After losing two NHL teams over the past half-century, Atlanta is making another attempt to lure the league.
Two separate groups are now seriously wooing the NHL.
Both aim to build massive sports entertainment complexes north of Atlanta. But the barriers to getting a team on ice remain high.
The NHL says it has no plans for expansion. And retired longtime Atlanta sports writer Jeff Schultz says its commissioner, Gary Bettman, is unlikely to change his mind because that would mean admitting that it was a mistake to let the Thrashers move to Winnipeg in 2011.
“It’s going to come down to getting someone to build an arena for a billion dollars,” Schultz said. “It’s going to come down to getting someone to buy a team for a billion dollars. Those are some massive, massive obstacles.”
One of the NHL bids appears to be on the rocks over a deal with Forsyth County commissioners.
The other, more recently announced bid, in Fulton County, is being led by a former player, Anson Carter.
If either group convinces the league to expand, another Atlanta team could succeed — as long as they perform better than the Thrashers, says Sean McIndoe, senior NHL writer for The Athletic.
McIndoe said the team never won a single playoff game in its 12-year existence and failed in business because it failed on ice, blaming Bettman for not supporting the team at its beginning.
“They absolutely will expand again at some point,” McIndoe said. “The question is when and where and how comfortable are they going back to a market that they’ve recently been in.”
Before the Thrashers, Atlanta had the Flames for eight NHL seasons, ending in 1980.
Elsewhere in Georgia, professional hockey is showing signs of growth.
A minor league team, the ECHL’s Ghost Pirates, recently started in Savannah.
And another minor league team, a yet-to-be-named FPHL team, was recently announced in Athens.
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