# NHL: Probably too soon to ask this question...



## AMike (Nov 21, 2005)

Those of you who are hockey fans are probably aware that Atlanta is likely going to lose the Thrashers to Winnipeg. The reasons for the team moving are pinned to inept ownership that drove away the fan base, but that's a different discussion for a different forum.

With this likely to occur, I am curious to know which market will Atlanta likely get to replace the Thrashers on our local RSNs since there are 2 other teams also on these RSNs. Would it be based on distance (Nashville) or former division rival (Carolina)? Or would we get both or neither?


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## Scott Kocourek (Jun 13, 2009)

I moved this so all hockey fans can participate.


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## Avder (Feb 6, 2010)

Thats a really good question, actually. It depends on which owner negotiates that territorry. Maybe atlanta will get lucky and get both the Canes and Preds.


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## TANK (Feb 16, 2003)

Since the RSN's had such horrible ratings for the Thrashers,I doubt they would add any NHL hockey.

I'm sure that some executive is asking this question- If ATL didn't watch it's own NHL team ,why would they watch another city's NHL team ?

I'm not trying to offend any Thrasher fan,just trying to explain why I doubt there will be any NHL games added.

My guess is Sport South more local basketball and Fox Sport South more college basketball and maybe Atl Hawks games


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## lokar (Oct 8, 2006)

My guess is Atlanta would get neither NSH or CAR. As I recall, both NSH and CAR RSNs still don't televise all of their own team games, indicating ratings in the south must not be that great even in their own markets. If Atlanta gets either NSH or CAR, it would probably just be for something like 10-20 games a year when SportsSouth has absolutely nothing else to do.


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## n3ntj (Dec 18, 2006)

I would guess the other two teams will carve up the Atlanta market should the Thrashers move to claim more areas for their DMAs. I would suspect that the new team would have to move to the Campbell Conference (West) [assuming they move to Winnipeg] and possibly move a current Campbell Conference team to the Wales Conference (East) in order to keep things balanced?


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## AMike (Nov 21, 2005)

TANK said:


> Since the RSN's had such horrible ratings for the Thrashers,I doubt they would add any NHL hockey.
> 
> I'm sure that some executive is asking this question- If ATL didn't watch it's own NHL team ,why would they watch another city's NHL team ?
> 
> ...


No offense taken. The Thrashers local ratings were in the ballpark of Bluto Blutarksy's GPA. Then again, if you put a substandard product out there and trying to appeal to a fanbase that has been alienated by ownership, you'll be lucky if you can draw flies.

During the past season, there were advertisements on Fox SS and SportSouth advertising all 3 NHL teams. Those games were never blacked out for me mainly because I have Center Ice.

I know the national media is going to say, Atlanta has failed at the NHL again. But the truth of the matter is that the group that bought the Thrashers from Time-Warner was trying to unload the team as soon as they bought it since they had no interest in it. It was a "throw-in" with the deal for the Hawks and the arena. They couldn't sell the team because the ownership group was locked in a lengthy internal battle amongst the people that owned the team that was not settled until last year. As a result, they ran the team on the cheap, and chased away its fans. If we had strong ownership, the NHL can survive here. Unfortunately, we are not going to have that chance as it is an 80% certainty that the Thrashers are gone to Winnipeg.

I guess I will continue to subscribe to CI to get my hockey fix.


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## TANK (Feb 16, 2003)

AMike said:


> No offense taken. The Thrashers local ratings were in the ballpark of Bluto Blutarksy's GPA. Then again, if you put a substandard product out there and trying to appeal to a fanbase that has been alienated by ownership, you'll be lucky if you can draw flies.
> 
> During the past season, there were advertisements on Fox SS and SportSouth advertising all 3 NHL teams. Those games were never blacked out for me mainly because I have Center Ice.
> 
> ...


I read some where that ATL and PHX were added because FOX wanted those tv markets,when they had the National NHL tv contract . It was also part of Bettman's vision of the NHL.

As a life long Wash Caps fan ,I saw the Thrashers every year. The failure of the Thrashers in ATL had nothing to do with lack of fan support.

Since the success of any American NHL team is based on revenue from ticket sales- any team that doesn't put a competitive team on the ice every season has failed the fans.


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## epokopac (Aug 8, 2007)

AMike said:


> Those of you who are hockey fans are probably aware that Atlanta is likely going to lose the Thrashers to Winnipeg. The reasons for the team moving are pinned to inept ownership that drove away the fan base, but that's a different discussion for a different forum.
> 
> With this likely to occur, I am curious to know which market will Atlanta likely get to replace the Thrashers on our local RSNs since there are 2 other teams also on these RSNs. Would it be based on distance (Nashville) or former division rival (Carolina)? Or would we get both or neither?


Nashville AND Carolina are in the clear (and in HD) on ALT 445 and ALT 446 on E* here in Atlanta on Friday 10-7-11. Hope it continues for all the NHL fans out there .


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

epokopac said:


> Nashville AND Carolina are in the clear (and in HD) on ALT 445 and ALT 446 on E* here in Atlanta on Friday 10-7-11. Hope it continues for all the NHL fans out there .


It's a free preview for a few weeks, so that might play a role.


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## epokopac (Aug 8, 2007)

sigma1914 said:


> It's a free preview for a few weeks, so that might play a role.


The free NHL CI preview is over. Hurricanes and Predators games are in the clear in the Atlanta DMA (you'll need to check the ALT channels each night).

Fox Sports South and SportSouth, through an exemption granted by the NHL, have received permission to air 85 Nashville Predators and Carolina Hurricanes games in the Atlanta market as a result of the Atlanta Thrashers' relocation to Winnipeg in the offseason.

Jeff Genthner, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Fox Sports South/SportSouth, said the NHL's only stipulation was that the number of games televised be split roughly equally between the teams. The network will air 43 Hurricanes games in the Atlanta region and 42 Predators games.


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## kristen5412 (Oct 31, 2011)

That's really cool.


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