Ray77 Posted February 2, 2013 Posted February 2, 2013 Anaheim is 30 minutes from LA...Calgary 3 hours from Edmonton...not unprecedented with 2.5 hours and an international border between Vancouver and Seattle. Also, back then, Canadian teams were required to pay their players in American dollars...but their revenues were obviously in Canadian dollars. I believe a revenue-sharing plan was put in place sometime after Winnipeg's move to help alleviate that particular issue. It was Bettman's dream to expand to the south...now it's a nightmare. Bettman became NHL commissiner in February, 1993. Here are the years that these teams joined the league: Florida - 1993 Tampa Bay - 1992 Nashville - 1998 Anaheim - 1993 San Jose - 1991 Out of those teams, Nashville would really be the only one that was under his watch. Florida, TB, Anaheim and SJ would have all been in the works before Bettmann. I'd say Nashville is doing just fine. The Jets moved to Phoenix in 1996 Quebec moved to Denver in 1995 Hartford moved to Raleigh in 1997 These certainly would have happened on Bettman's watch, however out of these 3 I'd only say Phoenix has been a disaster, the others have been just fine. Also, even though these were done under Bettman's watch, There was a lot more at play that just starting up an expansion franchise. These teams were already in markets that we struggling. I'm not a huge Bettman lover, however I don't get all the negative stuff towards him. I get the lockout hatred, but really that should be directly not only towards Bettman, but probably more so towards the owners. He's grown the game and made the players A LOT more money during his tenure. Yes, there have been some dumb things happen, but overall I'd say he's been pretty darn good for the game. Quote
Vegas_Sioux Posted February 2, 2013 Posted February 2, 2013 With those colors for the thunderbirds wouldn't the sea chickens and daddy nfl complain? Quote
MafiaMan Posted February 2, 2013 Posted February 2, 2013 Bettman became NHL commissiner in February, 1993. Out of those teams, Nashville would really be the only one that was under his watch. Florida, TB, Anaheim and SJ would have all been in the works before Bettmann. I'd say Nashville is doing just fine. The Jets moved to Phoenix in 1996 Quebec moved to Denver in 1995 Hartford moved to Raleigh in 1997 Bettman was hired to facilitate the southern expansion. Yes, the owners already had visions of expansion fees dancing thru their heads when he arrived. I was specifically referring to the Quebec, Hartford, Winnipeg, and Minnesota franchises all heading southward. It is absolutely inexcusable in my eyes to let Winnipeg and Minnesota lose franchises...and then put teams back in those cities again. They should have never been allowed to leave in the first place. Nashville doing just fine? Their former owner now owns the Wild and in 2007, a group tried to buy the team and move it to Hamilton Ontario, something promptly thwarted by Bettman himself. Norm Green sold the Stars 15 minutes after the team touched down in Dallas (figuratively, not literally). If the sole intent of moving the team was to immediately sell it (and it was, along with escaping that nasty little sexual harassment suit in Minnesota), Bettman should have 86'd the move from the get-go. Hell, Bettman fought harder to keep the Thrashers in Atlanta than he did to keep the North Stars in Minnesota! Florida, Tampa Bay, and Phoenix could all either be disbanded or moved immediately and the league would be better off for it. Bettman could redeem himself by forcing the sale of the New York Islanders instead of what appears to be their eventual move as well. Quote
siouxczech29 Posted February 2, 2013 Posted February 2, 2013 The economics of hockey and canadian dollar are completely different now. Couldnt have happened back then. Seattle will be a great market...portland is a good market... Id love to see a west coast college hockey conference someday. both Seattle and Portland have a large pro soccer following. may be a tough market share to win. Quote
MafiaMan Posted February 3, 2013 Posted February 3, 2013 With those colors for the thunderbirds wouldn't the sea chickens and daddy nfl complain? I happen to like the idea of cities having a sort of 'identity' with colors. Pittsburgh comes to mind, although Mario mucked it up by changing the Penguins' scheme to Vegas gold. Quote
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