Winnipeg Thrashers?

As much as I talk about teams who are failing at the gate and the idea of relocation, a lot of what I say is pretty much a pipe dream as it relates to all of what goes on.  However, this bit of news (speculation?) has been burning up the wires the past few hours.  And because this is all not finalized, I can point you to a source over on Yahoo.

As you have read, if you have clicked on the link, the Atlanta Thrashers are the team being talked about, and the reason: they may be moving to Winnipeg.  Now, the official word will not be announced until Tuesday, so any and all wild talk about a team going to Winnipeg will likely be flying around.  Now, for my take: it won't be the Phoenix Coyotes, as they will be in Phoenix for another year, at least.  For me, it's never too early to start those Coyotes to Kansas City rumors, and I'd love it.  However, that is a topic for another day.  What is the topic of the day is the Thrashers and the hand that is being forced.  Currently, I am in no position to truly make any remarks about the potential move until it actually happens, but the facts about Atlanta and their failed 11 years in the city do speak for themselves.  On the ice, they only made the playoffs once (2006-07), and despite all of the picks in the top-10 for most of the existence, few have panned out, and the ones that do pan out, are on other teams now.  The front office hasn't been much help, either, as that has experienced major turnover in its brief history.  As for the off-ice problems, I will direct you to Hockey Blog in Canada, who took the time to analyze a video that was made trying to defend Atlanta and why the Thrashers should stay.  Obviously, I cannot speak about attendance figures, as I have hardly seen the Thrashers on TV (a large part of that problem being their lack of playoff appearances),  and I'm generally impatient when it comes to sifting through "facts," but what I get from HBIC's analysis is that comparing attendance figures for Winnipeg and Atlanta is like comparing apples to oranges when you're looking at the hard numbers.  It's the percentage of the building capacity that in many ways, tells the real story.  I've bagged on Florida fans for being passive, and a lot of that stems from the NBA's Heat, but in comparing the two teams this past season, the Panthers are above the 80 percentile when it comes to capacity rating, whereas the Thrashers are in the 72 percentile, in terms of home numbers.  The hard figures (the attendance numbers themselves) have the Thrashers ahead of only the Coyotes and Islanders.  Going back one season earlier, the Thrashers are ahead of only the Coyotes in terms of percent rankings and were dead last in the percent ranking the year before that.  Not surprisingly, those three seasons were when the Thrashers weren't expected to even sniff a playoff chase.

Say what you will about the Thrashers in their 11 year existence, but when it comes down to it, it's plain as day that the Thrashers brass didn't make the necessary effort to try and market the team to its fans.  For all of the talk about Nashville moving, they went straight for the country music crowd.  Even Phoenix had an idea of how to market themselves early on: with a team that could win most nights.  As you know, the perpetual losses in the first round caused some people to be turned off to the Coyotes, hence the situation they're in.  Even Florida has done its best to market itself in the face of 10 seasons without a playoff run.  What has Atlanta done?  Well, they have tried the "Blueland" ploy, which for all intents and purposes, came much too late.  Had they done this within their first two years of existence, maybe we  wouldn't be talking about the Thrashers' eulogy.