Cantlon’s Corner: DEAR SANTA DUNDON, SIGNED – DAYDREAMER DAN
BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
Hartford, CT – Governor Dannel Malloy sent an open letter to the new majority owner of the Carolina Hurricanes, Thomas Dundon, late last week. It was a nice idea – for about a paragraph.
After Dundon floated the idea of playing in the Hartford Whalers uniforms as part of a heritage game concept, Malloy asked the Hurricanes to consider wearing them at an outdoor game at, “The Rent,” or indoors at the XL Center. The Hurricanes and the NHL own the rights to the logo and name. Dundon told this to the Raleigh Observer in an interview shortly after being given the keys as the team’s majority owner.
It should have ended there. A CC not to Gary Bettman, the NHL commissioner, and Bill Daly (NHL VP of Operations) and Donald Fehr (Head of the NHPLA).
But Noooo, that’s not what the Governor did.
Instead, he droned on about how great the Hartford market is compared to Raleigh and how great the XL Center is with its brand new ice and dasher boards. Conveniently left out of the letter is how they can’t get any money to reboot the place and the plethora of structural problems within the outdated building. Malloy also bragged how there are so many great companies here. Apparently, Malloy ignored how many of those companies are leaving.
Letters like this one and last year’s letter where Malloy was inviting the New York Islanders to come to Hartford when the team was searching for a new arena after serious issues at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn. In NHL terms, it’s the wrong way to do business under Garry Bettman. History shows that this tactic rubs The Commissioner the wrong way. Bettman hates publicity stunts. He views stunts like this like going into their house and telling them how to arrange the furniture, It’s very bad form.
Look back at the entire episode with the then Founder of Blackberry, Jim Balsillie, Look at how his attempts to buy the Phoenix Coyotes and then his idea of moving the Nashville Predators to Hamilton, Ontario worked out. Bettman crosschecked him into the end boards and Basillie was never heard from again.
How did Winnipeg get its franchise back? They were quiet as a church mouse!
GM Mark Chipman followed the rules and starting in 2003, he got a team after Atlanta’s ownership group fell apart. The Jets returned to Winnipeg in 2012. It took them nine years because they built a new building, the fans supported the AHL’s Manitoba Moose to being at the top of the AHL attendance chart and they had an owner with deep pockets and a commitment to Winnipeg.
None of those things exist here.
The Wolf Pack are presently 27th in overall attendance averaging 3,626 per game. That average number is FAR below the 7,000-8,000 Spectra (nee Global) promised when they put in their winning bid five years ago to operate the XL Center. For a period this season, the Pack were dead last in attendance in the AHL. They have no viable new building plan and nobody with a billion dollars wants to tackle the problems here.
Las Vegas got a team with Bill Foley staying quiet. He did his due diligence on the expansion application, built a brand new arena, got season ticket deposits, and paid the $500 million franchise entrance fee. His reward? He’s setting records as a new franchise and they’re atop the NHL.
Look at Quebec City.
They built a beautiful state-of-the-art $450 million building on time and under budget, which is a record in the Quebec province whose construction corruption rivals anywhere in the US. They filled out the expansion application, demonstrated deep fan support and had a full infrastructure setup for an NHL team. Even with all of that, the NHL still said no.
While they were building the Videotron Centre, after two terms, the-soon-to-be-outgoing mayor of Quebec City, Regis Lebeaume, made some public comments on getting an NHL team for their building to the Le Soleil (The Sun) newspaper. The NHL called and not another public word about it has been spoken about getting an NHL franchise and reviving the much-beloved Nordiques again.
Seattle has just sent their completed NHL expansion application form in with a nice $10 million check to eventually be granted a franchise. The cost is $650 million dollars in addition to the renovations that have begun to their 56-year-old building, the Key Arena. The cost for that is $660 million. That money comes in part from a loan by MSG.
That’s over $1.3 billion dollars to be spent before the first puck is dropped or the first beer poured.
Does Hartford have that kind of money? Absolutely, positively, NO. Read more detail about it HERE
Hartford isn’t remotely in the ballpark, on the radar screen or on the continent for the NHL for that matter.
Openly trying to poach a team (the Islanders) or propose an outdoor game or scheduling a game with a present NHL team without consulting the NHL is a very bad move. It inflames the relationship with the NHL, which is already on shaky enough ground after being exacerbated by Connecticut’s senior Senator Richard Blumenthal, who was involved in the concussion lawsuit against the NHL, which is still ongoing.
The NHL is working on outdoor games in a major European city next year. Among those being considered are Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, and China and they’re focusing on the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Nothing is going on about Hartford.
Staying within the structure will help Hartford. A self-serving, fantasy-filled public letters and making publicity stunts will not.
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