Hockey in June?

It hasn't been a quiet week in Winnipeg, my hometown, out there on the edge of the prairie: well, okay, it has on most levels, but on a sporting world note its been anything but.

15 years ago, this city lost a Major League sport's franchise due to a myriad of factors - ownership group, weak Canadian dollar, out of date facility, lack of ancillary revenue beyond tickets, and yes, in the last days of the Lame-Duck season, fan apathy - this isn't news - The Winnipeg Jets were sold after mounting losses in 1996 and relocated to Phoenix, where the losses continued, but the fan base and and potential exposure to the American market were much, much larger.

Professional sports is a business.  It pays to be reminded of that and see it in black and white every now and then.  It's a business, where people make a living, and profit is the bottom line, hopefully.  While the team on the field, court, diamond, or ice may wear your city's name on their uniform, it is a money based affiliation; a supply and demand of talent and hopefully that talent translates into success versus opponents while generating attention and interest amongst citizens of the home city who are required in the equation to pay for the enterprise and create the sought-after profits.

In a society longing for heroes and idols, the players become larger than life, and in this day of constant media, one is able to know almost everything there is to know about them, their every move followed and documented; team wins and losses are made to be important issues - followed with an intense appetite by the team's fans; and rivalries are formed between other teams in the league creating a war mentality between opposing communities; an "us vs them" way of relating to each other; a culture of constant foes and preparing for battles.

Of course the media play an integral part of the process, following the teams as they traverse the globe, hyping the contests, reporting the 'breaking news' of the day, keeping the product in the public eye daily creating the demand for tickets, all the while posing as journalists.  Watching the nightly sportscast for scores and updates, you forget that the results are merely the outcomes of athletic events and not actual battles between the armies of the cities they represent.  Our gladiator ancestors would be proud!

Civic pride and self image can and does get twisted into the process, especially in the rivalry sense between neighbouring cities, and the mudslinging and name calling helps fuel the drive to 'beat' the opponent.  Victory is sweet and celebrated by all; League champions are feted with parades and celebrations on a scale seen rarely these days.  Keys to the city are passed; visits to heads of state are scheduled and for a few months, the players are worshipped for 'bringing home' the trophy; for delivering to the home city the prestige, the recognition, and the bragging rights that come with winning National titles.

For the past 15 years this city has watched from the sidelines as the National Hockey League continued on without a team from these parts.  The fans tried to save their team back in the day, but were too little, too late in their outpouring of emotion and financial support. It wouldn't have and didn't matter: the system surrounding that team was flawed, and conditions needed to vastly different if an NHL franchise were to be successful here.  Those conditions weren't, so the team left to greener pastures. And we were told that it would be a cold day in hell before the NHl would ever return.

We went on with life, many disappointed in the loss of national media exposure, many internalizing the loss as a sign of inferiority choosing to view themselves and their city as 'less-than' a 'have-not' a second class place to live and do business.  The naysayers and doomsdayers predicted we'd be swept of the map, for we'd be nothing and were nothing without a big league team. Some took offence to that. Others ignored it and went to work to change the conditions that allowed the former team to leave.

A minor league team was brought in to hopefully satiate the appetite for pro hockey in the city, but this city's dark history of fear of progress and weariness of success kept many at home, too proud to support something they viewed as inferior to the real deal. Maybe it's just here, but the pessimistic, too proud, too negative group seems to be the most vocal, and enjoyed quashing any talk of moving on and moving upward, content to sit at home and wring their hands and wallow in their losses and their small minded image of themselves and their city.

15 years is a long time to hold grudges but when you're angry and lonely you can do it if you try hard enough.

After some growing pains the minor league team found its feet and with determined vision at the helm they ran their minor league business operation as good as and in some case better than the professional version, and built a new Arena downtown and quietly turned it into one of the busiest in the world. True Manitobans, they toiled unassumingly in the background and went about their business and kept to their vision and their ultimate goal of returning a professional team to the city.  They didn't threaten the League or try to hold them hostage, no, good Canadians that they are, they followed the rules and played along, meeting when asked, and saying nothing to the media, until it was time.

This past week it was time.

And they took centre stage (typically seeming uncomfortable doing so) and announced that they had succeeded in purchasing a team from Atlanta with intentions to relocate to Winnipeg in time to become part of next season's NHL.  For the past few years there had been much talk of bringing back the franchise that headed to the desert back in '96, and it seemed almost complete until the City of Glendale, AZ committed obscene amounts of public money to keep a struggling business afloat for one more year - rationalizing they would lose more money than the amount the pledged if the enterprise was allowed to leave.  But the NHL had more than one franchise in trouble, and the Atlanta group had owners willing to sell, their options exhausted.

The League stood at the podium during this week's press conference and the Commissioner stated the obvious when he said that this "... isn't going to work very well unless the building is sold out every night..." In the League's smallest market, the new team will play out of the smallest arena (15015 seats) in order to make it work there has to be demand for the supply. It's simple economics. The owners understood this though of course the small minded and constant naysayers across the globe used every social media website and comment section to laugh at Winnipeg for their audacity and foretold certain mediocrity.

After all, it's too cold here - the players won't want to play here; the city can't afford the big league: there's no corporate base to support the enterprise; the fans are too cheap, they won't buy tickets; good luck selling enough tickets in 3 weeks before the Board of Governors meetings, they all said.

Quietly, unassumingly, 2000 or so season ticket holders of the former minor league team purchased 7100 season tickets for the new NHL team in an organized prioritized 2 and a half days.  When the remaining 5900 season tickets were offered to the public yesterday, they sold out in 2 minutes. Paying deposits and agreeing to 4 and 5 year terms.

Too cold? Whatever.

No corporate base? Too cheap? Bite me.

At an average price of $82 a seat, (third highest in the League) Winnipegers guaranteed the new NHL franchise $50 million a season from ticket revenue alone.  Add in concession and merchandise sales?

Yeah.  I think the owners knew what they were doing, and who their market was, and how this city would support a properly run franchise.

This isn't a corporate sponsored team. This is a community fan-based supported team. That's important.  We love our hockey. In a way that most do not understand.  And that's okay.  You don't have to understand it to appreciate that we're passionate about it and willing to pay top dollar to watch it.  We are knowledgeable, and we may be demanding a winner quickly - but that goes hand in hand with breathing the game the way we do.  Any player worth his salt will enjoy playing here in front of these fans.  The Divas may pass on this small market with perceived limited marketing ability for their egos - fine, let 'em go.  The team will quietly find a way to win without them, and the fans will support them and make them their own.

We've missed the big time, and it shows.  The owners have done their part - they brought the game back to the fans.  The fans have done their part - overwhelmingly pledging their support and finances.  Now it's time to get a team name and identity and get to work putting the rest of the pieces together before October. It's good to be back.

And yes, I've got my season tickets.

Oh, and about hell needing to freeze over?  Cold enough for ya?