maybe it's Lowell Weicker's fault

[willie99]

He brought Peter Karmanos in to own the Whalers, even gave him state money to do so. Then Karmanos returns the favor by moving the Whalers out of town.

If the Whalers stay, we have a great state of the art facility in downtown Hartford, bringing to the city all the things fully utilized modern facilities bring to cities and making UConn a more attractive program

oh, what could have been

 

[RegisteredUconn]

He brought Peter Karmanos in to own the Whalers, even gave him state money to do so. Then Karmanos returns the favor by moving the Whalers out of town.

If the Whalers stay, we have a great state of the art facility in downtown Hartford, bringing to the city all the things fully utilized modern facilities bring to cities and making UConn a more attractive program

oh, what could have been

Or the Whalers would have moved to a new facility at Rentschler and the stadium would have been built bigger in the first place as a combined construction project.

 

[Adios]

The NHL didn't want the Whalers to stay. They wanted to expand their markets.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The blame there goes to Colonial Realty. When Karmanos was negotiating purchase of the franchise, there was the suggestion of a provision that the state would have the right to buy the team back if he wanted to relocate and the decision makers within the state (after getting stuck bailing out the post Colonial collapse Whalers) refused to have that as part of the deal as they didn't want to end up owning the team again a few years down the road.

Among the many shortsighted decision our lawmakers have made over the years.

 

[willie99]

The NHL didn't want the Whalers to stay. They wanted to expand their markets.

true, but they can't make the owner move

Karmanos wanted out and screwed us

 

[Waquoit]

He brought Peter Karmanos in to own the Whalers, even gave him state money to do so. Then Karmanos returns the favor by moving the Whalers out of town.

If the Whalers stay, we have a great state of the art facility in downtown Hartford, bringing to the city all the things fully utilized modern facilities bring to cities and making UConn a more attractive program

oh, what could have been

That's true. There was another group that bid with a promise to keep the team in town longer. Weicker was paid back with a spot on Compuware's Board of Directors.

 

[FrostyNuggets]

If memory serves me correctly, Weicker sat at the Penguins table during the NHL draft when it was held
in Hartford.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Plymouth Whalers of the OHL (minor league)
http://www.plymouthwhalers.com
Sound familiar? I always wondered why there was a ‘Whalers’ hockey team wearing blue and green in the suburbs of Detroit when I used to travel there a lot for work.
They play in Compuware arena and are owned by Peter Karmanos.

 

[husky91]

Weicker is arguably the biggest pr&ck ever, so yeah, why not.

He brought Peter Karmanos in to own the Whalers, even gave him state money to do so. Then Karmanos returns the favor by moving the Whalers out of town.

If the Whalers stay, we have a great state of the art facility in downtown Hartford, bringing to the city all the things fully utilized modern facilities bring to cities and making UConn a more attractive program

oh, what could have been