Now that Jimmy Blackberry is out of the running for the Phoenix Coyotes, it is time to set our sights on a new objective for the real "make it seven" movement. Toronto "pissed" in Hamilton's "snow" and announced that they would fight any attempt to move a franchise to Hamilton. The bid was killed in court. Hamilton should boycott Leaf merchandise as a city. Stores should take the jerseys and fan merchandise right off the shelves. But Hamilton only ascended to the top of the list because they had Copps Coliseum. Jimmy ain't gonna build his Kitchener barn without first securing a franchise. Hamilton was just a cheap date.
Screw Hamilton. I had a well documented falling out with Hamilton. I want to continue the "make it seven" movement with or without Jimmy. I would encourage Balsille to continue pursuing his dream. I think there are a few teams just a hop, skip, and a jump from bankruptcy. Winnipeg should have a team. Quebec City should have a team. Halifax, maybe, should have a team. Saskatchewan should have a team.
That's obvious. Here's my problem. I made a promise to the city of Whitehorse. When I first started counting my hits and saw where my hits were coming from, I noticed that I had virtually no following in Hamilton despite my thousands of words devoted on my blog to getting them a NHL team. Other than my friend from high school, nobody in Hamilton is reading my blog. Then I noticed that Whitehorse kept showing up in my "top ten cities" list. And in a fit of rage against the city of Hamilton and in support of the city of Whitehorse, I posted this...
They Love me in Whitehorse
I can't go back now. I'm locked in. I now have to officially lobby for Whitehorse to have a NHL team, or my word is no good. As impossible as it is to put an NHL team in the Yukon, I have to figure out a way. I have a degree in Mathematical Economics, and my father played varsity hockey at Yale. I stand by the words in my archives, for better or worse, and thus I have to at least build the most plausible scenario that could be used by others as a framework to accomplish this objective. I have been thinking about it for a week; how in the name of Christ could you ever have a working model for a professional sports franchise in the Yukon? Then I thought about the Green Bay Packers model, and that got me thinking about Vegas, and soon I developed some ideas. I have a series of points that need to happen, basically in order.
1) You need a stadium/arena. How to pay for it comes later; and perhaps an outdoor stadium would be wicked awesome because the Winter Classic proves that can get people to watch outdoor games on TV. And they should never stop a game for bad weather. All us Canadians who ever played on outdoor rinks played through some shitty weather at some point.
2) Does the Yukon have a philanthropic billionaire who loves hockey and would be willing to put down millions of dollars to build a facility without the guarantee of getting a team?
3) If the answer to (2) is no, then we basically need to create a project outline and build a team of investors. The Conservative party has Arctic Sovereignty high on its priority list, what better way to "sovereignize" the Arctic than a pro sports team? Maybe the Yukon can get some stimulus dollars for "Project Seven"?
4) The outdoor games in the Arctic would have huge television appeal. The Whitehorse Wolverines would need to be able to negotiate a special television contract. Can anyone say ESPN? We need a huge continental audience to make this work; television is how that can happen.
5) We need to work out a consortium of airlines, hotel resorts, and local businesses in the tourism industry that can set up and facilitate one week vacations from around the world that includes packages of NHL tickets. We can make the Arctic a major international tourist destination, though I do suspect that December is not the best time of year to visit.
6) The same way Vegas is a major tourist destination, so too can Yukon be Canada's version. Maybe Al Gore can give lectures on global warming while in the Arctic in the winter time? I am sure the audience would be sympathetic...
7) We need higher revenue sharing in the NHL.
8) Fire Gary Bettman.
There you are Whitehorse, thank you for the clicks, and don't say that I didn't try.
The Iceman
Oh, and the higher the value of the Canadian dollar, the higher the probability that we can get a team in Whitehorse. But I can see that my movement is not gaining much traction...
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