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Hamilton and the NHL soap opera

36K views 348 replies 62 participants last post by  Jaybird 
#1 ·
This might be all old news to people but I found this INTESRESTING RADIO CLIP FROM 2003 online...and I thought that it is very interesting to listen to....

I believe Hamilton Should have a hockey team...They already have a beautiful arena to support...(maybe not in capacity)...but the fan base is defintely there
 
#2 ·
Can you imagine what we felt like back then? Damn mad and shocked.

The ONLY reason why Hamilton built Copps Coliseum was because the NHL back then told Victor Copps that Hamilton will have an excellent chance getting a team if we built an arena. So Victor Copps went his way and got an arena built, even gave his yearly pay as mayor to help build the arena hence why it's named Copps Coliseum.

Than the NHL stabs Copps back. He had a massive heart attack well running the Around the Bay marathon and was forced out as Mayor. So when the announcement came he was in bad health condition. He was obviously upset and eventually died a few months later.

Just listen to the clip, we had Ron Joyce (one of the richest Canadian alive) who would fund the team, a new arena (back then), and 18,000 season tickets sold, only needed to sell 10,000 to convince NHL. Both Ottawa and Tampa Bay had none of this.

When Ottawa went bankrupt a Hamilton company tried to buy the Ottawa team and move it to Hamilton but eventually Ottawa worked up a deal. Sheila Copps was supporting that move and than all of a sudden everyone called her a bitch. Yet back when Ottawa was bidding for an NHL team, 27 MPs, was supporting Ottawa none of them were called a bitch or an asshole.

Just isn't fair really. It gave Hamilton a black eye.
 
#4 ·
I'd love to see a team in Hamilton, however I would rather see a new team back in Winnipeg. The city has a wonderful new facility and some of the very best hockey fans in Canada. I was a Quebec Nordiques fan, so I also wouldn't mind a franchise in Quebec again with their old jerseys of course.........the Nordiques had the best jerseys in NHL history hands down (my opinion)
 
#6 ·
in'sauga said:
I'd love to see a team in Hamilton, however I would rather see a new team back in Winnipeg. The city has a wonderful new facility and some of the very best hockey fans in Canada. I was a Quebec Nordiques fan, so I also wouldn't mind a franchise in Quebec again with their old jerseys of course.........the Nordiques had the best jerseys in NHL history hands down (my opinion)
You are right...this is OUR game...and in every big metropolis in Canada there SHOULD be an NHL team.....Winnipeg, Hamilton, London, Quebec City and Halifax......geez i don't wanna get in over my head here but I would to see a Saskatchewan team also......the fact that Hartford got a team with low population is beyond me.....I know that saskatchewan is very neglected when it comes to pro sports...only CFL
 
#8 ·
I think it would be great to see an NHL franchise in Hamilton. Even better if they got some southern US team to move there. If pro hockey wants to make serious inroads to regain lost fans (and lure new ones), it would stand to reason that going back north would be the ticket. Yeah, the markets aren't as big, but there's more to the game than pure economics. Having fans that give a damn is underrated.

And think of the Toronto-Hamilton-Buffalo mega-rivalry it could create? All we'd need then is give London and St. Catharines a couple of AHL teams (preferably Hamilton and Toronto affiliates), and added to Rochester (Buffalo affiliate), they could all beat each other up in the minors as well!
 
#9 ·
If I had it my way I would:

Move the NHL HQ to either Toronto or Montreal, let them two duke it out for HQ
Must always have a Canadian NHL commissioner
Evaluate all southern USA NHL teams and move the ones that are doing poor
The ones that lost an NHL team give them an AHL team
The 3 Amigos (I call Hamilton, Winnipeg & Quebec City the 3 Amigos since all the same size) gets the relocated NHL teams
Gary Bettman big flappy ears cut off lol
 
#10 ·
CrazyCanuck said:
Ron Joyce to finance the team(ceo of Tim Hortons), thats some serious money.
He recently donated I think either $10 or 15 million to McMaster to build a new football stadium. It's going to be called Ronald V Joyce Stadium.

He's so loaded rich. I once drove by a resort that he owns at Fox Harbour, NS and holy moley is beautiful. It's got its own little airport for his airline, Jetport (luxury charter plane, talking Donald Trump style), to land at his resort.

Amazing that doughnuts and cup of coffee can make you that rich.
 
#11 ·
Steeltown said:
...Amazing that doughnuts and cup of coffee can make you that rich.
Well, when you put out a good product... Not much of a surprise they've practically run Dunkin Donuts out of WNY. Of course I'm no party to the coffee wars because I hate the stuff no matter who brews it, but the donuts are darn good.
 
#14 ·
rapideye95 said:
I believe Hamilton Should have a hockey team...They already have a beautiful arena to support...(maybe not in capacity)...but the fan base is defintely there
Why not doing as European league do ?
We have several divisions and each year,
- the 2 or 3 last teams of each division move down
- the 2 ou 3 best teams of each division go move up.

Hamilton or London could build their own team and access to the last division for the first year.
 
#16 ·
^ Regarding the territorial fees. Hamilton can get around that without having to pay for either Toronto or Buffalo.

All Hamilton has to do is purchase a team that's under bankruptcy protection. Under bankruptcy protection it's up to the court not the NHL to relocate a team. It also means that normal NHL licensing and territorial rules would not apply under the courts. Viola! Problem solved.

Hamilton tried to do that when Ottawa was under bankruptcy protection.

Currently Research in Motion guys are trying to purchase an NHL team to Hamilton. An article says their looking at St. Louis Blues, which is currently on the sales block.

If you want to read up or research on that go to http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=245852 titled "NHL franchise coming to Hamilton?"

Here's the rendering for Ron Joyce Stadium


lol just kidding.
 
#19 ·
Steeltown said:
...looking at St. Louis Blues, which is currently on the sales block...
Not far south enough for my liking, I consider St Louis northern (midwestern) enough for the fans to give a damn. I'd like to see a Phoenix, Dallas, Tampa Bay, Florida, or Carolina get moved [back] up north. I left Atlanta out because they at least used to have a team, so maybe there's still something there.

But I guess you'd take what you can get?
 
#20 · (Edited)
It goes far BEYOND HAMILTON's proximity to Toronto and Buffalo

Gary Bettman is just a fukin asshole and so this the rest of the anti-canadians that run the NHL....America is trying to take away our professional game

All of the following teams are so close to each other and nobody gives a shyt
Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York, Long Island, and with Pittsburgh, Washington, and Boston being a tiny bit further....

you mean to tell me that Buffalo, Toronto, Hamilton, and London CANNOT have NHL teams? CMON...look at the rivalries that can occur....this would put hockey at a whole new echelon...

I think it's more about Americans dominating the Market and forgetting about the Fans...if it were about the FANS, there wouldn't have been a lockout last year AT ALL...even though it just was a labour dispute.

To conclude...are Americans satisfied with Canada having anything?....ABSOLUTELY NOT
 
#22 · (Edited)
I can name a few franchises that NEED to move out of their current locations... Phoenix, San Jose, Florida, Carolina, Anaheim (??), Nashville. Move them up north.

BTW, and I don't know, but I was watching the NHL Network one day a couple of weeks ago and a guy by the name of Dave Checketts bought the St. Louis Blues. So that deal for Hamilton may once again go down the drain.

I can tell you (and I have said this before), if Hamilton (or London, when it has the arena) get an NHL hockey team, I would go to some of their games in a second. But again, I am only speaking for myself. My uncle and other people I know would like to see Hamilton get an NHL franchise (or have one moved up there) as well, because 30 teams is by far ENOUGH! Gary Bettman was actually in London at the Memorial Cup tournament, so I don't know if that is a sign or not, but he could have interest. Bettman is a boob, though, I will admit that, and doesn't seem to run the NHL very well.

I guess because in Southern Ontario, within a 200 km radius of London, you do have over 6 million people, maybe it would be an ideal location, but they would have to double the size of the JLC or have a private developer or somebody build a new rink. I think they could easily double the size of the JLC, by raising the roof a lot. London also, got a TON of exposure thanks to last year's NHL lockout and successful Memorial Cup tournament in which the London Knights won (to no surprise, they dominated the entire year, literally), over 1 million people watched that across Canada, so of all the cities that may have benefited from the NHL lockout, London probably got the most.

Hamilton got some good exposure as well with the lockout last year, because of the charity hockey game at Ivor Wynne Stadium that year.
 
#24 ·
i have to disagree that the nhl is too americanized. hockey is pretty big here as well. i would say, however, that it is too southernized. the truth is that people in the south just don't connect to hockey. you can't lump good hockey cities like detroit, philadelphia, and boston with places like raleigh or miami. there are some american cities that are just as big about hockey as any given canadian city.

nascar is their thing. it developed down there from the moonshine business. nascar will never do as well up north as it does down south, and hockey will never do as good down south as it does up north.

back on topic, i think the nhl needs to move out of these cities, in this order: raleigh, anaheim, atlanta, miami, tampa, phoenix, nashville. many of the cities that used to have teams and have a good hockey following should get teams back: winnipeg, quebec city, hartford. other cities in the north should get a chance: hamilton, portland oregon, seattle, milwaukee, and maybe even a second team in cities like detroit or toronto. i would personally hold off on smaller markets like london or halifax because there are bigger markets that would welcome the nhl just as much, and the first priority of a franchise is to be profitable (which would be easier in a bigger market).
 
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