 100 cities I will give you $100.

Fact is you cant because there are very few cities that can offer what Hartford/New Haven can offer in terms of population, demographics, income, proximity to other franchises that would attract visiting fans and impact attendance.

You use the past 2 years of data where they rank 23 but neglect the 1st few years of data where they were near the top.

 

[Deepster]

If you can name 100 cities I will give you $100.

Fact is you cant because there are very few cities that can offer what Hartford/New Haven can offer in terms of population, demographics, income, proximity to other franchises that would attract visiting fans and impact attendance.

You use the past 2 years of data where they rank 23 but neglect the 1st few years of data where they were near the top.

The "100 cities" is hyperbole. The more important point is that NHL hockey failed miserably here in the past....and now minor league hockey is also failing miserably. The UConn men and women's team have both seen their attendance dip and you couldn't give UConn football tickets away with a 20.00 bill stapled to them this year.

It's time to give up on the Whalers, kids. We don't deserve it and every single objective way you look at that proves that out.

 

[Scoe]

The "100 cities" is hyperbole. The more important point is that NHL hockey failed miserably here in the past....and now minor league hockey is also failing miserably. The UConn men and women's team have both seen their attendance dip and you couldn't give UConn football tickets away with a 20.00 bill stapled to them this year.

It's time to give up on the Whalers, kids. We don't deserve it and every single objective way you look at that proves that out.

Typical pessimistic Connecticut attitude right there. So I guess there is even no point in trying then.

 

[Deepster]

Nope. Not really. But you keep waving the flag and hope I'm wrong, champ.

 

[The Viking]

"Still Karmanos would not have bought the Whalers if he hadn’t been confident he could move them. The badly sagging attendance is likely what gave Karmanos that confidence. During the 1989-90 season, Whaler attendance was 13,705, the following season it dropped to 12,404. During the 91-92 season average attendance dropped to 10,896. The average attendance wouldn’t reach 12,000 per game again until the Whalers final season, after the Whalers leaving Hartford had already been announced. During this period the average NHL attendance was never below 14,000 and had reached 16,548 by 96-97; with low attendance numbers, the Hartford franchise was a prime takeover target for someone looking to relocate."

Last yr, the Whale AHL franchise was 23rd out of 30 teams and this season they are currently again 23rd.

Explain to me why CT deserves a pro hockey team? What am I missing?

The Whalers had 3 winning years out of 18. Tell me what I'm missing where you expect their attendance to be very good for the majority of their stay here. They also traded away the face of the franchise who happened to win stanley cups elsewhere while the players we got in return were inept to put it kindly.

what we "deserved" was an NHL team that at the very least was run "just OK".

And to make matters worse, right after our grave is dug, the state gives us the minor league team of one of our most hated rivals. Not to mention the fact that when you've seen NHL competition for 20 years, it's hard to go running to the ticket office to buy tickets to an AHL product when there is no vested interest in the team (the players don't want to be here, as soon as they're good they move up to NY).

For the record, I don't ever think we'll get a team back, but to make it sound like the whaler fanbase was awful is a little ridiculous without actually looking into the hows and why's.

 

[Deepster]

I don't expect the attendance to be very good. CT sucks as a sport state. They latch onto a bandwagon, support them, then pull the plug at the first sign of trouble. Every single pro or semi-pro franchise that's been here since I've been alive has seen it. The Whaler fanbase was typically awful compared to other fanbases and it was common to what we've seen in this state.

The Red Wings? The Rangers? The Penguins? All franchises who have supportive fan bases, with other sports in town to follow, who have stood by their teams through lean years. The 89-90 Red Wings were 28-38-14 and 5th in their division. They were 2nd in NHL attendance that year.

Once the Whalers had some lean times, the attendance absolutely plummeted. We have NO right to have another pro team thrown into our laps.

 

[The Viking]

Yeah but I'm not and would never compare the CT hockey fanbase to the hockey fanbases in places like NY and Detroit. Those are members of the original 6 with big populations and generations upon generations upon generations of fans that have a history with the franchise.
Take a look at Pittsburgh. By and large there attendance was pathetic for a good 20 years before they started selling or close to selling out on a regular basis.
The Whale was here for a brief time and for the most part sucked ass with the exception of a 3-4 year stretch. The Ron Francis trade crippled a franchise that was only in the NHL for what, 10 years?
I'm not saying Hartford would ever be one of the top hockey markets in the league, but if you put our "legacy" and overlay it on several other current american NHL cities, they would have similar attendance issues.

 

[Deepster]

You said "Tell me what I'm missing where you expect their attendance to be very good for the majority of their stay here."

I answered that by saying there are plenty of cities who had good (and even great) attendance when they didn't have a winning team on the ice. Hartford has never been or never will be a city like that.

As for the Ron Francis trade? Ron Francis not being here was a blow to the franchise from a popularity standpoint...but he wasn't making them any better. They were 4th place in the Adams division the two years prior to his trade. They had slid into mediocrity and the fans stopped coming with or without him. And had he stayed? They still would have drawn poorly. CT didn't want to come out and see them. Period.

 

[The Viking]

You said "Tell me what I'm missing where you expect their attendance to be very good for the majority of their stay here."

I answered that by saying there are plenty of cities who had good (and even great) attendance when they didn't have a winning team on the ice. Hartford has never been or never will be a city like that.

As for the Ron Francis trade? Ron Francis not being here was a blow to the franchise from a popularity standpoint...but he wasn't making them any better. They were 4th place in the Adams division the two years prior to his trade. They had slid into mediocrity and the fans stopped coming with or without him. And had he stayed? They still would have drawn poorly. CT didn't want to come out and see them. Period.

I'm not sure you understand that for most of their stay here, they sucked. That's different than a team having a rough 2 or 3 year stretch.
15 out of their 18 years here they had losing records and you're comparing them to Original 6 teams in the biggest hockey hotbeds in teh country. Hockey is a religion in Detroit and even in NY.
Then you compared them to Pittsburgh but failed to note that for the first 20 years of their existence, Pittsburgh's attendance was nothing to write home about whatsoever. Some years it was hideous.
What helped turned Pittsburgh's attendance issue around? Mario Lemieux.

 

[Waquoit]

The "100 cities" is hyperbole. The more important point is that NHL hockey failed miserably here in the past

Did it? During that brief window where they were contenders they outdrew the Bruin. Circumstances worked against them, in almost the same they are working against UConn sports. I agree they ain't coming back, but saying they "failed miserably" is just more of your hyperbole.

 

[CTMike]

With a new arena, it could work.

 

[Dann]

what i dont get is why uconn fans want competition. having the whalers or a mls team or baseball or w/e only hurts uconn. the whalers are gone now. dont let anyone back in ever. when minor league teams go, knock those stadiums down. uconn baseball, soccer and puck can become good draws in time with the right mix of vision in this state.

 

[SubbaBub]

The whalers moved for three reasons in order.

1. They had a terrible TV rights deal.
2. The CC generated very little revenue for the team.
3. The ponytail wanted to move them all.along.

1 and 2 allowed 3 to happen.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

 

[CTMike]

what i dont get is why uconn fans want competition. having the whalers or a mls team or baseball or w/e only hurts uconn. the whalers are gone now. dont let anyone back in ever. when minor league teams go, knock those stadiums down. uconn baseball, soccer and puck can become good draws in time with the right mix of vision in this state.

Just me- I loved going to Whalers games. If I had the choice going forward- it wouldn't be an either/or. I'd keep my UConn football tix, go to a few hoops games, even consider some UConn puck... And still buy a Whalers ticket package if I could.